IMPERIALISMGood or Bad?

Mara SawdyMichelle BaxendellLuke GigliottiNick GruberMary Beth SpangPeriod 5

What is Imperialism?

Imperialism is defined as the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. In other words, it is when a strong nation takes over one weaker than itself and forces their own rules onto it. Super powers like us here in the United States in the past have just gone into other nations in an attempt to gain things that benefit ourselves. It did not matter to us what the members of the smaller, weaker nation wanted or whether or not they agreed with the United States

taking over their land. In some cases the weaker people have fought back, but most of them do not stand a chance when up against the super power that is the United States. It is my opinion that imperialism is just a way for stronger nations to cajole weaker nations into getting what they want from them. The battles fought over imperialism have caused much violence and many deaths, and all because of the greed of the wealthier nations.

A Letter to the Editor…

The Revolt in Hawaii

“Tell My People I Tried”Who exactly was King Kalakaua? King David Kalakaua was born in 1836 and would eventually become King of Hawaii. He was known to have a passion for life’s luxuries such as lavish parties and expensive cuisine. King Kalakaua took to studying law at the age of 16. He held many accomplishments before becoming King include serving in the Department of the Interior and being appointed postmaster general. When King Kamehameha died without leaving a successor an election was held to decide who would take his position as King. Kalakaua ran against Prince William Charles Lunalilo and lost by a wide margin. Shortly after winning the election, Lunalilo also died without naming his successor. Another election was to be held between Kalakaua and Queen Emma, the

widower of King Kamehameha, and Kalakaua came through victorious this time around. This King was greatly known for his revival of the hula and the ritual of chanting that had been prohibited by missionaries in 1820. They considered these acts immoral. King David Kalakaua went to the United States for medical treatment in November of 1890. He passed away on January 20, 1891 uttering the last words, “Tell my people I tried.”

One of Kalakaua’s many paintings he had done of himself during his reign as King.

The Bayonet Hits its Mark

During Kalakua’s reign as King, a secret group known as the Hawaiian League emerged. The group consisted mostly of Americans. Led by the missionary Lorrin Thurston, it was their mission to “reform” the Hawaiian Monarchy. Some of the radicals present in the group even wanted to go as far as assassination of King Kalakaua. The Hawaiian League then decided to go with a more diplomatic approach and made up a constitution known as the Bayonet Constitution. This constitution was drawn up to decrease the King’s power and diminish the Native Hawaiians’ voice in the government. If King Kalakaua had decided not to sign the Bayonet Constitution, the League had the Honolulu Rifles, a volunteer militia, on hand to coerce him into signing.

Kalakaua was pressured to accept a new cabinet made up of mostly members of the Hawaiian League. After accepting this new cabinet, Kalakaua was presented with the Bayonet Constitution. After much protesting, King Kalakaua finally signed the constitution and basically lost all of his power as King. He became a figurehead for the government while the Hawaiian League was in control. King Kalakaua and the Bayonet Constitution was just the start of American Imperialism in Hawaii.The H

onolulu

Rifles

The Last of the Monarchs

In order to understand the last reigning monarch of Hawaii and her dedication to her country, we first must know some of her history. Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was born in 1838 in Honolulu. She was adopted at birth and then sent to Royal School at the age of 4. There she learned to speak fluently in English. Also during that time period she became a member of the royal circle of King Kamehameha and Queen Emma. Her brother, King Kalakaua was king the king before Liliuokalani ascended the throne. In her lifetime, she was only married once. The Queen entered into what seemed to be an unhappy

marriage with John Owen Dominis at the age of 24. On April 10, 1877 her brother named her the Crown Princess which mean that she would take over the throne in the case of his death. As queen, it was Liliuokalani’s wish to empower herself and her fellow Hawaiians by creating a new constitution that she had drawn up herself. Her dreams were cut short by American imperialism. She died in 1917 from stroke complications and now a statue stands in her honor in Honolulu.

Queen Liliuokalani, pictured above, is usually considered one of Hawaii’s most beloved monarchs.

