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History of United States overseas expansion

Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIS : History of United States overseas expansion

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History of U.S.
'''expansion and influence
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American Empire
Continental expansion
Foreign relations
List of military actions
Non-interventionism
Opposition to expansion
Overseas expansion
Pax Americana
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After expanding across North America in the early and mid-nineteenth century, the United States soon began to expand overseas, emerging after World War II as a leading world power.

Contents

Background

Post Spanish-American War U.S. political cartoon from 1898: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" meaning the extension of U.S. domination (symbolized by a bald eagle) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines. The cartoon contrasts this with a map of the smaller United States 100 years earlier in 1798.
Enlarge
Post Spanish-American War U.S. political cartoon from 1898: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" meaning the extension of U.S. domination (symbolized by a bald eagle) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines. The cartoon contrasts this with a map of the smaller United States 100 years earlier in 1798.

A variety of factors coincided during this period to bring about an accelerated pace of U.S. expansionism:

Annexation of Hawaii

In 1959, 94% of Hawaiians voted to relinquish all land claims (proposition 2) to the United States and become a state.
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In 1959, 94% of Hawaiians voted to relinquish all land claims (proposition 2) to the United States and become a state.

The Kingdom of Hawai'i was long an independent monarchy in the mid-Pacific Ocean. During the nineteenth century, the first American missionaries and then American business interests began to play major roles in the islands. Most notable were the powerful fruit and sugarcane corporations such as the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, founded by James Dole, and an oligarchy known as the Big Five, which included Castle & Cooke, Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer & Co., Amfac and Theo H. Davies & Co..

After a coup financed and directed by American interests overthrew the monarchy's last native Hawaiian leader, isolationist Queen Lili'uokalani, the island became a republic in 1894.

In 1898, the American president of the Republic of Hawai'i, Sanford Dole, James Dole's cousin, agreed to the Republic's annexation by the United States.

The republic was dissolved in 1900 when the country became a territory of the US. Following voter approval of the Admission of Hawai'i Act, the Territory of Hawaii, on August 21, 1959, became the state of Hawai'i and the 50th state of the United States.

Spanish-American War

1899 cartoon. Uncle Sam balances his new possessions, which are depicted as savage children. The figures are identified as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and "Ladrones" (the Mariana Islands)
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1899 cartoon. Uncle Sam balances his new possessions, which are depicted as savage children. The figures are identified as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and "Ladrones" (the Mariana Islands)

The Spanish-American War took place in 1898. The Treaty of Paris (1898), ended the Spanish-American war, giving the United States possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Cuba. After the war, the United States greatly increased its international power.

This era also saw the first scattered protests against American imperialism. Noted Americans such as Mark Twain spoke out forcefully against these ventures. Opponents of the war, including Twain and Andrew Carnegie, organized themselves into the American Anti-Imperialist League.

During this same period the American people continued to strongly chastise the European powers for their imperialism. The Second Boer War was especially unpopular in the United States and soured Anglo-American relations. The anti-imperialist press would often draw parallels between America in the Philippines and the British in the Second Boer War.[#endnote_136]

Philippine-American War

Post-Spanish-American War map of "Greater America"
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Post-Spanish-American War map of "Greater America"

The Philippine-American War (1899 to 1913) is often cited as another instance of United States imperialism. While many Filipinos were initially delighted to be rid of the Spanish rule of the Philippines, the guerrilla fighters soon found that the Americans were not prepared to grant them much more autonomy than Spain had. Thus for the next six years American forces engaged in a war in the jungles of the Philippines against the Filipino resistance. An estimated 200,000 Filipinos died from war, war induced famine, and conditions in American concentration camps. Some American soldiers participated in war crimes, including torture and killing POWs.[#endnote_proofforjinogists]

Latin America

The early decades of the 20th century saw a great amount of intervention in Latin America by the U.S. government, often under the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and most often openly in aid of U.S. corporate interests. President William Howard Taft viewed "Dollar Diplomacy" as a way for American corporations to benefit while assisting in the national security goal of preventing European powers, above all the United Kingdom and Germany, from filling any possible financial or power vacuum.

Asia

While American intervention had begun earlier with Matthew Perry forcibly opening Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, this period saw the United States expand its presence in Asia. The U.S. pushed through the Open Door Policy that guaranteed equal economic access to China. It also vigorously acquired small islands in the Pacific, mostly to be used as coaling stations.

