U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
FROM 1860 TO 1914
This is part of Period 7: 1890-1945
Changes at Home and Abroad.
Key Concepts
•  The US created an international empire as a result of its one-sided
victory in the Spanish-American War.
•  Those who supported or opposed US imperialism provided
theories of justifications for their views.
•  The US penetrated Asia, establishing the Open Door policy in
China.
•  Throughout this period, the US intervened in Central and South
American internal affairs.
The Purchase of Alaska
•  In 1867 Secretary of State William Seward brokered a deal in
which Russia agreed to sell Alaska to the US for approximately
$7.5 million. In acquiring Alaska, Seward, an expansionist,
eliminated Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere. The
American public and many in Congress thought the purchase was
a waste of funds and dubbed the deal “Seward’s Folly” and Alaska
itself “Seward’s Icebox.” Seward was later vindicated when gold
and coal were discovered.
The New Imperialism: Theories
•  To be sure, the US was not alone in building an international empire. In
fact, it came late to the race. The New Imperialism of the late
nineteenth century differed from earlier imperialist rivalries in the
number of competitors vying for empire. Great Britain, France,
Germany, Japan, and Russia, among others, had created empires by the
late nineteenth century. The impetus for this enormous burst of
expansionist activity was the growing opinion that the opportunities for
creating an empire were fading as more and more land was coming
under the influence and control of rivals. Yet, there are theories to
explain why nations adopted an imperialist foreign policy. Social
scientists have for decades attempted to create an explanation as to why
nations embark on a policy of imperialism. Many have been critical of
the imperialist activity for different reasons. On the following slides, I
will discuss a sampling of some notable theorists.
The New Imperialism: Theorists
•  John Hobson (1858-1940)
•  A liberal economist, he contended that underconsumption (or
overproduction) convinces governments to adopt an imperialist policy: the
colony becomes a source of demand for commodities that go unsold in the
imperialist nation. He, who was critical of imperialism, maintained that
increasing wages would allow workers to purchase goods they produced,
thereby resolving the problem of underconsumption and eliminating the
need to adopt an imperialist policy.
•  V.I. Lenin (1870-1924)
•  The leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Lenin argued that when the
rates of profits fall the capitalist class seeks new markets to dominate and
invest surplus capital. Because all capitalist nations tak the same approach,
dangerous inter-imperialist rivalries result.
The New Imperialism: Theories
•  Rosa Luxemburg (1870-1919)
•  A German Marxist revolutionary, Luxemburg claimed that when supply
exceeds demand, capitalist nations must find new markets in noncapitalist
areas. Eventually, however, capitalism would have nowhere left to expand
and, she hoped, would collapse.
•  Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950)
•  A German economist, he held that underconsumption led to imperialism as
the center, the mother country, sought a larger market. He maintained that
imperialism represented archaic behavior-that it was a reflection of a more
primitive state- and that capitalism represented a sophisticated system of
supply and demand.
Methods Adopted by the U.S. to Achieve Its
Imperialist Goals
•  Formal Imperialism
•  One of the most pervasive methods used by the US and other imperial powers,
formal, or direct, imperialism involves the physical presence of the center-the
mother country-politically and often militarily. Examples of formal imperialism
by the US include the acquisition of
•  Hawaii
•  Guam
•  Puerto Rico
•  Informal Imperialism
•  In this form of imperialism, formal control is not necessary. Instead, the
imperial power can dominate a colony, nation or region in several different ways.
The imperial power can support those in power in the dominated area whose
policies are beneficial to the center. It can draft treaties that subordinate the
economic, social, and political interests of the dominated nation to the interests
of the center. The Open Door policy, adopted by the US at the turn of the
century, would allow any area to be penetrated by the imperial nations. John Hay,
President McKinley’s secretary of state, was a strong advocate of the policy,
which was initially applied to China, but eventually extended to other continents
as well.
Methods Adopted by the U.S. to Achieve Its
Imperialist Goals
•  Despite the enormous productive capabilities of US capitalism, the
nation in the late nineteenth century was experiencing a period of
economic stagnation and social and political instability, not unlike what
was occurring in the other capitalist nation. In order to combat these
problems, the US, like other capitalist nations, adopted a dual plan.
Domestically, the government attempted to reform capitalism by
addressing the problems that led to discontent. The progressive era was
a period of intense interest in reform. Internationally, the government
adopted an expansionist-imperialist-foreign policy.