The Troubles BeginAfter King Kalakaua’s death in 1891, his younger sister Lydia Liliuokalani ascended the throne. The Hawaiian people loved their Queen and wanted her to repeal the Bayonet Constitution. Lorrin Thurston, a big supporter of the Bayonet Constitution, set up the Annexation Club which plotted to overthrow the Queen and have Hawaii annexed to the United States. On January 14 the Queen was about to proclaim a new constitution, but was advised against it by her cabinet members. They were afraid that if she proclaimed a new constitution, her enemies would use that as a way to challenge her and completely overthrow the monarchy all together. She told the

people anxiously awaiting the proclamation of a new constitution, that it was simply being postponed to a day in the future, not just all together ended. This is when the Annexation Club jumped into action. Thurston and the club spoke with American Minister John L. Stevens who was in touch with the American warship the USS Boston that was waiting in the Honolulu Harbor. His message was to be ready to call the American troops onto land if it were necessary “to protect American lives and property.”

The USS Boston (above) was waiting in the Honolulu Harbor during the time of unrest in Hawaii

A New Government ArisesWith the Annexation Club on her tail, Queen Liliuokalani decided to pacify the group by saying she would not seek to alter the Bayonet Constitution in any unconstitutional ways. This plan did not work though, and Minister Stevens requested that the troops on the USS Boston should come ashore, and later that day the 162 troops that were fully armed arrived on the shores of Hawaii. The Committee of Safety in Hawaii set up a new government for Hawaii and

made Sanford Dole their new president. After creating this new government, the committee of Safety along with the troops from the USS Boston lined up outside the government building fully prepared to take over. Later on, the beloved Queen Liliuokalani yielded her throne under protest to the United States hoping they would restore her back to her rightful place eventually.

Hawaii Government

Building

A Queen Under ArrestThe now ex-Queen Liliuokalani urged her people to remain peaceful and not to riot against her yielding the throne. She planned on appealing to the United States government and did not want riots to cast a shadow on her and her followers. Liliuokalani wrote to President Grover Cleveland and even sent Princess Kaiulani to the states to speak to Cleveland who in turn sent a Foreign Affairs Chairman, James Blount, to Hawaii to get a hold on the current situation. After spending time in Hawaii, Blount decided it was in the best interest of Hawaii to reinstate the Queen and she would grant amnesty to those who overthrew her. The new

American minister in Hawaii, Albert Willis, went to the current government in place in Hawaii and requested them to resign their power. Their answer was obviously no, the monarchy would not be restored. After this, many Hawaiians planned a counterrevolution to restore the monarchy, but failed. Queen Liliuokalani was even arrested for having a cache of arms buried in her garden at home. Grover Cleveland desperately wanted to reinstate the queen, but his successor William McKinley sent an annexation treaty to the state, ending any hopes of the monarchy ever being reinstated.

Princess Kaiulani was sent to the

United States and many were struck

by her beauty and dignity.

The Spanish-American War

Spain vs. The United States

The Spanish American War began in 1898. Americans knew that Spain treated Cuba badly and that Cuba had been wanting to break away. Cuba's situation was similiar to the one between the United States and Great Britain. Since the US knew how they felt, they decided to help out Cuba. Many Cubans did not want to be ruled by Spain; therefore, they either fled to Florida or other parts of the United States. Cuba's struggle for independence interested the United States because of the proximity of the areas, and they also traded goods with each other. The United States officially declared war on Spain

due to the explosion of the US ship, the U.S.S Maine. The very first battle took place not in Cuba, but in the harbor of Manila, which is located in the Philppine Islands. The United States won. After that battle, the majority of fighting took place in Cuba. The war only lasted a few months and ended with a peace treaty. The treaty gave the United States control of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rice, and the Philippines. However, Cuba became an independent country instead of a territy belonging to the United States.

The

Batt

le o

f Des

may

o

Mem

bers of the army that

helped free Cuba

The Mysterious ExplosionLed by Captain Charles Sigsbee,

the U.S.S. Maine was a battleship that was longer than a football field. The ship was in the Havana harbor on February

15 when blown up. Around 9 o'clock, a terrible explosion

occurred. Sigsbee was sitting in the captain's cabin, writing a

letter to his wife, when he first heard all of the noise. 260 men died due to the explosion; and several more died from injuries

shortly after. No one ever discovered who was

responsible for the explosion.

An a

ctua

l pic

ture

of t

he U

.S.S

. Mai

ne

(left)

. A p

ainti

ng o

f the

exp

losio

n (r

ight

).

The Rough Riders

The "Rough Riders“ (pictured above) was a name given to the most famous fighting unit during the Spanish American War--The First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. They were led by Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary in the

navy to join the cavalry. The men varied from Indians to athletes, doctors to Texas Rangers. They trained at a camp in San Antonio, Texas. The excellent group of fighting men made

many headlines due to their skills and courage.

