History ch 27 Flashcards
What factors encouraged the drive for the US to gain overseas territories? What factors argued against it?
Some factors were that both farmers and factory owners began to look for markets beyond American shores, many Americans believed that the U.S. had to expand or explode, and overseas markets might provide a safety valve to relieve labor violence and agrarian unrest. Some factors that argued against it were that some Americans saw it as a daring, aggressive American who wanted to spread their own religion, and it might have to make America an imperial power.
How did the philosophy of evolution encourage American overseas expansion?
The philosophy of evolution encouraged people to believe certain things. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan argued that control of the sea was the key to promoting world dominance. So having this theory he believed that he could dominate.
What European power was involved in a dispute with Venezuela? What role did the Monroe Doctrine play in how the US became involved?
The European power was Great Britain. President Cleveland and his pugnacious secretary of state, Richard Olney, waded into the affair with a combative note to Britain invoking the Monroe Doctrine. Not content to stop there, Onley haughtily informed the world’s number one naval power that the U.S. was now calling the tune in the Western Hemisphere.
Describe the American involvement in Hawaii prior to its annexation. What finally led Americans on the islands to propose Hawaiian annexation—what action made it possible?
Early on, the breeze-brushed islands were a way station and provisioning point for Yankee shippers, sailors, and whalers. By century’s end, Chinese and Japanese immigrants outnumbered both whites and Native Hawaiians, amid mounting worries that Tokyo might be tempted to intervene on behalf of its often-abused nationals. Then sugar markets went sour in 1890 when the McKinley Tariff barriers against the Hawaiian product.
Why did President Cleveland refuse to pursue annexation of Hawaii?
This “war” was happening while president Harrison’s term was ending. So Cleveland had to jump into the “war” and make good decisions. Suspecting that his powerful nation had gravely wronged the deposed Queen Liliuokalani and her people, “Old Grover” abruptly withdrew the treaty. A subsequent investigation determined that a majority of the Hawaiian natives opposed annexation. Although Queen Liliuokalani could not be reinstated, the sugarcoated move for annexation had to be temporarily abandoned.
What role did Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst play in the Spanish-American War?
They were very prominent writers during the Spanish-American War
What were reasons Americans supported war with Spain in Cuba?
The Americans felt bad for the Cubans because the Spanish rule was horrible and harsh toward the Cubans. Cuba was fighting for freedom and the Spanish wanted more control.
What were the Teller Amendment and the Platt Amendment? How were they different? How did they seem to contradict each other?
The Teller Amendment proclaimed to the world that when the U.S. had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give the Cubans their freedom- a declaration that caused imperialistic Europeans to smile skeptically. The Platt Amendment was an amendment made by the Cubans which served McKinley’s ultimate purpose of bringing Cuba under American control. They were different as the Teller Amendment wanted Cuban independence. And the Platt Amendment allowed the U.S. to be a part of Cuban independence. They contradicted themselves because the Teller Amendment just wanted Cuba to be independent but the Platt Amendment told America to intervene if times get tough.
Why did the war extend to the Philippines?
Roosevelt cabled Commodore George Dewey, commanding the American Asiatic Squadron at Hong Kong, to descend upon Spain’s Philippines in the event of war. American thought that taking the Spanish owned territory in the Philippines during the war would be a lot easier. America had already wanted to expand in the Pacific so trying to conquer during the war seemed like a good idea.
How well was the war fought, on the whole?
The Spanish performed very poorly as they were not prepared. The U.S. won because the Spanish did not perform well and the U.S was a lot more prepared.
Who were the “Rough Riders?”
Organized by Theodore Roosevelt, this was a colorful, motley regiment of Cuban War volunteers consisting of western cowboys, ex-convicts, and effete Ivy Leaguers. Roosevelt emphasized his experience with the regiment in subsequent campaigns for governor of New York and vice president under William McKinley.
As a result of the Spanish American War, what new possessions did the US gain in the Caribbean? In the Pacific?
The U.S. gained Guam, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Phillipians.
What were the reasons that members of the Anti-Imperialists League opposed the ratification of the treaty officially ending the Spanish American War?
The Filipinos thirsted for freedom; to annex them would violate the consent of the governed. Imperialism was costly and unlikely ever to turn to profit. Annexation would inject the U.S. into the seething political and military cauldron of East Asia. Annexationists also stoked racial fears when they suggested that the accession of the Philippians might make more nonwhites eligible for American citizenship.
Why did Kipling write “The White Man’s Burden”? What did he hope to achieve with the poem?
The wealthy American must help to uplift the underprivileged, underfed, and underclad, of the world. Kipling was an imperialist writer and this poem urged Americans down the slippery path with a poem.
What were the two reasons President McKinley decided that the US should keep the Philippine Islands rather than grant them self-rule?
Two reasons were that he did not feel that America could honorably give the islands back to Spanish misrule, especially after it had fought a war to free Cuba. And America would be turning its back upon its responsibilities in a cowardly fashion, he believed, if it simply pulled anchor and sailed away.
What role did future president Taft play in the Philippines?
He played civil governor of the Philippines in 1901.
How did Roosevelt become President? What factors had placed him in the Vice-Presidency?
Roosevelt was McKinley’s vice president so when McKinley was assassinated Roosevelt took over. Because of Roosevelt’s popularity, he had been elected p\governor of New York, where the local political bosses had found him headstrong and difficult to manage. They therefore devised a scheme to kick the colorful colonel upstairs into the vice presidency.
How had the Spanish-American War encouraged the Americans to build the Panama Canal?
The Spanish American War had reinvigorated interest in the language and talked about canal access to the Central American isthmus, through which only printer’s ink had ever flowed.
How did the US acquire the rights to build the Panama Canal? What obstacles did they have to overcome to 1) acquire the rights and 2) build it?
They acquired it by the Hay- Pauncefote Treaty. Initial obstacles in the path of the canal builders were legal rather than geographical. They concluded that the U.S. could not secure exclusive control over an isthmian route. They also questioned where to start digging to build it.
What led to the creation of the Roosevelt Corollary? What did the US claim was its right in the Roosevelt Corollary?
Latin American debt led to the creation of the Roosevelt Corollary. They claimed that the U.S. itself would have to intervene, take over the customs houses, pay off the debts, and keep the troublesome Europeans on the other side of the Atlantic.
What events contributed to a poor Latin American perception of the United States around 1900?
To Latin Americans it seemed as though the revised Monroe Doctrine, far from providing a shield, was a cloak behind which the U.S. sought to strangle them.
Alfred Thayer Mahan:
wrote The Influence of SeaPower upon History
“Great Rapprochement”:
After decades of occasionally “twisting the lion’s tail” American diplomats began to cultivate close, cordial relations with Great Britain at the end of the nineteenth century- a relationship that would intensify during WWI.
Valeriano Weyler:
He undertook to crush the rebellion by herding many civilians into barbed-wire reconcentration camps, where they could not give assistance to the armed insurrectos.
