Yawp American Empire
Summary
TLDRThis lecture explores the shift in American foreign policy from a colonial mindset to that of an emerging empire, focusing on the period from 1867 to 1914. It discusses the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which established the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence, and the country's non-interference stance in European affairs. The lecture also covers U.S. interactions with territories like Alaska, China, guano islands, Hawaii, and Mexico, highlighting the use of military, economic power, and cultural influence as tools of foreign policy. The 'Open Door Policy' in China and the strategic importance of Hawaii are emphasized, along with the myth of 'Seward's Folly' regarding the Alaskan purchase.
Takeaways
- 🗽 The Monroe Doctrine, introduced in 1823, declared the Western Hemisphere a zone of U.S. influence and warned European nations against further colonization or puppet monarchies in the Americas.
- 🌎 The U.S. maintained a policy of non-interference in European affairs and sought to avoid entanglements in European wars, focusing instead on internal development and expansion.
- 🛤️ Westward Expansion was a significant focus for the U.S., with an emphasis on settling sparsely populated areas and fostering economic development through infrastructure like railroads and factories.
- 🔄 The U.S. was primarily interested in trade with other nations but was cautious about foreign entanglements, especially regarding European powers and their colonial ambitions.
- 🏰 The acquisition of Alaska in 1867 for $7.2 million was seen as a strategic move to increase U.S. territory and access to Asia, despite initial skepticism from some.
- 🚢 The U.S. advocated for an 'Open Door' policy in China, supporting free trade and opposing European carve-outs of Chinese territory, with an underlying interest in outcompeting others in trade.
- 💩 The Guano Act of 1867 allowed U.S. citizens to claim uninhabited islands with bird guano for fertilizer, demonstrating the U.S.'s global reach for resources.
- 🌴 American missionaries in Hawaii played a dual role in spreading Christianity and establishing economic control through sugar plantations, influencing the islands' political landscape.
- 🇲🇽 The U.S. invoked the Monroe Doctrine in response to French intervention in Mexico, supporting the elected president and demonstrating a commitment to hemispheric influence.
- 🔮 The lecture highlights a shift in U.S. foreign policy from isolationism to a more active role in global affairs, particularly in the Western Hemisphere and Asia.
Q & A
What was the primary message of the Monroe Doctrine?
-The Monroe Doctrine, delivered by President James Monroe in 1823, primarily stated that the Western Hemisphere was under the United States' sphere of influence and that European powers should not interfere in the Americas.
How did the United States view its role in international affairs during the period of 1867 to 1914?
-During the period of 1867 to 1914, the United States generally aimed to maintain good relations with other countries as trading partners but was not interested in colonialism. The country was more focused on internal development, such as Westward Expansion, economic growth, and technological innovation.
What was the significance of the year 1914 in the context of American foreign policy?
-The year 1914 marked the beginning of World War I and is considered a turning point in American foreign policy. It was a period that saw a shift in the US's attitude towards international involvement and the beginning of a more active role in global affairs.
Why was the purchase of Alaska in 1867 controversial at the time?
-The purchase of Alaska in 1867 was controversial because some, like newspaper editor Horace Greeley, thought it was an unnecessary expense and referred to it as 'Seward's Folly' and 'Seward's Icebox.' However, the majority of Americans were in favor of the purchase due to the opportunity for territorial expansion and the potential for natural resource exploitation.
What was the 'Open Door Policy' regarding China, and why was it important to the United States?
-The 'Open Door Policy' was a policy that aimed to support China's sovereignty by advocating for equal trading rights for all nations in Chinese ports. It was important to the United States because it allowed for free trade without the need to establish colonies, and the US believed it could outcompete other nations in trade.
What was the Guano Act of 1867, and how did it reflect American expansionism?
-The Guano Act of 1867 allowed US citizens to claim uninhabited islands with bird guano deposits for the United States. This act reflected American expansionism by legally enabling the United States to acquire strategic resources and potentially valuable territories around the world.
How did the United States' involvement in Hawaii demonstrate its projection of power during this period?
