1. American Imperialism in Asia & the Pacific

2. The United States role in Asia expanded because of:
trade with China
Spanish American War (resulted in the acquisition of Pacific bases, and the Philippines)

4. In 1899, Secretary of State John Hay tried to ensure economic opportunity for the United States.
He asked the European powers to keep an “open door” to China.
He wanted to ensure through his Open Door Policy that the United States would have fair access to the Chinese markets.

5. In 1900, a secret patriotic Chinese society appeared called “The Yihequan”.
“The Righteous & Harmonious Fists” or “Boxers/Fighters United in Righteousness”
Attacked Chinese Christians, foreign missionaries, diplomats, and other foreigners in China in what became known as the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxers initially rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and against the intervention of Western powers in China.
However, the Qing government soon began to see the value in supporting the rebels, allowing them to attack the Legation Quarter in Beijing.
An international force of troops put down the rebellion and forced the Qing to pay all of the damages.

6. Fearing that rival nations would take even more Chinese land in the confusion following the rebellion, Hay expanded the Open Door Policy to mean that the current boundaries of the foreign spheres of influence in China should be preserved.

7. The Philippine Theater of the Spanish American War
As a result of the conflict in the Philippines, a sequel to the Spanish American War, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.

8. January, Emilio Aguinaldo, who had been leading the fight against the Spanish for Philippine independence, declared the Philippines a republic.
One month later, the U.S. Senate approved the Treaty of Paris by a small margin.
The bitter war against American domination finally ended in 1903.

9. American Atrocities
To suppress Filipino insurgency, the American military forcibly relocated or burned villages, imprisoned or killed non-combatant civilians, and used vicious torture techniques (including the water cure) on suspected insurgents.

10. More than 4,000 Americans and some 16,000 Filipinos were killed in the Philippine insurrection.
An additional 100,000 Filipinos died from disease and starvation.
In the end, the Philippines were under American control. They would not gain their independence until 1946.

11. Front page of a revolutionary publication announcing Philippine independence. This was immediately after the Spanish defeat at Manila Bay, but before the American invasion.

12. The Treaty of Paris of 1898 led to the acquisition of many former Spanish territories that formed the basis of an American empire.
This heightened the national debate among imperialists and anti-imperialists.
It also led to increased American involvement in Latin America and Asia as the nation sought to protect its new lands.

13. IMPERIALISM: The Great Debate

14. Imperialist Perspectives
Source: Statement attributed to President William McKinley, describing to a church delegation the decision to acquire the Philippines, 1899.
When next I realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps, I confess I did not know what to do with them. And one night late it came to me this way:
(1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable;
(2) That we could not turn them over to France or Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable;
(3) That we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government, and they would soon have anarchy and misrule worse than Spain’s was; and
(4) That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them

15. Imperialist Proponents
William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt

16. Anti-Imperialist Perspectives
Source: William Jennings Bryan speech, Populist campaign for the presidency, 1900.
Imperialism is the policy of an empire. And an empire is a nation composed of different races, living under varying forms of government. A republic cannot be an empire, for a republic rests upon the theory that the government derive their powers from the consent of the governed and colonialism violates this theory. Neither can we hold the Filipinos as subjects even if we could benefit them by so doing Our experiment in colonialism has been unfortunate. Instead of profit, it has brought loss. Instead of glory, it has brought humiliation.

17. Anti-Imperialists
William Jennings Bryan Grover Cleveland Andrew Carnegie Mark Twain