•  A primary reason why the US embarked on a policy of creating an
international empire was the closing of the frontier, as officially
reported in the 1890 census. The significance of this report was that all
of the areas within the continental US had been settled by the late
nineteenth century. There was only one direction left to expandoverseas.
Methods Adopted by the U.S. to Achieve Its Imperialist Goals
•  Whether their expectations regarding the benefits of imperialism were
realistic is still debated today. Nevertheless, the decision to adopt this
foreign policy option was based on policymakers’ perceptions of what
an imperialist policy could achieve in the short and long term.
Specifically, the US and other world leaders believed an imperialist policy
would have the following effects:
•  An imperialist policy would bring the economy out of immediate financial crisis-
a severe depression struck the US in 1893.
•  An imperialist policy would help create conditions that would allow for future
investments.
•  An imperialist policy would reduce domestic conflict- for example, between the
working class and the capitalist class. (Remember, industrialization and rapid
capital accumulation brought on serious confrontations between labor and
capital following the Civil War.)
•  This could be achieved by:
•  Reducing the extent of unemployment because of the favorable conditions
imperialism would bring, such as increased demand from overseas colonies
•  Passing on some of the economic benefits derived from imperialism to the
working class
•  Appealing to the patriotism of the working class to mute class tensions
Ideological Justifications for an American Imperialist Policy
•  In the late nineteenth century, the following were important justifications for US
imperialism:
•  Captain Alfred T. Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890)
•  In one of the most influential books of the era, Mahan proposed that for the US to become a
world power it must develop a first-class navy. This would give the US a global reach and
considerably increase its military power. However, in order to have a great navy, coaling stations
and naval bases were necessary-in other words, the acquisition of colonies. A staunch advocate
of imperialism, Mahan’s book had a profound influence on President Theodore Roosevelt,
himself a supporter of a global US empire.
•  Frederick Jackson Turner’s “The Significance of the Frontier in American
History” (1893)
•  This essay sums up Turner’s belief that the possibilities associated with the frontier and
territorial expansion promotes social, economic, and political stability. His essays, published in
professional journals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, influenced President
Woodrow Wilson, himself a historian.
•  Religious justifications
•  The notion that imperialism allowed “civilized” Christian cultures an opportunity to spread their
way of life to “lesser” cultures was advocated by the nativist Reverend Josiah Strong in his 1885
book Our Country, among others. Often, in an attempt to mute criticism of the economic
motives behind the adoption of an imperialist policy, noneconomic justifications such as the
missionary rationale were used.
•  Social Darwinism
•  Advocates of imperialism maintained that the US was simply biologically and morally superior
to those cultures and peoples that were being dominated. Imperialism was merely a reflection
of that superiority.
Opponents of American Imperialism
•  Not all Americans supported their government’s foreign policy. Even
President Cleveland opposed the annexation of Hawaii in 1894. In fact
imperialism was so controversial that it became the key issue in the 1900
presidential campaign between William McKinley and William Jennings
Bryan. By then, an influential association opposed to expansionism had
been organized, the Anti-Imperialist League. Its members included
politicians(for example, Bryan), literary figures (for example, Mark
Twain), economic leaders (for example, Andrew Carnegie), and scholars
(for example, Charles Francis Adams and William Sumner). Their
opposition to imperialism ran the gamut from distress over the costs
necessary to maintain an empire to the immorality of denying other selfdetermination to the racial notion that incorporating “lesser” cultures
into a US empire would weaken American “purity.”
US Foreign Relations in East Asia and the Pacific
•  To US political and economic leaders in the late nineteenth
century, China was a region that offered infinite economic
possibilities. The US was not alone in this analysis. All imperial
powers knew that gaining a foothold in China, and eventually in
the rest of Asia, would enhance their power in relation to one
another. While the US looked to China for opportunities, a new
force in East Asia was demonstrating its power-Japan. In the late
nineteenth century, it became clear that the US and Japan were
emerging as the leading contestants for hegemony in Asia.
Beginning with Japan’s victory over China in the Sino-Japanese in
1895 and over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, US –
Japanese enmity grew as each sought to influence East Asia. This
antagonism would ultimately take them down the path of war in
1941.
