Imperial USA• By Jack Garrity

• Book pages 436-440

Ulysses S. Grant March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877

•  1. prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan• 2. enforced civil and voting

rights laws using the army.• 3. used the army to build the

Republican Party in the South, based on African American voters.• 4. Sioux War and General

Custer• 5. For the Gold Standard• 6. Unsuccessfully ran for 3rd

term.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881

•  1. Lost the Popular Vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden• 2. the election was worked out

by the Congress in Washington.• 3. The Republicans had to stop

Reconstruction in the South to steal the Presidency.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881

•  1.  equal treatment without regard to race, and improvement through education. • 2. Did not run for reelection.• 3. He ordered federal troops to

crush the Great Railroad• 4. Vetoed Free Silver Bills

James A. Garfield Republican Civil War VetMarch 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881

•  1.  Agricultural technology• 2. Educated electorate• 3. Civil rights for African

Americans• 4. Assassinated on the

200th day of office.

Chester A. Arthurames A. Garfield Republican Civil War VetSeptember 19, 1881 – March 4, 1885

•  1. From Tammany Hall• 2. Civil Service Reform • 3.Fed spends  the surplus

of $145 million on improved infrastructure• 4. Rebuilt US Navy

Grover Clevland Democrat 22 and 24th PresidentMarch 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889 March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897

•  1. High Tariffs• 2. Free Silver• 3. Broke up Boss Tweed and

corrupt political machines• 4.Republicans (Mugwamps)

voted for him• 5. the Panic of 1893 brought

down his government and the Democratic Party

Benjamin HarrisMarch 1889 – March 4, 1893

•  1.Economic refoms McKinley Tariff and Sherman Anti Trust Laws• 2. National Forests• 3. Modernized Navy• 4. Proposed Federal dollars for

education and enforce Civil Rights both failed

William McKinley March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901

• Supported by Carnegie, Rockefeller, and JP Morgan he crushes the Democrats.

• In 1896, McKinley benefited from his reputation as a reformer.Republican Reforms

• As a House member he had passed a tariff bill that cut tobacco taxes and tariff rates on raw sugar.

The McKinley Tariff

• The bill protected US companies by greatly increased rates on other goods, such as textiles, to discourage people from buying those imports.

The McKinley Tariff

• The same congress responded to public pressure to outlaw some types of trusts.

The Sherman Antitrust Act

• The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which declared illegal any “combination in the form of trust . . . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States.”

The Sherman Antitrust Act

• The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which declared illegal any “combination in the form of trust . . . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States.”

The Sherman Antitrust Act

• However, the courts saw nothing in this vaguely worded legislation that required them to make big companies change the way they did business.

The Sherman Antitrust Act

• In 1895, for example, the Supreme Court agreed that the American Sugar Refining Company was a trust, enjoying a nearly complete monopoly of sugar manufacturing. Nevertheless, the Court ruled that the company’s actions did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act because manufacturing was not interstate commerce.

The Sherman Antitrust Act

• In the years following passage of the act, businesses formed trusts and combinations at a great rate. In 1899 alone there were over 1,200 recorded mergers in manufacturing and mining firms.

The Sherman Antitrust Act

Imperial Visions

• In the years immediately following the Civil War, most Americans showed little interest in expanding their nation’s territory and international influence. Instead, they focused on reconstructing the South, building up the nation’s industries, and settling the West.

• Beginning in the 1880s, however, American opinion began to shift. More people wanted to make the United States a world power. Economic and military competition from other nations, as well as a growing feeling of cultural superiority, led to this shift in opinion.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• Europeans were expanding overseas, known as the New Imperialism.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• Europeans took raw materials for their factories, rubber, tin,

oil, and of course gold, silver and diamonds.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• Europeans put high tariffs against each other, reducing trade

each other, so they forced their colonies to buy their goods.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• Railroads and mines had been over built in Western Europe, so investors

looked to exploit places overseas, particularly in Africa and Asia.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• To protect their investments, the European nations used their

military forces, turning some areas into colonies.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• Others became protectorates, imperial powers allowed the local rulers to stay

in control and protected them against rebellions and invasion (Europeans).

A Desire for New Markets Economics• In exchange for “protection”, the local rulers usually had to accept

advice from the Europeans, and pay for European administration.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• As the United States industrialized, many Americans took

interest in the new imperialism.

A Desire for New Markets Economics• By the late 1800s, the United States, with settlers finally filling up the

western frontier, many Americans concluded that the nation had to develop new overseas markets to keep its economy strong.

A Feeling of Superiority• US supporters of Social Darwinism argued that nations competed

with each other politically, economically, and militarily, and that only the strongest would survive.

The New Imperialism • Charles Darwin “Origin of Species”.

The New Imperialism • Unscientific raciest Europeans warped Darwin’s theories into mistaken views called Social

Darwinism.

