U.S. Imperialism 1880-1900s Major Factors: Economic Dips: sterile capital Labor strife Turner’s Frontier Thesis: the frontier is “closed,” so no more “safety valve” search for New Markets Evangelical Protestants-missionary zeal, Christianize the “savages” Problem: the U.S. is late to the game

European or “Old World” Imperialism Mercantilism – colonies exist solely to benefit the mother-country Operates as a closed system Ideas of racial hierarchies and Anglo-Saxon superiority used to justify conquest and control

U.S. Imperialism clashes with “Old World” or European Imperialism The coveted China Market The coveted China Market U.S. response – The Open Door Admiral Thayer-Mahan, “The Influence of Sea Power on History” (1890)

Hawaii Missionaries in the 1820s Dominated by sugar planters by 1875 1883- Sanford Dole “borrows” U.S. military and overthrows Queen Liliuokalani

HAWAII 1900-Annexed by U.S. Coaling Station for U.S. trade/ imperialism in the Pacific.

The Spanish-American War The crumbling Spanish Empire and Cuba The Role of the Media and the Cuban Independence Movement Hearst and Pulitzer compete for readership through sensationalized stories Hearst – “You write the stories, I’ll give you the war.” 1898- DeLome Letter- from the Spanish minister in D.C., writing to Spain, says President McKinley is too wimpy to attack Spain U.S.S. Maine, blows up in Havana harbor April 11, 1898- U.S. declares war on Spain, fighting over by August

May 1, 1898 Admiral Dewey destroys Spanish fleet at Manila Bay Aug.12-Armistace and Treaty of Paris Dec. 1898 1 million U.S. dead, fewer killed in action or died from wounds than died from diseases

CUBA Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders The Platt Amendment

The Philippines 1898-1902 Filipino Independence Movement, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, 4,000 U.S. dead, 20,000 Filipinos, cost $160 million. Sporadic fighting until 1913, independence in 1946.

U.S. Imperialism and Foreign Policy Theodore Roosevelt and “Big Stick” Diplomacy The “Great White Fleet” The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine sets up Western Hemisphere as the U.S.’s “sphere of influence.” The Panama Canal

William Howard Taft and Dollar Diplomacy The “carrot” instead of the “stick” Woodrow Wilson and Missionary Diplomacy

U.S. Presence in Caribbean