US Foreign Relations in East Asia and the Pacific
•  Several examples show how the US and Japan tried to address their
strained diplomatic relations throughout the first half of the the
twentieth century:
•  President Teddy Roosevelt organized the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Japan was clearly the victor and thus received
concessions from Russia; however, many in Japan blamed Roosevelt's treaty, and
therefore the US for what the Japanese claimed were only modest gains.
•  The Taft-Katsura Agreement (1905): Japan recognized US control over the
Philippines and the US recognized Japan’s control over Korea.
•  In order to show the extent of the US global reach, President Roosevelt sent the
US Navy on an international cruise in 1907, making certain it stopped in Japan.
The fleet of warships duly impressed the Japanese. They welcomed the
American navy, but they may have seen this Great White Fleet (so called because
of the ships’ distinctive coloring) as a possible threat to its plans to dominate
East Asia.
•  The Root-Takahira Agreement (1908): At the time, the Japanese and Americans
desired to improve relations; by this agreement, they promised to preserve
China’s independence, support the Open Door policy, and recognize each other’s
possessions in the Pacific.
US Foreign Relations in East Asia and the Pacific
•  Although they were allies in World War I, from this point on, and despite
efforts to forestall conflict, relations between the US and Japan were never
entirely amicable.
•  As for the imperial powers in Asia, their grab for wealth an power in China in
many ways resembled their scramble in Africa during the same period. This
spurred the US to formulate the Open Door policy. The goal of the policy was
to prevent the total dissection of China, which would further weaken the
country and allow the competing imperial powers to create spheres of influence
in China, and to ensure that the US had the same opportunities to trade in
China as did the other powers.
•  In 1900 a Chinese group called the Boxers attempted to drive out the foreign
powers. The US was in the vanguard in organizing an international military
response that eventually put down this nationalist uprising. Late the US worked
out an agreement that attempted to preserve China’s independence. However,
the other nations involved- Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, and Japancompelled China to pay enormous indemnities, which weakened it considerably;
the US returned a majority of its share of the indemnities to an appreciative
Chinese government.
US Foreign Relations in East Asia and the Pacific
•  Around the same time, the US was acquiring territorial possessions east
of China, in the Pacific:
•  Samoa
•  A trade relationship had developed between American merchants and Samoans even
before the Civil War. In the decade following the Civil War the US was permitted to
establish a naval base on one of the Samoan islands. Soon Germany and Britain
wanted what the Americans had in Samoa. When the American and Germany navies
almost fought each other over the islands, a treaty was worked out. It gave Germany
two of Samoa’s islands; the other islands were given to the US; Britain received other
concessions.
•  Hawaii
•  As was the case in Samoa, American merchants had opened trade with the Hawaiians
in the decades before the Civil War. The key commodity was sugar. The export of
sugar benefitted both American merchants and Hawaiian traders. Standing in the way
of an even more lucrative trade relationship was the monarch of Hawaii, Queen
Liliuokalani, who opposed foreign economic and political intervention in her country.
In short order the queen was overthrown by Hawaii’s white population under the
leadership of Hawaiian Supreme Court justice Stanford Dole and assisted by US
Marines. The US government quickly recognized the new government, one amenable
to increased trade. On July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed.
Ostensibly, Hawaii was an independent nation. However, many Hawaiians opposed a
key provision in their new constitution that would allow the US to annex the Hawaiian
islands.
US Foreign Relations in East Asia and the Pacific
•  While Samoa and Hawaii were indeed important acquisitions, it
was not until the US went to war against the Spanish Empire that
it fully established itself as a major global power. Nevertheless,
the US interest in Cuba did not begin in the late nineteenth
century. In the antebellum era, southern economic and political
leaders wanted to annex Cuba, a Caribbean island that was
certainly suitable for a southern-styled slave planation system.
President Polk attempted to purchase the island from Spain but
was refused. Even independent proslavery military expeditions
failed to wrest Cuba from Spain. Later President Pierce sent
several proslavery US representatives to Ostend, Belgium, to
negotiate for the sale of Cuba; they implied that if Spain refused
to give up Cuba, the US would take it by force. When the
negotiations were leaked to the press, angry antislavery forces in
Congress saw to it that the Ostend Manifesto, as it was called, was
repudiated.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  The war that made the US a global power in possession of an
overseas empire came about because of a variety of causes:
•  Spain’s treatment of the Cubans under General Valeriano “The Butcher”
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Weyler was brutal.
The US supported the Cuban independence movement.
Cuba’s strategic location in the Caribbean was enticing to the US.
