South Carolina Standards:
5-3.5 Summarize the reasons for the United
States control of new territories as a result of
the
Spanish American War and the building of
the Panama Canal, including the need for
raw
materials and new markets and competition
with other world powers.
5-3.6 Summarize the factors that led to the
involvement of the United States in World
War I and
the role of the United States in fighting the
war.
 Nationalism-
feeling that your country is
better than other nations
 Imperialism- when one nation tries to
control other nations
 Militarism- building up large armies and
navies
 Isolationism- remaining neutral and letting
other nations handle their own problems
 Annexation- to attach or add, especially to
something larger or more important.

US became leading industrial producer
• contributed to the nation’s rise to world power

many Americans wanted a larger role in the world to secure
• sources of raw materials
• markets for the finished products from American factories


people in US believed they had a right to expand across
seas (as they had done across the continent)
Manifest Destiny was motivated by
• idea of American superiority
• Economics

led to United States’ declaration of war against Spain
• led to American involvement in the Panamanian revolt
• led to the building of the canal
• led to American involvement in World War I

outbreak of the Spanish American War
• led to annexation (takeover) of territories by the US

start of the war
• US - no meaning of annexing Cuba
• US quickly annexed Hawaii
 revolution led by American businessmen
 overthrown the Hawaiian queen [1893]
 Hawaii - ideal fueling stop on the way to the markets of China

Spanish American War
• first, takeover of Manila harbor in the Spanish colony of
the Philippines by American taskforce stationed in the
Pacific [1898].
• The Philippines provided an ideal location from which to
access the markets of China.


the Spanish in Cuba were quickly defeated
treaty was negotiated by the executive branch
• approved by Senate that granted the US control of previously Spanish
territories
 Guam
 Philippines
 Puerto Rico





Despite armed protests of Filipinos who wanted independence,
the US continued to control the Philippines as a territory until the
end of World War II.
Cuba was occupied by American forces off and on for more than
thirty years.
The United States secured a permanent naval base on the island of
Cuba.
Eventually Hawaii was admitted as our fiftieth state.
The United States continues to control Guam and the territory of
Puerto Rico today.






United States played a significant role in a revolution in Panama.
Since California Gold Rush, Americans wanted quick ocean route from east coast to
the west coast.
desire to expand trade with the Far East
President Theodore Roosevelt offered Colombia
• which controlled the Isthmus of Panama
• money for the right to build a canal
• Colombia rejected offer
Panamanians organized a bloodless revolution
• supported by American gunboats
• later signed an agreement with the United States allowing the United States to
lease the isthmus and build the canal
building of the Panama Canal allowed
• American commercial and war ships to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific
• quicker
• contributed to America’s commercial and military might
• image as a world power.

explosion of the battleship Maine
• thought to be the cause of United States involvement
• the decision was much more complicated





Yellow journalism prepared the American public for this decision
to declare war.
Yellow journalists attracted the views of the reading public to save
Cuba from the harsh rule of colonial Spain.
explosion of the Maine was covered by newspapers that exploited
any angle that might lead to wider movement and greater profit
for the papers
It alone did not cause Congress to declare war.
The decision of President McKinley to ask the United States
Congress to declare war on Spain and Congress’s willingness to
do so were based on American financial interests in Cuba,
humanitarian concerns for the Cuban people, and a desire to
demonstrate American power in the world.
The United States
wanted to remain
neutral and let
other nations handle
own problems.
Central Powers- Germany,
Austria Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey
and the Ottoman Empire
Allies- Great Britain, France,
Serbia, Russia, and the United
States
At first, the United States tried to remain neutral in World War I.
America became involved in the war hesitantly due to many
different reasons:
 Wartime propaganda (similar to the yellow journalism of the
Spanish American War period)
 Commercial ties with and loans to Great Britain made it hard
to stay neutral.
 The Germans would sink neutral commercial ships. (using
submarines) The sinking of the Lusitania [1915] was not the
direct cause of the United States’ declaration of war [1917]. It
was only one incident in a series of sinkings.
All of these reasons led President Woodrow Wilson to ask the
Congress for a declaration of war to “make the world safe for
democracy.”
 intercepted by the British
• publication by press in the United States
• led the American public to support going to war
 American troops (doughboys)
• involved in resisting the final assaults of German
troops on western front
• breaking the end of trench warfare
 Central
Powers agreed to a settlement with
the Allies
• condition that peace negotiations would be based on
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Events that let
to the U.S.
entering WWI

President Wilson
• played a significant role at the peace negotiations
• many of his Fourteen Points were ignored by the other nations
• helped to redraw state borders in Europe so that they better
reflected nations
 groups of people with the same language, religion and ethnic
heritage

Treaty of Versailles included
• an international peace-keeping organization
• League of Nations (Wilson hoped would put an end to war)

US Senate refused to approve treaty because many
Senators thought League of Nations would
compromise Congress’s constitutional right to
declare war
US continued to be involved in world trade in the
1920s
 1930s

• Neutrality Acts- Congress limiting American involvement
in world affairs through a series of laws
• laws attempted to keep the US out of the war that was
developing in Europe by addressing what Americans
thought were the causes of American involvement in
World War I

When the United States finally became involved
in World War II, the United States allied with
Great Britain, France, and others.
• basis for the creation of the United Nations after World
War II (replaced the League of Nations)