A Journey into How the United States Become an Imperial Power

 I can explain the economic and cultural factors that shaped American foreign policy at the turn of the 20 th Century  I will be able to analyze and compare the actions of the United States between to action of the United States between 1945-present.

 When a stronger country takes over an area through economics, politics or military control.  By 1900, it was a global trend

 European nations were colonizing Africa  By 1900, British Empire controlled a quarter of the world’s land and people  Japan joined Europe in competing for control of regions in China

 United States wanted new markets for their goods  In the late 1800s, the United States was developing a modern navy and wanted to gain naval based abroad to protect the nation’s interests  The belief by some that American culture was superior and should be spread to other regions—extension of Manifest Destiny

 America wanted to be like Europe and Japan in gaining control of lands beyond the borders of North America  By the end of the 1800s, there was a desire for the United States to extend their imperial power into such areas as Hawaii, Cuba and the Philippines

 Late 19 th Century, Africa was the focal point for European expansion—considered before that as the “Dark Continent” because the interior was virtually unknown  Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Spain desired to gain resources from Africa and create new markets for their goods  By early 20 th Century, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent in Africa

 Great Britain expanded into Africa and Asia, coining the phrase, “The sun never sets on the British Empire”  During the reign of Queen Victoria ( ), Britain built an empire that included one quarter of the world’s land and people

 Europeans avoided war through diplomatic agreements that resulted in dividing Africa  Nations claimed land for colonies, then signed treaties with each other to reserve areas for colonies  Mid 1800s, Germany and France called for a conference to discuss African colonization  14 European nations and the United States met in Berlin, Germany in 1884

 Nations agreed to respect each other’s prior claims for colonies in Africa  Agreed to establish rules for future colonial development  First international agreement on imperialism in Africa

 Late 19 th Century, Japan had political reform from feudal order to a central government modeled after European nations  Japan believed that a strong military would increase industrialization by obtaining raw materials in other areas  Japan joined in the competition with Europe for control in China in the 1890s  US watched other nations in the 1880s and 1890s gain economic success and had a desire to expand trading opportunities with China

 Extension of the old belief of Manifest Destiny, which had pushed people from the Atlantic to the Pacific  With the closure of the North American frontier, by the 1890s, many Americans supported the idea to expand beyond its borders for economic growth

 United States wanted to join in the economic competition with other industrialized nations  United States by 1900 had a strong naval force  A belief in the racial and cultural superiority of people of English descent

 By the end of the 19 th Century, technology increased the ability of American farms and factories to produce more items  Production was more than Americans could consume, so America needed new markets  With increased production, the United States needed to find more raw materials for its factories and new markets to sell the manufactured goods

 Belief in the Imperialist view of increased foreign trade would solve the issues of overproduction and economic issues such as employment and the economic depression of the late 1880s

 Senator from Indiana, he was a strong imperialist  Advocated obtaining new territories for economic gains  “Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be ours….We will establish training-posts throughout the world as distributing points for American products…Great colonies governing themselves, flying our flag and trading with us, will grow about our posts of trade.”

 Exports had total $234 million at the end of the Civil War, increased to $1.5 billion  Exports exceeded imports to produce favorable balance of trade  Favorable balance of trade led to American economic power

 Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, president of the Naval War College advocated a strong American military expansion  Mahan’s book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, , stressed the need for a strong navy to defend the peacetime shipping lanes, which would increase America’s economy could grow  Mahan believed the United States needed to strategically locate bases in areas such as the Caribbean where its fleet could refuel and urged to develop a modern fleet

 Urged the United States to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama  Increase desire to acquire Hawaii and other Pacific Islands as naval bases and economic markets  Between , US built 9 steel-hulled cruisers  After the construction of the Maine and Oregon, the US developed the world’s third largest navy

 Cultural factors justified imperialism  Social Darwinism: a belief that free-market competition would lead to the survival of the fittest—emphasized racial superiority  Social Darwinism viewed that it was the US responsibility to spread Christianity and civilization to the world’s “inferior” people

 Not only racial superiority was encouraged, but this belief supported the idea of defining civilization by one culture’s standards

 Believed imperialism as a threat American Anglo-Saxon heritage based on moral and practical concerns in imperial practices  Nothing justified American domination over other countries

 Constitutional protections were not granted to newly acquired territories claimed by the US  Maintaining a military large enough to enforce American influence and protect newly acquired territories was too high  Cost of new territories prohibited American economic growth

 The Americans: Reconstruction through the 20 th Century. McDougal Littell