1. American plantation owners and U.S. Marines had toppled Hawaii's Queen in 1893 because most of the American plantation owners who dominated most of Hawaii's economy had favored bringing the island officially under U.S. control, so they orchestrated a coup with the help of U.S. Marines, toppling Queen Liliuo'kalani in January, 1893. Hawaii was considered to be a valuable prize because the island's rich soil was ideal for growing profitable tropical crops such as sugar, pineapples, and coffee. Hawaii was a crucial stopping point for American ships en route to East Asia. President Cleveland's reaction to this treaty and the event with the queen of Hawaii did not please American plantation owners in Hawaii, as he believed that annexation would corrupt traditional American values of freedom and equality, therefore he withdrew the treaty which allowed the United States to annex Hawaii. I agree with Cleveland quote on Page 1, as he is basically saying that the U.S. must make any repairs necessary when an action is made that puts a friendly country's independence and sovereignty in danger. I agree with him because a treaty was made that allowed the U.S. to annex Hawaii, which would danger Hawaii's independence and sovereignty, and since Hawaii was friendly to the U.S., it was a mistake.
2. In the nineteenth century, there were many changes that transformed America. These changes include immigration, urban growth, manufacturing, new inventions, and an increase in trade as well as many other changes. Immigration was a huge deal in the 1800's, as immigrants were very helpful. Immigrants had helped to propel the economy by labor, signaling a change in American life and American values, but they were not values that the US wanted. Urban growth had been spurred by immigrants, as one-third of Americans had become city dwellers by the late 1800's. This change had cause many problems, such as overburdened transportation systems, inadequate sanitation, rising crime, substandard housing, and politicol corruption. Manufacturing had also become a huge thing that contributed to the transformation of America in the 1800's. Manufacturing had overtaken agriculture as the main source of agricultural wealth, and many immigrants had worked in manufacturing plants in urban areas. Another transformer of America was new inventions in the 19th century, including electricity, chemicals, and new machinery. These inventions made it possible for new industries in the US. The new machinery made rapid inroads in the countryside because farmers relied on railroads to receive supplies and ship their crops to market. Farm machinery also started to replace human and animal labor in the fields. Lastly, trade was another change that had transformed the United States in the 19th century. International trade gained importance in the US economy near the end of the century. During this time the advances in transportation and machine-assisted farming had been a beneficial factor for the US. Big businesses gained political power as small farmers were increasingly sidelined.
3. The economic depression which started in 1893 had deepened the divisions in American society, as city dwellers worried about insecurity, laborers worried about losing their jobs, plant owners had worried about losing profits, and the income of farmers had slumped more than before the depression. I think that farmers suffered the most during the depression, as a slump in income had started in 1888, and the depression of 1893 had just worsened the slump.
4. The values that many Americans had attached to the frontier included resourcefulness, bravery, pragmatism, ingenuity, individualism, egalitarianism, and patriotism. Many Americans feared that the closing of the frontier would harm American's national character because the identity they had attached to the frontier seemed to be in jeopardy.
5. Some businessmen and politicians believed that overseas expansion would fuel economic growth. They saw that there could be an outlet overseas for the surplus of American products. American leaders had feared that if the US didn't follow suit, that competing powers would prevent the US from accessing the Chinese market.
6. Expansionists urged that acquiring a few strategic ports to service American ships and to open doors to foreign markets was sufficient, while imperialists wanted the United States to build a sizeable overseas empire in which the United States would conquer and rule over strategic foreign territories and nations, which would enable the United States to secure export markets, raw materials, and cheap labor.
7. Social Darwinism had lent support to imperialism as Social Darwinists had claimed that the "success" of western Europeans was a result of their being more suited to positions of power than other races and cultures, which reflected from Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". Scientific racism had also lent support to imperialism with social Darwinism as they affirmed the view that the US and a handful of European nations were destined by nature to dominate the world. America's leaders accepted the conclusions of scientific racism, and most of Americans seldom questioned its basic principles. Social Darwinism and scientific racism have been used since the late 1800's and are still widely used today.
8. Many Protestant churches suggested that he role of Americans in the world should be to "lift up" the "downtrodden" of other nations.
9. The United States had become more involved in Latin American nations in the 19th century because military leaders had hoped that the US could stabilize any quarrelsome nations so American commerce and influence could travel safely across the seas. The US had become involved in Samoa by a treaty in 1878 which promised American assistance in case of foreign interference in Samoa, a group of tiny Pacific islands, in return for free access to Samoa's harbor. As Germany and Britain worked to take over parts of Samoa, the US sent weapons and warships. In the end, portions of Samoa became an American territory. Then, in 1897, the US government tried to restrict Japanese immigration in Hawaii. Japan sent a message telling the US not to, and, knowing those Japanese immigrants would gain power on the islands and begin to demand rights not too far in the future, President McKinley put forward a resolution to annex Hawaii. Along with these 2 interventions, the US also intervened in a revolution in Chile in 1891 and in the Brazilian revolution in 1894. From 1893 to 1895, the US also negotiated with many different groups in Nicaragua.
10. The US was concerned about British involvement in Venezuela because Britain was bullying Venezuela, which shared a border with the British colony of Guiana. American was concerned that if Britain was to carve up Latin America for colonies like they had recently done in Africa, that it would prevent the US from expanding its own commercial ties to Latin America. U.S. Secretary of State, Richard Olney, had invoked in response that "Today the Unites States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law....".
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