History 1700 MacKay  Spring 2010

The U.S. as World Power

Readings

We will consider the following episodes in U.S. history:


Louisiana Purchase and Continental Expansion

Animated image combining maps depicting U.S. territorial growth 1810-1920, as produced in the 1970 National Atlas.Animated image combining maps depicting U.S. territorial growth 1810-1920, as produced in the 1970 National Atlas.

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/territorialacquisition.html#list


    In a some what overheated editorial on the matter of Texas annexation in the July and August, 1845, number of the Democratic Review, a journal which he co-founded in 1837, John L. O'Sullivan coined the potent phrase "Manifest Destiny" to describe the ongoing expansionistic activities of the United States of America in its almost 70 years of existence. This was a phrase which both well summed up already held attitudes and opinions, and pointed to a vast potential which would be acted out in, in a variety of forms and manners, to the present.
    The concept of Manifest Destiny, in its most fundamental meaning propounds the notion that the United States has a national destiny determined by divine appointment, which it is the sacred duty of the nation, through its leaders, to make manifest, to make real. It is shot through with religious imagery, in particular as related to the historical experience of the people Israel, and often expressed in terms of an "advent" or coming, and an "epiphany" or showing forth. Manifest Destiny thus became the historical stage directions for the future of the United States.
    In functional terms, the concept of Manifest Destiny, in the first instance, explained and justified those decisions and actions which had already taken place, and, in the second instance, provided an ongoing impetus to continue and intensify such decisions in the future. As such, it was an expression of what intellectual historians style the double function of ideas in historical action. Because of its breadth, Manifest Destiny was from the very beginning, a type of "omnibus idea" an idea which could contain a wide variety of concepts without fear of contradiction or confusion.
    In more detail, Manifest Destiny is an idea constructed on the premise that the United States is God's chosen nation and people, chosen is a singular manner which separates it from any other nation or people who might conceive such an idea.  It is through this construction that the United States becomes as historical paraphrase of the people Israel, a new chosen people, a "last chance" for the entire whole of humanity which is thus called upon to learn from and follow this nation.

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/dialogues/prelude/manifest/manifestdestiny.html

    The United States is the largest overseas territorial power in the world today, with over four million subjects. It currently governs Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa, and has "special responsibilities" for the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.


U.S. Imperialism

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism, extending its political and economic influence around the globe.  Consult this summary used in K12 classrooms: http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/toc.html

Chronology -- U.S. Imperialism
1898    Spanish-American War. Treaty of Paris gives U.S. control of Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico.    U.S. annexes Hawaii
1899-1902    American-Filipino War
1899-1900    U.S. pursues "Open Door" policy toward China
1900    U.S. annexes Puerto Rico.    U.S. and other imperial powers put down Chinese Boxer Rebellion
1901    U.S. forces Cuba to adopt constitution favorable to U.S. interests
1903    Hay--Bunau-Varillia Treaty signed, giving U.S. control of Panama Canal Zone
1904    "Roosevelt Corollary" to Monroe Doctrine proclaimed
1905    Roosevelt negotiates end to Russo-Japanese War
1906-1917    U.S. intervenes in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Mexico
1910    Mexican revolution
1914    Panama Canal Opens
1914    U.S. invades Mexico

Face of U.S. government imperialism In the Philippine War, over 16,000 Filipino soldiers died and it is estimated that close to 200,000 Filipino civilians lost their lives as well. Some 5,000 American soldiers died. (National Museum of Health and Medicine)


World War I

(Source: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/1907powr.htm)

In countless ways, World War I created the fundamental elements of 20th century history. Genocide emerged as an act of war. So did the use of poison gas on the battlefield. The international system was totally transformed. On the political right fascism came out of the war; on the left a communist movement emerged backed by the Soviet Union.  America became a world power. The British Empire reached its high point and started to unravel. Britain never recovered from the shock of war, and started her decline to the ranks of the second-class powers. At the peace conference of 1919, the German, Turkish, and Austro-Hungarian empires were broken up. New boundaries were drawn in Europe and the Middle East, boundaries -- as in Iraq and Kuwait -- which were still intact at the end of the century.
 
Just as the war was ending, German Nationalists like Hitler gathered millions who rejected the peace and blamed Jews and Communists for their defeat. The road to the Second World War started there.

Chronology -- Clash of Empires
1914    World War One is triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
1915    Lusitanian sunk
1917    Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare. U.S. declares war on Germany
1917    U.S. purchases Virgin Islands from Denmark
1917    Russian Revolution
11-11-1918    Treaty of Versailles, Wilson's 14 Points


The Cold War

 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was founded in 1922 with four republics. By its dissolution in 1991, it was a confederation of 15 republics. The Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (SFSR) was by far the largest of the union republics, spanning two continents. Other republics--called Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs)--were located in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics. The 15 union republics are now independent countries.
(Source: http://encarta.msn.com/media_461540279/Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics.html)

Image:Cold War Map 1959.png

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cold_War_Map_1959.png

 

Image:Cold War Map 1980.png

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cold_War_Map_1980.png

The cold war began with mistrust between the Soviet Union and the western democracies as early as the Russian Revolution. The Soviet Union felt it had good cause to mistrust the West. 

The West, for its part, never trusted the Soviet Union:

    This mutual distrust was barely suppressed during World War II when for practical reasons (the common enemy of Hitler's Germany) the western allies and the Soviet Union became uneasy allies. Stalin believed that the western allies were dragging their feet in opening up the "second front" in Europe, so necessary to take the pressure off the struggling Soviet forces in the east. Stalin was open about wanting "friendly governments" in Eastern Europe to protect his country's western frontier from another invasion like the invasion by Germany.

(Source: The Cold War Museum: http://www.historywiz.com/coldwarexhibit.htm)

Chronology
1946    Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech
1947    Truman Doctrine
1948    Marshall Plan; Berlin airlift
1949    NATO;; first USSSR atomic bomb; Communist victory in China
1950    Joseph McCarthy's first charges; outbreak of Korean War 
1953    Armistice in Korea
1954    Vietnamese victory over French in Dien Bien Phu; McCarthy hearings
1947: The Truman Doctrine. 
1949: NATO Treaty signed. 
1949: Communists take power in China; Nationalists retreat to Taiwan 
1950: Korean War begins. 
1953: Armistice ends fighting in the Korean War. 
1955: Warsaw Pact is formed 
1961: Bay of Pigs invasion. 

 Toward Peaceful Coexistence

1962: Cuban Missile Crisis. 
1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 
1965: President Johnson begins escalation of US role in Vietnamese Civil War. 
1972: US withdraws from Vietnam. 
1972: SALT Treaty signed 
1972: Nixon visits China 
1973: U.S. begins pull out of troops in Vietnam
1979: The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan 
1985: Gorbachev begins policy of "Perestroika" 
1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall; The Cold War ends. 
1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre in China 

Chronology of United States-Vietnam Relations