03.01 Isolationism, Intervention, and Imperialism: Assignment

Imperialism is the policy of extending the role of authority of a nation over a foreign country, usually in material gain. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States went through an era of imperialism. At the time, the US was quite powerful, but was looking to continue to spread their territory, make themselves even stronger, and have multiple trade routes to have all the resources they needed and wanted.

Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Imperialism played a huge role in the causes of world war I and was mostly from Germany and Serbia. This also means smaller states had to fight for freedom or life. Through this most imperialists

What is foreign Imperialism? Foreign Imperialism is when a country (or countries) seeks to expand their nation or sphere of influence into other nations. This usually involves military force and even war. During the 1800s and the early 1900s, both China and Japan were victims of foreign imperialism. Early on, both nations were kept secluded from other powers through various trading and travel restrictions. A closed door policy was created by each nation in fear of western powers invading their land. This restricted trading to specific ports and also the traveling of both citizens and foreigners. These policies did not hold up forever, however with China’s ending after the Opium Wars and Japan’s being abolished by force from other nations and during the Meiji Restoration.

During the 1890’s, the United States began building and advancing their economy, as well as focusing more independently on becoming an even more powerful nation. Not only did the Americans begin to create a stronger national military and navy, they also began to look overseas towards the Pacific Ocean for resources and territories; this is when America began to look less like a national power and more like an imperial power. There were many reasons as to why the United States began to expand between 1880-1929, two of which include the military opportunities countries abroad had to offer, such as Pearl Harbor, as well as the domestic and political objectives the U.S. felt obligated to fulfill. Although, there were many important reasons for the United States to began to expand, the most significant reason for the expansionist foreign policy was the economic resources and opportunities other foreign countries had to offer the U.S.

Not only would it become the ‘most favored nation’ with its Open Door Policy with China (Doc G- “American Diplomacy”), it would also expand and increase its power in the Western Hemisphere. Despite America’s refusal to admit its purpose in competing for land, the expansion into territories of the Western Hemisphere, such as with Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, along with the creation of the Panama Canal, proved otherwise. Power meant territory and as naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan would emphasize, power in the Pacific with control over naval bases, harbors, and a strong naval force (Doc C- The Interest of America in Sea Power by Alfred Thayer Mahan), would make America invincible, both economically in terms of trade and politically in terms of territorial

sphere of influence- Foreign Region that reach a nation has control over trade and economic activities

In the late 1890's, the United States experiences imperialistic feelings rise again. The country as a whole feared our resources running out, so there was an increase in foreign trade. The intellectual justification for the idea of the New Manifest Destiny was social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest. In Latin America, the United States sided with Venezuela against Britain over border disputes; we were willing to go to war with Britain on the matter and we were protecting our own interests there. In 1898, France and Britain annexed Hawaii to the United States, which was an

After the Civil War, the United States struggled to keep up with other countries in the world. While figuring out how fix the corruption in the American government, the other countries were practicing imperialism. Imperialism is a policy by which strong nations extend their political, military, and economic control over weaker territories. Realizing that we needed to make a change, the United States started working towards the goal of practicing imperialism as well. To do this, our first few targets were Hawaii and Alaska. In 1867, we sought to buy Alaska because they had resources that we wanted, such as lumber and minerals. This was known as Seward’s Folly after the Secretary of State William Seward. In 1898, our desire of Hawaii was fulfilled when they agreed to annexation. However, this was not without struggle. King Kalakaua of Hawaii wanted the white planters to vote, but when he died, his sister, Queen Liliuokalani reversed his decision. She took away the power of whites, which eventually led to her being overthrown with the help of the United States Marines. The Hawaiian people opposed annexation, but when Mckinley became president, Hawaii was declared American territory. Sanford B. Doyle, a white plantation owner who asked for the annexation, became the first governor of Hawaii. This addition into American territory drastically influenced our economy.

The United States has progressed economically and as a result methods of expansionism have evolved but it also tried to stay with the ideals of the forefathers. In Document C the importance of naval power is expressed and it outlines the obligations: the

America wanted to expand their foreign policy to help boost their economy. They felt threatened because not only did they have to compete with countries like Germany and Japan to secure access to Chinese markets. The first foreign policy the U.S. had was the Monroe Doctrine, which closed the Western Hemisphere to further colonization from European countries. This secured the U.S. foreign trade with Central America. The American foreign policy warned European nations to stay away from the Western Hemisphere while the U.S. also competed for trade in the Eastern Hemisphere.

1899 marked the year when America set its sites from the Spanish to the First Philippine Republic plunging American into yet another war ending with the temporary annexation of the Philippine Islands spreading American imperialism to the Far East. Within one year of winning their independence from

| The United States and Europe claimed political power over the Polynesian Islands which led to the United States overthrowing the individual monarchies of the islands.

Imperialism is the domination of a weaker country by a stronger country. For instance Britain dominated India and China in the mid 1880s to the beginning of the 20th century. Imperialism has had both a positive and negative effects on the countries involved. Britain was imperialistic for many reasons, it could dominate because it had the technology and power to do so. They also needed land to acquire raw materials for growing markets.

expanding it boarders in the early and mid 1800’s. Throughout the world in the 1880’s there was a large need for countries to gain places where they could get natural resources. Almost every Western European Nation was in need to imperialize. Examples of this were the scramble for Africa, and the spheres of influence. The cartoonist Thomas Nast depicts this in his cartoon “The worlds plunder” which appeared in Harper’s weekly in 1885. America’s need to I imperialize was similar to that of Europe. The way the U.S. went about gaining markets was no different then what they had done before to gain land. The U.S. looked to fighting to gain land and when they saw the Cubans wanted independence from Spain the U.S. looked to help Cuba to get land in return. Throughout the war there was yellow journalism to gain support from the American population. Also when the USS Maine got bombed the American immediately blamed it on Spain. Years later it was found the explosion happened internally and Spain couldn’t have bombed it. The U.S. easily defeats Spain and in return for helping Cuba the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, The Philippines, and Guam. After Cuba Got there independence the U.S. wanted to keep their influence in Cuba so they passed the Platt amendment which made Cuba a protectorate and gave the U.S. a naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also would not let Cuba Make a treaty Without The U.S. The U.S. Justifies their actions for helping Cuba and gaining

The United States had been increasingly interested in China’s economic status, yet the U.S. just had gained the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii as a result of the Spanish-