1. Chapter 18 American Imperialism at the Turn of the Century
I can explain motives behind U.S. interventions in…
Japan
Hawaii
China 1

2. Motives?

4. Japan
On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world.
Why?
California had been annexed 1850
Ensuring western trade to pacific
Secure coaling stations near China
civilize the people
Forced Japanese to modernize the Japanese military and naval fleet
• The American officials gave the Japanese a telegraph transmitter and model train
Although he is often credited with opening Japan to the western world, Perry was not the first westerner to visit the islands. Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch traders engaged in regular trade with Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Persistent attempts by the Europeans to convert the Japanese to Catholicism and their tendency to engage in unfair trading practices led Japan to expel most foreigners in For the two centuries that followed, Japan limited trade access to Dutch and Chinese ships with special charters.
There were several reasons why the United States became interested in revitalizing contact between Japan and the West in the mid-19th century. First, the combination of the opening of Chinese ports to regular trade and the annexation of California, creating an American port on the Pacific, ensured that there would be a steady stream of maritime traffic between North America and Asia. Then, as American traders in the Pacific replaced sailing ships with steam ships, they needed to secure coaling stations, where they could stop to take on provisions and fuel while making the long trip from the United States to China. The combination of its advantageous geographic position and rumors that Japan held vast deposits of coal increased the appeal of establishing commercial and diplomatic contacts with the Japanese. Additionally, the American whaling industry had pushed into the North Pacific by the mid-18th century, and sought safe harbors, assistance in case of shipwrecks, and reliable supply stations. In the years leading up to the Perry mission, a number of American sailors found themselves shipwrecked and stranded on Japanese shores, and tales of their mistreatment at the hands of the unwelcoming Japanese spread through the merchant community and across the United States.
The same combination of economic considerations and belief in Manifest Destiny that motivated U.S. expansion across the North American continent also drove American merchants and missionaries to journey across the Pacific. At the time, many Americans believed that they had a special responsibility to modernize and civilize the Chinese and Japanese. In the case of Japan, missionaries felt that Protestant Christianity would be accepted where Catholicism had generally been rejected. Other Americans argued that, even if the Japanese were unreceptive to Western ideals, forcing them to interact and trade with the world was a necessity that would ultimately benefit both nations.

5. Russo-Japanese War
1904, Japan attacks Russian forces in Manchuria starting the Russo-Japanese War over influence in China
1905 Japan asks President Roosevelt to negotiate peace between Japan and Russia
1906 President Roosevelt receives a Nobel Peace Prize for writing a peace treaty (Treaty of Portsmouth) ending the Russo-Japanese
1907, President Roosevelt sent a tour of 16 battleships & four destroyers
rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria. In 1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur (now Lü-shun), at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula, in southern Manchuria. Russia thereby entered into occupation of the peninsula, even though, in concert with other European powers, it had forced Japan to relinquish just such a right after the latter’s decisive victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Moreover, in 1896 Russia had concluded an alliance with China against Japan and, in the process, had won rights to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Chinese-held Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, thus gaining control of an important strip of Manchurian territory.
However, though Russia had built the Trans-Siberian Railroad (1891–1904), it still lacked the transportation facilities necessary to reinforce its limited armed forces in Manchuria with sufficient men and supplies. Japan, by contrast, had steadily expanded its army since its war with China in 1894 and by 1904 had gained a marked superiority over Russia in the number of ground troops in the Far East. After Russia reneged in 1903 on an agreement to withdraw its troops from Manchuria, Japan decided it was time to attack.
The war began on Feb. 8, 1904, when the main Japanese fleet launched a surprise attack and siege on the Russian naval squadron at Port Arthur. In March the Japanese landed an army in Korea that quickly overran that country. In May another Japanese army landed on the Liaotung Peninsula, and on May 26 it cut off the Port Arthur garrison from the main body of Russian forces in Manchuria. The Japanese then pushed northward, and the Russian army fell back to Mukden (now Shen-yang) after losing battles at Fu-hsien (June 14) and Liao-yang (August 25), south of Mukden. In October the Russians went back on the offensive with the help of reinforcements received via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but their attacks proved indecisive owing to poor military leadership.

