what caused or pushed america to become an imperial power

American Imperialism

"American imperialism" is a term that refers to the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United States internationally.

Learning Objectives

Define American imperialism

Key Takeaways

Cardinal Points

• The late nineteenth century was known as the "Age of Imperialism," a time when the United States and other major world powers speedily expanded their territorial possessions.
• American imperialism is partly based on American exceptionalism, the thought that the The states is different from other countries because of its specific world mission to spread freedom and republic.
• One of the most notable instances of American imperialism was the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, which allowed the United States to proceeds possession and control of all ports, buildings, harbors, armed forces equipment, and public property that had belonged to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands.
• Some groups, such as the American Anti-Imperialist League, opposed imperialism on the grounds that it conflicted with the American ideal of Republicans and the "consent of the governed."

Fundamental Terms

• Social Darwinism: An ideology that seeks to use biological concepts of Darwinism or evolutionary theory to sociology and politics, oftentimes under the assumption that conflict betwixt societal groups leads to social progress, every bit superior groups surpass inferior ones.
• American Exceptionalism: A belief, cardinal to American political culture since the Revolution, that Americans have a unique mission among nations to spread freedom and republic.
• The American Anti-Imperialist League: An organisation established in the U.s. on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines equally an insular area.
• American Imperialism: A term that refers to the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United states of america on other countries.

Expansion and Power

"American imperialism" is a term that refers to the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United states on other countries. Showtime popularized during the presidency of James M. Polk, the concept of an "American Empire" was made a reality throughout the latter half of the 1800s. During this fourth dimension, industrialization caused American businessmen to seek new international markets in which to sell their goods. In addition, the increasing influence of social Darwinism led to the conventionalities that the United States was inherently responsible for bringing concepts such as industry, democracy, and Christianity to less adult "savage" societies. The combination of these attitudes and other factors led the U.s. toward imperialism.

"Ten Thousand Miles from Tip to Tip": "X Thousand Miles from Tip to Tip," refers to the extension of U.S. domination (symbolized by a bald hawkeye) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines. The cartoon contrasts the 1898 representation with that of the United States in 1798.

American imperialism is partly rooted in American exceptionalism, the idea that the United states is different from other countries due to its specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy. This theory often is traced back to the words of 1800s French observer Alexis de Tocqueville, who concluded that the United states of america was a unique nation, "proceeding along a path to which no limit can exist perceived."

Pinpointing the actual showtime of American imperialism is hard. Some historians advise that it began with the writing of the Constitution; historian Donald W. Meinig argues that the majestic behavior of the The states dates dorsum to at least the Louisiana Purchase. He describes this event as an, "aggressive encroachment of one people upon the territory of another, resulting in the subjugation of that people to conflicting rule." Here, he is referring to the U.S. policies toward Native Americans, which he said were, "designed to remold them into a people more than appropriately conformed to imperial desires."

Uncle Sam education the world: This caricature shows Uncle Sam lecturing four children labelled "Philippines," "Hawaii," "Puerto Rico," and "Cuba" in front end of children holding books labeled with various U.S. states. In the groundwork, an American Indian holds a book upside down, a Chinese male child stands at the door, and a black male child cleans a window. The blackboard reads, "The consent of the governed is a good thing in theory, only very rare in fact… the U.S. must govern its new territories with or without their consent until they tin govern themselves."

Whatever its origins, American imperialism experienced its pinnacle from the tardily 1800s through the years following Earth War 2. During this "Historic period of Imperialism," the United States exerted political, social, and economical control over countries such equally the Philippines, Cuba, Germany, Austria, Korea, and Japan. 1 of the virtually notable examples of American imperialism in this age was the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, which allowed the The states to proceeds possession and control of all ports, buildings, harbors, armed forces equipment, and public property that had formally belonged to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands. On January 17, 1893, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani, was deposed in a coup d'état led largely by American citizens who were opposed to Liliuokalani'southward effort to establish a new Constitution. This activity eventually resulted in Hawaii's becoming America'due south 50th state in 1959.

