Spanish American War and US Imperialism

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Transcript of Spanish American War and US Imperialism

The Spanish American War

• The Cubans had been fighting the Spanish for 30 years

Why did the US get involved?

Why did the US get involved?

• US Business interests in Cuba

Why did the US get involved?

• US Business interests in Cuba

• Spanish mistreatment of Cubans

• To stop uprisings, Spanish General Weyler confined many Cubans to concentration camps

• News of the concentration camps reached the United States

• Citizens were outraged!• They organized food

drives and demanded government action

• Any hopes for peace between Spain and the US were over once a Cuban Revolutionary intercepted a letter from Spanish Foreign Minister Dupuy de Lome which said McKinley was a weak president

The Spanish American War

• President McKinley, a Civil War veteran, did not want war

• But he needed to look stronger

Teller Amendment: 1898

• "... hereby disclaims any disposition of intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island except for pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people."

So, we are all ready for war. All we need is a

spark!

The sinking of the USS Maine

• On Feb. 15, 1898, the USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 260 people

The sinking of the USS Maine

• What caused it?

The sinking of the USS Maine

• Did it matter?

Treaty of Paris: 1898

Senate Debate

“Providence has given the United States the duty of extending Christian civilization. We come as ministering angels, not despots.”—Senator Knute Nelson

“Suppose we reject the Treaty. We continue the state of war. We repudiate the President. We are branded as a people incapable of taking rank as one of the greatest of world powers!” —Senator Henry Cabot Lodge

Senate Debate

• “This Treaty will make us a vulgar, commonplace empire, controlling subject races and vassal states, in which one class must forever rule and other classes must forever obey.”—Senator George Frisbie Hoar

Andrew Carnegie and former president Grover Cleveland petitioned the Senate to reject it.

The Treaty of Paris

Spain: • Gave up all rights to Cuba• Surrendered Puerto Rico and gave up

its possessions in the West Indies• Surrendered the island of Guam to the

United States• Surrendered the Philippines to the

United States for a payment of twenty million dollar

So how did Cuba react?

• Cuba became a protectorate of the United States

• Cubans began electing radical forces of Cuba Libre

• In 1901, the US granted the Cubans full independence but it was limited by the Platt Amendment, which was signed by the Cubans.

Platt Amendment

• Demanded that Cuba sell or lease lands to the United States necessary for coaling or the development of naval stations.

So how did Puerto Rico react?

• Placed under military rule

• Later became US territory

Why did we want Puerto Rico?

• It’s position in the Caribbean

• Sugarcane

So how did Guam react?

• No real reaction

Why did we want Guam?

The Filipinos

• The US now acquired 7,100 islands with 7.5 million people

• 87 languages and dialects

• Some city-dwellers, some living in the forests

So how did the Philippines react?

• During the Spanish-American War, the US had brought Emilio Aguinaldo back from exile in Hong Kong.

• Aguinaldo declared independence in 1899 and himself president

• Filipinos had aided American forces against Spain assuming that the US would grant them independence.

“I am not ashamed to tell you, Gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for light and guidance that one night and one night later it came to me this way… There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate the Filipinos and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.”

-William McKinley

So how did the Philippines react?

• In 1899, Emilio Aguinaldo’s forces began fighting American forces

• 60,000 Americans sent to fight (4x more than were sent to Cuba.)

• Aguinaldo was captured in March 1901. He declared loyalty to the US, ending much of the fighting.

• Over the course of the Philippine-American War, more than 4,000 Americans died and between 200,000 and 1 million Filipino soldiers and civilians were killed.

• In a letter to a friend in the US government:

• “You seem to have finished your work of civilizing the Filipinos; it is thought about 8,000 of them have been completely civilized and sent to heaven. I hope you like it.”– Andrew Carnegie

Aftermath

• US now an imperial power

• US becomes a military power

• Spain no longer an imperial power

• Tax on long distance phone calls to pay for the war (collected until 2006.)

Rise of the Navy

• During the Civil War, the US Navy was a fleet of sailboats.

• The Merimac and the Monitor, used in the Civil War, were the first step towards armored battle ships.

• After the war, the navy’s ships were broken up or sold

• Some pointed out that the United States was unprepared to even defend itself.

Rise of the Navy

• These voices were ignored until “The Influence of Sea Power on History” by Alfred Mahan was published in 1890. It emphasized the importance of a navy.

• It wasn’t until 1895 that the US commissioned two battleships, the USS Texas and the USS Maine.

• In the next three years, four more were commissioned.

• By 1910, 25 more battleships were commissioned.

Samoa• Samoans allowed Americans to build a

naval station at Pago Pago and granted special trading rights

• But Great Britain and Germany also secured special training rights.

• In 1889, in the Treaty of Berlin, the three agreed to the independence of Samoa and the right of all three to trade there.

• But tensions grew.• In 1899, the three countries met. Who

was missing?

Tripartite Convention and the Treaty of Berlin: 1899

• Germany got Eastern Samoa

• The US got Western Samoa

• Great Britain withdrew in return for other rights in the Pacific Ocean and Africa

So why does the US want islands in the Pacific?

So why does the US want islands in the Pacific?

• Trade with Japan

So why does the US want islands in the Pacific?

• Trade with Japan• Trade with China

Trade in China

• China had products that the West and Japan wanted: silk, porcelain and tea

• To get it, Japan and other European powers had “spheres of influence.”

Sphere of Influence

• A territorial area over which political or economic influence is wielded by one nation.

But what about US?

• Secretary of State Jon Hay proposed an Open Door Policy.

• This gave each nation in China rights to trade freely in other nation’s spheres of influence

• Why would other countries agree to this?

The Boxer Rebellion

• In 1899, Chinese “Boxers” revolted against the “foreign devils”

• Many foreigners died including ministers, foreign diplomats and their families

• Boxers defeated, but war is not good for business!

• Trade in China opened to all

Midway Islands

• The Midway Atoll was spotted on July 5, 1859 by Captain Brooks

• Claimed for US under the Guano Islands Act

• The Act allowed the US to claim uninhabited islands for Guano

So, we wanted guano?

• In the 1840s, guano became a prized commodity.

• It was used as an agricultural fertilizer and for saltpeter for gunpowder