Introduction

 In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the United States pursued a forceful policy of expansion.  Some wanted to expand power, so that the United States could become the most powerful nation. Others did not want to expand power, because they didn’t want the U.S. to have too much central power.  Journalist would exaggerate about the issue, of whether to expand or not, using yellow journalism.  They would write about certain things no matter if they are true or not, mainly to keep readers interested.  Money also played a big role in the decision to expand. Since, we don’t have money to buy the land, what if we could bribe them with the promise of a loan (dollar diplomacy).   The money was paying for a war that wasn’t fought. All of these things helped make the American Empire what it is today.

Arguments for and against Imperialism

Arguments for Imperialism

- Enables growth of industries.

- Growth and expansion

- Provides an advanced and cultured education

- Techniques and technology are improved

- More raw materials

- Awareness for countries in poverty

Arguments against Imperialism

- The countries the empire dominates suffers

- Indigenous people have their rights taken away and are used for slave labor.

- They are usually forced to give up their culture and uptake the empire’s

traditions, such as religion.

- The land is exploited of raw materials for the empire while the country

receives no benefits

Sources:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-imperialism.html

www.tcnj.edu/~baldwin5/index.html    

Yellow Journalism

Yellow Journalism was used to refer to the style of journalism writing in the late 1800's around the time of the Spanish-American War.

• It originated from a comic with a yellow-dressed character appearing in Joseph Pulitzer's paper, "New York World".
• William Randolph Hearst, owner of New York Journal, created a yellow-dressed character to compete.
• To attract the publics attention both rivals used entirely subjective material and scandalous headlines.
• Yellow Jouranlism had a lot of influence in the Spanish-American War.

Sources:

http://pratapsimha.com/2010/08/22/ndtv/

Dollar Diplomacy

The dollar diplomacy was made by the U.S. to increase our nation’s wealth by getting involved with other countries’ financial affairs.

·         President William Taft wanted to give America a more stable government so he decided to build a dollar diplomacy, in which America would attempt to get involved with the Caribbean, East Asia, Russia, China, and Japan.

·         China turned out to be a loss for the United States as they went into a war with the Japanese.

·          America backed the Japanese in their war with Russia and in 1905 were the mediators that caused peace.

·         Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson both following Taft’s time in office also strived to get more involved with foreign affairs.

http://www.glogster.com/media/1/6/30/48/6304810.jpg