6. On December 10, 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to win a Nobel Prize. Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work surrounding the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War.
Unable to be in Norway to collect the prize at the time, Roosevelt asked the United States Ambassador to Norway, Herbert H.D. Peirce, to accept the award on his behalf. In 1910, during his European tour, Roosevelt belatedly delivered his Nobel lecture in Oslo, Norway. The speech included a call for “a league of peace with international police power.” Such a league was thought too radical an idea by European newspapers at the time and was also an unwelcome proposition in a Europe actively preparing for war. Roosevelt’s vision would not be realized until 1945 and the formation of the United Nations, an effort begun by another Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, before his death.
Roosevelt did not keep the prize money. Though he stated privately to his son Kermit that he wished he could have kept it for his children, his wife Edith said a public figure such as Roosevelt could not keep such a reward. Instead, when he accepted his prize, Roosevelt stated he would be donating the money to Congress for the funding of a permanent Industrial Peace Committee which would address “fair dealings between classes of society.” However, Congress never organized the committee and so, during World War I, Roosevelt petitioned Congress to return the funds to him so that he could distribute the money to war relief efforts and various charities.

7. Motives?

8. Hawaii Captain James Cook (English Explorer) first to discover island
the 8 islands of Hawaii were united under a monarch named Chief Kamehameha.
Abundant food and little industrialization
Communal living and animistic spirituality
Protestant missionaries arrive in Hawaii to convert the people to Christianity
Americans begin settling and raising sugar crops by 1875 a negotiation of duty-free status is arranged
A new tariff (McKinley Tariff) reverts the duty free-status of Hawaiian sugar, their economy to suffers (hit of 5 million)
The Secret Hawaiian League is formed by businessmen, traders, and planters who want American control of the island
The U.S. demands control of a harbor (Pearl Harbor) in return for continued exemption of taxation
Captain James Cook (English Explorer) first to discover island
• Committee of Safety 8

9. Committee of Safety
“Annexation Club”
Diplomat: John L. Stevens
Lawyer: Lorrin Thurston
Supreme Court Judge: Sanford B. Dole

10. Hawaii
King Kalakaua is forced at to sign a new Constitution – aka the “Bayonet Constitution” by secret league.
1891 King dies, Nationalist Queen Liliuokalani begins to try to overturn the “bayonet constitution” and return “Hawaii to Hawaiians” in 1893
USS Boston is sent, 162 Marines/military personnel present
Month of January – debates and plans are set
Liliuokalani refuses to publically give up on her constitutional revisions
Marines brought in, government buildings occupied overthrowing the monarchy
Fear of being outnumbered, overwelming majority of population
Unhappy with the rule of Kalakaua and his premier, Walter Murray Gibson, leaders of the Hawaiian League (the Committee of Thirteen) used threats to force the king to adopt a new constitution. On July 1, Kalakaua asked his entire cabinet, including Gibson, to resign and by July 6, his new cabinet - William Green, Godfrey Brown, Lorrin Thurston and Clarence Ashford - had a new constitution drawn up to their liking. After a day spent haggling and arguing over the changes, Kalakaua, under threat of force, signed the document which reduced him to a figurehead. The Bayonet Constitution made important revisions to the constitution of Executive power was placed in the hands of the cabinet, appointed by the king but responsible only to the legislature. The king's personal influence over the legislature and legislation was reduced by limiting his government appointments and restricting his veto power. The House of Nobles, like representatives, became elective. Voting was extended to all males, not limited to subjects of the kingdom, but excluded Asians. Property qualifications effectively kept Hawaiians from voting for nobles, but awarded big gains to haole voters. Lorrin A. Thurston, one of the perpetrators of the new constitution, admitted the document was signed by Kalakaua under shady circumstances. Writing later, he said, "Unquestionably the constitution was not in accordance with law; neither was the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Both were revolutionary documents, which had to be forcibly effected and forcibly maintained." 10

11. Grover Cleveland becomes President and calls for an investigation of the revolt that overthrew Queen Liliuokalani
President McKinley becomes president and calls for annexation of Hawaii July of 1898
Hawaii becomes a state in 1959

12. Motives?

13. China
In 1843, 5 ports opened in China, despite the Chinese hesitance to allow foreign influence
Japan attacked Manchuria, took control of the region, as well as Taiwan, and Korea
Britain, France, Germany, and Russia all seek spheres of influence over opened China
September of 1899 the Secretary of State John Hay sends “Open Door Notes” to Europe and Japan
keep China equally accessible for all “free trade”
Ensure the Chinese maintain rule over the country

14. China
The secret society “Fists of Righteous Harmony” referred to as the Boxers by the west, circulate pamphlets accusing foreigners of corrupting the country and bringing over religion that displeased the gods
The Fists of Righteous Harmony kill 300 foreigners in China in an 8week siege known as the Boxer Rebellion
International naval forces rescue foreigners from China and the rebellion ends