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America's New Role in the....
World
Originally there were only 13
little colonies.
After the Revolutionary War we got a little more room
to spread out.
Then the US would add more land by buying it
or by letting it in. Thus giving us more room to spread
out. Now people began thinking that it was the US's
"Manifest Destiny" to control all of the land to the
Pacific Ocean.
After fighting a war and working things out
with the British we reached our goal the Pacific
Ocean. But there was a problem...
Where to now???
The US had reached the Pacific and some people felt there was no more frontier. No where else to expand to, but never fear we solved the problem.
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward covinced Congress to buy Alaska from the Russians.
The price?? Only $7.2 million, that would be about $113 million today. Sounds like a bad deal huh.
In fact people were so upset with the deal it was called "Sewards Folly."
But it was actually only about 2 cents an acre.
Soon gold was found, this led to a new gold rush. Many people rushed to Alaska hoping to get rich, most failed. Many realized that Alaska soon paid for its self easily with all of the lumber, fish, gold, oil, minerals, etc. In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state.
Next up was Hawaii. In the 1700s Americans set up sugar and pineapple plantations in Hawaii. By the late 1800s the Americans had control of most of the land and businesses in Hawaii. This really upset the native Hawaiians.
Queen Liluokalani came to power and she wanted to put the power and money back in the hands of native Hawaiians. The American business owners feared that the Queen was planning to kick them out. They beat her to it and staged a rebellion. In the end the Queen was kicked out of power and shortly there after Hawaii asked to become a US territory. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state.
The US was becoming a world power. The leaders of the US, including
President William McKinley, wanted to expand more. They wanted to
build an empire, like the countries in Europe had. When nations build
empires by adding colonies it is called imperialism.
In the 1890s, Spain's once huge empire was gone. They were left with only
Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. They also had Guam and Philippines
in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1895, the people of Cuba revolted against Spain.
The Spanish tried to stop the revolt and began to severely
treat the Cuban citizens. American newspapers reported
these atrocities. Problem was that the stories the papers
wrote weren't always true...
Yellow Journalism was born. Yellow Journalism is when papers would exagerate the truth to shock and attract readers.
Newspaper baron William Randolf Hurst sent a reporter to Cuba
to write about all of the conflict. Once the reporter got there he
sent a telegraph to Hurst saying that nothing was going on and he
wanted to return home. Hurst supposedly said "You furnish me the
pictures, and I'll furnish the war."
The Maine suddenly exploded. The cause of the explosion is still unclear to this day. But the Yellow Journalists wasted no time telling you what they thought happened.
In April of 1898, the US declared war on the
Spanish. The Spanish-American War had begun.
Before the war Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the Secretary of the US Navy. Teddy loved adventure and he was not about to let a war happen without him. So he resigned his job and formed a group of fighters known as the Rough Riders.
Once they arrived in Cuba they joined together with a group
of African American soldiers known as the Buffalo Soldiers.
The two groups played major role in the winning of the Battle
of San Juan Hill.
In August of 1898, just 5 month after it started,
the war was over. The Spanish and the US signed the Treaty of Paris ending the war. To the victors go the spoils, so what did we get????
Our buddy Teddy, now a war hero, used this to advance himself in politics.
He had gained a reputation as such a pain in the behind, that he was named
Vice President. People viewed the Vice President as a job that people thought
was important, but you didn't do much. Teddy hated it he wanted more. And
soon because of unfortunate circumstances he would get his chance...
Teddy loved being President. He really took to the job and accomplished many things. He is famous for his saying, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." This told the world that he was looking for peace (speak softly) but if you want trouble he had a big stick (military).
In the beginning the US was just 13
little colonies.
Teddy and his Rough Riders on top of San Juan Hill.
Teddy front and center just the way
he liked it.
Cuba became an independent nation.
Puerto Rico
Guam
The shortest way was to build a canal
through Panama.
Teddy's problem was that at this time Panama belonged to Columbia. So Teddy
tried to purchase the land from Columbia (speak softly). Columbia wanted a
outrageous sum of money, so Teddy refused to pay it. What happened next? Teddy brought out the big stick, he helped the Panamanian people win their independence. Then Teddy got the land from the new country of Panama.
In February 1898, the perfect opportunity came. The U.S.S. Maine was achored in harbor in Havana, Cuba. When suddenly....
Teddy next began to look for a way to improve the
US economy by making the shipping of goods easier.
Route of ships prior to 1914.
There had to be shorter way.
The invention of the steam shovel made the job a little easier.
Leon Czolgosz appeared with a revolver concealed in a wrapped up hand and shot McKinley, who later died. Czolgosz later said, "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people – the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime."
President McKinley was attending the World's Fair in Buffalo, NY.
He was giving a speech in the Temple of Music (shown above)
when....
Teddy showed his policy by sending his beloved Navy, remember he
was once in charge of it, on a tour of the world. The Navy sailed around
just to remind the world what was waiting if you crossed the US.
The Panama Canal was the biggest constuction project
ever attempted up to then. It was very difficult.