Writing Assignment: The Big Stick In The Caribbean Sea

Thomas Childress
November 23, 2015
History 112
Burrows
History 112 Fall 2015 Writing Assignment “The Big Stick in the Caribbean Sea,” is a cartoon from the New York Herald. During the time period in which the cartoon was created, the United States of America was first stepping onto the international stage as a big time player. Theodore Roosevelt believed in letting new nations govern and form themselves in a nature process, instead of having outside interference. The new Roosevelt Corollary was adding on to the Monroe Doctrine, from 1823, the United States of America’s Navy was at its top strength, and the United States of America was now becoming an imperialist nation. The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy doctrine set forth by President
The United States of America just defeated the Spanish empire with seldom difficulty. At the current time Spain had one of the most elite navies in the world. The Spanish-American War had a profound effect on American foreign policies on the next several decades. When Roosevelt became president in 1901, he grew the navy from the sixth most powerful in the world to the second only behind Great Britain. In 1907 Roosevelt had created seventeen new battleships to form his “Great White Fleet”. This fleet sailed around the world from port to port showing off the new power of the United States of America’s Navy. During the time when the fleet was sailing around the world, they noticed that they needed strategic fueling stations around the world. “The Big Stick in the Caribbean Sea” shows Roosevelt pulling around several naval boats in the Caribbean Sea with various names written on them such as, Debt Collector, the Sherriff, the receiver and etcetera. This piece simply means to not be afraid to negotiate but, don’t hesitate to show the might of your
The United States of America had grown their army to such standards by showing the imperialism they had inquired. President Roosevelt was at the forefront of this, by leading the military into acquisitions of foreign lands and territories to form resources for the use of the United States of America. Major factors that fueled the need for American imperialism were a desire for military strength to compete and gain respect of other world powers, Social Darwinism, which was the belief that certain nations and races were superior to others and therefore destined to rule over them, and a desire for a new frontier to settle to maintain America’s identity and prosperity. The United States of America believed it was to become a respected and influential nation like Great Britain and France. With this, the United States of America believed, it needed to establish a global military presence and acquire overseas territories. “The Big Stick in the Caribbean Sea” implies imperialism by showing Roosevelt “safeguarding” the Latin American Nations from European countries, only for the usage of the United States of America. The United States of America isn’t taking over these countries, but using them for their resources and their military