![]() government could reconcile this with the strict exclusionary policies of its immigration law. But after years of transpacific immigration, Hawaii had substantial Japanese and Chinese populations. 54 As we have seen, the United States had for decades followed a policy of exclusion that prevented people of Asian descent from integrating into American society. When Congress approved the annexation of Hawaii in July 1898, for instance, a substantial part of the debate focused on the racial characteristics of the inhabitants of the islands. Representative James Beauchamp (Champ) Clark of Missouri denounced the idea of eventual Hawaiian statehood, arguing that Congress would be unable to incorporate such a large foreign population into the country. House of RepresentativesĪbout this object When the United States annexed Hawaii, Congress considered the racial demographics of the islands. tiles/non-collection/A/APA_essay1_17_ChampClark_HC.xml Collection of the U.S. Popular ways of thinking, driven by trends like social Darwinism, shaped congressional discussions on citizenship, democracy, and the movement of goods and people across borders. Would they have representation in Congress? From the start, America’s racial politics featured prominently in debates about the Philippines and Hawaii. 52Īlmost immediately Congress confronted a host of moral and legal conundrums about the nation’s new island possessions: Did the Constitution even allow the United States to reach beyond the boundaries of North America to govern new territory? What did it mean for a former colony to possess colonies of its own? Would these territories be eligible for statehood, or did Congress have the authority to prevent them from joining the Union? Regardless of where fin de siècle Americans came down on expansion, they faced unavoidable questions about what would happen to the inhabitants of these new territories: Were they eligible for American citizenship? Could they move freely between the islands and the mainland United States? military, lending credence to his theory that the Pacific would dominate “the commerce of the future.” 51 Anti-imperialists, on the other hand, believed expansion endangered the future of the republic by antagonizing world powers and overextending America’s resources. Expansionists like Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana argued that the islands would be invaluable as way stations for American exporters and the U.S. Geography bestowed the Philippines and Hawaii with immense value to U.S. Those in favor envisioned the United States as an emerging global power in which American ships crisscrossed the Pacific to trade with untapped markets. Despite the lack of definitive proof that Spain was responsible for destroying the ship, Congress responded to cries for action by declaring war on Spain two months later. tiles/non-collection/A/APA_essay1_16_USSMaine_NHHC.xml Image courtesy of the Naval History and Heritage Command Shown here entering the harbor of Havana, Cuba, on January 25, 1898, the USS Maine exploded three weeks later, on February 15. Mostly, the debate split the population into those for expansion and those against it. Many Americans wondered if expansion was a good idea, whether the United States should enter the 20th century as an imperial power. “Since Jefferson’s time,” the historian Herring wrote, “Americans had sought to deal with pressing internal difficulties through expansion, and in the 1890s they increasingly looked outward for solutions to domestic problems.” 50īut by the turn of the century, looking outward only seemed to bring up more questions than answers. The disorder at home led many to look abroad. economy, the supposed closing of the American frontier, unemployment, labor unrest, and the entrenchment of Jim Crow laws limiting the rights of African Americans. The 1890s had unleashed an avalanche of social strife at home, including the collapse of the U.S. The war and America’s resulting overseas expansion came at the end of an anxious decade. foreign policy, has called an “island land grab.” By the time the ink dried on the Treaty of Paris ending the war, the United States had staked claim to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Samoa, and a handful of other Pacific islands and had used the conflict to begin the process of annexing Hawaii. When it was all said and done, the William McKinley administration went on what George C. servicemen took all of about four months to capture Cuba. Navy dispatched the Spanish squadron in Manila, U.S. commercial and military interests.Īlthough the United States fought in two major theaters-the Philippines and the Caribbean-the war was over quickly. role in the Pacific, suggesting that the Philippines and Hawaii could play an important part in U.S. tiles/non-collection/A/APA_essay1_15_Albert_Beveridge_LC.xml Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana argued for an expanded U.S. ![]()
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