2. American Expansionism:
• Americans had always sought to expand
the size of their nation
• Imperialism – the policy in which
stronger nations extended their
economic, political, or military control
over weaker territories
• With the belief of manifest destiny,
Americans had already pushed their
borders to the Pacific Ocean
• Three factors now fueled the new
American Imperialism
– Desire for military strength
– Thirst for new markets
– Belief in cultural superiority
3. Desire for Military Strength:
• Noticing that other nations were
establishing a global presence,
American leaders pushed for a
build up of military strength
• Admiral Alfred T. Mahan of the
U.S. Navy urged government
officials to build up American
naval power
• As a result, the United States
built nine steel-hulled cruisers
between 1883 and 1890.
4. Desire for Military Strength
continued…
• The creation and
construction of the
battleship (Maine,
Oregon) transformed the
country into the world’s
third largest naval power
• In the early 1900s, the
Navy’s Great White Fleet
was a sign of America’s
growing military power
USS Connecticut leads the
way for the Great White
Fleet in 1907.
5. Thirst for New Markets:
• In the late 19th
century, advances in technology
enabled American farms and factories to produce
far more than American citizens could consume
• Now the U.S. needed raw materials for its
factories and new markets for its agricultural and
manufactured goods
• Imperialists viewed foreign trade as the solution
to American over production and the related
problems of unemployment and economic
depression
6. Belief in Cultural Superiority:
• Cultural factors were used
to justify imperialism
• Many argued that the
United States had a
responsibility to spread
Christianity and
“civilization” to the world’s
“inferior peoples”
• White Man’s Burden
7. The United States Acquires Alaska:
• William Seward, Secretary of State
under Lincoln and Jackson, was an
early supporter of American
expansionism
• In 1867, Seward arranged for the
U.S. to buy Alaska from the Russians
for 7.2 million
• Many members of the House of
Representatives called the purchase
silly and referred to it as “Seward’s
Icebox” or “Seward’s folly”
• Time showed how wrong these
members of Congress were wrong
• In 1959, Alaska became a state and
was rich in timber, minerals, and oil
Painting by Emanuel Leutze,
depicting William H. Seward
and Eduard de Stoeckl
negotiating the Alaska
Purchase.
8. The United States Takes Hawaii:
• Economically important to the United States
(sugar, pineapples, bananas)
• American owned sugar plantations accounted
for about three-quarters of the islands’ wealth
• White planters profited from close ties with
the United States
• In 1875, the US agreed to import Hawaiian
sugar duty-free
9. The United States Takes Hawaii
continued…
• The McKinley Tariff of 1890
provoked a crisis by eliminating
the duty-free status of Hawaiian
sugar
• American planters in Hawaii
called for the US to annex the
islands so they wouldn’t have to
pay the duty
• U.S. military and economic
leaders already knew the
importance of the islands, Pearl
Harbor was a strategic naval
base dedicated to refueling
American ships
Ship's landing force at the
time of the overthrow of the
Hawaiian monarchy, January
1893.
10. The United States Takes Hawaii
continued…
• American interests out way
queen Liliuokalani power in
Hawaii, and Ambassador
John L. Stevens organized a
revolution that would be
headed by Sanford B. Dole
• On August 12, 1898,
Congress proclaimed Hawaii
an American territory
• In 1959, Hawaii became the
50th
state of the United
States
On August 12, 1898, the flag of
the Kingdom of Hawaii was
lowered to raise the United
States flag to signify annexation
11. Five Objectives Which Guided U.S.
Foreign Policy 1898-1917
• Destiny: desire to acquire land
• Dollars: ensure economic gains by increasing
markets
• Defense: desire to aid “less fortunate” people
• Democracy: promote the spread of
democracy
• Deity: promote the spread of Christianity
