The document discusses the rise of American imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was driven by a sense of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority, the need for new markets as industrialization increased productivity and exports, and strategic military and commercial interests. Key events included the acquisition of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines through war, negotiation, or insurrection. The building of the Panama Canal further cemented America's role as a global power projecting influence across the Pacific.

1. Imperialism….
how the U.S. acquired territories
Imperialism: the economic and
political domination by a strong
nation OVER a weaker nation
Protectorate: imperial power
allowed the local rulers to stay in
control and protected them
against rebellions and invasion.

2. Feeling of Superiority
Anglo-Saxonism-- • Having the quality, qualities,
traits, or outlook regarded as
distinctive of the English
• the belief in the superiority of
Anglo-Saxon characteristics or
of the Anglo-Saxon people

3. The Need for More Markets
Productivity created surpluses
 Export to foreign markets
 Spurring of US expansionism
Acquisition of new lands
 Increase American glory and prestige
 Led to growing involvement in Latin America
and Hawaii and Samoa

4. Alaska
Secretary of State William
Seward arranged to buy Alaska
from Russia for $7.2 million.
Alaska was formally transferred
to the United States on October
18, 1867
 Advantages of Alaska—
Stop over to
China
Gold
Oil
Seward’s
Folly

5. Commercial/Business Interests
U. S. Foreign Investments: 1869-1908

6. Commercial
Business
Interests
American Foreign
Trade:
1870-1914

7. Military/Strategic Interests
Have a two ocean
navy
Modernize our navy,
from wood to Steel.
Acquire possessions
in the Pacific for use as
coaling and
resupplying stations.
Acquire islands in the
Caribbean.
Build a canal in
Central America.
Alfred T. Mahan  The Influence of Sea
Power on History: 1660-1783

8. Henry Cabot Lodge
“Our Blundering
Foreign Policy,”
(March 1895)
“Small states are of the
past and have no future.
. . . The great nations
are rapidly absorbing for
their future expansion
and their present
defense all the waste
places of the earth. It is
a movement which
makes for civilization
and the advancement o
the race. As one of the
great nations of the
world, the United states
must not fall out of the
line of march.”

9. Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani
Hawaii becomes a U. S.
Protectorate in 1849
by virtue of economic
treaties.

10. Why U.S. Wanted Hawaii??
•A stop between China and U.S.
when shipping.
•In 1820 Missionaries from New
England discovered the climate and
soil was good to grow sugar cane.
•American Whaling ships operating
in North Pacific used Hawaii as
base.
•1875 Trade Agreement --exempt
sugar cane tariff.
•Renewal of agreement –
exclusive Right to Pearl Harbor.

11. U. S. Business Interests In Hawaii
1875 – Reciprocity
Treaty
1890 – McKinley Tariff
1893 – American
businessmen backed an
uprising against Queen
Liliuokalani.
Sanford Ballard Dole
proclaims the Republic
of Hawaii in 1894.
One of the powerful planters in Hawaii
whose interests were threatened by tariff
changes and Liliuokalani's policies. Family
created the Dole Fruit Company.

12. To The Victor Belongs the Spoils
Hawaiian
Annexation
Ceremony, 1898
Annex: To incorporate
into country/state

14. Cuba
McKinley was in office
Cuba under harsh Spanish rule
Seen as natural expansion for US
territory
US imposed sugar tariff caused
economic chaos
Cuban rebels launched revolution
against Spain
 Caused economy to fall apart
 Massive destruction of
countryside
American concerns rose
 $50 million invested in sugar
industry
 Exports to US plummeted

15. Spanish Misrule in Cuba

17. Spanish-American War 1898
 USS Maine in Havana Harbor
 Exploded February 1898
REMEMBER
 Spanish blamed, although was determined an
accident (YELLOW JOURNALISM: exaggeration
of conditions by the U.S. press in order to sell
more newspapers)
 US troops sent in
Battle of San Juan Hill
Theodore Roosevelt and Rough Riders
First and last major battle
 Treaty of Paris
Cuba gained independence
US acquired Guam and Puerto Rico and
purchased Philippines
THE
MAINE!!!

18. “Yellow Journalism” & Jingoism
Joseph Pulitzer
William Randolph Hearst
Hearst to Frederick Remington:
You furnish the pictures,
and I’ll furnish the war!

19. Remember the Maine
and to Hell with Spain!
Funeral for Maine
victims in Havana

20. USA takes/buys the Philippines
May 1, 1898 –Commodore
George Dewey led squadron in
Manila Bay in Philippines
Destroyed and captured
Spanish warships
Army sent 20,000 troops from
San Francisco to the
Philippines. On way they seized
the island Guam.
Win people over by reforming
education, transportation and
health reform
War over summer 1902

21. The Treaty of Paris: 1898
Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
Spain gave up Puerto Rico and the island of
Guam.
The U. S. paid Spain
$20 mil. for the
Philippines.
The U. S. becomes
an imperial power!

22. Cuban Independence?
Started as Teller Amendment (1898)
Platt Amendment (1903)
Senator
Orville Platt
1. Cuba was not to enter into any agreements with foreign
powers that would endanger its independence.
2. The U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary
to maintain an efficient, independent govt.
3. Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for naval
and coaling station.
4. Cuba must not build up an excessive public debt.

23. Quiz Yo’self

26. The Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine: 1905
“Speak softly and carry a big
stick”
Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine
Asserted right of US to act
as international police power
in Latin America
Chronic wrongdoing… may in America, as
elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by
some civilized nation, and in the Western
Hemisphere the adherence of the United
States to the Monroe Doctrine may force
the United States, however reluctantly, in
flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or
impotence, to the exercise of an
international police power .

27. Speak Softly,
But Carry a Big Stick!

29. Panama Canal
TR in Panama
(Construction begins in 1904)
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty signed with Great Britain gave US
exclusive right to build and control any proposed canal
through Central America
YELLOW FEVER!

30. Building of the Panama Canal
Resulted in 22, 000 deaths from
Construction and YELLOW FEVER from
mosquitos
New technology/building techniques allow
construction and removal of TONS of land
48 miles long through a series of 6 gates
US acquisition in 1904 -Completed in 1914
Took nearly 8,000 miles off the journey
from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific
ocean

31. Panama
Canal:
Efficiency
Construction of
canal through
Central America
was vital to
American world
power
**opened up Asia
as efficient trading
market… MORE
$$$**

34. America as a Pacific Power

35. The Great White Fleet: 1907

36. The Open Door Policy
Secretary John Hay.
Give all nations equal
access to trade in China.
Guaranteed that China would NOT be taken
over by any one foreign power.

37. The
Open Door
Policy

38. William H. Taft’s Policy
“Dollar Diplomacy”
 Encourage US
businesses to invest in
foreign regions
 Use dollars—not
bullets—to advance
US authority and
prosperity while
promoting worldwide
economic stability

39. Woodrow Wilson
US should champion
democracy around
globe and help
maintain world peace
“Moral Diplomacy”—
self-determination
 Allowed US to meddle
in Latin America and
Asia

40. Understanding Imperialism
Industrial Revolution  surplus products 
export goods  foreign trade (expansion of
economic markets)
Cuba—area of expansionism for many US businesses;
sought independence from Spain;
Explosion of U.S.S. Maine led to Spanish-American
War  Cuban independence and US gained Puerto
Rico, Guam, Philippines thus becoming imperial nation