The U.S. goes Imperialistic

US HistoryPaulson

Dec 2, 2010

Spark 12 The following quotes come from the Age of

Imperialism. They are numbered. For each quote, write A.) how you think the quote is related to American

Imperialism› Justification for Imperialism?› Argument against Imperialism?› Not nice, but necessary?› Just good business strategy?› Nationalistic and war-hungry?

B.) do you agree with the quote?

Quote 1.

“I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.”

-Teddy Roosevelt 1897

Quote 2

“We want a foreign market for our surplus products.”

President William Mckinley 1899

Quote 3“American factories are making more

than the American people can use, American soil is producing more than the American people can consume. Fate has written our policy for us, the trade of the world must and shall be ours.”

› Senator Albert Beveridge , 1897

Quote 4

“the countries with the biggest navies will inherit the earth. Americans must now begin to look outward.”

Cpt. A.T. Mahan, late 1890’s

Quote 5

“This is a crime against white civilization. All the great masterful races have been fighting races…No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumph of war.”

T. Roosevelt – 1893 after U.S. decided, temporarily not to annex Hawaii.

Quote 6

"Could there be a more damning indictment of that whole bloated idol termed 'modern civilization' than this amounts to? Civilization is, then, the big, hollow, resounding, corrupting, sophisticating, confusing torrent of mere brutal momentum and irrationality that brings forth fruits like this?

….G*$ d@$& the United States for its vile conduct in the Philippine Isles!“

-William James, early 1900

Agenda

Spark # 12 Business Items Finish film notes – Terms Imperialism – pro/con Span Am War

Key Ideas

Nationalism-

Imperialism 

Jingoism  Dollar Diplomacy  Muckracker  Suffrage  Civil Disobedience

-On the left side of the line on your sheet- predict what these words/terms mean or refer to

-You will put actual meaning on right side of line

Film Notes

Key Ideas/Terms

Nationalism- devotion to one’s nation – usually accompanied by belief of superiority

  Annex- to join a new territory to an existing

country

Jingoism- intense burst of national pride and desire for aggressive foreign policy-largely attributed to MEDIA!!

  Dollar Diplomacy – policy used by Pres. Taft –

maintain “orderly societies” abroad through dollars-not bullets

Key Ideas cont.

Muckracker – journalists that alerted the public to wrongdoings in business and politics

  Suffrage – the right to vote --- in this

era the term is dominated by women’s fight to gain the right to vote

Civil Disobedience – peacefully disobeying laws of the land

Setting the Scene: A foundation for Imperialism

The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 defined United States foreign policy in the Americas for the rest of the nineteenth century and beyond. It declared that the United States had an interest in the Western Hemisphere and that European powers must not meddle in the affairs of any developing nations there. However, the policy was used to justify the sending of U.S. troops into Mexico in 1866 (to intimidate the French) and the purchase of Alaska in

1867.

Foundations for Imperialism The idea of manifest destiny gained popularity in the 1830s

and 1840s. (The term was coined in 1845 by newspaper columnist John L. O'Sullivan.) As people began settling the western territories, wresting control of the land from the original Native American inhabitants, many Americans came to believe that it was their nation's "manifest destiny" to possess all of the North American continent. Later in the century, this idea easily gave way to larger dreams of expanding America's influence around the world.

Foundations for Imperialism

By the late nineteenth century, the growing industrial economy of the United States was producing many more goods than the nation itself could consume. This overabundance of industrial goods led the United States to look for new markets abroad.

Foundations for Imperialism European nations such as

England, Spain, France, Russia, Portugal, Germany, and Belgium had already carved up Africa and large parts of Asia into colonies and "spheres of influence" by the late 1800s. To remain competitive, the United States reacted to European imperialism by looking for a way to secure its own economic future through a policy of expansionism

Summary: Why Imperialism grew

4 Factors: Economic factors

Nationalistic factors

Military factors

“Humanitarian factors”

Remember good ole’ G.W. Farewell Address in 1796?? “Stay away from alliances” “Stay out of foreign affairs”

Arguments for U.S. Expansion Economic Growth

› Overproduction, financial panics, expanding markets

› Biz r/ships + political advising = “banana republics” (United Fruit Company and Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras)

Protect American Security› Navy-Cpt. Mahan- argued for Navy to protect US $

$ and influence abroad› Battleships, gun boats, torpedo boats, cruisers –by

1900

Arguments for U.S. Expansion

Preserving “American Spirit”› Men like Henry Cabot Lodge and T.

Roosevelt felt America “losing its vitality”› Frontier closed- new project=Empire

Building Social Darwinism

› “Civilized races vs. savage races”› “noble pursuit for the civilized peoples of

the world to endow the savages and heathen peoples of the world with Christianity”

Spanish American War Spark needed to start “Imperial

fire” Spain controlled Cuba, Cubans

revolt Yellow Journalism and Jingoism

› Fight for readers ($$$)› W.R. Hearst, Pulitzer› Made up stories, exaggerated

headlines

Watch vid.

Yellow Journalism and Jingoism

Finally – Feb 1898 USS Maine explodes

off Cuba Spain immediately blamed “how long shall the U.S.

sit idle and indifferent within sound and hearing of rape and murder?”

“Remember the Maine!” McKinley pressured to declare war

“A splendid little war…” Maps on p. 691 – Philippines/Cuba Roosevelt and Rough Riders 3 month war ends July 3 1898 Navy gets practice only 400 KIA

Aftershock of S/A War Foreign Policy forever altered World policeman Imperialism skyrockets

› Cuba› Phillippines› Puerto Rico› Hawaii› Samoa› China

Foreign Policy

Open Door-China Panama Canal Roosevelt corollary & Big Stick Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy

Reactions to Imperialism

What about today?

Jingoism? Yellow Journalism? Involvement in foreign affairs?

Pros/Cons

Isolationism / Anti Imperialism

Pro Imperialism