Isolationism > Overseas Expansion - Why?
1. Need for new market
2. Missionary zeal
3. Social Darwinism
1889 - Pan American Conference > Lowering of tariff barriers with Latin American nations
1895-96 - Boundary dispute between Venezuela & Br. Guinea > Secretary of State Olney invoked the Monroe Doctrine to settle the dispute by arbitration (see map on p. 597)
1893 - Whites revolted against Queen Liliuokalani in Hawaii and applied for statehood but rejected by President Cleveland who had little enthusiasm for imperialistic adventures > national debate about imperialism
1895 - Cuba revolts against Spain > U.S. sympathy for Cuba. Why? (list on pp. 600-601)
February 15, 1898 - U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana > War fever
April 11, 1898 - U.S. declared war on Spain even though the Spanish had already agreed to an armistice with the Cuban rebels and Pres. McKinley personally did not want war
- Teller Amendment guaranteed the independence of Cuba
May 1, 1898 - Dewey defeated the Spanish Fleet in Manila Bay - City of Manila captured on August 13 with the help of Emilio Aguinaldo who led the Filipino Insurrection against Spain
July 7, 1898 - Hawaii was annexed by a joint resolution of Congress (territorial status by1900)
July 3, 1898 - Entire Spanish Fleet in Santiago was destroyed (following by the capture of Puerto Rico)
August 12, 1898 - Spain signed an armistice
Treaty of Paris:
1. Cuba granted its independence
2. Guam annexed by the U.S.
3. Puerto Rico annexed by the U.S.
* Most controversial issue was what to do with the Philippines - U.S. finally agrees to pay Spain $20 million
4. Philippine Islands annexed by the U.S.
Great debate over Imperialism:
President McKinley argued that there was no acceptable alternative to their acquisition - Why?
Anti-Imperialist League argued it violated our own political heritage and the philosophy of the Declaration of Independence
Imperialists stressed the economic potential for American trading profits and the"White Man's Burden"
February 6, 1899 - Treaty approved by the U.S. Senate by only 1 vote!
· Two days earlier an insurrection had erupted against the United States (led by Emilio Aguinaldo)
1902 - U.S. withdrew its troops from Cuba after the Cubans had been forced to write into their own Constitution, the so-called Platt Amendment
Platt Amendment:
1. Cuba agreed not to impair their independence by treaty or by debt
2. Cuba agreed that the U.S. might intervene with troops to restore order and provide protection
3. Cuba promised to lease naval stations to the U.S. (ultimately only one - Guantanamo)
Legacy of The War? - p. 612