American Imperialism Research Paper

The Birth of American Imperialism

The United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776 and has fought three wars before the Spanish-American War. The United States has fought numerous times for different reasons. The States fought Britain for their independence in 1776, and then in 1812 they fought Britain because American ships were being taken prisoner by the British for no apparent reason. America stood up against the British and let them know that was going to push America around. America also fought against itself trying to preserve the nation and keep The United States as one and from not separating. The United States of America unified again in 1865 becoming one with unified ideas. In 1898 the United States fought a new enemy
for new reasons, but these reasons were not justified and not appropriate to declare war on Spain. In the 1890’s the United States attitude turned much aggressive and expansionistic than it had ever been. There was in fact a lust for forming colonies. What triggered the war was the blowing up of the Maine Battleship. The blame was put on Spain’s shoulders believing the Spanish had a hand in the destruction of the Maine. Years after the end of the war investigators have concluded that the Maine blew up due to the boiler room overheating and blowing up. The Spanish-American War is the most unnecessary war of all-time and could have easy been avoided if America did not declare wars on other nations solely on belief without any evidence. The defeat of the Spanish forces marked the end of their rule in the Americas and also marked the rise of the United States as a global military power. The Spanish-American War affected the United States in a number of other ways. It helped speed the construction of the Panama Canal and also resulted in the U.S.'s acquisition of foreign territories. This war marks the being of American Imperialism, and the beginning of American intervention in other countries. Before the war and before the explosion of the USS Maine there was a lot of tension between America and Spain at the time. The United States and Spain all most started a war when Spain captured an American ship in 1873. The captain and the crew were executed on charges of having rebel leaders aboard (Gay 9). There were many reports of U.S citizens in Cuba being imprisoned or murdered. Spanish officials even confiscated U.S property (Gay 9). Also, Americans living in Cuba were captured and sent without trial to this prison known as Morro Castle (Gay 23). Also, Cuba was rebelling against Spanish rule and wanted its own independence. Constant fighting between Spain and the natives became deadly. Cuba was an important colony for the Spanish. The islands export sugar, tobacco, and other raw materials were traded by the Spanish to generate great amounts of wealth (Bachrach 15). In January 25, the USS Maine arrives in Havana, Cuba. The Maine is there to protect Americans in Cuba against the riot occurring in Havana (Bowan 103). February 15, the USS Maine while docked in the Havana harbor is rocketed by two explosions. The ship begins to sink killing 266 U.S sailors (Bowan 104). The United States places the blame upon Spain for the destruction of the Maine and in April the United States and Spain break off diplomatic relations. The U.S president orders a naval blockade of Cuba’s ports (Bowan 104). McKinley stressed that the United States had tried to remain neutral, but too many Americans were treated inhumanly in Cuba by the Spanish (Gay 28).
In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine stated that further efforts by European governments to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would not be accepted by the U.S., but Spain's colony in Cuba was exempted. In 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History, which credits the rise of Britain to world power to the Royal Navy. Mahan’s ideas on projecting strength through a strong navy had a powerful worldwide influence. Historians debate how much Americans were interested in obtaining an empire, while noting that the European powers had in recent decades dramatically expanded their empires, especially in Africa and Asia. The United States had great interest in the England motto, which was make the world England. The United States wanted to colonize, take over new territories, and expand. Unfortunately, America’s ambitions were inopportune for the current state of the world, because most of the world was colonized and had governments. America probably pinned the blame of the Maine blowing up on Spain to grab new territory and some other spoils of war. On April 23 President McKinley called for a hundred twenty five thousand volunteers, more than a million men answered the call (Golay 41).
The U.S Navy’s Asiatic Squadron, is headed by Commodore George Dewy. He is based in Hong Kong, China. His job is to combat the Spanish in the Pacific (Bowman 104). Amazingly the U.S had so little information about the Philippines that Dewey had to buy charts of Manila Bay from Hong Kong (Golay 22). In the early hour of May 1, 1898, Dewy spots the Spanish fleet 5 miles south of Manila. The U.S fleet sails towards the Spanish fleet (Bowman 107). Dewey’s ships have destroyed the majority of the Spanish fleet and captured the remaining Spanish fleet. The Spanish lose more than 400 men. Only 6 Americans die or are wounded. When word reaches America of Dewey’s victory he becomes a national hero (Bowman 107). Dewy stays in Manila harbor with his fleet to keep the German Navy from the weak situation in the Philippines. The U.S does not want Germany to take territory or resources from the Philippines (Bowman 107). Following Dewey's victory, Manila Bay was filled with the warships of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan; all of which outgunned Dewey's force. The German fleet of eight ships were in Philippine waters to protect German interests acted provocatively cutting in front of American ships, refusing to salute the United States flag, taking soundings of the harbor, and landing supplies for the besieged Spanish. The Germans, with
interests of their own, were eager to take advantage of whatever opportunities the conflict in the islands might afford. The Americans called the bluff of the Germans, threatening conflict if the aggressive activities continued, and the Germans backed down. At the time, the Germans expected the confrontation in the Philippines to end in an American defeat, with the revolutionaries capturing Manila and leaving the Philippines ripe for German picking.