The New Imperialism • Darwin denounced Social Darwinism, but its’ ideas grew.

The New Imperialism • Social Darwinists believed that in the struggle between nations and races, the fit are

victorious.

The New Imperialism • Social Darwinists believed in racism, that race determines traits and capabilities of human

beings.

The New Imperialism • Racists erroneously believe that particular races are superior or inferior.

A Feeling of Superiority• US supporters of Social Darwinism justified increasing

American influence abroad.

A Feeling of Superiority• John Fiske, took this idea even further, arguing that English-

speaking nations had superior character, ideas, and systems of government, and were destined to dominate the planet.

A Feeling of Superiority• This idea, known as Anglo-Saxonism, was popular in Britain and

the United States.

A Feeling of Superiority• Some Americans saw it as part of the idea of Manifest Destiny, expanded to include

civilizing other people overseas.

A Feeling of Superiority• The minister Josiah Strong advocated Anglo-Saxonism.

A Feeling of Superiority• Strong linked Anglo-Saxonism to Christian missionary ideas,

influencing many Americans.

A Feeling of Superiority• . “The Anglo-Saxon,” Strong declared, “[is] divinely

commissioned to be, in a peculiar sense, his brother’s keeper.” By linking missionary work to Anglo-Saxonism, Strong convinced many Americans to support imperialism and an expansion of American power overseas.

Expansion in the Pacific• When Americans began looking overseas for new markets in the

1800s, they naturally tended to look westward.

Expansion in the Pacific• Even before imperialist ideas became popular, Americans had

strong trade with China every year.

Perry Opens Japan • American business leaders believed they would benefit from

trade with Japan as well as with China.

Perry Opens Japan • Japan’s rulers, however, believed that excessive contact with the West

would destroy their culture and only traded with the Chinese and Dutch.

Perry Opens Japan • In 1852, with support from Congress, President Franklin Pierce

decided to force Japan to trade with the United States.

Perry Opens Japan • In 1852, he ordered Commodore Matthew C. Perry to take a naval

expedition to Japan to negotiate a trade treaty.

Perry Opens Japan • On July 8, 1853, Perry and four American warships entered Tokyo

Bay, and forced the Japanese to change their policy.

Perry Opens Japan • The Japanese opened ports to American trade.

Perry Opens Japan • In 1868, the Japanese restored the Emperor and began to

Westernize their country.

Perry Opens Japan • They adopted Western technology and launched their own

industrial revolution.

Perry Opens Japan • By the 1890s, the Japanese had built a powerful modern navy,

and they set out to build their own empire in Asia

Annexing Hawaii • As trade with Asia, Americans desired ports in the Pacific Ocean.

Annexing Hawaii • In 1878, America opened a navy base 0n Pago Pago, one of the

Samoan Islands in the South Pacific.

Annexing Hawaii • More important was Hawaii. Whaling ships and merchant vessels crossing the

Pacific stopped there to rest their crews and to take on supplies.

Annexing Hawaii • In 1819 missionaries from New England settled in Hawaii.

Annexing Hawaii • Sugar grew well there, and American settlers built many plantations.

Annexing Hawaii • In 1872 a severe recession struck Hawaii. To stop the Hawaiians

from allying with the British or French, the US Senate ratified a no tariff treaty with Hawaii.

Annexing Hawaii • By 1880, the Senate insisted that the Hawaiians grant the United

States exclusive rights to a naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Annexing Hawaii • The economy of the Hawaiian sugar industry boomed and

planters became rich.

Annexing Hawaii • In 1887 rich planters pressured the Hawaiian king to accept a new

constitution, limiting the king’s authority and increased the planters’ power.

Annexing Hawaii • This angered the Hawaiian people, who feared they were losing

control of the country.

Annexing Hawaii • Tensions between the planters and the Hawaiians mounted.

Congress passed eliminated all duties on sugar, but gave subsidies to sugar producers in the United States.

Annexing Hawaii • Hawaiian sugar was now more expensive than American sugar,

crashing the islands economy.

Annexing Hawaii • In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani unsuccessfully attempted to impose a

new constitution that would have reasserted her authority as ruler of the Hawaiian people.

Annexing Hawaii • Faced with the economic crisis and the queen’s actions, the

planters backed an attempt to overthrow the monarchy.

Annexing Hawaii • Supported by US marines, a group of planters forced the queen to

give up power and set up a provisional government, and requested that the United States annex Hawaii.

Annexing Hawaii • President Cleveland strongly opposed imperialism, and refused,

trying to restore Liliuokalani to power.

Annexing Hawaii • Plantation owners refused to restore Liliuokalani to power , and

waited for the next election.

Annexing Hawaii • Five years later, President Harris annexed Hawaii, after a local

vote in which only plantation owners could vote in.

Next time…. Spanish American War

End