Opposition to Imperialism

The American Anti-Imperialist League was an arrangement established in the United States on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The League also argued that the Castilian-American War was a war of imperialism camouflaged as a war of liberation. The anti-imperialists opposed the expansion because they believed imperialism violated the ideology of republicanism, especially the need for "consent of the governed." They did not oppose expansion on commercial, constitutional, religious, or humanitarian grounds; rather, they believed that the annexation and administration of 3rd-world tropical areas would mean the abandonment of American ideals of self-regime and isolation—ideals expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, George Washington 'due south Farewell Address, and Abraham Lincoln 's Gettysburg Address. The Anti-Imperialist League represented an older generation and was rooted in an earlier era; they were defeated in terms of public stance, the 1900 election, and the deportment of Congress and the president because most younger Progressives who were simply coming to ability supported imperialism.

The Spanish-American War

The Castilian-American War was a three-calendar month-long conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States.

Learning Objectives

Clarify the Spanish-American War

Fundamental Takeaways

Key Points

• The Spanish-American War was the consequence of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence with Spain.
• The war served to further repair relations between the American Due north and Southward. The war gave both sides a common enemy for the first fourth dimension since the end of the Civil War in 1865, and many friendships were formed betwixt soldiers of Northern and Southern states during their tours of duty.
• The war marked American entry into earth affairs. Since and then, the Usa has had a significant hand in various conflicts around the world, and has entered into many treaties and agreements.
• The defeat of Spain marked the terminate of the Spanish Empire.

Central Terms

• expansionism: The policy of expanding a nation'southward territory or its economic influence.

Overview

The Castilian-American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United states of america. It was the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. American attacks on Espana'southward Pacific possessions led to U.Southward. involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine-American War.

Background

Revolts against Spanish rule had been owned for decades in Republic of cuba and were closely watched by Americans. With the abolition of slavery in 1886, former slaves joined the ranks of farmers and the urban working class, many wealthy Cubans lost their property, and the number of sugar mills declined. Simply companies and the nigh powerful plantation owners remained in concern, and during this flow, U.S. financial capital began flowing into the country. Although it remained Spanish territory politically, Cuba started to depend on the United States economically. Coincidentally, around the same fourth dimension, Cuba saw the ascension of labor movements.

Following his second deportation to Spain in 1878, revolutionary José Martí moved to the United States in 1881. There he mobilized the support of the Cuban exile community, especially in southern Florida. He aimed for a revolution and independence from Espana, only also lobbied against the U.S. annexation of Cuba, which some American and Cuban politicians desired.

By 1897–1898, American public opinion grew angrier at reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba. After the mysterious sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor, political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war he had wished to avert. Compromise proved impossible, resulting in the United States sending an ultimatum to Spain that demanded information technology immediately give up control of Cuba, which the Spanish rejected. Outset Madrid, so Washington, formally alleged war.

The War

Although the master issue was Cuban independence, the 10-week state of war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. American naval power proved decisive, allowing U.S. expeditionary forces to disembark in Republic of cuba against a Spanish garrison already reeling from nationwide insurgent attacks and wasted by xanthous fever.

The Spanish-American War was swift and decisive. During the war's three-calendar month duration, not a unmarried American opposite of any importance occurred. A week afterwards the declaration of war, Commodore George Dewey of the six-warship Asiatic Squadron (then based at Hong Kong) steamed his fleet to the Philippines. Dewey caught the entire Spanish armada at ballast in Manila Bay and destroyed it without losing an American life.

Cuban, Philippine, and American forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila as a result of their numerical superiority in most of the battles and despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and spirited defenses in places such every bit San Juan Hill. Madrid sued for peace after 2 obsolete Spanish squadrons were sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay. A third more than modernistic fleet was recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts.

The Treaty of Paris

The upshot of the state of war was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the United states. It allowed temporary American control of Republic of cuba and indefinite colonial say-so over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines following their buy from Spain. The defeat and collapse of the Castilian Empire was a profound shock to Kingdom of spain's national psyche, and provoked a movement of thoroughgoing philosophical and artistic reevaluation of Spanish club known as the "Generation of '98." The victor gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which caused a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism.

