US Imperialism: Early 20 th Century Policies

1. US Imperialism: Early 20th Century Policies • Open Door Policy • Panama Canal • Big Stick Diplomacy • Dollar Diplomacy 11.4.1 List the purpose and the effects of the Open Door policy. 11.4.3 Discuss America’s role in the Panama Revolution and the building of the Panama Canal. 11.4.4Explain Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick diplomacy and William Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy.

2. Open Door Policy • 1899 – US will enforce the right of ALL nations to trade equally with China • No single country will control China. • China will not be divided

3. Panama Canal • 1903 - Panama is controlled by Columbia • Columbia wants the US to pay $40 million for rights to build canal

4. Panama Canal • Instead, President Roosevelt supports a Panama revolution • An independent Panama allows the canal to be built

5. Big Stick Diplomacy (Theodore Roosevelt) • Having a strong military is a deterrent • Other countries will listen to the US without having to use force. • Strong Navy

6. Corollary to Monroe Doctrine • Back in 1823, President James Monroe stated that the Western Hemisphere was to no longer be colonized by Europeans • The US would use military force if needed to defend our neighbor nations • In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt extended the Monroe Doctrine with his corollary • The US can intervene in Caribbean and Central American countries to stabilize their economy Presidents cited the Roosevelt Corollary as justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba (1906), Nicaragua (1909, 1912 and 1926), Haiti (1915), and the Dominican Republic (1916).

7. Great White Fleet 1907 - To show the naval power of the US, Roosevelt sent the “great white fleet” around the world

8. Dollar diplomacy • “substituting dollars for bullets.” • US can influence the world through economics rather than through its military • Supporting US companies in other countries will make the US stronger. President William Howard Taft

9. Taft Speech on Dollar Diplomacy “…In Central America the aim has been to help such countries as Nicaragua and Honduras to help themselves. They are the immediate beneficiaries. The national benefit to the United States is twofold. First, it is obvious that the Monroe Doctrine ismore vital in the neighborhood of the Panama Canal and the zone of the Caribbean than anywhere else…Hence, the United States has been glad to encourage and support American bankers who were willing to lend a helping hand to the financial rehabilitation of such countries because this financial rehabilitation and the protection of their customhouses from being the prey of would-be dictators would remove at one stroke the menace of foreign creditors and the menace of revolutionary disorder. The second advantage to the United States is one affecting chiefly all the Southern and Gulf ports and the business and industry of the South. The republics of Central America and the Caribbean possess great natural wealth. They need only a measure of stability and the means of financial regeneration to enter upon an era of peace and prosperity, bringing profit and happiness to themselves and at the same time creating conditions sure to lead to a flourishing interchange of trade with this country…”

10. Summary