The Philippine-American War

Drawing from a newsp

aper about th

e

Philippine-Americ

an War. C

aption

reads “Kill

Every One Over Ten.”

From One War to Another

After the Spanish-American War the Philippines was now in the possession of the United States. On December 21, 1898 President William McKinley announced that he intended to keep the Philippines as an American colony in the Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation. The Filipinos, who had expected to receive their independence, were outraged. The Philippine-American War officially began on June 2, 1899 when the Philippines declared war on the United States and ended with Aguinaldo’s surrender on July 4, 1902. The United States had an obvious advantage of the Philippines. They had more ammunition, a better trained army, and control of the waterways. The fighting was brutal on both sides. The Filipinos used guerilla warfare while the Americans resorted to burning villages and torturing suspected guerillas. It took the Americans 3 years to win the war against the Philippines. The war ended up costing the Americans 16,000 lives and 600 million dollars.

Filipino soldiers outside

of Manila (1899)

EMILIO THE BRAVEEmilio Aguinaldo was born in the year of 1869 near Cavite. He was educated at

the college of San Juan de Letran, Manila. Aguinaldo was known for being

a Filipino leader and independence fighter. He led a rebellion against

Spanish rule and aided the Americans in the Spanish-American War, but his ally soon became his next enemy. When

the Americans obtained the Philippines from the Spanish-American War, they

had the plan of annexing the Philippines. This did not sit well with the Filipinos who has fought so hard

against Spanish Rule. They were ready to become independent, not simply

have a new leader. Aguinaldo was also elected president of the provisional

government in the Philippines. He led the Filipinos in their fight for

independence until his capture on March 23, 1901 by the Americans.

A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The Anti-Imperialism League was put together on June 15, 1898 in Chicago. The league was set up to protest the United

States’ annexation of the Philippines and its continued imperialism over weaker nations. The league attracted many

prominent men such as William James, Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain. Also a member of the

league was George S. Boutwell who served as the president from the league’s inception until his death in 1905. The league

eventually began to become less prominent and eventually disappeared all together.

(From left to right) William James, Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain were all prominent members of the Anti-Imperialism League

The Boxer Rebellionin China

United States Forms “Open Door” Policy in China

During the nineteenth century Great Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Japan, Austria, and Italy all started to claim exclusive trading rights with different parts of the Chinese empire, and some of these countries even started say they owned their “sphere of influence” in China.

Now that the United States had territory in Asia, due to their acquiring of the Philippines, they wanted to get a piece of China’s resources. However this created a problem because while the U.S. was trying to get into China, Empress Dowager had been wishing to remove all the foreigners.

Because of the Philippine War, the American people would no longer support using violence to get into a sphere of influence in China, the Secretary of State John Hay made a plan to send a letter to all the foreign powers requesting an open door policy. This would prevent any fighting and promise equal trading right for all of the powers.

However, this plan was rejected because although the countries all liked the idea of it, they felt they could not support of enforce such a plan. However, being ever persistent, Hay said that since all the countries liked the concept of the policy, the deal was final.

The Fist of Righteous Harmony Comes Smashing Down

Due to a devastating draught in Shandong, few people were looking to make peace with the foreigners. Now a new society was forming. They called it the Fist of Righteous Harmony. This anti-foreigners society grew increasingly popular among the people. They used martial arts to fight off the foreign powers and believed they had magic that protected them from being harmed by enemy bullets. The foreigners knew this group as the “Boxers” because they used martial arts to fight.

Some of the first signs of their anger appeared in a village when a local court ruled in favor of giving a local temple over to Roman Catholic authorities for use as a church. Upset by the decision, the villagers, led by Boxer agitators, attacked the church. They continued attacking Christian missionaries and churches, and they even attacked Chinese that had been converted.

The initial goal of the Boxers was to overthrow the Ch’ing government and rid the country of all foreigners. However, Empress Dowager found a way to manipulate the Boxers by encouraging their action. Their new slogan soon ran “Support the Ch'ing; destroy the foreigner!”

For two months the diplomats and their families and staffs were surrounded by the Boxers, unable to escape or call for help. After enduring many bombardments and attacks, they began to lose all hope. Already 76 of their defenders had been killed and several more were wounded. Their food and supplies were running out. However just when they were about to give up hope, they heard explosions throughout the city. When the men went to the walls to see what was happening, they saw and army of troops that had come to save them.

