historisches seminar der universität heidelberg historisches seminar der universität heidelberg 1...

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

1

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität HeidelbergCurt-Engelhorn Chair in American History Prof. Dr. Manfred BergWinter Term 2008/2009

The Reluctant Empire?

U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th Century

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

Today’s Topics

Continental Expansion The United States and Imperialism The Spanish-American War The Open Door in China The Big Stick in the Caribbean


George Washington (1732-1799)

“The period is not far off, when we may defy material injury from external annoyance...; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.”

Farewell Address of 1796


James Madison (1751-1836)

Mr. Madison’s War 1812 - 1814


Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Empire of Liberty


Indian Removal


Louisiana Purchase, 1803


Manifest Destiny “It is our manifest

destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us.”

John O’Sullivan, 1845


Mexican-American War, 1846 - 1848


William Seward (1801-1872)

U.S. Secretary of State (1861-1869)


Seward’s Ice Box, 1867


Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914)

The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1890


Imperialism

Navalism Racism Social Darwinism Colonialism Jingoism Yellow Press Social Imperialism


William McKinley (1843-1901)

U.S. President (1897 – 1901)


U.S.S. Maine, 1898 New York Journal Headlines

(Feb.17, 1898) Wreckage of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor


The Spanish-American War 1898 The Battle of San Juan Hill U.S. Secretary of

State John Hay: “A Splendid Little War”


Cuba Teller Amendment of 1898:

“The United States disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control” over Cuba.

Platt Amendment of 1903: The U.S. reserves the right “to intervene for the

preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty.”


Annexation of the Philippines


Anti-Imperialist League, 1899 Andrew Carnegie,

1835-1919 Carl Schurz,

1829 - 1906


The Philippine War, 1899-1902

U.S. soldiers of the First Nebraska volunteers, company B, near Manila, 1899


China Around 1900Western Powers andSpheres of Influencein China, ca. 1900


Open Door Notes 1899: U.S. does not recognize “exclusive

rights of any power within or control over any portion of the Chinese Empire” which must remain “an open market for the commerce of the world.”

1900: U.S. wants to “preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity” and the “principle of equal and impartial trade.”


Boxer Uprising, 1900


Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

U.S. President, 1901-1909


Rudyard Kipling(1865-1936)

“Take up the white man’s burden, and reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better, the hate of those ye guard.”

- “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)


Panama Canal New Routes of commerce and travel


Roosevelt Corollary, 1904 “Chronic wrongdoing, or

an impotence which may result in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society...may force the United States, however reluctantly,… to the exercise of an international police power.”

TR, 1904

historisches seminar der universität heidelberg historisches seminar der universität heidelberg 1...

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