U.S. Imperialism Begins

1. Name at least five factors that fueled American Imperialism.

-Global Competition

-Manifest Destiny

-Desire for Military Strength

-Thirst for new Markets

-Belief in Cultural Superiority

2. Choose two of the above five factors and describe them in your own words.

-The leaders of the United States thought it would be a good idea to create a strong military because other countries' militaries were growing in presence.

-There was an overproduction of agricultural and manufactured goods because technology was advancing.  Imperialists though that foreign trade would help fix this.

3. What was known as “Seward’s Folly” and why?

A folly is an act of foolishness or an expensive thing with no purpose.  William Seward wanted to bye Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.  The house of representatives called Alaska "Seward's Icebox" and "Seward's Folly."

4. What plantation-based product accounted for three-quarters of Hawaii’s wealth in the mid-19^th century and who controlled this product? 

Sugar Cane, Yankee Missionaries' children and grandchildren were in charge of the crops.

5. Using as much detail as possible, outline the sequence of events that led to America gaining possession of Hawaii? In other words, why was the United States interested in these Pacific islands?

-The Hawaiian Islands were economically important to the United States because merchants stopped there on their way to China and East India.  Sugar planters sold most of their crops to the U.S.

-The American planters in Hawaii wanted it to be annexed because they were unhappy with the McKinley Tariff of 1890 which eliminated duty-free trade of sugar.

-If Hawaii was annexed, the sugar would be duty-free again.

-The king of Hawaii died and then his sister became queen.  She was going to remove the property owning requirements for voting, but business groups, the ambassador and the marines overthrew her and set up a government run by Sanford B. Dole.

-Cleveland directed that the queen be put back into power, but Dole refused.  Cleveland formally recognized the Republic of Hawaii but didn't want to annex it unless the majority of the Hawaiians were in favor.

-In 1898 McKinley made Hawaii a U.S. territory

-In 1959 Hawaii became a U.S. state