The countries had grown worried after months with no word from the diplomats, so they assembled a large army consisting of troops from all 8 of the countries. After rescuing their people, the troops kept marching and looted and ransacked the Forbidding City. The empress was forced to dress like a peasant and flee the city.

Even when the empress was pressured by foreign ministers to stop this uprising, she would say she is trying to but in reality, she would do nothing. Foreign diplomats and their families were forced to make quick defenses to save themselves from the Boxers.

THE AFTERMATHThe United States felt that since it had

participated in the rescue, that it should have a say in the rebuilding that would follow. Hay requested another Open Door policy that would affect all of China and not just the spheres of influence. Also, he had requested that the powers help China protect its territory and government. The other countries agreed to this plan, and the policy allowed foreign trade to China’s market for many years to come.

China was also forced to make the Boxer Protocol. This had the ten leaders that supported the rebellion executed. It also made China pay 450,000,000 tael in silver as repayment for the damages.

The imperial government was greatly weakened by the war, and this help lead the way for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.

Although this new Open Door policy helped the United States greatly because of the new resources it gained, it was not in the best interest of the Chinese. It caused more social unrest and led to more uprisings.

The Panama Canal

The greatest engineering feat in history, the Panama Canal, is finally complete! Both shippers and its creators are ecstatic. The passage connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making trade routes significantly less treacherous by avoiding the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. Also, the canal includes artificial lakes and channels used as reservoirs to store water. Its three sets of locks, which hold unprecedented capacities, allow safe passage for ships entering waterways of varied levels. The total length is 50 miles, or 80 kilometers.

Although many North and South American citizens are enthusiastic about the Panama Canal, others are

hesitant to support it. They felt, when President Roosevelt began this endeavor, that it was “unconstitutional.” However, as a result of his persistence, the canal has not only been completed, but also, throughout its construction, converted many people to being in favor of it.

Despite conflicting views about the canal’s development, it has finally been completed, making many people very happy. President Roosevelt, who frequently quoted the African saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick. You will go far,” has shown us a great example of how true this can be.

The Big Ditch is Complete!

The construction of locks in the Panama Canal (pictured above)

At the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898, deadly diseases such as malaria and dysentery were prevalent. Also, the “Yellow Fever” played a large role in the deaths of many soldiers. However, thanks to Walter Reed and his assistants, James Carroll and Jesse Lazear, the cause of this disease has been discovered and the means with which to prevent it are being experimented.

Carlos Finlay developed the initial theory of yellow fever being transmitted by mosquitoes in 1881. But the first people to find valid proof of the disease’s origin are members of the United States Army Yellow Fever Commission, or the “Reed Commission,” named after the leader, Walter

Reed. The group had been doing experiments in Havana when they discovered the disease’s cause, the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Thanks to the discovery, the idea that yellow fever is spread by direct contact with contaminated objects or people can finally be extinguished. People are mainly focusing now on wiping out the Aedes mosquito population as much as they can in order to avoid any further penetrations of the disease.

Reed Explains Yellow Fever

Carlos Finlay (pictured here) first proposed that yellow

fever was

transmitt

ed by mosquitos.

The United States has invaded multiple Latin American

(map pictured to the right) countries many times since the Spanish-

American War. Some people are in favor of this, while others question

the country’s intentions. Is the United States being a Good Samaritan,

or a selfish businessman?

In addition to aiding countries such as Cuba and Puerto

Rico, the U.S. is now seeking to suppress rebellion in Nicaragua.

However, its initial friendship with Nicaragua was not formed to help

the people of Nicaragua, but rather to maintain ideal business relations

and acquire resources for the United States. Conditions in Nicaragua

were perfect for American fruit growers and mining companies. Many

thought it would be an ideal area for a canal, so they bought land in

addition to the booming businesses already flourishing there.

Americans were content until Cornelius Vanderbilt

started a company that transported passengers between New York and

San Francisco using a route through the Nicaraguan Jungle, which led

to his plot to take complete control over Nicaragua with the help of

William Walker. Immediately, thousands of Americans fled to the

country’s assistance. Some of those Americans, however, apart from

wanting to help the Nicaraguans maintain freedom from Vanderbilt,

felt that the United States should take control of the country instead.

The government refused, though, hesitant to add another territory into

the already controversial battle between slave and free territories.

Because government has the final say so, Americans are

beginning to abandon the possibility of taking over or annexing

Nicaragua. Instead, they continue to assist Nicaraguans when rebellions

surface. Again I ask, is the United States being a Good Samaritan or a

selfish businessman?

U.S INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA

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