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From Isolation to Empire
Introduction
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While not usually so attentive to European affairs in the second part of the nineteenth century, the United States, motivated by markets, missionary zeal, Anglo-Saxonism, manifest destiny, and strategic and military concerns, displayed increasing interest in Latin America and the Far East—the "large policy." In the Pacific, the U.S. acquired Alaska, the Midway Islands, and Hawaii, the latter two of which were important stops on the way to China and Japan. In Latin America, the United States unilaterally abrogated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850), and via the Hay-Pauncefote Agreement (1901) won the right to sole control of a canal across Panama. The United States also had an abiding interest in Cuba and supported Cuban rebels when they revolted against the Spanish in 1895. When an American battleship, the Maine, exploded in Havana harbor in 1898, the U.S. seized the opportunity to declare war on Spain. Significantly, the United States disavowed any intention to annex Cuba in the Teller Amendment. As a result of the Spanish-American War, Spain evacuated Cuba, and the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and, through a later negotiation, the Philippines. The acquisition of the Philippines occasioned great debate in America over the idea of an empire; an insurrection in the islands against the Americans did not help matters. In Cuba, the United States established a military government in 1898, but eventually withdrew after modernizing sugar production, improving sanitary conditions, establishing schools, restoring orderly administration, and inserting the Platt Amendment into the Cuban constitution. The United States intervened repeatedly throughout the Caribbean, justifying such actions with the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Motivated by Colombia’s rejection of a treaty on the isthmian canal, the U.S. also played a major role in helping Panama break from Colombia. In Asia, the United States sought to trade in China, but Japan and a number of European countries had already established spheres of influence there. To check their influence and secure the U.S. a spot, Secretary of State Hay issued a series of Open Door notes calling upon the various powers to honor existing trade agreements with China, respect China's territorial integrity, and impose no restrictions on trade within their spheres. The Open Door policy, along with the U.S. role in the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War, and the Gentlemen's Agreement all engendered ill feelings between the U.S. and Japan. Somewhat remarkably, by the eve of World War I the U.S. had become a world power.
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