Legacy of the War

"La Fatlera del Oncle Sam": A Catalan satirical drawing, published in La Campana de Gràcia (1896), criticizing U.Due south. behavior regarding Cuba.

The war marked American entry into world affairs. Before the Spanish-American State of war, the U.s. was characterized by isolationism, an arroyo to foreign policy that asserts that a nation'south interests are all-time served past keeping the affairs of other countries at a distance. Since the Spanish-American War, the United States has had a significant hand in various conflicts effectually the globe, and has entered many treaties and agreements. The Panic of 1893 was over past this bespeak, and the United States entered a long and prosperous menses of economic and population growth and technological innovation that lasted through the 1920s. The war redefined national identity, served as a solution of sorts to the social divisions plaguing the American mind, and provided a model for all time to come news reporting.

The war besides finer concluded the Spanish Empire. Spain had been declining equally an imperial power since the early nineteenth century every bit a outcome of Napoleon's invasion. The loss of Republic of cuba caused a national trauma considering of the affinity of peninsular Spaniards with Cuba, which was seen as another province of Spain rather than as a colony. Spain retained only a handful of overseas holdings: Spanish Westward Africa, Castilian Guinea, Spanish Sahara, Spanish Kingdom of morocco, and the Canary Islands.

Markets and Missionaries

Progressive Era evangelism included stiff political, social, and economic messages, which urged adherents to improve their society.

Learning Objectives

Identify the Social Gospel motility and the American Missionary Association

Fundamental Takeaways

Central Points

• The Social Gospel was the religious wing of the Progressive motility, which aimed to combat injustice, suffering, and poverty in social club.
• The American Missionary Association established schools and colleges for African Americans in the post-Ceremonious State of war catamenia.
• The Social Gospel motility was not a unified and well-focused motion, equally there were disagreements among members.

Key Terms

• Social Gospel: A Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early twentieth-century U.s.a. and Canada that applied Christian ethics to social problems.
• American Missionary Association: An arrangement supporting the education of freed blacks that founded hundreds of schools and colleges.
• Evangelical: Of or relating to any of several Christian churches that believe in the sole dominance of the gospels.

The Social Gospel Movement

The Social Gospel was a Protestant motility that was well-nigh prominent in the early twentieth-century United States and Canada. The movement applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such equally economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environments, child labor, inadequate labor unions, poor schools, and the danger of war.

In the United States, prior to World War I, the Social Gospel was the religious fly of the Progressive motility, which aimed to combat injustice, suffering, and poverty in club. Denver, Colorado, was a middle of Social Gospel activism. Thomas Uzzell led the Methodist People'southward Tabernacle from 1885 to 1910. He established a free dispensary for medical emergencies, an employment bureau for job seekers, a summer camp for children, night schools for extended learning, and English language classes. Myron Reed of the First Congregational Church building became a spokesman for labor unions on bug such every bit worker'south compensation. His middle-class congregation encouraged Reed to move on when he became a Socialist, and he organized a nondenominational church building. Baptist minister Jim Goodhart gear up up an employment bureau, and provided food and lodging for tramps and hobos at the mission he ran. He became metropolis clergyman and manager of public welfare of Denver in 1918. In addition to these Protestants, Reform Jews and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early twentieth century.

Walter Rauschenbusch and Dwight Moody

Pastor Dwight Moody, ca.1900: Portrait of Pastor Dwight Moody: preacher, evangelist, and publisher in the Social Gospel move.

Ane of the defining theologians for the Social Gospel movement was Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist pastor of a congregation located in Hell's Kitchen in New York Metropolis. Rauschenbusch railed against what he regarded as the selfishness of commercialism and promoted a form of Christian Socialism that supported the creation of labor unions and cooperative economics.

While pastors such equally Rauschenbusch were combining their expertise in Biblical ethics and economic studies and inquiry to preach theological claims around the need for social reform, others such as Dwight Moody refused to preach about social issues based on personal experience. Pastor Moody'due south experience led him to believe that the poor were too particular in receiving charity. Moody claimed that concentrating on social aid distracted people from the life-saving message of the Gospel.

