The Roots of Imperialism

Chapter 18.1

Imperialism
Defined as: the policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker territories. Modern day examples of imperialism?

Factors that led to American Imperialism

Economic competition among industrial nations. Political and military competition, including the creation of a strong naval force.

Factors that led to American Imperialism

A belief in the racial and cultural superiority of people of Anglo-Saxon (English) Decent.

The Hierarchy of Race

Thirst for New Markets

Farms were producing more than ever American needs new markets to sell goods. American factories needed more raw materials for manufacturing.

Thirst for New Markets

Imperialists viewed foreign trade as the solution to overproduction and the related problems of unemployment and economic depression. American exports were $100 million at the end of the Civil War; They were $2.5 billion by 1908.

Thirst for New Markets

Americans had achieved a favorable balance of trade exporting more than importing and had made America a leading economic power.

Desire for Military Strength

Alfred T. Mahan
President of the Naval War College Most outspoken advocate for American military expansion

Desire for Military Strength

Alfred T. Mahan
Wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1600-1783.
Argued for a strong US navy to defend peacetime shipping lanes essential for American economic growth.

Desire for Military Strength

Alfred T. Mahan
Recommendations:
The nation needed strategically located bases where its fleets could refuel. America must develop a modern fleet Establish bases in the Caribbean Construct a canal in Panama Acquire Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

Desire for Military Strength

The US built 9 steel-hulled cruisers between 1883-1890 transformed the US into the worlds third-largest naval power. Modern Fleet American can set out to accomplish the protectionist measures Mahan recommended.

Belief in Anglo-Saxon Superiority

Social Darwinism survival of the fittest American combined the philosophy of Social Darwinism with belief in the racial superiority of the Anglo-Saxons.

Belief in Anglo-Saxon Superiority

American Missionaries in China, 1905

Belief in Anglo-Saxon Superiority

America had a responsibility (White Mans Burden) to spread Christianity and civilization to the inferior peoples of the world.

The White Mans Burden

Opposition to Imperialism
Some objected on moral and practical grounds.
No constitutional protections given to territories claimed by the US. High costs to maintain a military force large enough to protect all the US possessions abroad.

Opposition to Imperialism

The Beginning of US Power in the Pacific

1853 Commodore Matthew Perry sailed with a fleet to Japan to open the nation to trade.

The Japanese View of Commodore Perry

The Beginning of US Power in the Pacific

The Japanese were a very isolated nation, Perrys visit made the Japanese realize that their isolation had resulted in falling behind in military technology.

The Beginning of US Power in the Pacific

US Power in the Pacific 1853 Japan opened to trade 1867 Midway Islands acquired 1875-1887 Pearl Harbor basing rights in Hawaii

Sewards Folly
Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. (2.3 cents per acre)

Sewards Folly
The purchase almost doubled the size of the nation. The purchase was not immediately beneficial, but Alaska was rich in natural resources and expanded Americas reach into the Pacific.

US Acquires Hawaii
Hawaii was economically and geographically important to the US.

US Acquires Hawaii
Sugar Merchants changed Hawaii
By the mid-1800s American-owned sugar plantations owned of the land in Hawaii. Plantation owners bring thousands of immigrants to work on their farms. By 1900, foreigners outnumbered native Hawaiians 4:1

US Acquires Hawaii
Farmers ties with the US
1875 a treaty is passed that allowed the sale of Hawaiian sugar in the US without duties. 1887 the US pushed the Hawaiian government to allow construction of an American naval base at Pearl Harbor.

US Acquires Hawaii
Farmers take control of Hawaiian politics
Force King Kalakaua to change the Hawaiian constitution so that only the white plantation owners had voting rights. The change essentially hands control of the government over to the wealthy plantation owners.

US Acquires Hawaii
McKinley Tariff of 1890
Eliminated the duty-free status of Hawaiian sugar.
This makes Hawaiian sugar producers compete with foreign sugar producers (Cuba)

Farmers want the US to annex Hawaii so that they could sell their sugar duty-free.

US Deposes Queen Liliuokalani

Queen Liliuokalani is coronated following the death of the King.

US Deposes Queen Liliuokalani

She proposes changing the Hawaiian Constitution to remove the property requirement; this would have restored the control of the government to the native Hawaiian population.

US Deposes Queen Liliuokalani

January 16, 1893
USS Boston arrives in Honolulu Harbor
Marines sent in to protect American property and citizens. Volunteer troops took over government buildings, imprison the Queen in her palace, and established a provisional government with Sanford Dole as President.

Republic of Hawaii Established

The US Ambassador to Hawaii immediately recognized the legitimacy of the Republic of Hawaii. Stevens sent a commission to Washington, D.C. and asked that the US annex the Hawaiian Islands.

Republic of Hawaii Established

President Cleveland didnt buy the story that Ambassador Stevens was selling, and refused to annex the Hawaiian Islands he also wanted the Queen restored to the throne.

Republic of Hawaii Established

The Presidential election of 1897 brought William McKinley into the White House, and with him, the annexation of Hawaii was guaranteed.

Republic of Hawaii Established

August 12, 1898 Congress proclaimed Hawaii an American territory.
Hawaiians were never given the option to vote on the annexation, as President Cleveland had insisted.

Hawaiian Annexation Ceremony, 1898