At the end of 1800s and early 1900s, U.S start taking control and expand all over the world. United States started taking over countries, through military forces and clear without consent. By this act, they started taking power in Hawaii, Guam, Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico. this Act was called as Imperialism.By carefully examining the American Imperialism Vision, annexation of Hawaii, the Spanish-American War and also the economic interest of the United States it’s clear to see that U.S expanded their territory during this period of time. During 1800s and 1900s United States beings to expand.using domination acts over frail nation this was called Imperialism, an economic and political domination of strong nation …show more content…
over other weaker nations .By this act U.S took control by military forces of some countries of Latin America and pacific such as Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico, but also Phillippines and china taking power and control in these countries.United States got what they want through acts and treaty, making the nation they were controlling to sign without consern. U.S have reason to take these countries such as economic and political reason. These make labors more cheap. The need of raw materials, such as oil and rubber. So only directing those regions and keeping them under their control could the industrial economy works effectively . However, the imperialism started a new way to expand and earn money. In addition to this, thanks to the imperialism U.S could do farming on Hawaii and also increase the immigration in United States. In 1890 an act called “McKenley Act” increment the import tariff on foreign sugar in America. Thereof Hawaii’s sugar price was up and profits sank. Mostly America knew, that the only solution will be the annexation of Hawaii. In 1891 Hawaii’s king died passing to the throne her sister the queen Liliuokalani, That, of course, was opposed to the annexation. She planned a new constitution that’ll favor native Hawaiians. Even Though the Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate her throne. But the president anti-imperialism Grover Cleveland, aimed to bring the queen back to her throne. It failed, because many Americans supported the annexation of the islands. However, the excellency president McKinley, signed the treaty on July 7 of 1898. Establishing the annexation of the islands. This ceremony was at Iolani palace, although not a lot of natives attended. During the ending of 1800s Spanish’s ministers wrote a letter accusing McKenley or being “weak and catering to the rabble’’ such America looked as an insulted. This make “Jingoes” (people who love to see fights ) want U.S to go to the war with Spain. America brought its warship (U.S.S Maine) to Cuba that was send to evacuate any American citizen there.
On February 15, 1898, the battleship exploded in Havana harbor on the island of Cuba, a Spanish territory. This explosion make U.S congress angry. However after the main exploitation, American newspaper (the Yellow journalism) who exaggerated all the information and post shocking stories. Accused Spain for the explosion of the U.S.S Maine. Spain denied this, but they couldn’t explain what happened. Thereof the United States congress declared what we know now as Spanish-America war on April 25, 1898. Was a short war that killed around 345 soldiers and a lot of injuries. Finally on December 10, 1898, the United States and spain signed the ‘’Treaty of Paris’’ and with a little the effort U.S won the war . Taking control of Guam, the Marianas,The Philippines and Puerto Rico. Also, after the end of such war United States became an Imperial power, sending military government to keep Cuba. There of cuba was a protectorate of the US under the control of The platt Amendment. This benefit United States because there of have the rights to intervene in cuba affairs, and cuba had to allow the United States to buy naval station. So Do U.S now going to stop?.All these territory expansions would continue
and United States people would support it. Some economic interest sometime lead the military forces, an example of this was Cuba. By 1898, Cuba rebels had been fighting their conquerors in a period of three years, to win the independence. It was a good moment for U.S to get into this problem.During this period U.S wants to make people believe they are their friends, acting generosity. But what they were looking for is money. According to the president Grover Cleveland an estimated of $30,000,000 to 50,000,000 of American money are invested in plantations, railroad, mining and others on the island. This make the volume of trade between the United States and Cuba goes up, In an amount of 64,000,000 to 103,000,000 in 1893. “The American flag Has not been placed on foreign soil to acquire more territory but for humanity’s sake”- William Mckinley. In conclusion, taking over by military forces, without consent and acting friendly let United States expand and take control of other countries. Because of these the Imperialism help to expand authorities in countries and cultures. These were the results of attitudes and superiority implemented on Colonies, but they believed that they were improving the areas
Americans living in West Florida between the Iberville and Perdido Rivers declared their independence, and President Madison ordered the Governor of New Orleans Territory to take control of the independent land. The Americans now had control over half the territory they wanted but this did not satisfy them, this only made them more eager to gain control of East Florida. Almost two years after this event peace concluded, but Spain still had possession of East Florida. This time Spain only had two solutions to avoid a shameful political break down over this region. One was to gain support of a European ally, and the second was to get some form of honor in this event by winning some of the United States best land else where in North America. The first plan fell through, Britain and other European nations refused to help Spain. They eventually fell to having discussions with the United States.
