From Depression to Imperialism

Find Spain, the Philippines, and Cuba

Review

What was the Monroe Doctrine? (1823)

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

• After many Latin American nations win independence• No more Euro colonization in the Americas

• US would view it as aggression requiring intervention• Noted the US would not interfere with existing European colonies

nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries.

America in the 1890s

• Huge Population Growth

America in the 1890s

• Huge advances in Technology– Electricity– The Light Bulb– Motor Vehicles– Telephone – Skyscrapers

America in the 1890s

• Huge Economic Growth– 1800 – 5% of Americans lived in cities– 1890 – 33% of Americans lived in cities (New York: 3

million) – Major producer of steel – $1 billion in exports (1/3 were manufactured goods)

Panic of 1893• Economic Depression! – Over production– Railroads over-extended– Deflation– Farmers in debt

• New York Stock Exchange tumbled • 500 banks closed• 16,000 businesses bankrupt • Thousands of strikes

Panic of 1893• Compounded by Global Crises• Argentina: Crop Failure• Australia & South Africa: Speculation

• Europeans buy up US gold• Deflation

Populist Movement• Indebted Farmers (and Western

Miners)• Increase the Money Supply• Add more Silver (16:1 Gold)• Make payments easier• Inflation Debts worth less• Weaken Northern Banking control

• Progressives would take up much of their agenda later

• Direct Election of Senators, Shorter Workdays, Progressive Income Tax

William Jennings Bryan - “Free Silver”

1893 Economic Depression ❖Workers were worried about their jobs❖Plant owners were worried about low profits

Can America Compete Globally?

America in the 1890s

• Manifest destiny had ended

• The Frontier is gone

Where does America go from here?

America Begins to look Outward

• Wants to catch up with European Powers

• Expansionists –favored involvement abroad

Social Darwinism Returns• Global imperialism was

simply “survival of the fittest.”

• “White Man’s Burden” • God’s plan for the human

race

White Man’s BurdenTake up the White Man's burden,Send forth the best ye breed,Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness,On fluttered folk and wild,Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden,The savage wars of peace,Fill full the mouth of FamineAnd bid the sickness cease;And when your goal is nearestThe end for others sought,Watch sloth and heathen FollyBring all your hopes to nought.

Back to the Native Question

1896

• William McKinley elected President

• Supported by big business• Called for economic expansion

overseas

William McKinley (R)

GLOBAL EXPANSION1898

Hawaiian Islands

Samoan Islands• Helped Samoa resist interference from

England and Germany• Sent warships and guns• 1898 became part of U.S. Territory

How does this connect to White Man’s Burden

What is the message of this political cartoon?

Spanish-American War

Visual Analysis

What were the causes of the Spanish-American War?

What were the causes of the Spanish-American War?

Philippines

Spain

Cuba

Revolution in Cuba 1868

• Cuba revolts against Spain– Ten years of fighting– 200,000 lives lost

• The rebellion fails• $50 million invested into the Cuban sugar

industry

• 1895 Revolution in Cuba against Spain• Americans torn:

• Want to support Spain to protect business investments (sugar)• Can empathize with call for independence

Cuba Libre… Again

Yellow Journalism • News about the Cuban Revolution sells! • Yellow Journalism: Eye-catching headlines with no

real research to sell news. • William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer compete for

readers!

Published anything they could about the

Spanish atrocities, real or fictitious!

Yellow Journalism

“The horrors of a barbarous struggle for the extermination of the native population are witnessed in all parts of the country. Blood on the roadsides, blood on the fields, blood on the doorsteps, blood, blood, blood! Is there no nation wise enough, brave enough to aid this blood-smitten land?”

De Lôme letter

• Newspaper published De Lôme letter– De Lôme, Spanish minister to U.S. – Criticized McKinley as weak – Spanish government quickly

apologized, but America was angry!

USS Maine

•American citizens threatened by revolution in

Cuba.•Pres. McKinley sent USS

Maine to rescue US citizens.

U.S.S. Maine Explosion• February 15th, 1898 a huge explosion ripped a

huge hole in the hull of the ship!• 260 American sailors died in the blast• The Main’s captain ordered a full investigation

but the News Papers didn’t wait for a verdict.

USS Maine

USS MAINE

❖With a partner create a headline with the first paragraph (2-4 sentences) that will sell your newspaper and rally America to the cause of war.