-The United States' involvement in Hawaii demonstrated its projection of power through missionaries spreading American culture and economic influence, particularly through the establishment of sugar plantations. Additionally, the strategic importance of Hawaii as a Pacific port contributed to the US's interest in maintaining control over the islands.
What was the significance of the US invoking the Monroe Doctrine in response to the French intervention in Mexico in 1865?
-Invoking the Monroe Doctrine in response to the French intervention in Mexico in 1865 was significant because it demonstrated the United States' commitment to opposing European interference in the Americas and reinforced its stance as a regional power.
Outlines
🌎 American Empire and Foreign Policy Shift
This paragraph discusses the transition of the United States from a colonial status to a potential colonial power, with a focus on the period between 1867 and 1914. It highlights the significance of the Monroe Doctrine, which was a declaration by President James Monroe in 1823, asserting that the Western Hemisphere was under the influence of the United States and that further European colonization would not be tolerated. The Doctrine outlined four main points: non-interference in European affairs, recognition of existing colonies, a closed door to future colonization, and a military response to European interference in the Americas. The paragraph also touches on the U.S.'s inward focus on domestic development, such as building railroads and factories, and its reluctance to engage in foreign entanglements, except with neighboring countries like Mexico and Canada.
🏰 The Monroe Doctrine and Its Enforcement
This section delves into the practical application of the Monroe Doctrine, particularly in response to the French intervention in Mexico during the 1860s. It discusses how the U.S., preoccupied with the Civil War, was unable to intervene directly but later supported the elected Mexican government against the French-imposed Emperor Maximilian. The paragraph also addresses the historical misconception that the purchase of Alaska, orchestrated by Secretary of State William Seward in 1867, was widely opposed at the time, despite most Americans viewing it positively as an opportunity for expansion and resource acquisition. The narrative corrects the myth of 'Seward's Folly' and 'Seward's Icebox,' which was propagated by a New York Tribune editor but did not reflect the general sentiment.
🚢 Expansion and Economic Interests
The paragraph explores the U.S.'s expansionist policies and economic interests during the period of early American Empire. It covers the acquisition of Alaska, which was seen as a gateway to Asia and the Pacific, and the discovery of gold there, sparking a gold rush. The discussion then shifts to China, where the U.S. advocated for an 'open door policy' to support free trade and prevent European powers from carving up the weakened Chinese empire. The U.S.'s stance was driven by a belief in its ability to outcompete others in free trade, thus serving its economic interests. Additionally, the paragraph mentions the Guano Act of 1867, which allowed U.S. citizens to claim uninhabited islands rich in bird guano for fertilizer, reflecting the country's resource-driven expansion.
🌴 American Influence in Hawaii and Mexico
This paragraph examines the influence of American missionaries and economic power in Hawaii, leading to the rise of sugar plantations and the eventual control of the islands by American interests. It also revisits the Monroe Doctrine's role in U.S.-Mexico relations, particularly in supporting the elected Mexican president Benito Juárez against European intervention. The paragraph discusses how the U.S. used military and economic aid to shape outcomes in its favor, reflecting a shift in foreign policy that would become more pronounced in the years following 1898. The narrative also touches on the potential for future U.S. interventions in Mexico, hinting at a more assertive stance in the Western Hemisphere.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡American Empire
💡Monroe Doctrine
💡Westward Expansion
💡Slavery Debate
💡Guano Islands
💡Open Door Policy
💡Alaska Purchase
💡Hawaiian Islands
💡Mexico
💡World War I
Highlights
The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 established the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. zone of influence and warned European nations against further colonization.
The U.S. policy post-Monroe Doctrine was non-interference in European affairs and a focus on domestic development and expansion.
The U.S. showed interest in maintaining good relations with other countries primarily for trade purposes.
The U.S. was more concerned with internal politics such as Westward Expansion and the debate over slavery than with foreign entanglements.
The Civil War was a significant distraction for the U.S., limiting its ability to engage in international affairs.
Napoleon's invasion of Mexico in 1861 and the establishment of a puppet monarchy was a test of the Monroe Doctrine.
