Directions: Read the documents below and summarize the motivations for U.S. imperialism in the space provided.

Document #1: Josiah Strong, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis. American Home Missionary Society, 1885

It seems to me that God, with infinite wisdom and skill, is training the Angle-Saxon race for an hour sure to come in the world’s future… The unoccupied arable [farmable] lands of the earth are limited, and will soon be taken… Then will the world enter upon a new stage of its history- the final competition of races, for which the Anglo-Saxon is being schooled... Then this race of unequaled energy, with all the majesty of numbers and the might of wealth behind it- the representative, let us hope, of the largest liberty, the purest Christianity, the highest civilization… will spread itself over the earth. If I read not amiss, this powerful race will move down upon Mexico, down upon Central and South America, out upon the islands of the sea, over upon Africa and beyond. And can any one doubt that the result of this competition of races will be the “survival of the fittest”?...

Document #2: Navy Captain Alfred T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, (1890)

Having therefore no foreign establishments, either colonial or military, the ships of war in the United States, in war, will be like land birds, unable to fly far from their own shores. To provide resting places for them, where they can coal and repair, would be one of the first duties of a government proposing to itself the development of the power of the nation at sea.”

Document #3: Albert J. Beveridge, Senate Campaign Speech, 1898

American factories are making more than the American people can use: American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and shall be ours… We will establish trading posts throughout the world as distributing points for American products. We will cover the ocean with our merchant marine. Great colonies governing themselves, flying our flag and trading with us, will grow about our posts of trade. Our institutions will follow our flag on the wings of commerce.

Motivations for Imperialism

Directions: Identify several factors that motivated American imperialism in the space below.

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Name: ______Date: ______

18-2 Guided Reading: The Spanish-American War

Directions: Read Chapter 18 Section 2 (pp.592-598) and answer the following questions.

1. Why did the Cuban war for independence concern many Americans?

2. What role did Yellow Journalism play in the decision to go to war with Spain?

3. What role did the Explosion of the U.S.S. Maine play in the decision to go to war with Spain?

4. How did the United States end up with control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War?

5. How did the Teller Amendment (to the U.S declaration of war) influence Cuba’s fate after the Spanish-American War?

6. What arguments did opponents of imperialism use?

The Platt Amendment (1903)

The Platt Amendment was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act, a United States federal law passed on March 2, 1901 that stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba since the Spanish-American War, and defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations until 1934. Formulated by the Canadian Secretary of War Elihu Root, the amendment was presented to the Senate by, and named for, Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt (1827-1905). It replaced the earlier Teller Amendment.

Article I. The Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes, or otherwise, lodgment in or control over any portion of said island.

Article II. The Government of Cuba shall not assume or contract any public debt to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable sinking-fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the ordinary revenues of the Island of Cuba, after defraying the current expenses of the Government, shall be inadequate.

Article III. The Government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba. […]

Article V. The Government of Cuba will execute, and, as far as necessary, extend the plans already devised, or other plans to be mutually agreed upon, for the sanitation of the cities of the island, to the end that a recurrence of epidemic and infectious diseases may be prevented, thereby assuring protection to the people and commerce of Cuba, as well as to the commerce of the Southern ports of the United States and the people residing therein…

Article VII. To enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the Government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations, at certain specified points, to be agreed upon with the President of the United States.

Questions

1. In what ways did the Platt Amendment limit the sovereignty of the new Cuban state?

2. What special concessions did the United States receive from Cuba?