Rauschenbusch sought to address the problems of the city with Socialist ideas that proved to be frightening to the center classes, the primary supporters of the Social Gospel. In dissimilarity, Moody attempted to save people from the city and was very effective in influencing middle-form Americans who were moving into the city with traditional style revivals.

The American Missionary Clan

The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist grouping founded on September 3, 1846, in Albany, New York. The master purpose of this organization was to abolish slavery, educate African Americans, abet for racial equality, and promote Christian values. Its members and leaders were both black and white and chiefly affiliated with Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches.

The AMA started The American Missionary magazine, which published from 1846 through 1934. Among its efforts was the founding of antislavery churches. For instance, the abolitionist Owen Lovejoy was among the Congregational ministers of the AMA who helped plant 115 antislavery churches in Illinois before the American Civil War, aided past the strong westward migration of individuals from the East. While the AMA became notable in the Usa for its work in opposition to slavery and in back up of didactics for freed men, it also worked in missions in numerous nations overseas. The nineteenth-century missionary effort was potent in China and east asia.

Legacy

While the Social Gospel was brusque-lived historically, it had a lasting impact on the policies of most of the mainline denominations in the United states. Most began programs for social reform, which led to ecumenical cooperation in 1910 during the germination of the Federal Quango of Churches (although cooperation regarding social issues ofttimes led to charges of Socialism). It is likely that the Social Gospel'southward strong sense of leadership by the people led to women'southward suffrage, and that the emphasis it placed on morality led to prohibition. Biographer Randall Woods argues that Social Gospel themes learned from childhood allowed Lyndon B. Johnson to transform social problems into moral problems. This helps explain his longtime commitment to social justice, as exemplified past the Great Society, and his delivery to racial equality. The Social Gospel explicitly inspired his foreign-policy approach of a sort of Christian internationalism and nation building.

The Open Door Policy

The Open Door Policy aimed to keep the Chinese trade market open up to all countries on an equal basis.

Learning Objectives

Identify the Open up Door Policy and the Monroe Doctrine

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The Open Door Policy was established in 1899 and stated that all European nations and the United States could merchandise with China with equal continuing.
• The Monroe Doctrine stated that efforts by European nations to colonize or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression toward the United States and that the United States would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal European affairs.

Key Terms

• Open Door Policy: A doctrine that governed the human relationship between China and the royal powers (Britain, France, Frg, Italian republic, Russia, America, and Nippon) during the early 1900s. The policy forbade the imperial powers from taking Chinese territory and from interfering with one some other'south economic activities in China.
• Monroe Doctrine: A U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the Americas, which aimed to gratis the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention.

The "Open up Door Policy" refers to a U.S. doctrine established in the belatedly nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, equally expressed in Secretary of State John Hay's "Open Door Note," dated September half-dozen, 1899, and dispatched to the major European powers. The policy proposed to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, keeping any one power from total control of the state, and calling upon all powers, within their spheres of influence, to refrain from interfering with whatever treaty port or whatever vested involvement, to permit Chinese regime to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their ain nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad charges.

The Open up Door policy was rooted in the want of U.S. businesses to trade with Chinese markets, though the policy's pledging to protect China'due south sovereignty and territorial integrity from partition also tapped the deep-seated sympathies of those who opposed imperialism. In practice, the policy had niggling legal standing; it was mainly used to mediate competing interests of the colonial powers without much meaningful input from the Chinese, which created lingering resentment and caused it to be seen later as a symbol of national humiliation past many Chinese historians.

Formation of the Policy

During the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Prc faced an imminent threat of being partitioned and colonized by imperialist powers such as Britain, France, Russian federation, Japan, and Germany. Subsequently winning the Spanish-American War of 1898, and with the newly acquired territory of the Philippine Islands, the The states increased its Asian presence and was expecting to farther its commercial and political interest in China. The United States felt threatened by other powers' much larger spheres of influence in People's republic of china and worried that information technology might lose admission to the Chinese market place should the state exist partitioned.

Every bit a response, William Woodville Rockhill formulated the Open Door Policy to safeguard American business organization opportunities and other interests in China. On September 6, 1899, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay sent notes to the major powers (France, Germany, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, Italia, Japan, and Russia), asking them to declare formally that they would uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the treaty ports within their spheres of influence in China. The Open Door Policy stated that all nations, including the United states, could savour equal access to the Chinese marketplace.

