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When did America take over Hawaii?
What were the two main purposes?
Who thought that the annexation of Hawaii was wrong?

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Ali'iolani Hale, completed in 1874, was the home of the Hawaiian Legislature in the days before annexation.

By the time the United States got serious about looking beyond its own borders to conquer new lands, much of the world had already been claimed. Only a few distant territories in Africa and Asia and remote islands in the Pacific remained free from imperial grasp. Hawaii was one such plum. Led by a hereditary monarch, the inhabitants of the kingdom prevailed as an independent state. American expansionists looked with greed on the strategically located islands and waited patiently to plan their move.

Foothold in Hawaii

Interest in Hawaii began in America as early as the 1820s, when New England missionaries tried in earnest to spread their faith. Since the 1840s, keeping European powers out of Hawaii became a principal foreign policy goal. Americans acquired a true foothold in Hawaii as a result of the sugar trade. The United States government provided generous terms to Hawaiian sugar growers, and after the Civil War, profits began to swell. A turning point in U.S.-Hawaiian relations occurred in 1890, when Congress approved the McKinley Tariff, which raised import rates on foreign sugar. Hawaiian sugar planters were now being undersold in the American market, and as a result, a depression swept the islands. The sugar growers, mostly white Americans, knew that if Hawaii were to be annexed by the United States, the tariff problem would naturally disappear. At the same time, the Hawaiian throne was passed to Queen Liliuokalani, who determined that the root of Hawaii's problems was foreign interference. A great showdown was about to unfold.

Annexing Hawaii

In January 1893, the planters staged an uprising to overthrow the Queen. At the same time, they appealed to the United States armed forces for protection. Without Presidential approval, marines stormed the islands, and the American minister to the islands raised the stars and stripes in Honolulu. The Queen was forced to abdicate, and the matter was left for Washington politicians to settle. By this time, Grover Cleveland had been inaugurated President. Cleveland was an outspoken anti-imperialist and thought Americans had acted shamefully in Hawaii. He withdrew the annexation treaty from the Senate and ordered an investigation into potential wrongdoings. Cleveland aimed to restore Liliuokalani to her throne, but American public sentiment strongly favored annexation.

The matter was prolonged until after Cleveland left office. When war broke out with Spain in 1898, the military significance of Hawaiian naval bases as a way station to the Spanish Philippines outweighed all other considerations. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution annexing the islands, much like the manner in which Texas joined the Union in 1845. Hawaii remained a territory until granted statehood as the fiftieth state in 1959.

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Hawaii was an independent monarchy, ruled by Queen Liliuokalani, and exported sugar to the U.S. In 1893, U.S. Marines invaded the island and overthrew the Queen. In 1898 it was annexed as a U.S. terrirtory, becoming a state in 1959.

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Which of the following D's of American imperialism was NOT relevant in American intervention in China?
Which of the following was NOT one of the reasons America intervened during the Boxer Rebellion?
How did John Hay's second series of Open-Door Notes get America so deeply involved in China's affairs?

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AS THE UNITED STATES BECAME INTERESTED IN NEW MANIFEST DESTINY, WORLDWIDE OVERSEAS EXPANSION, CHINA BECAME AN INCREDIBLY ATTRACTIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EXPANSION WE DESPERATELY NEEDED.

The Spanish-American War (April 1898 - August 1898), fought between the United States and Spain, led to the United States gaining many valuable terroritories; this included the Phillipines, which gave us access to China.

September 6th 1899, John Hay (pictured above) sent out a collection of notes named the Open Door Policy to all the major European powers who possesed Spheres of Influence within China.

This proposed that China not be taken for exclusive trading with certain nations, and that China be allowed to grow and maintain equal trading with all nations at any point in time. Hay proposed this in an effort to stop European powers from not allowing Americans to take advantage of Chinese resources and markets.

Once again, the Chinese were not involved in this policy.

The following link is for a podcast that speaks to a Chinese perspective on the Boxer Rebellion:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-boxer-rebellion/id463700741?i=1000097068192&mt=2

listen until 4:51

Following the Boxer Rebellion, John Hay released a second series of Open Door Notes. These notes perpetuated the same principles regarding equal-basis trading, but this series also made America responsible for regulating and guarding this trading basis with ALL nations, making them deeply involved in China.

As of May 2017, America owes China $1,102,000,000,000 - 28% of America's total debts.

Currently, our relationship with China is very murky and ill-defined; economically, our nations are undeniably still deeply intertwined. However, the economic distress in America, along with the back-and-forth between America, Russia, and North Korea, has lead to Trump speaking out against China by either blaming them for many of our problems, or speaking against their interactions with other countries.

Quiz

Which of the following D's of American imperialism was NOT relevant in American intervention in China?

Diplomacy

Democracy

Dollars

Quiz

Which of the following was NOT one of the reasons America intervened during the Boxer Rebellion?

