27 Empire and Expansion, 1890 - 1909

The popular influence of the yellow press of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst

Construction of an American built isthmian canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean

A missionary zeal to civilize and bring Christianity to the nonwhite peoples of the South Pacific, Caribbean, and Latin America

The need for overseas markets for increased industrial and agricultural production

The growing tensions with Germany made Britain reluctant to engage in conflict with the United States

The discovery of vast gold reserves in India diminished the importance of the British land claims in the jungle boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela

Britain feared becoming embroiled in a dangerous land war in South America

Britain had accepted America's complete political and economic domination over Latin America

It was fiercely opposed by American sugar loads, who feared that annexation would eliminate their favored labor and trade arrangements with Hawaii

Incoming President Cleveland rejected annexation because he believed that native Hawaiians had been wronged by U.S. government support for an armed, sugar interest supported overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani that enjoyed negligible support among native Hawaiians

Protestant missionaries believed that annexation would slow the conversion of native Hawaiians and Chinese and Japanese immigrants to Christianity

A japanese threat to declare war on the United States if America annexed Hawaii caused incoming President Cleveland to oppose annexation

fear that the substantial American investment in Cuban sugar and other businesses would be lost

a belief that Spain's control of Cuba presented a grave national security threat to the United States

fear that Spanish misrule in Cuba menaced the Gulf of Mexico and the route to the proposed Panama Canal\

sympathy for Cuban patriots fighting for their freedom

The Spanish government had directly provoked and insulted the United States

Spain refused to end the concentration camps and sign an armistice with Cuban rebels

McKinley felt that the Teller Amendment would guarantee that the United States would not establish control of Cuba

The American public, influenced by the yellow press, and many leading Republicans demanded war in the aftermath of the sinking of the Maine

A model of tactical brilliance in an essentially guerrilla campaign

Crippled by logistical chaos and disease that killed thousands of soldiers

Too dependent on the professional military leadership of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt

Weakened by lingering tensions between former Union and Confederate officers

The strategic advantage of Philippine bases for American naval operations and defense of the Pacific

The economic potential for the Philippines to advance trade with China and other Asian nations

The opportunity the Philippines presented for Christian missionary work

The potential of the Philippine immigrants to serve as a source of cheap industrial labor

it would violate "the consent of the governed" philosophy of the Declaration of Independence

imperialism was likely to be more costly than profitable

the islands were still rightfully Spain's, since they were taken after the armistice had been signed

annexation would propel the United States into the political and military cauldron of East Asia

Spanish citizens living in the Philippines allied with Filipino rebels to restore Spanish political control of the country

The United States refused to give the Filipino people their political independence

American missionaries were making efforts to convert Catholic Filipinos to Protestantism

The Japanese instigated the insurrection in an effort to establish Japan's geopolitical dominance of the Pacific

They feared that U.S. missions would be jeopardized and Chinese markets closed to non-Europeans

They desired the United States to have exclusive trade rights with the Chinese

They believed that such intervention undermined Chinese sovereignty

They feared German military domination of China

a rebellion against the cultural and religious imperialism of American and European Christian missionaries

a murderous, destructive rampage against foreign nationals, Chinese Christians, and American and European economic interests

a nationalist uprising by patriotic Chinese against American and European efforts to dominate China politically and economically

an affirmation by Chinese nationals of the legitimacy of the Open Door policy to protecting Chinese sovereignty

A desire to improve defense by allowing rapid naval movements between two oceans

America's growing economic interests in Asia

The desire to ensure that a similar French government effort would not succeed

The British rejection of the Hay Pauncefote Treaty

Making other nations reluctant to use the Panama Canal

Sparking nationalist revolts against American rule in Puerto Rico and the United States

Making all the Central American governments respect the United States

Increasing anti-American sentiment throughout Latin America

Roosevelt receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906

Japan feeling cheated out of its due financial compensation

Russia accusing Roosevelt of robbing it of an impending military victory over Japan

A cessation of significant Japanese immigration to American's Pacific Coast