Conquest and Empire Reading Notes

• as american imperialism increased, so did imigration into the US
  • imerpailism and immigration both raised the questions of
    • who was american
    • what is america role in foreign enviroments

american intervention

• first unincorporate territories of the US were the guano islands
  • precedent for future acquisitions
• "interventionist attitude"
• intervention w/ Huerta in mexico
  • justified by potential bearing on the united states
  • not true for intervention in the middle east!

• Should the United States act as an empire?

  • Or were foreign interventions and the taking of territory antithetical to its founding democratic ideals?

  • What exactly would be the relationship between the United States and its territories?

  • And could colonial subjects be successfully and safely incorporated into the body politic as American citizens?

• one view, america had a "duty to discharge" around the world
• american anti imperialist league with lots of big names started
  • idea was to protect the rights of self-governance for everyone
• "big stick" was what roosevelt wanted
  • but wasnt actully good enough, so instead people used "dollary displomacy" to assert dominance
• "manly duty" of the US to intervent and spread its superiority
• dollay diplomacy was cheaper than military and didnt require a military
  • also, gave oppurtunties to bankers
    • strapped for cash leaders took out massive loans w/ insane interest rates
• "turnover in regimes interfered with the repayment of loans" jesus christ
• immigration was a big thing,
  • people were worried that so much immigration would be bad
  • so they added lot's of restrictions
  • and viewed immigrants as inferior

• battlship, Maine, exploded
  • lots of people died
  • during a period of tension w/ spain
  • people thought it was the spaniards
    • bam! war. (ten days later, officially)
• ofc, the Maine was only the proximal cause
  • but maybe not? many view the sinking of the Maine to be the main cause
  • or simply, made an avoidable war inevitable
    • ended all hope for peace
• another interpretation, the explosian made war acceptable to the general public, even if not inevitable
  • the concept of inevitability itself bothers me in this context.. what does it even mean?
  • and also, ofc, the argument that this shift in public viewpoint made it inevitable
    • heavy linkage from public opinion and the war!
      • doesnt need to be rational, and thus, doesnt need to be explained
• "the unthinking American masses"
  • "spontaneuous emotional reaction to a random incident"

but, this linkage has problems!

• were people outraged instantly? or were they only outraged after people "determined" the explosion to be done by the spaniards?
  • diff evidence for each!
  • wait this is the big argument? really? why do we care?
• verification is not possible for most of this stuff
• some say that the country forced the gov into war after the Maine
• the president was forced into war by the populace and congress
  • some people think he couldnt have avoided the war, despite his best efforts
  • other disagree (wow)
    • they say he wasnt strong enough, and was week-kneed. spineless, ect.

what is this reading?? christ.

• maybe it was about the yellow press
  • the fault of the irresponsible press
• after the Maine, the cuban question dominated public consciousness
• almost every explanation of the war has the Maine at its center.
• the war was not a failure of american diplomacy
  • it was despite american diplomacy
  • cus american people wanted the war
• portrayed as caused by: accident, spanish "medievalism," or the masses