In reply, each country tried to evade Hay's request, taking the position that it could not commit itself until the other nations had complied. However, by July 1900, Hay appear that each of the powers had granted consent in principle. Although treaties made after 1900 refer to the Open Door Policy, competition amidst the various powers for special concessions inside Red china for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, strange trade ports, then along, continued unabated.

The Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine was a U.Southward. foreign policy regarding domination of the Americas in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize country or interfere with states in North or Due south America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.South. intervention. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the The states would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The Doctrine was issued in 1823 at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Kingdom of spain and Portugal had achieved, or were at the point of gaining, independence from the Portuguese and Spanish Empires.

Monroe Doctrine: A 1912 paper cartoon virtually the Monroe Doctrine.

President James Monroe starting time stated the doctrine during his 7th-annual State of the Marriage Accost to Congress. The term "Monroe Doctrine" itself was coined in 1850. By the cease of the nineteenth century, Monroe'southward declaration was seen as a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and i of its longest-standing tenets. It would exist invoked by many U.S. statesmen and several U.S. presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and many others.

The intent and impact of the Monroe Doctrine persisted with only minor variations for more than than a century. Its stated objective was to complimentary the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and avoid situations that could make the New Globe a battlefield for the One-time World powers, and so that the The states could exert its own influence undisturbed. The doctrine asserted that the New World and the One-time Earth were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, for they were composed of entirely separate and independent nations.

Inherent in the Monroe Doctrine are the themes of American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny, 2 ideas that refer to the right of the United States to exert its influence over the rest of the world. Under these conditions, the Monroe Doctrine was used to justify American intervention abroad multiple times throughout the nineteenth century, near notably in the Castilian-American War and with the looting of Hawaii.

The Philippine-American War

The Philippine-American War was an armed disharmonize that resulted in American colonial rule of the Philippines until 1946.

Learning Objectives

Analyze the Philippine-American War

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The Philippine-American War was part of a serial of conflicts in the Philippine struggle for independence, preceded by the Philippine Revolution (1896) and the Castilian-American War.
• The conflict arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence post-obit annexation past the United States.
• The war and U.Due south. occupation inverse the cultural landscape of the islands. Examples of this include the disestablishment of the Cosmic Church building as the Philippine state religion and the introduction of the English language equally the primary linguistic communication of government and concern.
• The United states officially took command of the Philippines in 1902. In 1916, the United states promised some self-government, a limited grade of which was established in 1935. In 1946, post-obit Globe War II, the The states gave the territory independence through the Treaty of Manila.

Key Terms

• Philippine Revolution of 1896: An armed conflict in which Philippine revolutionaries tried to win national independence from Spanish colonial dominion. Power struggles among the revolutionaries and conflict with Spanish forces connected throughout the Spanish-American State of war.
• Battle of Manila: The battle that began the Philippine-American State of war of 1899.
• American Anti-Imperialist League: A U.Southward. organization that opposed American control of the Philippines and viewed it equally a violation of republican principles. The group besides believed in complimentary trade, the golden standard, and limited government.

The Philippine-American War, too known as the "Philippine War of Independence" or the "Philippine Insurrection" (1899–1902), was an armed conflict betwixt the United states of america and Filipino revolutionaries. The conflict arose after the Philippine Revolution of 1896, from the First Philippine Republic'due south struggle to proceeds independence post-obit annexation by the U.s.a..

The disharmonize arose when the First Philippine Republic objected to the terms of the Treaty of Paris, nether which the Us took possession of the Philippines from Spain after the Spanish-American State of war.

The Battle of Manila: The Boxing of Manila, February 1899.

Fighting erupted betwixt U.S. and Filipino revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899, and chop-chop escalated into the 1899 Boxing of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the Us. The state of war officially ended on July 2, 1902, with a victory for the The states. Yet, some Philippine groups led by veterans of the Katipunan continued to battle the American forces. Amidst those leaders was General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan fellow member who causeless the presidency of the proclaimed "Tagalog Republic," formed in 1902 after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo. Other groups, including the Moro people and Pulahanes people, continued hostilities in remote areas and islands until their final defeat a decade later at the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.