❖Picture

❖Names on the back of the paper.

❖We will vote one which one is the best for extra credit.

Yellow Journalism

Hearst was heard to say,“You supply the pictures and I’ll supply the story”.

“Remember the Maine, to hell with

Spain!”

Is it Time for War?

• Public Opinion was shifting toward war• American Business owners favored war– Spain owned Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the

Philippines. – Victory would mean strategic ports all over the

pacific

Finish Part 2:What were the causes of the Spanish-American War?

April 19th, 1898 United States officially declares war on Spain.

Teller AmendmentTeller Amendment: Passed in April, 1898. It stated: • The people of Cuba should be free and independent.• Spain must withdraw all forces from Cuba.• The President of the United States is empowered to use

military force to see to the above demands.• “The United States hereby disclaims any disposition of

intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over Cuba, except for pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people.”

War Begins➢U.S. Military – 28,000 soldiers➢Spanish army in Cuba – 150,000 soldiers

America will need thousands of volunteers

Early Victory for the U.S.

• Pacific fleet sailed from Hong Kong

• Destroyed all Spanish canons on shore

• Completely destroyed Spanish fleet

• As word spread back in America 220,000 men volunteered to fight!

“The Rough Riders”

• Theodore Roosevelt resigned from his gov. post

• Formed his own cavalry regiment “The Rough Riders”

• Landed in Cuba June 22nd, 1898

“The Rough Riders”

The Philippines• The Philippines had been struggling against

Spain for independence. • Welcomed American soldiers thinking they were

there to help them gain independence• Dewey supplied the Filipino soldiers with rifles.

Before the war President McKinley admitted he didn’t even know where the Philippines was on a map.

African Americans What was the African American experience in the United States during the Spanish American War?

Hint: Plessy vs Ferguson (1896)

Smoked Yankees

• Hoped to elevate the status of Blacks

• Couldn’t become officers• Thought to be more

resistant to tropical diseases – Sent to Philippines

“The Black Man’s Burden”, by HT Johnson (1899)Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.

'Tis nearest at your door;Why heed long bleeding Cuba,

or dark Hawaii’s shore?

Hail ye your fearless armies,Which menace feeble folks

Who fight with clubs and arrowsand brook your rifle’s smoke.

Pile on the Black Man’s BurdenHis wail with laughter drown

You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem,And will take up the Brown,

In vain ye seek to end it,With bullets, blood or death

Better by far defend itWith honor’s holy breath.

“A Splendid Little War”

• Battle of Santiago - biggest battle • Spanish were outgunned and quickly lost

Roosevelt earns the Medal of Honor at the Battle of San Juan Hill

“A Splendid Little War”

• War lasts 4 months• Spain surrenders on

August 13, 1898• 345 Americans died

in battle• Over 2,500 soldiers

died from disease and food poisoning.

Spanish – American War

• First American Attack: Philippines• Joined Filipino rebels• Defeated Spanish in Philippines• Rough Riders defeat Spanish Fleet in Cuba• The war lasts 15 weeks• Treaty of Paris – Cease Fire: Spain Frees Cuba, gives

Guam (Pacific) and Puerto Rico (West Indies) to U.S. and sells Philippines for $20M.

Restored American’s confidence in the country and demonstrated its position as a world power.

The New Dilemma

Should the United States become an Empire?

Summarize

• Write a summary of the common themes you see in these pictures. Refer to specific pieces in your response.

Spanish – American War

• Bonus: Write the caption for this political cartoon

Imperialism

Roosevelt Corollary

• Addition to the Monroe Doctrine, which established the Western Hemisphere as American domain

• Declared the US has the right to intervene in Latin America to correct administrative or fiscal problems

• Establishes US as “world police”

Interventions in Latin America

• Exerted control over Cuba• Used Navy to ensure Panama’s independence from

Colombia to acquire a zone to build the Panama Canal

• Occupied Dominican Republic and established “financial supervision”

• Believed US had a “manly duty” exercise international police power to spread superior civilization to inferior nations

Dollar Diplomacy

• Emphasized by Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard Taft

• Took advantage of new Latin American governments’ need for cash

• Lent with high interest rates

General Smedley Butler

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”—Smedley Butler, War is a Racket