The American Empire Post 2

Key Terms and Definitions:

Imperialism - a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Nationalism - devotion to ones nation

Annex - to join a new territory to an existing territory

Arbitration - the settlement of a dispute by a person or panel that was chosen to listen to both sides and make a decision

Spheres of influence - areas of economic and/or political control

Reconcentrados - Cuban citzens who had been moved into concentration camps by the Spanish during the Cuban revolution.

Banana Republic - another name for the Central American nations, due to their exportation of bananas to the U.S.

Platt Amendment - amendment that the US would withdraw troops from Cuba, if they did not involve themselves in other foreign countries

Manifest Destiny - the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent (coined by journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845)

Spanish American War - A war started somewhat by the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in 1898, America won and freed Cuba

U.S.S. Maine Incident - U.S. ship sunk in 1898, Spain blamed for sinking

Alfred T. Mahan - Captain (later admiral) who argued that Americas future hinged on gaining new markets abroad. influenced Roosevelt in expansion.

"Seward's Folly" - Alaska, when first purchased by the United States from Russia in 1867

The expansion of a territory will cause it to gain power and resources.

• US Acquisition of Alaska gave them access to to its "rich resources". (American History: Pathways to the Present Chapter 17 Section 1)

• The US Acquisition of Hawaii in 1853 allowed the United States exclusive access to Hawaii's sugar trade. (American History: Pathways to the Present Chapter 17 Section 1)

Wealthy people have more influence in their country than those of lower social class

• Rockefeller brothers urging government to become more imperialistic and to develop more assertive polices (“The Empire and the People”)

Individuals that have obtained power, will only seek more in their conquest in order to expand their empire and its power.  

• “In Cuba, alone, there are 15,000,000 acres of forest unacquainted with the axe. There are exhaustless mines of iron…. There are millions of acres yet unexplored….It means new employment and better wages for every laboring man in the Union….” (Albert J. Beveridge’s Senate campaign speech, September 16, 1898.)
• “All the great masterful races have been fighting races… No triumph of peace is quite so great as a triumph of war.”(The Empire and The People, 300)

At the bottom of the "pyramid" we see the reconcentrados, or the Cubans put into concentration camps at the time of the Spanish-American War. These people had no rights during the war, and had to accept the terms of the treaty as they were. These Cuban citizens were also subject to U.S. military intervention until the Platt Amendment was instituted. The war had a severe impact on these people for years after the peace, a lasting wound caused by America's imperialistic ideals.