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Mckinley Tariff
William Mckinley introduced a new tariff later known as the Mckinley tariff. This taxed foreign goods. One of the major issues which showed up after this tariff was it allowed sugar to be shipped "duty free" to the united states. This lead to sugar not being shipped from Hawaii, which was their favored product. Because of this, Hawaii had to drop the price of their sugar product causing the Hawaiian economy to greatly suffer. -
Hawaiian Annexation
By the time the US got serious about conquering new lands, most land besides very few islands was owned. Hawaii being one of them. At the time Hawaii was ruled by a hereditary monarch, the leader, Queen Liliuokalani, decided that by turning into a US state, it would fix the economic problem they were having with the Mckinley tariff because they would no longer be a foreign country. Basically in the end Hawaii ended up being forced into becoming an American state. -
Spanish American War
The war originated after Cuba wanted independence from Spain, beginning in 1895. The US became more involved after the unexplained sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbour. This event lead into "anti-Spanish" riots. After Spain released Cuba to self govern themselves, the US offered resolutions to independence and demanded Spanish troops off of their land. Spain then declared war on the US on April 24th but was basically one sided because Spain did not have competitive enough weapons or power. -
Annexation of the Philippines
Several Americans questioned weather it was right to annex a foreign country as the Philippines. Most businessmen wanted the Philippines to remain a trading and refueling post through Asian trading circles. But others believed that the US would eventually bring democracy to the Philippines and they did not wish to be part of that. Later they ended up annexing them because they were "the only stepping stone to China" their biggest trading partner. -
The Boxer Rebellion
In the spring of 1900, the boxers attacked western missionaries and traders in northern China and ended up killing over 200 people including many Chinese Christians. Other foreign countries responded by sending troops to China. By the end China had agreed to pay for over 330 million dollars in reparations due to the rebellion. -
Panama Canal
The US was looking for a way to make shipping for trade between the west and Europe faster and cheaper, but their main issue was having to travel the complete distance around South America to get there. They came up with the idea to build the Panama canal, but financially Panama could not take the offer. The US then provided them with a $10 million payment, $250,000 annual payment, and independence to Panama in return for the 10 mile wide canal. -
Dollar Diplomacy
President William Howard Taft’s policy of influencing Latin American affairs through economic influence rather than military force. -
The Great White Fleet
Concerned by China's new high power, by order of Theodore Roosevelt, 4 destroyers and 15 battleships were sent on a 46 thousand mile world wide journey, stopping in China and Japan, to remind them of the power the US has
