U.s. Navy As A Symbol Of Power

The Decisions made to buy the Louisiana Purchase were tough; however, in the end the Louisiana Purchase was the most important land purchase in American history. In 1803 the United States had seventeen states along with the Northwest Territory. America still had not reached its potential growth, even though the states were still growing with settlers, until after the Louisiana Purchase. The president at this time was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s decision would soon be the birth of our nation, as well as be the largest land purchase in American history.

Pearl Harbor is a strategically placed naval base located near Honolulu, Hawaii. It defends the United States’ interests in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Japan’s strategy was to expand its empire across Asia capturing parts of China, Singapore, Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. Crippling the U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor would have enabled the Japanese to capture these Asian regions without the interference of the United States Military (Higgs, 2006) (See Appendix B for map of Hawaii and Japan).

Alaska was officially made a state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Many people had forgotten the nickname Alaska once had as “Seward's Folly”; Finally, realizing the importance Alaska had on the United States. The Alaska purchase was proved to be the most important purchase ever transacted by the United States

Imagine you are the President of a rapidly expanding country. If you got offered 530 million acres of land for $15 million, would you buy it? President Thomas Jefferson and his advisers were faced with this exact decision. Thomas Jefferson, envious of France’s New Orleans, sent Monroe and Livingston to Paris with the hope of at least getting the port rights to New Orleans, if incapable of buying it with a budget of $9.3 million. When Livingston and Monroe reached Paris, they were surprised to find Napoleon and his French government not only willing to sell, but almost forcing a sale on the American ambassadors. Not only that, they wanted to sell all 830,000 square miles of the Louisiana Territory, including New Orleans. Constantly expanding and exploring, Livingston and Monroe knew America needed more room to grow. 530 Million acres worth of land would be more than sufficient for 1803 America. At 3 cents per acre, the Louisiana Purchase was a great deal as far as cost is concerned. Before they had even signed the contract sealing the deal, President Thomas Jefferson had already recruited a close friend and fellow botanist, Meriwether Lewis to explore the new Territory. Before the public even knew about the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition had set out. The Louisiana Purchase was a good idea because it provided room for rapidly-expanding America to grow and explore at an incredibly low price but also increased America’s global prowess.

After discovering how the island was conspired into this seizure, Cleveland recommended that the monarchy should be restored. In a message to the Congress, specifically addressing Minister Wallis, Cleveland urged to restore the condition of the island as it was previous to the “lawless landing” of the forces of the United States at the Honolulu. He proposed that “the past should be buried” and the “restored Government should resume its authority” without being affected. But Congress did not act upon this command. In 1894, Hawaii came under Stanford Dole, who, declared himself president of the Republic without much consent from the natives. The queen was placed under house arrest held for the guilt of treason. A fine of $5000 was also placed on her. In 1896, the Republican Party called for the annexation of Hawaii in the presidential election. In 1990, Hawaii legitimately became a U.S. territory under William McKinley, out of fear that it may be annexed by Japan. He also feared that he lacked majority support for the annexation in the Senate. Eventually, several immigrant laborers from all over the world joined the sugar business. Today Hawaii comprises of people belonging to China, Japan, and Portuguese from Madeira and the Azores including Puerto Rican’s, Koreans and Filipinos. This resulted in Hawaii

The United States of America has not always been the world superpower that it is today. The same goes for its Navy. In the first several years of existence, the United States Navy was not a formidable fighting force. The young nation was hesitant to invest in a navy for many reasons, one of them being to prevent provoking the world powers of the time, France and Britain. On top of that, navies were very expensive to build and required a significant amount of resources to maintain, which the U.S. did not have at the time. To say that the United States Navy was ill prepared for war would be a dramatic understatement. The U.S. had a total of fifteen ships in its entire naval fleet compared to the might of the Royal Navy which possessed over six hundred warships. Even with the odds stacked against the U.S., President Madison declared war on 18 JUN 1812. The lack of size and power of the navy at the time would make it extremely difficult to satisfy the needs of the newly founded nation.

As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun. By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup. Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased their navies in this time period. Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the military establishment began to have a greater influence on public policy. This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved to war.

This push against other cultures and beliefs and even degradation of them, would continue later in the late 19th century as well, with the ideas of spreading Christianity, civilization, and education becoming a central motive for American imperialism. They believed, as Josiah Strong did, that the Anglo-Saxon race of America was the “race of unequalled energy” and “the representative of the largest liberty, the purest Christianity, and the highest civilization… [that] will spread itself over the earth” (Doc B- Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis by Josiah Strong). What should also be noted is the Social Darwinist thinking of the time, where the Anglo-Saxon race will rise to the top in the supposed “competition [for] ‘the survival of the fittest’” (Doc B- Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis by Josiah Strong). Social Darwinism

In the mid 1800 there was a boom in sudar crops. It was hard for the Hawaiians to make sugar alone, so they took immigrants from other countries to help the Hawaiians but there was many struggles to in this years of boom.Plantation life in Hawaii in the 1800 was difficult. Living conditions in Hawaii were severely poor, working conditions were painful, and racism was treated unfairly.

As the 20th century began, all the countries were looking to upgrade their arms. The more the countries divided the more the need to increase armed forces became important. Between 1870 and 1914, the armies for France and Germany doubled, and sea master was constantly changing between Britain and Germany. It seemed that each country was coming up with different plans to attack their enemies. (World War One- Causes, 2014)

The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which happened from January 17, 1893 to August 12, 1898, happened because the sugar planters and businessmen wanted more power over the Hawaiian Islands, both economically and politically. These foreigners tried to overthrow the Hawaiian Monarchy by using force, and the Hawaiians tried to stop the act of annexation. During the overthrow, some foreigners, such as Sanford B. Dole, Lorrin A. Thurston, and John L. Stevens, created the Hawaiian League, the Committee of Public Safety, and the Annexation Club to promote annexation on Hawaii. When the United States promoted the McKinley Tariff Act in 1891, it harmed the sugar industry in Hawaii, increasing the calls for annexation. At the same time, King David

I. In year 1867, one vote gave United States the state of Alaska. The 1867 purchase of Alaska was approved by the Senate of America by the margin of just one vote- paving the way