spanish american war - context
TRANSCRIPT
Beyond Manifest DestinyAmerica Enters the Age of Imperialism
“The taste of Empire is in the mouth of the people even as the taste of blood is in the jungle”.
-Washington Post Editorial
Mass Immigration
Population Explosion
H.H. Holmes
Problem:
1893 Depression
Problem:
“The Frontier is Closed”
Frederick Jackson Turner
Problem:
Surplus of Goods
Solutions:
1) Expand borders
2) Build a canal to improve trade
3) Catch up with other empires
4) Tap into new markets
5) Open door policy
Economic Problems
The Open-Door PolicyThree* Groups
1) Imperialist = expansion
2) Anti-Imperialists = non-expansion
3) Third group (The Open-Door) = oppose traditional colonialism but favor economic expansion. Businessmen, politicians, intellectuals. “informal empire”
*????????????
Tough Guys“I want my war!”
A.T. Mahan, Navy Captain• Naval Dominance
Henry Cabot Lodge, Sen. MA• Social Darwinist
Theodore Roosevelt• War was natural
• Monroe Doctrine
“The great nations are rapidly absorbing…all the waste places of the earth. It is a movement which makes for civilization and the advancement of the race. As one of the great nations of the world, the United States must not fall out of the line of march”
-Henry Cabot Lodge
Social Darwinism - Survival of the “fittest” humans
Scientific Racism - Skulls measurements “proved” superiority
“By the nearly unanimous consent of anthropologists this type [the pure Negro of central Africa] occupies the lowest position in the evolutionary scale…The attempt to suddenly transform the Negro mind by foreign culture must be as futile as the attempt would be to suddenly transform his physical type.”-
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1884
Hawaii
Cuban Revolt
HUNGRY, FRANTIC FLAMES. They Leap Madly Upon the Splendid Pleasure Palace by the Bay of Monterey, Encircling Del Monte in Their Ravenous Embrace From Pinnacle to Foundation. Leaping Higher, Higher, Higher, With Desperate Desire. Running Madly Riotous Through Cornice, Archway and Facade. Rushing in Upon the Trembling Guests with Savage Fury. Appalled and Panic-Striken the Breathless Fugitives Gaze Upon the Scene of Terror. The Magnificent Hotel and Its Rich Adornments Now a Smoldering heap of Ashes. The "Examiner" Sends a Special Train to Monterey to Gather Full Details of the Terrible Disaster. Arrival of the Unfortunate Victims on the Morning's Train — A History of Hotel del Monte — The Plans for Rebuilding the Celebrated Hostelry — Pariculars and Supposed Origin of the Fire
Media and Yellow JournalismHearst vs. Pulitzer• Yellow Journalism
• “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish
the war” William Randolph Hearst
Death Sells• Reconcentrados
• “Cuban Babes Prey to Famine”
• “Thousands of Children of the Reconcentrados”
• “Perishing in Island TownsSights that Sicken Strong Men”
http://www.humboldt.edu/~jcb10/spanwar.shtml
The Spanish-American War: Cuba
Fear of a black government
Teller Amendment 1898• Supported by anti-imperialists and open door-ists.
• No annexation of Cuba
House keys?
Next