Chapter 22 Responses

In the late 19th century there were many American interested in expanding America's role abroad. Of the many American, were Protestant missionaries, Businessmen and imperialists.The protestant missionaries wanted to expand America's role abroad to teach "ignorant" Asians the Gospel. the missionaries believed that it was their soul duty to 'civilize' the Asian and save them from their racial destiny. On the flip-side, Businessmen wanted to expand America's role abroad by expanding their businesses internationally and make great fortunes. The businessman's appeal towards foreign lands and markets increased when they discovered the frontier has disappeared. In the 1890's the frontier was believed to be an essential part to the growth of economy. Imperialists were politicians willing to assist America in becoming a world power and controlling world markets. Imperialists wanted to become a world power like Britain, France, Germany and Russia.

2. The Spanish americna War began witha Cuban Revolt in 1894, whicch was triggered by a U.S. tariff that made Cuban sugar too expensive for U.S. markets. The American intervention into the war occured for multiple reasons. The main reason that pushed U.S. into entering the war was Depuy de Lome's letter and 6 weeks later the Maine exploded. In the De Lome letterm Depuy de Lome described Mckinlety as a "cheap politician" and a "bidder for the admiration of the Crowd. This enraged the U.S. public and when the U.S. Maine exploded, Americans blamed the Spanish. Other reasons that the U.S. entered the war was because of Yellow journalism which embelished storied of Spainish brutality against Cubans. In the end, with the Teller Resolution America officially entered the war. After 5 months of fighting the was ended with a U.S. victory and the Treaty of Paris. According to the Treaty of Paris, America acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philipienes. With the acquisition of the Phillipiene, America entered another war against the Filipino rebels. Eventhough the original justification for entering the war was to help Cuba achieve independence, after the war Americans didn't reliquish its power over the island.

3. Racism played a big role in the Spanish American War and in foreign affairs. Many americans considered the Asian race and the Spanish race inferior. This was one of the reasons Americans felt it was necessary to expand America abroad. The American view of foreign individuals was distorted by newpapers and racism. A perfect example would be the Spanish American War. WHen the american army came to Cuba they were shocked to see that Cuban revolutionaries were of a darker skin color and the Spanish were of light complexion. They were so shocked because in newspapers, Cubans were represented as being American, ligh-skinned, intelligen and civilized, but the Cubans were the compelete opposite of that view. Also, during warfare Cubans were skilled guerrilla fighter but because of prejudice Cubans were never credited for theri military expertise.

Each president chose a different apporach to lead America into becoming a world power. Roosevelt chose a militaristic approach while Taft chose a more business and corporate approach. Roosevelt felt that inorder to become anational power U.S. needed a strong military for support. To start the path to becoming world power, Roosevelt created the corollary, which stated that U.S. intervention is allowed under certain circumstances in hemispheric affairs, European nation were not allowed too intervene in the domestic affairs of nations in the Western hemisphere. William Howard Taft was the path to becoming a world power through expanding opportunities for corporate investment overseas. Taft's dollar diplomacy worked better in the Caribbean than in East Asia because there was no major power contesting the U.S. in the Caribbean. Woodrow Wilson's approach was much like former Republican presidents but instead of wanting to control other nations like Roosevelt, Wilson wanted to advance democratic ideals through U.S. foreign policies.

5. Central America and the Caribbean were very important to America. These land areas were important to the economy and to the step into becoming an imperial country. All three Progressive president focused on the two areas. As a result of the Spanish America had acquired Cuba, Prute Rico