The U.S. supported the elected president of Mexico, Benito Juárez, against French intervention, demonstrating a commitment to the Monroe Doctrine.
The purchase of Alaska in 1867 for $7.2 million was seen as a great opportunity to expand U.S. territory and resources.
Despite historical myths, the majority of Americans supported the purchase of Alaska, contrary to the 'Seward's Folly' narrative.
The U.S. pursued an 'Open Door' policy in China, advocating for free trade and against European carve-outs of Chinese territory.
The Guano Act of 1867 allowed U.S. citizens to claim uninhabited islands with bird guano for fertilizer, expanding U.S. influence.
American missionaries in Hawaii played a dual role in spreading Christianity and establishing economic control through sugar production.
The strategic importance of Hawaii as a Pacific port led to U.S. interest in maintaining control over the islands.
The U.S. invoked the Monroe Doctrine in 1865 to oppose European influence in Mexico and support the elected president.
Political cartoons of the era reflect U.S. attitudes towards foreign policy and the Monroe Doctrine.
The period from 1867 to 1898 saw the U.S. interacting with Alaska, China, the guano islands, Hawaii, and Mexico, often through military, economic, and missionary means.
The year 1898 marked a significant turning point in American foreign policy, with increased engagement and intervention abroad.
Transcripts
these next two lectures are about
American Empire I call this a change in
attitude we were a colony now will we
have
colonies I'd like to explore this change
in attitude and policy how will the US
interact with the outside world I give
you a rough set of dates 1867 to
1914 pretty arbitrary this time I will
say that 1914 marks the beginning of
World War I and so we'll stop the time
period there note too that you'll be
seeing a lot of political cartoons you
have been seeing a lot of political
cartoons and that will just continue in
this
unit I want to start by going backwards
here I told you this time period was
1867 to 1914 I did say it was rough and
now I'm going to go back to 1823
I want to start with the Monroe Doctrine
buried in a routine annual message
delivered to Congress by President James
Monroe in December of
1823 was buried the Monroe Doctrine
basically it said that the Western
hemisphere is our zone of influence and
that Europe should stay
out that's where President Monroe warned
European nations that the United States
would not tolerate further colonization
or puppet
monarchs stay tuned and see if there's
an attempt made to put in a puppet
Monarch by a European nation after this
date the Monroe Doctrine made four basic
points first that the United States
would not interfere in European Affairs
I think this had been our policy since
George Washington was President we
didn't want to get involved in European
Wars secondly the United States
recognized it would not interfere with
existing colonies in the
Americas third the Western Hemisphere
was close to Future
colonization don't go be claiming these
new countries for yourself and four
finally if a European power tried to
interfere with any nation in the Western
Hemisphere we would react we would react
militarily if necessary that was the
Monroe Doctrine and that was our
attitude toward the outside world and to
foreign powers
what was the American feeling toward
foreign policy outside of the Monroe
Doctrine well we wanted to have good
relations with other countries as
trading partners but our idea toward
Empire our attitude was that we were a
colony and that we had shaken off those
Colonial chains we weren't going back
and uh we were sympathetic to other
countries that might also want to stop
being colonies and shake off their
chains and be
self-determining we were more interested
in what was going on in the United
States than we were in the outside world
to be honest remember we've just talked
about the period of Westward Expansion
that the United States was a big country
now that was sparsely populated by
Americans and we wanted to expand and to
put our own people our own citizens in
those uh I hate to say vast empty spaces
but we'll say sparsely populated not
populated by American citizen spaces we
were also interested in economic
development that was one of our primary
concerns we wanted to build railroads we
wanted to build factories we wanted
technological innovation and development
that's what we were interested in we
were interested in internal
politics uh I talk about that in a
couple of ways we have talked about that
in a couple of ways
first of all one thing that slowed down
Westward Expansion was the debate over
slavery should we be a slave country a
free country or a half slave and half
free country remember that whenever a
new state was added to the
Union uh one slave state would come in
and one free state would come in that we
had to maintain that balance until the
Civil War which was another political
concern obviously a big political
concern that the nation was almost torn
apart hard so first we were worried