In the late 1800’s the American people and their government became more willing to risk war in defense of American interests overseas, support for building a large modern navy began to grow. Supporters argued that if the United States did not build up its navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut out of foreign markets by Europeans. Captain Alfred T. Mahan observed that building a modern navy meant that the U.S. had to acquire territory for naval bases overseas. This would enable them to operate a navy far from home. A country needed bases and coaling stations in distant regions, which was exactly what they did by having Havana, Cuba be one of its ports. Another factor that was part of the Navy’s modernization was the USS Maine, which was probably the most famous ship of its era. The USS Maine was one of the Navy’s first armored battle ships. It was one of the first U.S. naval vessels with electrical lighting. It had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 392 officers and enlisted men. On the evening of February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded. Of the 345 officers and sailors aboard the Maine, 266 died. There were many ideas of how this explosion occurred, namely: the ship’s ammunition supplies blew up, a fire accidentally ignited the ammunition, and that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition. At the time Cuba was a Spanish colony, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The Cuban people were fighting for independence from Spain. During this Cuban revolt against Spain and the American battleship Maine dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. This immediately made Americans jump to the Conclusion that Spain blew up the Maine. American’s felt that since they were allies with Cuba that Spain was trying to harm America, as to not interfere with Cuba’s revolt against them. Within a matter of weeks, Spain and the U.
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
United States of America. U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian. The Spanish-American War, 1898. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Americans think they used the Platt Amendment to mediate and resolve internal disputes in Cuba, whereas Cubans tend to think that the amendment was designed to permit the U.S. to intervene in Cuban affairs for its own selfish purposes; finally, Americans tend to think that their investments in Cuba contributed to the nations development, whereas the Cuban Government has tended to look at the economic relationship as exploitative (Blight 43).
Americans wanted to project their power to the entire hemisphere and the only way to exercise it is by acquiring a republic. Citizens of three countries did not fully acquire the independence they thought they were entitled to. Cuba got nominal independence because of the Platt Amendment, Puerto Rico became a territory but was not called as citizens of America, and instead they were called Puerto Ricans, while the Philippines were denied statehood.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
With the sinking of the USS Maine of the coast of Cuba, the United States people got infuriated with the fact that 260 Americans died and the only culprit at the time was a Spanish ship. The press with its yellow journalism spread the news throughout the states, enraging many Americans with their yellow journalism. The New York Journal at the time went as far as saying that “ ” () President McKinley and the members in Congress at the time were forced to declare war on Spain, fearing the negative effects it would have if they let the matter go. With the declaration of war the United States recruited so many men for the army and navy they didn’t know what to do with them, but inevitably our numbers made us prepared for anything Spain had to through at us. Although most of the battles were fought by the navy like Alfred Thayer said “In order to be a great power like Great Britain the U.S. need to control the seas and dominate international commerce.” (Mahan, A. T.) With a greater naval force then Spain the U.S. was able over whelm them and win almost all the battles they fought in. Alfred also said with in his book “The influence of sea power upon history” that the islands that the United States acquired through the means of imperialism also serve as refueling station for our ships during war or transport. Hawaii especially because of its central location in the
After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.
The Spanish-American War was not started by one thing in particular. It was because of a large amount of reasons that built up until it erupted in war. It started with the explosion of the USS Maine. When Spain sent in General “Butcher” Weyler to stabilize the situation in Cuba, he put the majority of the population into concentration camps. The US sent the Maine to protect its investments there. The USS Maine was on a “friendly” mission to wait and rescue any US citizens that may be hurt in the conflict. At 4:40 pm on February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor. The source of the explosion was not known. Some thought that it may have been from a Spanish mine. Others thought there may have been a spy on board the ship sent to destroy it.
On July 25, 1898 United States troops invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War . As Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim and Kal Wagenheim state“ The war marked new eras for both the United States and Puerto Rico. It was America’s first major step as an imperialist power , The Spanish American War was a small war , edging towards immense consequences ” (77) . December 10, 1898 The Treaty of Paris between The United States and Spain was signed, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States . From there on The United States gained total control of the island of Puerto Rico and “ undertook a sustained Americanization campaign designed to make Puerto Rico in its sympathies , views, and attitude toward life and toward government essentially American” ( Morris 7 ). The United States claimed that their intention of possessing the island was to free the island from the Spanish but, Puerto Ricans soon learned that they would just be a controlled possession of the United States , this made some natives very unhappy. In just a short period of time Puerto Rico went from being a possession of Spain to the possession of the United States . Going through these sudden changes has caused many issues in the political , economic, and social status of Puerto Rico.
Trask, David.? ?The Spanish-American War.?? The World of 1898:? The Spanish American War.? (1998):? n. pag.? Online.? Internet.? 19 Jan. 2000.? Available:? http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/trask.html.
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....
In the 19th century, Imperialism occurred again within the countries. New Imperialism raised colonialism throughout Africa and Asia. It helped the administration of certain areas that would benefit from the colonial power. Also, they focused on the development of the empire. This made their territory expand, market their European business, and look for new resources. As opposed to the New Imperialism, the Old Imperialism focused on trade routes and the exploration of the New World. The Old Imperialism ensured they establish colonies in the U.S. As opposed to the New Imperialism, which focus on the economy as a business. Their empire wasn’t as powerful as the New Imperialism. In the New Imperialism, the empire seeks to expand their territories,
The Spanish American War was a very brief and victorious war for the United States. The major cause of the War was the Cuban rebellion against Spain to gain freedom. This caught America’s attention because of its commercial and ethical relations that it produced in a region within close geographical range. The desire to free the Western Hemisphere of European powers created sympathy for Cuban revolutionaries. With Cuba and the Philippines under Spain’s control, the U.S. felt that it was necessary to support their struggle for independence. Although the United States wanted to avoid all possible fights, the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor officially activated the war in motion. The War was fought from April to August 1898. After