Impact and Legacy

Filipino soldiers: Filipino soldiers outside Manila in 1899.

The war with and occupation by the Usa would change the cultural landscape of the islands. The state of war resulted in an estimated 34,000 to 220,000 Philippine casualties (with more than civilians dying from illness and hunger brought about by state of war); the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church as the state religion; and the introduction of the English linguistic communication in the islands as the principal language of government, education, business, and industry, and increasingly in future decades, of families and educated individuals.

Under the 1902 "Philippine Organic Act," passed by the U.Southward. Congress, Filipinos initially were given very limited cocky-government, including the right to vote for some elected officials such as a Philippine Associates. Only it was not until xiv years later, with the passage of the 1916 Philippine Autonomy Human action (or "Jones Human action"), that the United States officially promised eventual independence, forth with more Philippine control in the meantime over the Philippines. The 1934 Philippine Independence Human action created in the following year the Republic of the Philippines, a limited form of independence, and established a process ending in Philippine independence (originally scheduled for 1944, but interrupted and delayed by Globe War II). Finally in 1946, following World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the Usa granted independence through the Treaty of Manila.

American Opposition

Some Americans, notably William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Ernest Crosby, and other members of the American Anti-Imperialist League, strongly objected to the annexation of the Philippines. Anti-imperialist movements claimed that the United States had go a colonial power by replacing Kingdom of spain every bit the colonial power in the Philippines. Other anti-imperialists opposed annexation on racist grounds. Amidst these was Senator Benjamin Tillman of Due south Carolina, who feared that annexation of the Philippines would lead to an influx of nonwhite immigrants into the Usa. As news of atrocities committed in subduing the Philippines arrived in the United States, support for the war flagged.

The Banana Wars

The Banana Wars were a series of U.South. military occupations and interventions in Latin American and Caribbean countries during the early 1900s.

Learning Objectives

Clarify the Assistant Wars

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts and military interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean acquired or influenced by the United States to protect its commercial interests. Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, United mexican states, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic were all venues of conflicts.
• The United Fruit Company and the Standard Fruit Company had pregnant commercial stakes and influence in Latin America and were behind many of the conflicts.

Key Terms

• Roosevelt Corollary: An extension to the Monroe Doctrine articulated by President Theodore Roosevelt that states that the U.s.a. will arbitrate in conflicts between European nations and Latin American countries to enforce legitimate claims of the European powers, rather than allowing the Europeans to press their claims directly.
• United Fruit Company: An American company that sold fruit produced on Latin and Southward American plantations to North American and European markets. Along with the Standard Fruit Company, it dominated the economies and strongly influenced the governments of Latin American countries.

The Banana Wars, too known as the "American-Caribbean Wars," were a series of occupations, police actions, and interventions involving the United states of america in Central America and the Caribbean. This period of conflict started with the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the subsequent Treaty of Paris, which gave the United states of america control of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Thereafter, the United states conducted military interventions in Cuba, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The series of conflicts ended with the withdrawal of troops from Haiti in 1934 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Reasons for these conflicts were varied simply were largely economic in nature. The conflict was called the "Banana Wars" because of the connections between U.S. interventions and the preservation of American commercial interests in the region.

United Fruit Company Steamship Service: A 1916 ad for the United Fruit Company Steamship Service.

Most prominently, the United Fruit Visitor had significant financial stakes in the product of bananas, tobacco, saccharide pikestaff, and diverse other products throughout the Caribbean area, Central America, and northern S America. The United States also was advancing its political interests, maintaining a sphere of influence and controlling the Panama Canal, which it had recently built and which was critically of import to global trade and naval power.

