1. Presidential Imperialist Policies 1901-1917
Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

2. The Insular Cases ( )
Question: Do provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply to whatever territories fell under U.S. control?
Decision: The Court ruled that constitutional rights were not automatically extended to territorial possessions and that the power to decide whether or not to grant such rights belonged to Congress.

3. Prelude to Teddy
McKinley was reelected in 1900 with the new war hero Teddy Roosevelt as vice president
In 1901, only a few months after being inaugurated, McKinley was fatally shot by an anarchist

5. T. Roosevelt’s “New Diplomacy”
“Speak softly but carry a big stick.”
Panama Canal ( ); Hay-Pauncefote treaty cancelled British rights; Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty with Panama gave U.S. long term control
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) justified intervention in Haiti, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua
Russo-Japanese War- mediated by Roosevelt (1905)
Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan (1908)
“Great White Fleet” tour ( )
Root-Takahira Agreement with Japan(1908)

6. William Howard Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy”
mildly expansionist but depended more on investor’s dollars than on the navy’s battleships
tried to promote U.S. trade by supporting American enterprises ; ex. sent in marines to Nicaragua in 1912 during their civil war to protect American investments
U.S. bankers helped to finance the building of railroads in China
The Lodge Corollary (1912) excluded non-European powers from owning territory in the Western Hemisphere

7. Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom”
promised a moral approach to foreign affairs; said he opposed imperialism and the policies of the previous two presidents
Jones Act of 1916 granted Filipino citizens more rights
1917 granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico and provided limited self-government
Repealed an exemption of the U.S. from paying Panama Canal fees
His Sec. of State, Wm. Jennings Bryan, negotiated several treaties with Latin America

8. However….
Almost went to war with Mexico after a military dictatorship took over in 1913
Pursued Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary, across the border in
Ultimately engaged in WWI in 1917