Imperialism - the policy of imposing economic and political control over other peoples in a way that undermines their sovereignty and takes away their freedom to make political and economic decisions. As the map below indicates, throughout most the 19th Century, the five largest empires dominated a great deal of the world - England, Spain, France,the Ottoman, and Portugal.
Causes of Imperialism: -Politics: Many nations wanted to become world powers. In the last third of the century, Great Britain, France, and Germany divided up Africa and began to look at Asia. -American Patriots: American Patriots saw countries fighting for their own freedom and related it to the American Revolution. -Intellectuals: Believed that the unfit needed to become more civilized. -Businessmen: Businessmen wanted to make money in foreign markets as well as domestic markets to make more of a profit.
Imperialism: -Bilateral Economic Treaties In the 1880s, the U.S. government signed bilateral economic treaties with Mexico, Colombia, the British West Indies, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Spanish-dominated Puerto Rico, and Cuba. This allowed trade between these countries to increase, and allowed American business to dominate Central and Latin American economies. -Haiti: Deeply in debt to U.S. banks, Wilson sought out to supervise Haiti with the help of United States Marines. In 1915, the Haitian National Assembly elected a president who signed a treaty making Haiti an American protectorate, with American officials assuming control over the Financial Adviser, Customs Receivership, the Constabulary, the Public Works Service, and the Public Health Service for a period of ten years. This later left the Dominican Republic in control over Haiti, after giving more land to the Dominican Republic. The United States left after ten years, but still somewhat monitored the Haitian Government through the Dominican Republic ruling over them. -Dominican Republic: In 1869, President Grant attempted to annex the Dominican Republic, but won no congressional support. In 1905, the U.S. assumed "receivership" over the Dominican customs because of the Dominican Republic's international debts. After rebellions, the U.S. Marines entered the country. The marines established a military government after the Dominicans refused to sign any treaties. In 1924, American troops left but remained under United States financial supervision until 1941. -Virgin Islands: In 1902, the U.S. tried to purchase St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John islands from Denmark but the Danish parliament rejected the offer. Later in 1917, Denmark sold the Virgin Islands to the U.S. for $25 million dollars. It then became American territory. In 1927, citizenship was granted to residents in the Virgin Islands. Today, the Virgin Islands is split between the United States and Great Britain. -Puerto Rico: In March 1898, leaders of the Puerto Rican section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party corresponded with President William McKinley and the U.S. Senate in hopes that they would consider including Puerto Rico in the intervention planned for Cuba. In December, after ratification of the Treaty of Paris, U.S. military control owned Puerto Rico. In 1900, Congress passed the Forkraker Act, which established governing structure and free commerce to the United States. In 1917, congress passed the Jones Act, which officially made Puerto Rico the United State's territory. -Hawaii: In the 1830s, ministers went to the Hawaiian Islands to help the Hawaiians assimilate to American culture. In 1887, American and European sugar farmers came to Hawaii. These farmers and foreigners formed the Hawaiian League, which forced King Kalakaua to sign the Bayonet Constitution. The Bayonet Constitution gave King Kalakaua less power over the Hawaiians and gave Europeans and Americans the right to vote and the right to change Hawaiian legislature. In 1890, America pressed annexation of Hawaii in order to have domestic sugar instead of foreign sugar, and owned about 3/4 of Hawaii's wealth, though Europeans and Americans only represented 10% of the population. In 1891, King Kalakaua died and his sister, Liliuokalani, assumed power. Qyeen Liliuokalani tried to make a new constitution that could fight off the Americans, but failed to do so. The Europeans and Americans created the Committee of Public Safety, which argued and won the overthrow of queen Liliuokalani. On July 4th, 1894, Stanford Dole announced the creation of the Republic of Hawaii, and announced himself as president. In January, 1895, rebels fought for the Queen, but most of the rebels were captured after only about 10 days. The Queen was captured and imprisoned for 5 years. After years of hesitating to make Hawaii U.S. territory because of Hawaiian disputes against it, it became U.S. territory in 1900. -Philippines: In 1896 when the Philippines was in war against Spain to declare its' independence, the United States declared war on Spain. The U.S. navy arrived in Manilla Bay, securing the harbor. On June 12, Emilio Aguinaldo (leader of the Filipino guerrillas) declared independence and established a Philippine Republic. America refused recognition. In December, Spain sold the Philippines for $20 million dollars to the U.S. President McKinley issued the Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation. which assured that the United State's interest in the Philippines was only selfless. In late December, Aguinaldo and his forces mounted an armed opposition to American occupation. In 1902, the Filipinos surrendered after 20,000 died out of 200,000 troops. Another war began with the Moros (independent Muslim people of the southern Philippine islands) began, and in 1906 they suffered a major defeat. After the battle of Bud Bagask in 1913, the war with the Moros was over. The Tydings-McDuffy Act provided Filipino independence from the United States after a period of 10 years. -Alaska: Alaska was bought by the United States in 1867. It was then called "Seward's Folly" after Secretary-of-State William Seward purchased the land from Russia. After finding gold and oil in the 1890s, prospectors and settlers moved to Alaska in hopes of prosperity.
Key People: -Captain Alfred Thayler Mahan: Wrote a book entitled The Influence of Sea Power upon History, which requested a larger naval force. Mahan also argued to colonize parts of the Caribbean to serve as refuel stations. The U.S. began the process of acquiring colonies or control over Caribbean and Latin American territories. -President Roosevelt: In 1904, the Monroe Doctrine made America the police of Latin America. He is famous for his "Big Stick Diplomacy", which was a theory which stated that negotiations would be made easier with a strong military to support their reason. His imperialist policies also included the annexation of Hawaii and quelling a rebellion in the Philippines. -Jose Marti Urged for Cuban resistance against their government, which won over American empathy. Jose Marti's rally cry backed the arguments of those who favored imperialism over weaker nations. -John Hay Proposed the Open Door policy, which is thepolicyofadmittingpeopleofallnationalitiesorethnicgroupstoa countryuponequalterms,asforimmigration. This allowed for free trade in the Chinese ports under European Control. -President Wilson: Used "Dollar Diplomacy" to his advantage and invested greatly into the military. Wilson believed on extending our domestic markets to foreign markets.