about keeping this slave and free
balance then we had a civil war over
deciding that the nation would be one
thing a non-slave country and then
third we had to establish political
domination over this part of the
continent back to that Westward
Expansion we were interested in
political
development uh our basic attitude was to
leave us alone as I said we were safe
between two oceans and felt like we
didn't have to worry about most of the
rest of the world the exception being
our neighbors to the South Mexico and
perhaps our neighbors to the north
Canada
otherwise we didn't have to worry about
the rest of the
world you may be wondering from our
perspective here in the 21st century was
this Monroe Doctrine and these worries
about Europe crossing the Atlantic Ocean
and messing in our Affairs messing in
the Affairs of other nations in the
Western Hemisphere was this a real
concern what were we talking about
especially as time went on was this
really something to worry about you may
know that there was a a wave of
Independence movements of of national
Independence in the Western
Hemisphere uh in the mid 1800s and a lot
of those old colonies became independent
nations so were we worried about
European Kings coming
back actually we
were uh napole aan invaded Mexico in
1861 what was going on in the United
States in
1861 the Civil War we were distracted so
we couldn't get involved in that
conflict he invaded and he set up uh one
of those puppet monarchs arguably
Emperor maximilan who was from the house
of hapsburg Lorraine he had some
relation to Spanish monarchy so maybe
that gave him a claim to Mexico and was
supported by conservative pr- monarchy
Mexicans who lived in
Mexico well basically he was an outsider
he was married to a Belgian princess I
think um I think we can even ask if he
spoke
Spanish there was a a civil war over
whether he should be in power and
eventually the elected president of
Mexico Bonito Warez defeated the the
French forces Maximillian was imprisoned
and eventually he was
executed I think it's sort of
interesting that President War Warez
respected maximilan thought he was smart
thought he had some good ideas but he
defended the decision to have the
emperor executed because he needed to
send a strong message to Europe that
Mexico was not a European
Colony our
reaction we evoked invoked that uh
Monroe Doctrine at the end of the Civil
War in 1865 we had a chance to think
about other things and we said hey wait
a minute that's our territory you guys
need to stop it and the US began to S
send military aid and offer economic
help to president
Warz okay we'll put some of the theoret
theoretical considerations aside and
I'll note that in this lecture we want
to talk about how America interacts with
the world we'll talk first about this
early period this 1867 to 1898 period
and we'll talk about how the US inter
interacted with Alaska China the guano
Islands there's a story there Hawaii and
Mexico which we've touched on and then
we'll pause start a new lecture and talk
about what happened after 1898 a date
that your textbook says marked a big
turning point for American foreign
policy we'll also talk about the
different modes with which we react to
other countries
military action but also with respect to
money our uh economic power a growing
economic power during this time and
missionaries I'll call them the three
the three M our military money and
missionaries I want to point your
attention to this cartoon uh keep this
in mind as we keep talking about changes
in American foreign
policy we'll start with a big change
that happened in
1867 William Seward who was the
Secretary of State saw an opportunity to
increase the territory controlled by the
United
States
immensely he learned that Russia wanted
to sell a territory in North America it
wanted to sell
Alaska he thought it was a great deal
that he could buy this vast territory
bigger than the state of Texas for only
$7.2 million
and he got Congress to agree and he did
in fact buy Alaska and took away
Russia's only colony in North
America the reaction of
Americans well the truth is most people
were in favor of it we thought this was
a great idea if we have a chance to buy
some new territory where Americans can
go live more natural resources and this
bargain price how can we say no
interestingly enough there is a
historical mythology that people were
opposed this purchase of Alaska was
called Seward's folly and Seward's ice
box why was it called that when people
and why do we remember it this way when
really most people were in favor of it
well a newspaper editor named Horus gley
the guy that said Go West Young Man the
editor of the New York Tribune thought
it was a bad deal and he was influential
he was power powerful he was good with
language and he came up with the idea of
calling it Seward's folly and this idea
has stuck even though it didn't reflect
reality why did we do it well we talked
about territory more places for us to
settle we talked about resources but we
also saw it as a doorway to Asia to the
Pacific and we were always interested in
trading with the
