HIST 1312 1st Edition Lecture 6 Outline of Last Lecture I Populism a The Rise of Populism b Other Farmer Alliances c Main Critiques d Populism and Presidential Elections II The Age of Progressivism a Definition of Liberalism b Definition of Progressivism c Types of Progressive Reform and goals d Origins of Progressive Thought and Action Outline of Current Lecture I International Relations and Expansion a The Security Physical Isolation Afforded the United States b The Relative Infancy of the United States c Factors Prompting International Expansion in the 1890s II A Splendid Little War a Results of the Spanish American War III Theodore Roosevelt a Life of Roosevelt These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute b Roosevelt s Foreign Policy c Roosevelt s Domestic Policy d Later Elections IV Teller and Platt Amendments Current Lecture Acquisition of Empire I International Relations and Expansion a The Security Physical Isolation Afforded the United States The United States was in part indifferent to and inactive in international relations between 1860 and 1890 because given the security afforded by the physical isolation of the United States no nation forced U S Americans to form foreign alliances to protect themselves o The U S was recovering from the Civil War and it took about 25 years for the country to recover from it they had no interest in international wars or bonds U S Americans did not have to play the diplomatic game in order to protect themselves No unfriendly nation posed a real threat to the United States The country was the strongest in the Western Hemisphere and could rest easy in that position Many U S Americans felt that if the United States allied itself with any European power the new country would soon become entangled in the perpetual power struggles and military conflicts that characterized Europe b The Relative Infancy of the United States During its first hundred years as a nation the United States was simply not large enough strong enough or financially capable of creating an empire for itself in the distant regions of the world and asserting itself as the equal of Britain and other global powers o The British empire was the most powerful empire in the world at the time Had colonies and wealth all over the world maintained by a large navy After the U S was too occupied in reunifying the north concentrating on the Industrial Revolution and pacifying the West and dealing the Indians it lagged behind in colonial expansion Until conquest of the North American continent was complete industrialization had made the United States wealthy and powerful o Though United States was still unprepared for overseas acquisition and imperialism at this time By the 1890s this was no longer true By then the United States had solidified its revolution and its independence taken possession of all of North America become an industrial power of the first order and was now ready for overseas territorial acquisition and a policy of international involvement and leadership c Factors Prompting International Expansion in the 1890s Historic Territorial Expansionism o Territorial expansion had occurred unimpeded from colonial days forward First the U S had been limited to the Atlantic Seaboard but then it grew by leaps and bounds the TransMississippi the Louisiana Purchase Florida Texas Oregon the Mexican Cession etc o By 1890 all of the middle portions of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific had come under American control but the desire for new land did not simply vanish That desire for growth remained a motivating factor for American action well into the twentieth century o U S politicians began to cast covetous eyes on land beyond the continental boundaries of North America to Hawaii Cuba Puerto Rico the Isthmus of Panama the Philippines etc Hawaii midway point between America and Asia For a navy military base Cuba The marines are there now Guantanamo Bay Puerto Rico Territory still today Panama build control Panama Canal and area around it shortcut from east coast to California The Concepts of Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism o Manifest Destiny was a popular concept in the 1840s as both an encouragement to and a rationalization for the spread of the United States across the entire continent o Americans came to accept the ethnocentric idea that it was the divine mission of America to bring the benefits of Christianity and civilization and progress to all areas of North America o Now Americans wondered if they should go farther into the Pacific The Influence of Naval Strategists o One of the most important reasons for the creation of an American empire in the 1890s and into the new century was the influence of naval strategists and most particularly Alfred Thayer Mahan o An admiral in the United States Navy Mahan authored three very important books during the crucial last decade of the nineteenth century regarding the influence of naval power The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660 1783 1890 The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire 1793 1812 1892 and The Interest of America in Sea Power 1897 o In these three widely read books that had tremendous influence on American policy makers Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson Henry Cabot Lodge Mahan argued three primary points 1 Every world power had a large merchant marine capable of carrying trade the world over and if the United States wished to initiate a profitable trading relationship with Asia Europe Africa etc it would have to quickly enlarge and modernize its merchant marine Economic strategy America produce goods and ship it out to sell goods to make profits and expand the American economy to become a world power economically and will therefore become a power overall 2 Every world power had a large military navy enabling it to make its influence felt in all of the disparate distant areas of the globe I o o If the United States wished to become a global power it would have to enlarge and modernize the United States Navy Based off of the British and their navy 3 If the United States wished to become a world power it would have to quickly acquire certain possessions of strategic naval importance Mahan pointed out how Great Britain s control of the Straits of Gibraltar control this then you can control who enters into the Mediterranean the Straits of Bosporus and the Dardanelles stop the Russians