Panama and the Culvert

In 1882, Ferdinand de Lesseps started piece of work on a canal, only by 1889, the attempt had experienced engineering challenges acquired by frequent landslides, slippage of equipment, and mud, and resulted in bankruptcy. U.South. President Theodore Roosevelt convinced Congress to accept on the abased works in 1902, while Colombia was in the midst of the Thousand Days' War. During the war, Panamanian Liberals fabricated at least iii attempts to seize control of Panama and potentially achieve full autonomy. Liberal guerrillas such as Belisario Porras and Victoriano Lorenzo were suppressed by a collaboration between conservative Colombian and U.S. forces under the Mallarino-Bidlack Treaty. The Roosevelt administration proposed to Colombia that the The states should control the culvert, simply by mid-1903, the Colombian government refused. The United states of america then changed tactics.

Less than iii weeks later on, on November 18, 1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed between Frenchman Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, who had promptly been appointed Panamanian ambassador to the U.s. (representing Panamanian interests), and the U.S. Secretarial assistant of State John Hay. The treaty immune for the structure of a canal and U.S. sovereignty over a strip of land 10-miles wide and fifty-miles long on either side of the Panama Culvert Zone. In that zone, the United States would build a culvert, so administer, fortify, and defend information technology "in perpetuity."

Honduras and American Fruit Companies

Republic of honduras, where the United Fruit Visitor and Standard Fruit Company dominated the land'southward primal banana export sector and associated land holdings and railways, saw the insertion of American troops in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924, and 1925. The writer O. Henry coined the term "banana republic" in 1904 to draw Republic of honduras.

The first decades of Honduras's history were marked past instability in terms of politics and economy. Indeed, the political context gave way to 210 armed conflicts between independence and the ascent to power of the Carias authorities. This instability was due in office to American interest in the country.

The beginning company that concluded an understanding with the Honduras government was the Vaccaro Brothers Visitor (Standard Fruit Company). The Cuyamel Fruit Company so followed that lead. The United Fruit Visitor as well agreed to a contract with the government, which was attained through its subsidies (the Tela Rail Road Company and Truxillo Track Road Company).

Different avenues led to the signature of a contract between the Honduras government and the American companies. The well-nigh popular avenue was to obtain a grab on a slice of state in exchange for the completion of railroads in Honduras; this explains why a railroad company conducted the understanding between the United Fruit Company and Honduras. The ultimate goal in the acquisition of a contract was to command the bananas, from product to distribution. Therefore, the American companies would finance guerrilla fighters, presidential campaigns, and governments.

Mexico

The U.S. military machine involvements with Mexico in this period are related to the aforementioned general commercial and political causes, merely stand as a special instance. The Americans conducted the Border War with Mexico from 1910 to 1919 for additional reasons: to control the catamenia of immigrants and refugees from revolutionary Mexico (pacificos), and to counter insubordinate raids into U.S. territory. The 1914 U.S. occupation of Veracruz, nevertheless, was an exercise of armed influence, not an issue of edge integrity; it was aimed at cutting off the supplies of German munitions to the government of Mexican leader Victoriano Huerta, whom U.Due south. President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize. In the years prior to World War I, the U.s. also was sensitive to the regional remainder of power against Deutschland. The Germans were actively arming and advising the Mexicans, as demonstrated by the 1914 SS Ypiranga arms-aircraft incident, the establishment of German saboteur Lothar Witzke'due south base in Mexico Metropolis, the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram, and the presence of German advisors during the 1918 Battle of Ambos Nogales. Only twice during the Mexican Revolution did the U.Southward. military occupy Mexico: during the temporary occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and betwixt the years 1916 and 1917, when U.South. General John Pershing and his army came to Mexico to lead a nationwide search for Pancho Villa.

Other Countries

Other Latin American nations were influenced or dominated past American economic policies and/or commercial interests to the point of compulsion. Theodore Roosevelt declared the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904, asserting the correct of the Usa to intervene to stabilize the economic affairs of states in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts. From 1909 to 1913, President William Howard Taft and his Secretary of Land Philander C. Knox asserted a more "peaceful and economic" Dollar Diplomacy foreign policy, although that, likewise, was backed by force. The U.S. Marine Corps most oft carried out these armed services interventions. The Marines were chosen in so ofttimes that they developed a Small Wars Transmission, The Strategy and Tactics of Small Wars, in 1921. On occasion, U.Southward. Naval gunfire and U.S. Army troops were also used.

baileycounces98.blogspot.com

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/american-imperialism/

Share this post