Pacific not much happened in Alaska
until a little later in the 19th Cent
when gold was discovered and then Alaska
experienced its own gold
rush I'll spend a few minutes talking
about China the US had been interested
in China interested in trading with
China since um the late
1700s during this time period this time
period of a beginning American Empire
there was a a weak dynasty in control of
China and Europe which was ascendant was
interested in carving up this week China
that it was claiming little ports and
and pieces of China for itself picking a
war winning the war asking for
reparations sometimes money and
sometimes that China would seed control
of a port or of a town or let Europe do
something it wanted to do with China
that was an opposition to Chinese
sovereignty the US did not take that
tack instead we were interested in free
trade that we wanted to support that
weak Chinese government and we wanted
everyone to be able to trade we didn't
want a port to be claimed for just one
country and then others to have to pay
to use that Port we wanted the ports to
be in Chinese control and we would all
get to use them U and pay fewer fees
this was called the open door policy and
it was announced in
1899 now it may sound quite benevolent
that we're trying to help China maintain
its sovereignty its um control over
those pieces of itself but in fact we
knew during this time period that we
could out compete anyone that if there
was free trade we knew we would win
there was an element of self-interest in
that position that we
took this is a fairly minor point it's
in the text and because it's about poop
I want to talk about it yes it's an
another poop
lesson bird guano or bird manure
birdshit was valuable during this time
period because it could be used in
making
fertilizer in
1867 uh that same Secretary of State
Seward fostered passage of a law that
would let us citizens stake a claim to
any uninhabited unclaimed Island
anywhere in the world although
particularly in the Pacific Ocean that
had bird guano on it it was called the
guano act and it basically said that a
citizen of the United States could take
possession of unclaimed Islands
containing guano in the name of the
United States having claimed those
islands the power of the United States
was behind us and the US military would
defend those islands from anyone else
who tried to claim them
maybe we can find an island like that
someday that law is still on the books
it was last utilized in
1997 someone found an island in the
Caribbean and claimed it for himself
because it had enough guo on
it there's a process though by which
it's there's an investigation to see if
that Island really has been claimed by
anyone else and sadly Haiti already had
a claim to that island so it was
unsuccessful I offer an appropriate
picture on the
PowerPoint American power was projected
onto the Hawaiian islands and oh dear I
I left my head in the way here um as
early as 1820 missionaries arrived at
the islands in 1820 and began to
interact with the native people who were
ruled by a local monarchy um and to
begin to try to convert them to
Christianity
the missionaries were not just saving
Souls though they bought up plots of
land and began to grow sugar on the
island something that proved to be
extremely profitable and before long
five Big Sugar companies were really in
charge of the
island uh two two uh motivations we see
two ways of projecting American power so
far missionaries were sending American
culture and um American thought I
suppose to a new place secondly American
economic power as the missionaries
become sugar Growers and they use our
economic power to claim this place and
then third Hawaii was viewed as a
strategic Pacific port like an opening
to to the east um so it it seemed like a
good idea for us to keep control of the
Hawaiian
Islands we talked about Mexico earlier
uh I just wanted to bring up again in
1865 we invoked the Monroe Doctrine to
say that Ma Emperor maximilan had to
leave that he was a outside European and
to support the elected president of
Mexico Bonito
Warz we gave military power we gave
military aid we gave economic aid um I
offer you a cartoon that shows again how
we felt about the Monroe Doctrine that
we were going to keep Europe out of the
Western
Hemisphere later we'll find other ways
ways in which the US interacts in Mexico
uh under the Wilson Administration for
example the President woodro Wilson will
find that we take u a human rights
policy toward Mexico and we support duly
elected democratically elected
presidents over military
coups uh we find that we weigh a thumb
on the scale of democratically elected
presidents and eventually even send
military power in order to to make sure
the the party that we favor stays in
power later we will be invaded by Poncho
via someone we did not support um even
though for a time we were sort of
supporting him and then we will invade
Mexico on the eve of World War I because
Mexico can't invade us without having
some sort of
response but we'll come to that later
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