Darwinism

Protection of American citizens

Protection of Chinese goods

Protection of our allies' interests

Quiz

How did John Hay's second series of Open-Door Notes get America so deeply involved in China's affairs?

They made it America's responsibility to monitor who China trades with

They made it America's responsibility to ensure an equal-trade basis for certain goods

They made it America's responsibility to ensure none of the European powers monoplized within their spheres of influence

They made it America's responsibility to ensure China traded on an equal-trade basis.

The Spanish-American War (April 1898 - August 1898), fought between the United States and Spain, led to the United States gaining many valuable terroritories; this included the Phillipines, which gave us access to China.

September 6th 1899, John Hay (pictured above) sent out a collection of notes named the Open Door Policy to all the major European powers who possesed Spheres of Influence within China.

This proposed that China not be taken for exclusive trading with certain nations, and that China be allowed to grow and maintain equal trading with all nations at any point in time. Hay proposed this in an effort to stop European powers from not allowing Americans to take advantage of Chinese resources and markets.

Once again, the Chinese were not involved in this policy.

The following link is for a podcast that speaks to a Chinese perspective on the Boxer Rebellion:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-boxer-rebellion/id463700741?i=1000097068192&mt=2

listen until 4:51

Following the Boxer Rebellion, John Hay released a second series of Open Door Notes. These notes perpetuated the same principles regarding equal-basis trading, but this series also made America responsible for regulating and guarding this trading basis with ALL nations, making them deeply involved in China.

As of May 2017, America owes China $1,102,000,000,000 - 28% of America's total debts.

Currently, our relationship with China is very murky and ill-defined; economically, our nations are undeniably still deeply intertwined. However, the economic distress in America, along with the back-and-forth between America, Russia, and North Korea, has lead to Trump speaking out against China by either blaming them for many of our problems, or speaking against their interactions with other countries.

Quiz

Which of the following D's of American imperialism was NOT relevant in American intervention in China?

Diplomacy

Democracy

Dollars

Quiz

Which of the following was NOT one of the reasons America intervened during the Boxer Rebellion?

Darwinism

Protection of American citizens

Protection of Chinese goods

Protection of our allies' interests

Quiz

How did John Hay's second series of Open-Door Notes get America so deeply involved in China's affairs?

They made it America's responsibility to monitor who China trades with

They made it America's responsibility to ensure an equal-trade basis for certain goods

They made it America's responsibility to ensure none of the European powers monoplized within their spheres of influence

They made it America's responsibility to ensure China traded on an equal-trade basis.

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AS THE UNITED STATES BECAME INTERESTED IN NEW MANIFEST DESTINY, WORLDWIDE OVERSEAS EXPANSION, CHINA BECAME AN INCREDIBLY ATTRACTIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EXPANSION WE DESPERATELY NEEDED. Quiz How did John Hay's second series of Open-Door Notes get America so deeply involved in China's affairs?

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When was Mexico founded?
who was the first Ruler of Mexico?
Who was the first to Imperialize Mexico?

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1. What are Ōkuma’s main arguments here?
2. Does Ōkuma himself see all races and nationalities as equal?
3. How do you think you would have responded to this piece as an
American political leader at the time?

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When did the united states purchase Alaska?
Who was the previous owner of Alaska?
What was the price ?

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NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region. Beginning in 1725, when Russian Czar Peter the Great dispatched Vitus Bering to explore the Alaskan coast, Russia had a keen interest in this region, which was rich in natural resources and lightly inhabited. As the United States expanded westward in the early 1800s, Americans soon found themselves in competition with Russian explorers and traders. St. Petersburg, however, lacked the financial resources to support major settlements or a military presence along the Pacific coast of North America and permanent Russian settlers in Alaska never numbered more than four hundred. Defeat in the Crimean War further reduced Russian interest in this region.

Signing of the Alaska Treaty, 1867

Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859, believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain. The looming U.S. Civil War delayed the sale, but after the war, Secretary of State William Seward quickly took up a renewed Russian offer and on March 30, 1867, agreed to a proposal from Russian Minister in Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million. The Senate approved the treaty of purchase on April 9; President Andrew Johnson signed the treaty on May 28, and Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867. This purchase ended Russia's presence in North America and ensured U.S. access to the Pacific northern rim.

For three decades after its purchase the United States paid little attention to Alaska, which was governed under military, naval, or Treasury rule or, at times, no visible rule at all. Seeking a way to impose U.S. mining laws, the United States constituted a civil government in 1884. Skeptics had dubbed the purchase of Alaska "Seward's Folly," but the former Secretary of State was vindicated when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896, and Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. The strategic importance of Alaska was finally recognized in World War II. Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959.

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Milestones: 1866-1898 - Office of the Historian

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When did the Philippines get there independence?
What was the estimated of people injured or Killed during the Philipines War?
Who was the name of the Portuguese Explorer's name?