Looking Toward Asia Expanding the borders of the U.S.

Today’s Objectives  1) Be able to explain how the United States became involved in Asia  2) Be able to explain why the United States needed a port in the Pacific

Why did the U.S. want to expand?  Americans began to pay attention to other parts of the world  U.S. would become a world power through trade and military force  Wanted to take the “American” way of life to other countries  Be able to expand our economy  Sell our food and products to other countries  Gain new products from trade  Many felt that it was wrong to control other countries

Where do we start expanding?.... Japan  Japan became a trading partner in the 1850’s  They needed U.S. steel and oil  We needed cloth and other products from Japan  We began trading with them and other countries, but they were very far (in distance) from us  We need a place for our ships to stop for fuel  The Hawaiian Islands became the next place of interest

Taking Control of Hawaii  American planters were living in Hawaii (a free nation), they also wanted to control the gov’t.  The Queen of Hawaii did not like this  The Americans led a revolt, and the U.S. Marines joined them  The American planters won and in 1898 the U.S. annexed Hawaii and it became a state.  Now we have a refueling stop, let’s continue on to the West.

Relations with China  The U.S. now wanted to trade with China  Other nations were trading and dividing up China’s land  The U.S. and England asked China to make an “Open Door Policy”  This meant that all countries should be free to trade with China  The U.S. Secretary of State, John Hay, sent letters to all countries involved  Not all Chinese like this policy

How did some Chinese respond?  Many did not like the idea of foreign countries making decisions for China  A group formed to get rid of the foreigners  They were called “Boxers”  They rebelled and tried to force people out during the “Boxer Rebellion”  The U.S. and other countries sent troops in to stop the boxers

How did we continue to grow?  We had moved West, now they will move south of the U.S. into the Caribbean Island nations  We were becoming a world player  Our navy grew  Trade with countries increased  President Roosevelt showed the world how great of a nation we were