Throughout the later half of the 19th century, China was divided into "spheres of influence"-- areas to which a foreign power (Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia) were given exclusive trading rights or even the territory itself as the result of treaties. The United States, having recently gained the Philippines in the Spanish-American War and thereby becoming a player in East Asia, felt impeded by these "spheres of influence". In an effort to equalize trade, John Hay, Secretary of State at the time (under William McKinley), sent letters to European leaders suggesting an "open door" policy in China, one that would grant equivalent trading rights to all powers inside the spheres of influence. The proposal was gently rejected. Following the Boxer Rebellion, John Hay called again for an expanded "open door" policy effective throughout China, not just within "spheres of influence". The United States and the European powers agreed to preserve Chinese independence and government.

After World War II

After helping defeat Nazi Germany, the United States occupied the southern portion of the Western sector of Germany (what later became West Germany) for ten years (1945 to 1955). More intense was the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951, during which time the US occupation force, led by General Douglas MacArthur staged a dramatic restructuring of Japanese society in order to prevent the nation from re-emerging as a military threat. (See also Japanese nationalism.) Although the occupation officially ended in the 1950's, large numbers of American troops remain today in bases in both countries. The United States also gained control of what are today the the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.

During this period, the United States actively intervened in the politics of many nations, with the purpose of curbing the expansion of the influence of the Soviet Union. Many of the post-war actions were implemented as the result of Cold War policy and anti-Communist sentiment, which were the basis of much of United States foreign policy.

Europe

During the 1960s and 1970s it became fashionable to view the Soviet Empire in eastern Europe as comparable to the American domination of western Europe. It was frequently argued that, through economic and military pressure, the United States pursued hegemony just as aggressively as the Soviet Union. The post-revisionist school, which, since the fall of the USSR, has come to dominate the study of Cold War history, has rejected this view, arguing that the full extent of Soviet aggression has become apparent as a result of the opening of the Kremlin's archives. (See historiography of the Cold War.)

Middle East

After World War Two, with the continued rise in the importance of oil to the world economy, the United States increased its interest in intervention in the Middle East. While it had no formal colonies, it had sufficient influence in several countries that they are sometimes viewed as client states; these include Israel, Iran under the Shah, and various Gulf states. Since 2001, and the September 11 attacks, the U.S. has had a large number of troops in Afghanistan. Since 2003, it has had an even larger number in Iraq. The U.S. denies any intention to maintain long-term control of these countries; this is disputed by many, though very few allege that the U.S. intends actual annexation.

Coups

Declassified British Cabinet papers, published in The Guardian in 1994, indicate the possibility that the CIA and MI6 both provided backing for the 1963 military coup of Iraqi Colonel Abdul Salam Arif which overthrew Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim. Qassim had attempted to nationalize the Iraq Petroleum Company, of which U.S. companies were major shareholders, and in order to assert Iraqi rights to the territory of Kuwait. Following the coup, both these policies, disapproved of by the governments of both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, were abandoned. (See also History of Iraq.) Similar tactics were used in Iran in 1953 to install the Shah dictatorship, see Operation Ajax, and in Chile in 1973 to install General Pinochet, see Chilean coup of 1973. In these cases US interest lay in maintaining control over Iran's oil and Chile's copper. It is also widely believed that the US was behind the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

Cultural imperialism

Since the end of the Second World War the United States has been dominant in most cultural industries. US movies, television, food, and music are popular throughout the world. Thus the US has often been accused of cultural imperialism, a form of expansion overseas certainly more subtle than military conquest but perhaps with similar problems.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

American possessions

The following areas have at one time or another been under the control of the United States of America and have not been fully incorporated into the country as states. (Trusteeship assigned by the UN comprises the modern nations of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, as well the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth.)

Historiography

Views on the concept of United State imperialism have often been influenced by the opinions of the well-known historians of that period, who, in turn, are often influenced by the cultural and social attitude of their eras. Historians known for their views on the topic include:

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑  Miller, p. 136, 163 "Will Show No Mercy Real Warfare Ahead For Filipino Rebels Kitchener Plan Adopted The Administration Weary of Protracted Hostilities." Boston Herald, November 19, 1900.
  2. ↑  See Lodge Committee, Jacob H. Smith, J. Franklin Bell, for more detailed accounts, see the imperialist newspaper accounts wikisource: [Lodge Committee testimony from the New York Times], wikiquote: [Philippine-American War Quotes]
  3. ↑ 

 
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