Financial interests in the US were being hurt by the ongoing war between the
Cuban rebels and the Spanish military.
The influence of the “Yellow Press”: William Randolph Hearst’s and Joseph
Pulitzer’s newspapers unscrupulously sensationalized Spanish atrocities in
Cuba in order to increase sales, correctly speculating that a war in Cuba
would stimulate newspaper readership. Although some of their stories were
outright fabrications, the reading public devoured the graphic and sometimes
salacious stories.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  Relations between Spain, whose glory days as Europe’s first major
empire in the Western Hemisphere were well behind it, and the US,
which was a newcomer to global empire-building, deteriorated even
further as a result of two events:
•  The DeLome letter
•  In 1898 a US newspaper published private correspondence stolen from the Spanish
minister in Washington, Dupuy Delome. In the letter the minister made derogatory
comments about President McKinley, which, when made public, outraged the
American people. Although DeLome resigned, the damage had been done.
•  The Sinking of the Maine
•  The U.S.S Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect US citizens and property. Just
one week after the Delome incident, a massive explosion blew up the ship, killing over
250 American sailors. Given the mood of the American people at this point, they
believed the obvious culprit was Spain. After the Hearst, and Pulitizer papers
sensationalized the story, the public was, for the most part, decidedly sympathetic to a
war with Spain. To this day the cause of the sinking is a mystery, though many experts
believe the explosion was a tragic accident.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  Following the sinking of the Maine, President McKinley demanded a
cease-fire in Cuba. Spain agreed. But in the minds of the American
people and the US Congress, a line had already been crossed. Under
pressure, McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war. Congress’s
affirmation came in the form of a congressional resolution, the Teller
Amendment. In it the US assured the Cuban people that they would be
granted autonomy and self-determination once Spain was defeated. The
US prepared to engage Spain’s forces in the Caribbean and in the Pacific.
•  The Spanish-American War lasted several months, cost more American
lives from disease and spoiled food than from Spanish bullets, and in the
end provided the US with a global empire. Secretary of State John Hay
knew it had been “a splendid little war.”
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  The following were major military events of the war:
•  One Spanish fleet was destroyed by US warships under the command of
Commodore George Dewey in Manila Bay on June 1, 1898.
•  Manila, capital of the Philippines, was captured two months later.
•  In Cuba, the US military force was unprepared for tropical conditions.
Despite the loss of thousands of soldiers to malaria and other diseases,
Cuban rebels and American soldiers were able to wear down the Spanish
forces. One of the most famous land battles occurred in the American
attack on San Juan Hill, an event made popular by the rousing charge of the
Rough Riders, led by Theodore Roosevelt, on Spanish forces.
•  The destruction of the other Spanish fleet at Santiago Bay on July 3
convinced the Spanish to open negotiations to end the fighting. That
month, the US annexed Hawaii It would soon add other territories as well.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  These are the principal terms of the peace treaty signed in Paris in
December 1898:
•  Cuba received its independence from Spain. The US would have liked to
annex Cuba, but it could not because it had gone to war to win Cuban
freedom.
•  Spain relinquished control of Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean, and Guam, in
the Pacific.
•  In return for $20 million, the US acquired the Philippines. Opponents
claimed this violated America’s basic principles as expressed in the US
Declaration of Independence, but the pro-imperialist forces in Congress
won the day. Unfortunately for the US the Filipinos had other thoughts. Led
by Emilio Aguinaldo, a former US ally, Filipino rebels fought for three years
against the US military before the uprising was put down.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  By then the US had compelled the Cubans to agree to the Platt Amendment,
which denied Cuban self-determination by allowing the US to intervene in
Cuban affairs when it believed its own interests were threatened and by allowing
the US to lease naval bases such as the one at Guantanamo, on the eastern tip
of the island. In reality, while the US claimed it had fought for Cuban freedom,
the Platt Amendment effectively made Cuba an American protectorate.
•  Puerto Rico, on the other hand, had an unusual relationship with the US. It was
neither a US territory nor an independent nation. Under the Foraker Act
(1900), Congress provided the Puerto Ricans with substantial political
autonomy, although the US continued to exert heavy political and economic
influence on the island’s government. The Puerto Ricans had a civil
government and an American governor. But were they entitled to the same
constitutional rights in a series of cases called the Insular Cases: in a
controversial decision, the Court ruled that the Constitution does not follow
the flag-all the rights, privileges, and provisions accorded US citizens under the
Constitution do not apply to those living under the US flag in overseas
territories and possessions.