Most of the Spanish fleet is anchored in Santiago.
The commander of the Spanish fleet is Pascual Cervera. He does not want to challenge the U.S, because he knows that he is out gunned (Bowan 109). On 1 July, a combined force of about 15,000 American troops in regular infantry and cavalry regiments, including all four of the army's "Colored" regiments, and volunteer regiments, among them Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders", the 71st New York and 1st North Carolina, and rebel Cuban forces attacked 1,270 entrenched Spaniards in dangerous Civil War-style frontal assaults at the Battle of El Caney and Battle of San Juan Hill outside of Santiago. More than 200 U.S. soldiers were killed and close to 1,200 wounded in the fighting. Supporting fire by Gatling guns was critical to the success of the assault. Cervera decided to escape Santiago two days later. The Spanish forces at Guantánamo were so isolated by Marines and Cuban forces that they did not know that Santiago was under siege and their forces in the northern part of the province could not break through Cuban lines. This was not true of the Escario relief column from Manzanillo, which fought its way past determined Cuban resistance but arrived too late to participate in the siege. After the battles of San Juan Hill and El Caney, the American advance ground to a halt. Spanish troops successfully defended Fort Canosa, allowing them to stabilize their line and bar the entry to Santiago (Bowan 109). The Americans and Cubans forcibly
began a bloody, strangling siege of the city. During the nights, Cuban troops dug successive series of "trenches" toward the Spanish positions. Once completed, these parapets were occupied by U.S. soldiers and a new set of excavations went forward. American troops, while suffering daily losses from Spanish fire, suffered far more casualties from heat exhaustion and mosquito-borne disease. At the western approaches to the city, Cuban general Calixto Garcia began to encroach on the city, causing much panic and fear of reprisals among the Spanish forces. The success at the two forts on July 1, 1898 combined to give the Americans command over the ridges surrounding Santiago. By July 3, the American forces had demolished Admiral Pascual’s Spanish fleet there. On July 17, the Spanish surrendered the city (Nelson 111). There was likelihood that the Spanish could carry the War onto the Atlantic seaboard cities of the U.S (Golay 31). The Spanish Admiral Cervera could not have raided the U.S coastal cities because they had no charts of the Atlantic Seas (Golay 33). The Spanish fleet attacks the seven American ships. After four hours of gunfire the Spanish ships are all sunk. The Spanish have 474 dead while the Americans only suffer 1 fatality (Bowan 109). On 7 August, the American invasion force started to leave Cuba. The problem was fiebre amarilla, yellow fever, which had quickly spread amongst the American occupation force, crippling it. A group of concerned officers of the American army chose Theodore Roosevelt to draft a request to Washington that it withdraw the Army, a request that paralleled a similar one from General Shafter, who described his force as an “army of convalescents” (Bowan 111). By the time of his letter, 75% of the force in Cuba was unfit for service. The evacuation was not total. The U.S. Army kept the black Ninth Infantry Regiment in Cuba to support the occupation. The logic was that their race and the fact that many black volunteers came from southern states would protect them; this logic led to these soldiers being nicknamed “Immunes”. Still, by the time the Ninth left, 73 of its 984 soldiers had contracted the disease. The Treaty of Paris was signed December 10, 1898, settled the conflict that had resulted in the Spanish-American War( Nelson 111).As a result of the Spanish-American war, which lasted for only four months from April 25 to August 12, 1898, the treaty gave Cuba independence. Andrew Carnegie the richest man in America wrote a personal check for twenty million dollars to buy Philippine independence (Marrin 150). The U.S would pay 20 million dollars for the Philippines. The Philippines would become a common wealth in November 1935 (Nelson 112). U. S. also acquired Puerto Rico and Guam. By gaining these territories it helped America gain some more resources. Also the result of the war leaves thousands dead on each side of the playing field and many more wounded. These deaths could have been avoided if only the United States did not jump to conclusions and did not use the Maine incident to enter a war in order in gain new territory. In the end, U.S. goals were overwhelmingly achieved. They succeeded in securing Cuban independence, removing Spanish forces from the Americas, establishing themselves as a world and military power, and also accomplished much more, with minimal losses. Other positive outcomes from the war include a positive change in the army, a surge in the economy, and as well as a strong international political influence. Senator Thurston of Nebraska said before the war: "War with Spain would increase the business and earnings of every American railroad, it would increase the output of every American factory, and it would stimulate every branch of industry and domestic commerce." All of these predictions, indeed, turned out to be results of the Spanish-American War. The United States, both as a nation and as a people, prospered tremendously from this war. The United States birth as an imperialistic power occurred during the Spanish-American War.