Ch 27: Empire and Expansion

Pgs 626-633
America Turns Outward
 By the 1890s America had ambitions for overseas expansion. Farmers and factory owners were interested in markets beyond American shores as the agricultural and industrials productions boomed. Many American believed that the US had to expand or explode. Yellow journalism (sensationalized news) stirred up the desire to explore and take over other lands. Journalists like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer painted the land overseas as exotic, adventurous, which appealed to young boys dreams. Missionaries looked overseas in hopes of saving souls in un-Christian lands. Reverend Josiah Strong was one of these missionaries and pushed for oversea exploration in his book Our Country: Its Possible Future and its Present Crisis. At the same time some aggressive Americans like Theodore Roosevelt and Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge interpreted Darwinism survival of the fittest theory to the nations. To say that the Earth belonged to the strong and fit (America). As other countries began to scramble for colonies, people believed, that in order for America to survive it would have to become an imperial power. The development of a new steel navy also focused attention overseas. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahans book The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 published in 1890 argued that control over the sea was the key to world dominance. Mahan spurred the naval race between world powers that gained momentum around the turn of the century. American joined together in the demand for a mightier navy and for an American built isthmian canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific Americas new international interest manifested itself in several ways. Two-time secretary of state James G. Blaine pushed his Big Sister policy aimed at bringing the Latin American nations behind Uncle Sam and opening Latin American markets to Yankee traders. In 1889 he led the Pan-American Conference in Washington D.C. A number of near wars or diplomatic crises marked the path of American diplomacy in the late 1880s and early 1890s: A Germany standoff occurred in Samoa in 1889 which split the two nations in 1899. An Italy standoff occurred with the lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans in 1891. The US made compensation. A Chile standoff occurred after the death of two American sailors in the port of Valparaiso in 1892. Chile agreed to pay compensation. A Canada standoff occurred over seal hunting near the Pribilof Islands off the coast of Alaska and was resolved by arbitration in 1893. Lastly, a Britain standoff occurred over gold discoveries between Guiana and Venezuela; President Cleveland and his secretary of state, Richard Olney claimed that the Brits were breaking the Monroe Doctrine stay-out policy. Thankfully Brits had other distractions with the Germans in South Africa and decided the war with the US wasnt worth it and consented to arbitration.

 

Spurning the Hawaiian Pear  Hawaii attracted Americans since the 1800swhen shippers, sailors, whalers, and missionaries went there. In 1820, New England missionaries arrived and preached Protestant Christianity and protective calico. Hawaii became an important center for sugar production. American began to regard Hawaii as an extension of their own coastline and warned other powers to stay away from it. The grip tightened in 1887 by a Treaty which enclosed the native government guaranteeing priceless naval-base rights at spacious Pearl Harbor. American fruit and sugar companies were deeply placed in Hawaii. They ran most of the island due to their economic power. Whites cut down the Hawaiian population to 1/6 of its size before their arrival and began to import Asian laborers to cane field and sugar mills.

A growing resistance to Americans began to grow among the Hawaiians. Sugar companies worried over this for the fear that Japan might try to take over and the McKinley tariff raised prices of Hawaiian sugar/fruit imported to the US. Queen Liliuokalani resisted and argued that she and native Hawaiians should control Hawaii. In response to this in 1893, the whites with the help of the American troops helped to dethrone the queen A treaty of annexation was rushed to Washington but before it could be railroaded through the Senate, Republican President Harrisons term expired and Democratic president Cleveland came in. Cleveland didnt like the way that Hawaii was taken and stopped the annexation. The US wouldnt get Hawaii until 1898.

Cubans Rise in Revolt  Cuba revolted against Spain in 1895. Cubas backbone sugar production was crippled when the American tariff of 1894 restored high duties on the product. The insurrectors on the sugar plantations revolted against their Spanish overlords by burning cane fields and sugar mills. America sent sympathies to Cuba in hopes of gaining control of the Panama Canal. Spain sent Gen. Valeriano Butcher Weyler to stop the revolt in 1896. He started reconcentration camps were insurrectos often died of disease. Yellow press in America loved the Cuban revolution and used it to make storylines even juicer. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer tried to outdo each other with their scoops. Hearst sent the gifted artist Frederic Remington down to Cuba to furnish the pictures so that he could furnish the way. He depicted pictures of Spanish custom official disrobing a woman (women officials usually did this) which fired up American to lean even more towards Cuba than Spain. More strain emerged from the private letter from the Spanish minister in Washington, Dupuy de Lome which criticized President McKinley. The letter caused anger among Americans. On February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded at night in Havana harbor killing 260 American sailors. The cause of the explosion was a mystery but Americans placed the blame on Spain. Yellow press jumped on the Maine story which caused the American public to cry out, Remember the Maine. Pres. McKinley was still sluggish to enter war causing Teddy Roosevelt to claim that he had the backbone of a chocolate clair. McKinley eventually yielded to what the people wanted and on April 11, 1898 he sent a message to congress asking for war, which congress approved. Congress also passed the Teller Amendment that said that the US would give Cuba its freedom after kicking out Spain.

  

 

Deweys May Day Victory at Manila  America entered the war with confidence. Even before war was declared on February 25, 1898 under the secretary of the Navy Teddy Roosevelt ordered Commodore George Dewey to move to the Philippines if war broke out. Dewey carried out these orders on May 1, 1898, defeated the Spanish in battle, and became a war hero overnight. Dewey won the battle but was unable to storm the fort in Manila with sailors. Tensions grew when the Germans arrived. He had to wait until foot soldiers arrived and captured Manila on August 13, 1898. The U.S was aided by Emilio Aguinaldo who led a group of Filipino insurgents against Spain. Dewey would later regret taking him out of exile in Asia when he would later turn against the US. The U.S. now earned to grab Hawaii to use it as a half way coaling station between California and the Philippines. Congress and McKinley agreed to annex Hawaii on July 7, 1898. This granted Hawaiian residents US citizenship and Hawaii received full territorial status in 1900.