1. Seizing an American Empire
Chapter 22 Guiding Questions
What motivated America’s “new imperialism”?
What was the role of religion as a motive for American territorial expansion?
What were the causes of the War of 1898?
What did the United States gain from the War of 1898?
What were the main achievements of President Roosevelt’s foreign policy?

2. Imperialist Theory
Many proponents for expansion used the concept of Social Darwinism to bolster their claims on foreign lands, citing the superiority of the English-speaking races over the colonies’ inhabitants.

3. American Expansion
In a critical comment on William H. Seward’s 1867 purchase of Alaska, this cartoon represents the territory as a block of ice labeled “Russian America.”

4. Queen Liliuokalani
American planters flooded Hawaii due to a boom in the production of sugar.
These planters then requested territory status.
The Hawaiian queen sought to preserve her nation’s independence.

5. The sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbor
The uproar created by the incident and its coverage in the “yellow press” helped to push President William McKinley to declare war.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Cubans had repeatedly revolted against their Spanish colonizers. Each time insurrection broke out, it was put down bloodily. When another attempt broke out in 1895, the Spanish commander placed all of the Cubans in detention centers to prevent more joining the cause. His actions would be luridly portrayed by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal newspapers, then locked in a competition for the most readers. Cleveland, still president at this time, tried to protect American interests in Cuba, while the newspapers engaged in sensationalist stories about Cuba that were dubbed “yellow journalism.”
Once McKinley was inaugurated, issues in Cuba grew more tenuous, and the battleship Maine was sent to Havana harbor to protect American citizens and interests. Around the same time, a letter sent from the Spanish ambassador to a friend in Havana and published in American papers denounced McKinley as a weak politician. Shortly thereafter, the Maine exploded, killing 260 sailors. (At first, the explosion was blamed on a mine in the harbor, but a 1976 study revealed that it had been an internal explosion.) On these grounds McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war, which was granted. Shortly after a Spanish official offered to give McKinley an official surrender.

6. Yellow Journalism
The actions of the Spanish would be luridly portrayed by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal newspapers, then locked in a competition for the most readers.
The newspapers engaged in sensationalist stories about Cuba that were dubbed “yellow journalism.” ]

7. Manila and The Cuban Campaign
What started the War of 1898? What caused most of the casualties in the war?

8. The Debate over Annexation
McKinley – Page 912 (Tindall)
American motivation for imperialism:
1. National Glory
“dishonorable” to give them back to Spain
2. Commerce
“bad business” to turn them over to France or Germany
3. Racial Superiority
“unfit for self-government”
4. Evangelism
”uplift and civilize and Christianize them”
The location of the Philippines next to Asia provoked an expansionist spirit in many Americans. The proximity of the island to China, the availability of vast quantities of natural resources, and the opportunity to “Christianize” its inhabitants marked it as a sure bet for colonization. Eventually, the peace treaty was ratified.
In 1899, an American solider outside Manila fired on a group of Filipino nationalists, and a new war erupted. It would take three years to suppress the nationalist uprising that followed. The same guerillas that Dewey had relied on to secure Manila before the army could arrive now turned against their American saviors.

9. “Well, I Hardly Know Which to Take First!”
At the end of the nineteenth century, it seemed that Uncle Sam had developed a considerable appetite for foreign territory.

10. “The Open Door”
Germany, France, Russia, and Great Britain began dividing China up into markets for their expansion.
Unwilling to accept a China that was divided so many ways, the United States issued the Open Door Note, which proposed leaving China open to trade by all nations.
Cartoon depicting Uncle Sam propping open a door for China with a brick labeled “U.S. Army and Navy Prestige,” as colonial powers look on.

11. U.S. troops marching in Beijing after quelling the Boxer Rebellion.
A group of Chinese nationalists known as the Boxers would rebel against the foreign encroachments into their country.
They were eventually put down by intervention from a joint assault of British, German, Russian, Japanese, and American forces.
Trade with China

12. The United States now set out to build one through Panama.
Digging the Canal President Theodore Roosevelt operating a steam shovel during his 1906 visit to the Panama Canal.
The Spanish American War revealed the need for a canal between the two seas.
The United States now set out to build one through Panama.
The canal would eventually open in 1914.