Imperialism and Expansion

Beyond Westward Expansion

We are a great imperial Republic destined to exercise a controlling influence upon the actions of mankind and to affect the future of the world.”

-Influential newspaper editor Henry Wallace, 1894

Mass Immigration

Population Explosion

The Modern and Civilizedvs.

The Ancient and Primitive

“Dwellings used by cannibals”

Portland – 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition

Problem:

1893 Depression

Problem:

“The Frontier is Closed”

Frederick Jackson Turner

Problem:

Surplus of Goods

Solutions:

1) Expand borders

2) Build a canal to improve trade

3) Catch up with other empires

4) Tap into new markets

5) Open door policy

Economic Problems

The Open-Door PolicyThree* Groups

1) Imperialist = expansion

2) Anti-Imperialists = non-expansion

3) Third group = oppose traditional colonialism but favor economic expansion. Businessmen, politicians, intellectuals. “informal empire”

*????????????

Tough Guys“I want my war!”

A.T. Mahan• Naval Dominance

Henry Cabot Lodge• Social Darwinist

Theodore Roosevelt• War was natural

• Monroe Doctrine

“The great nations are rapidly absorbing…all the waste places of the earth. It is a movement which makes for civilization and the advancement of the race. As one of the great nations of the world, the United States must not fall out of the line of march”

-Henry Cabot Lodge

Social Darwinism•Survival of the “fittest” humans

•Eugenics

Scientific Racism - Skulls measurements “proved” superiority

“By the nearly unanimous consent of anthropologists this type [the pure Negro of central Africa] occupies the lowest position in the evolutionary scale…The attempt to suddenly transform the Negro mind by foreign culture must be as futile as the attempt would be to suddenly transform his physical type.”-

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1884

Hawaii

The Spanish American War: Cuban Revolt1869-1898

Jose MartiMaximo GomezGeneral Valeriano WeylerYellow Journalism

Hearst vs. PulitzerUSS Maine

Jose Marti, Cuban national hero

HUNGRY, FRANTIC FLAMES. They Leap Madly Upon the Splendid Pleasure Palace by the Bay of Monterey, Encircling Del Monte in Their Ravenous Embrace From Pinnacle to Foundation. Leaping Higher, Higher, Higher, With Desperate Desire. Running Madly Riotous Through Cornice, Archway and Facade. Rushing in Upon the Trembling Guests with Savage Fury. Appalled and Panic-Striken the Breathless Fugitives Gaze Upon the Scene of Terror. The Magnificent Hotel and Its Rich Adornments Now a Smoldering heap of Ashes. The "Examiner" Sends a Special Train to Monterey to Gather Full Details of the Terrible Disaster. Arrival of the Unfortunate Victims on the Morning's Train — A History of Hotel del Monte — The Plans for Rebuilding the Celebrated Hostelry — Pariculars and Supposed Origin of the Fire

Media and Yellow JournalismHearst vs. Pulitzer

• Yellow Journalism

• “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war” William Randolph Hearst

Death Sells• Reconcentrados

• “Cuban Babes Prey to Famine”

• “Thousands of Children of the Reconcentrados”

• “Perishing in Island TownsSights that Sicken Strong Men”

http://www.humboldt.edu/~jcb10/spanwar.shtml

The Spanish-American War: Cuba

Fear of a black government

Teller Amendment 1898• Supported by anti-imperialists and open door-ists.

• No annexation of Cuba

House keys?