The Imperialist Vision Notes

Building Support for Imperialism European countries began to look overseas for raw materials and markets to sell goods Americans saw what the Europeans were doing and liked it Supporters of Social Darwinism believed that countries competed with each other and that only the strongest (economically, politically, militarily) would survive In some cases, missionary work was another way to promote imperialist expansion

Opening Japan The Japanese only allowed the Chinese and the Dutch to trade with their nation because they worried that contact with the West would destroy their culture In the 1850s Commodore Matthew C. Perry took a naval expedition to Japan The Japanese had never seen steamships and were impressed by the technology and firepower and were intimidated into signing a treaty to trade with the US By the late 1800s the Japanese had begun to industrialize and westernize

Annexing Hawaii Hawaii was attractive as a good midway point on the voyage to Japan and as a good place to grow sugarcane The US gained exclusive rights to the naval base at Pearl Harbor American sugar plantation owners in Hawaii pressured the king to sign a new constitution limiting his power, angering the Hawaiian people After an attempt to regain power, Queen Liliuokalani was forced out of power by the Americans President Grover Cleveland was against imperialism and refused to annex Hawaii, trying to restore the Queen to power The American planters decided to wait until the next president took office and he annexed Hawaii

Trade and Diplomacy in Latin America Many Americans saw Latin America as the next frontier because of the amount of trade that would be possible The idea of Pan-Americanism came to be US and Latin America working together Conference in Washington, D.C. got 17 Latin American leaders to talk about Pan-Americanism Formed the Commercial Bureau of American Republics, which is called the Organization of American States (OAS) today

Building a Modern Navy After the US started to become increasingly assertive in foreign affairs, international crises began to pop up It was determined that the US should have a large navy as a result of belief in Anglo- Saxonism Belief that English-speaking countries were now destined to dominate the world By the late 1890s the US was on its way to becoming one of the top naval powers in the world