Open Door Policy

 

The Open Door Policy
Blake Mullet

        
            In 1894 there was a war between china and Japan over Korea. The Japanese won the war. China gave Korea independence and gave Japan some territory. The land that was given to Japan was close to Russia. Russians started to get concerned about how much power the Japanese were getting. In 1898 Russia demanded that the China lease the land to Russia instead. That meant that the land would still belong to China but was ruled by Russia. Politicians started to worry about these events, so they made a policy called the open door policy. This just meant all countries were allowed to trade with China.

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal

Karissa Troyer

 

       The Panama Canal was made by people and not Mother Nature. The president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt, thought that it would be a good idea to make a canal through Central America. Roosevelt thought that having a strong military base was important, and building the canal was vital to America’s power in the world. The canal purpose was for military and commercial shipping. In 1901 Great Britain and America signed the Harry-Pauncefote Treaty. The treaty allowed the United States to build the canal through Central America.

      The U.S. had two places in mind of where they wanted to build the canal. One was through Nicaragua and the other was through Panama. When America started to build the canal many Panamanians revolted. The French were afraid that the U.S. would start to build the canal through Nicaragua so they made their own deal with them. To make sure that the Colombians wouldn’t interfere he had 10 U.S. warships off the coast. The canal was finished in 1913 and opened in 1914.

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion

Paola Torres

 

After Japanese victory in the war between China and Japan over Korea, Chinese were forced to give Korea independence and give Japan territory in Manchuria. Russians were not very happy with this and with the support of France and Germany, forced the Japanese to return the territory, then demanded that China give them “leasehold” (China would keep ownership of territory but hand control to foreign country) over the territory. Soon after that, different countries such as Germany, France, and Britain also started demanding “leaseholds” over other Chinese territories that would give them control of the economic development of that specific territory.

Nearing the end of the 1800’s, there was a lot of western influence in China because of the territories other foreign countries had a lease on. Some of the Chinese called the westerners “foreign devils”. There was one group in particular called “The Harmonious Fists”, also known as, The Boxers; they wanted to get rid of foreigners and western influence more than anybody. In 1899, they began attacking foreigners, and either killing them or taking them hostage. By 1900, the boxer’s momentum had escalated and the situation reached its breaking point when the German ambassador to China was killed. The nations of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States decided that enough was enough and an intervention was greatly needed. They gathered an army of about 50,000 and were successful in subduing the Boxers. Secretary of State John Hay convinced British diplomats to have China pay $450 million for damages instead of dividing it.

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

Paola Torres

William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States. He served his 4-year term from 1909 to 1913. He was never much of a politician and he preferred law to politics. Theodore Roosevelt made him the Secretary of War and then after that, in 1907, decided that Taft should be his successor. During his term, Taft worked to increase trade and influence in Latin America. The Latin American Nations weren’t too happy about the American influence entering their countries. Even though Taft was aware of this, he decided to continue his policies and focused on helping industry in Latin America grow; he thought that in doing this, nothing less of beneficial would come for both sides. Taft’s policy to help grow American trade and profits and help Latin America out of poverty became known as the “Dollar Diplomacy”.

T. Roosevelt

T. Roosevelt

Blake Mullet

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president. He was born in New York. Roosevelt only lived to be sixty years old. He was married to Edith and together they have six children. Since he took many trips to the Amazon, he died from having Cardiovascular disease.

Roosevelt became president because the president before him got assassinated. He was known for his range of interests, goals and leadership of the progressive movement. At the age of 42, he became president and was the youngest person to become president. Theodore was the leader of the Republican party. He wanted to use the federal government to solve the economic and social problems. The power of the executive branch of government dramatically increased. William Taft worked closely with Theodore. Roosevelt believed that William would be the one to continue with his thoughts and beliefs.

Annexing Hawaii

 

 

 

Annexing Hawaii
Madison Normnent

   

     As the trade with Asia grew in the 1800’s Americans were seeking ports to refuel and resupply while going over the Pacific. Pago Pago, Samoan Islands had one of the best Harbors in the South Pacific.

 

     In 1819 American Missionaries went to Hawaii where they found sugarcane. Sugarcane grew very well in Hawaii’s climate and many of the Americans began to make plantations. 1878 the United States had negotiated permission to open a base their. During 1872 a recession struck Hawaii, Hawaiians worried about the economic crisis. The United States signed a treaty exempting Hawaiian sugar from tariffs. A few years later their treaty was due for renewal. Senate insisted that Hawaii allow United States exclusive rights to naval base at Pearl Harbor. The renewed treaty led to great wealth with sugar plantation owners. In 1887 planters began to pressure the Hawaiian king into accepting constitution that limited his authority. Then in 1890 congress passed a new tariff. This new tariff gave subsidies to sugar producers in the U.S.. It made Hawaiian sugar more expensive than American.
   

     In 1891 Queen Liliuokalani left the Hawaiian throne. She didn’t like the influence that the American settlers had gained in Hawaii. January, 1893, Liliuokalani made a new constitution remaking her authority as ruler. A group of planters didn’t agree and in turn tried to overthrow monarchy. They were supported by marines from USS Boston who forced the Queen to step down. Then they set up a provisional government and asked the United States to annex Hawaii. President Cleveland opposed imperialism and withdrew the annexation treaty and tried to restore power to the queen. Hawaii’s new leader refused to do so and chose to wait for Cleveland to leave office. Five years later the United State annexed Hawaii.