Introduction to Imperialism
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
- How can a desire for increased global trade impact the distribution of power and the authority of industrialized countries
SO…WHAT IS IMPERIALISM?
- Imperialism - the policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker territories
- BUT WHY?
- Desire for military strength
- Thirst for new markets
- Belief in cultural superiority
Desire for Military Strength
- Admiral Alfred T. Mahan of the U.S. Navy urged government officials to build up American naval power in order to compete with other powerful nations.
- United States built nin steel-hulled cruisers between 1883 and 1890
- Early 1900s - the US ” Great White Fleet ” sails around the world to show off the third largest naval fleet in the world
Thirst for New Markets
- The United States needed raw materials for its factories and new markets for its agricultural and manufactured goods.
- Imperialists felt that a worldwide trade network anchored by US colonies / territories and trading posts could provide the country with the economic growth it needed
Belief in Cultural Superiority
- Some Americans combined the philosophy of Social Darwinism—a belief that free-market competition would lead to the survival of the fittest—with a belief in the racial superiority of Anglo-Saxons.
- They argued that the United States had a responsibility to spread Christianity and democracy to “civilize” the world’s “inferior people ”
Seward’s Folly - Acquiring Alaska
- In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward arranged for the United States to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million.
- Some poeple thought it was silly to buy what they called “Seward’s Icebox ” or “Seward’s folly”
- In 1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state in the Union
- For about two cents an acre, the United States had acquired a land rich in timber, minerals, and as it turned out, oil.
The Importance of Hawaii
- The Hawaiian Islands had been economically important to the United States for nearly a century.
- Halfway point to Asia - Important for Fueling.
- Pearl Harbor - American Naval Headquarters in the Pacific
- Tropical Climate - American Planters move to grow sugar cane and make money!
- Then the McKinley Tariff of 1890 provoked a crisis by eliminating the duty-free status of Hawaiian sugar.
- American planters in Hawaii called for the United States to annex the islands so they wouldn’t have to pay the duty
Overthrowing a Monarch
- In 1891, Queen Liliuokalani came to power with a “Hawaii for Hawaiians” agenda.
- She proposed removing the property-owning qualifications for voting
- To prevent this from happening, business groups — with the help of marines — overthrew the queen and set up a government headed by Sanford B Dole.
- On August 12, 1898, Congress proclaimed Hawaii an American territory
- Hawaii becomes a state in 1959
Anti-Imperialism Emerges
- Anti-Imperialist League - included some of the most prominent people in America, such as former president Grover Cleveland, industrial leader Andrew Carnegie, labor leader Samuel Gompers, and social worker Jane Addams.
- Concerns included the impact of imperialism on American Labor, foreign relationships with European Powers, and the concern of the United States to rule other people without their consent