Imperialism's Bitter Fruit

1. a) After the Spanish were forced out of the Philippines, fighting broke out between the American and Filipinos. This had started when an American soldier fired on a Filipino patrol that had refused to halt, 2 days before the Senate vote on the Treaty of Paris. For months, tension had been building up, and within hours of the shooting, fighting had spread to much of the area around Manila. The Filipinos had believed they were fighting for their independence, but they were not.

b) This was a different kind of warfare to American forces. Instead of confronting an organized army, U.S. soldiers had faced a quick-striking guerrilla movement. Both sides tortured and executed prisoners and committed other atrocities. The U.S. forced imprisoned almost the entire population of the island of Samara after guerrillas had wiped out an American garrison. American soldiers had also killed Filipino prisoners at random whenever an American soldier was killed.

2. African-Americans were strong critics of the war against Filipino nationalists as two regiments of black volunteers were among the U.S. troops who fought in the conflict. Black officers were appointed to command the volunteers. At home, African-American leaders were at the forefront of the backlash against the war. Black soldiers were discriminated against during this war just as they had been in Cuba. Roughly 500 African-Americans living in the Philippines were killed during the fighting.

3. a) Scholars of this time warned that imperialism would increase war and conflict around the world.

b) Mark Twainm, America's most famous living writer at the time, used his biting irony and wit to ridicule the stance of the imperialists. He was among the most effective critics of imperialism.

4. Congress had made Puerto Rico a territory in 1917 and had granted its people U.S. citizenship. Under a formula crafted by the US State Department, Cuba was to receive independence only after accepting a number of limitations. Both of these were positive effects of American occupation in Puerto Rico and Cuba.

5. a) The Platt Amendment had given the United States the right to oversee the Cuban economy.

b) The United States was also given the right to exercise veto power over Cuban foreign policy.

c) The United States could intervene whenever necessary "for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty".

d) Last, the United States was also allowed to build a naval base on the southeastern tip of the island at Guantanamo Bay.

I don't think that America was justified in making these demands because the US is saying that they are giving Cuba their independence, but with all these limitations, I wouldn't even consider it independence.

6. Personally, I think that the United States was becoming imperialist, as they were continuing to gain power and extend their boundaries. The US had expanded overseas in the 1890s and beyond, acquiring Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. This provided US leaders with the opportunity they had been looking for to increase that power. The US had claimed to be bringing freedom and civilization to the islands, but they were rarely considering the interests and hopes of the inhabitants.

Imperialism: The Origins of a Global Power

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....".

U.S. Imperialism Begins

1. Name at least five factors that fueled American Imperialism.

Factors that fueled American Imperialism included the desire for military strength, the thirst for new markets, and the belief in cultural superiority

2. Choose two of the above five factors and describe them in your own words.

American leaders advised that the United States build up its own military strength. From the urging of Alfred T. Mahan and others, the United States built nine steel-hulled cruisers between 1883 and 1890 in order to keep up with the advances of enemy countries, making the US the 3rd largest naval force.

Advances in technology made it possible for factories and farms to produce far more products than needed for society, so imperialists had viewed foreign trade the solution to over-production.

3. What was known as “Seward’s Folly” and why?

"Seward's Folly" is what some people had called Alaska. Seward had arranged for the US to buy Alaska for $7.2m (from the Russians). Alaska was mainly called "Seward's Folly" by radical republicans who were hostile towards the President, and towards Seward as Johnson's political ally. The people who called Alaska "Seward's Folly" were probably surprised when America found Alaska to be rich in timber, minerals, and oil.

4. What plantation-based product accounted for three-quarters of Hawaii’s wealth in the mid-19^th century and who controlled this product?

In the mid-19th century, sugar plantations had accounted for 3/4 of Hawaii's wealth, and these plantations were American-owned.

5. Using as much detail as possible, outline the sequence of events that led to America gaining possession of Hawaii? In other words, why was the United States interested in these Pacific islands?

White planters had profited from close ties with the US, and in 1875, the US agreed to import sugar duty-free, increasing the sugar production in Hawaii 9X. As a result of the McKinley Tariff of 1890, which caused the importation of sugar to no longer be duty-free, Hawaii faced competition in the American market. So they would no longer have to pay the duty, American planters in Hawaii had called for the US to annex the islands. In 1887, US military and economic leaders, understanding the value of the islands, pressured Hawaii to allow them to set up a base at Pearl Harbor. The base became a refueling station for American ships.