The Spanish-American War (1898)
•  The war was a windfall for McKinley and the Republican Party.
Late in the century, the US experienced domestic prosperity and
prestige overseas. To many Americans the rise in economic
prosperity was well worth the financial and the military burdens of
empire. The depression of 1893, the worst in the nation’s history
to that time, seemed like a memory. Not surprisingly, the 1900
presidential race was a particularly difficult one for the Democrats,
who tended to oppose overseas imperialism. The Republican
President McKinley rode a wave of popular support for the war
and the public’s general acceptance of US imperialism. He
received nearly twice the number of electoral votes as the
Democratic candidate, William Jennings Bryan.
US Foreign Relations in Latin American and the Caribbean
•  Since the 1890s, US intervention in the domestic affairs of many Latin American
nations has been extensive. In 1904 President Roosevelt extended the authority of
the US in the Western Hemisphere as articulated in the Monroe Doctrine.
Responding in part to the bellicose actions of several European nations in 1902
regarding money owed to them by Venezuela, Roosevelt believed the Monroe
doctrine had to be strengthened. In the Roosevelt Corollary, the president
recognized the principle of self-determination, but only for nations that acted “with
reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters,” adding that
“chronic wrongdoing” would result in the US acting as “international police power.”
In other words, the US would intervene when it thought it was necessary to do so.
This firm approach became known as the “Big Stick” policy, in reference to an
African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick, (and) you will go far.” Citing
the Corollary, the US opposed nationalist and reform governments and those
movements that sought greater autonomy as a threat to US political, military, and
economic interests. Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard Taft, added a new ripple
to the Roosevelt Corollary in the form of “Dollar Diplomacy.” Taft believed that
economic and political instabilities in Latin America required US intervention to
protect American financial interests. (Following WWI, the most intense US
responses have been reserved for leftist and communist movements.) Not
surprisingly, many Latin Americans resented the policy.
US Foreign Relations in Latin American and the Caribbean
•  Below is a sampling of US interventions in Latin America:
•  Cuba
•  The US occupied Cuba from 1898 to 1902 and intervened again militarily in 1906,
1909, 1917, and 1961.
•  Dominican Republic
•  The US militarily occupied the island nation from 1916 to 1924. It was a US
protectorate from 1905 to 1940. The US last sent troops to the Dominican Republic in
1965.
•  Haiti
•  A US protectorate from 1915 to 1941, it was militarily occupied by the US between
1915 and 1934. US troops were sent to Haiti in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries.
•  Nicaragua
•  The US militarily and politically intervened in 1909, 1912-1925, 1927-1933, and again in
the 1970s and 1980s.
•  Mexico
•  The US militarily intervened in 1916 during the Mexican Civil War.
•  Colombia
•  In 1903 the US helped establish a secessionist movement in northwestern Colombia
(Panama), which soon came under US control. It would later be the site of the Panama
Canal.
US Foreign Relations in Latin American and the Caribbean
•  The next American president, Woodrow Wilson, claimed he was
an opponent of imperialism and repudiated the policies of his
predecessors, Roosevelt and Taft. During his administration the
US took the following actions:
•  Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912
•  The act allowed US ships to use the Panama Canal toll-free. Wilson convinced
Congress to repeal the act, which angered strong nationalists like Roosevelt but
was appreciated by the British, who had earlier challenged the exemption.
•  Jones Act of 1916
•  The act provided for eventual Filipino independence, made the Philippines a full-
fledged US territory, and granted universal male suffrage.
•  Jones Act of 1917
•  The act conferred citizenship rights on all Puerto Ricans and made democratic
improvements to their legislative system.
US Foreign Relations in Latin American and the Caribbean
•  In just over 50 years, from the end of the American Civil War to
the eve of WWI, the US had taken its place as an economic
leviathan and international world power. Coincidentally, the first
phase of the US territorial expansion, the period of Manifest
Destiny, coincided with the advent of a major reform movement,
Jacksonian Democracy. Likewise, the US role in the New
Imperialism coincided with two domestic reform movements: the
Populists in the late nineteenth century and the progressives in the
early twentieth century. As the US looked outward beyond its
borders, many began to take stock of the domestic conditions
shaping the nation. Again the government and grassroots
movements would take steps to democratize the institutions of
American life.