Why did the United States invade Cuba in 1898?

Invasion of Cuba

            Spain, along with other European world powers controlled many other nations. Many times, these conquered people were forced into labor in order for the European countries to obtain cheap natural resources. Although cruel, European powers greatly benefited from these colonies. Without colonies supplying cheap raw materials, countries such as Great Britain would not be able to remain a world power. With much of the world already conquered by European powers, Americans felt they must expand in order to compete with other dominant nations.

            Although the western frontier was officially closed, many Americans sought after a new frontier that would benefit America just as its previous frontiers. Turner's thesis supported a frontier and argued that a frontier promotes American progress. According to Albert Beveridges speech, March of the Flag, Americans were "A history of soldiers who carried the flag across the blazing deserts and through the ranks of hostile mountains, even to the gates of sunset; a history of a multiplying people who overran a continent in half a century." Since the United States was born, it had a frontier which allowed it to rapidly become a powerful and respected country. Without a frontier, many Americans feared American progress would slow down and America would become less exceptional.

            American leaders quickly discovered a new frontier they could easily achieve. Cuba was a large island near the United States, ruled by the ever weakening and cruel Spanish empire that forced the natives into atrocious living conditions. Invading Cuba would be effortless and end the native's suffering. In addition to moral justice, this newly acquired land could act as a new frontier to continue American Progress and maintain American exceptionalism. Since its beginning, America was set apart by its abundant natural resources. However, many countries did not possess the resources the United States had and followed Ratzel's organic theory of conquering foreign land to accumulate large amounts of resources for the mother country in order to maintain a strong nation. According to Albert Beveridges, "In Cuba, alone, there are 15,000,000 acres of forest un aquatinted with the axe. There are exhaustless mines of iron. . . . There are millions of acres yet unexplored." Because the United States was teeming with  natural resources, simply restricting small countries from controlling  colonies would give the United States an advantage. Spain was already weakening and losing Cuba and the Philippines would further the decay of the once powerful country.    

            Although Cuba would remain independent from the United States, it would be a valuable trading partner as well as containing a pivotal military base. This military base, known as Guantanamo Bay, assisted America in controlling the Western Hemisphere using the Rimland theory to control all major coastal areas in the region. According to President McKinley, if the United States did not establish a military presence in Cuba then "the lives and liberty of our citizens are in constant danger and their property destroyed and themselves ruined; where our trading vessels are liable to seizure and are seized at our very door by warships of a foreign nation." In the Cuban constitution, the Platt amendment states that America is allowed to intervene if Cuba makes dissatisfactory political decisions. Americans agreed with Alfred Mahan that a strong Navy was the only way to enforce the Monroe Doctrine and take care of the Western Hemisphere and America's "little brothers". In order to remain powerful, America must spread its wings of liberty and reserve lands for its own use.

            America's need to compete with other world powers and the frenzy yellow journalism caused among the public caused the United States to invade Cuba. While the United States might have justified the invasion of Cuba with helping its natives, the real reason was to benefit America. Cuban sovereignty was restricted by the Platt amendment and Cubans were forced into adding it to their constitution by the United States big stick https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/platt. Americans understood new lands would increase American power and help them enforce the Monroe Doctrine, however they did not understand that forcing a United States presence in Cuba might have persuaded Cuba to look for a new "big brother" who does not push them around such as the USSR.

 

 

 



Immigration

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of hope to Immigrants

     Just as Americans from 1870-1900 resisted the new immigrants, Americans today fear immigrants because of terrorism, giving away jobs to the immigrants, and "ruining" American culture. Nativists used to worry new immigrants would ruin America but in fact there is a high chance immigrants, both present and past, possess the ability to improve America. Obviously birds of passage, the insane, criminals, and radical Islamics will hurt America, but by allowing favorable immigrants into America, all will benefit.
     All Americans, excluding the Native Americans, can trace their ancestors back to being immigrants. Even though Nativists' ancestors were immigrants, they desperately wanted to protect the American culture they created. Early Americans fought off the British and started America, and the idea of their culture changing terrified them because it appeared the culture was being destroyed. Nativists were unable to understand that a cultural change is not always bad and went to the extremes of creating laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act http://www.ushistory.org/us/38c.asp to prevent certain immigrants from coming to America. When immigrants join the America culture, they acculturate and improve the culture. The real American culture is dynamic therefore it is impossible to protect from others. Early American immigrants brought ideals of democracy and capitalism that make this country great, and other people have the ability to further improve America. Just as the old immigrants came for the opportunity in America so did the new immigrants. When immigrants come to the United States it is because it is a desirable nation with many pull factors such as jobs, freedom, and a higher quality of life. Immigration is a positive sign because it means a country is doing well. After all, an immigrant would not desire to go to America during the Great Depression.
     Although immigrants usually go to America when it is doing well, it is still hard for them. Many times they were taken advantage of for cheap labor. Just as the Chinese used to be used for cheap labor, so are illegal immigrants from Mexico today. While illegal immigrants do take jobs, they are taking jobs that require no education. Few Americans want these low paying jobs and to say these immigrants are stealing is ridiculous because they are the only people willing to work for such a small amount of money. Legal immigrants are the ones taking desirable jobs, and they receive these jobs because they have an education and are qualified for them. Educated immigrants help America. Never has someone accused Albert Einstein of stealing Americans' jobs. People like him are instead credited for greatly helping America, and are sometimes even forgotten to be immigrants.
     Unfortunately, some immigrants arrive to America with a negative connotation because of their ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs. Americans used to fear French revolutionists and communists, but now Americans have turned the fear toward radical Muslims. Currently a terrorist group known as Isis grips Americans, as well as the entire world in terror. Even fellow Muslims fear Isis and seek refuge from them. Although allowing Muslims into the United States endangers it's citizens, these Muslim immigrants have the ability to help the United States. Terrorist have animosity toward Americans because of how we live, but if Muslim immigrants were to acculturate with the United States, some of that hate might disappear with time. While a plan such as this is risky, it has a chance of success that would relieve so many from the threat of Terrorism.
     Immigration can and has improved America because immigrants took advantage of this land of opportunity. With time immigrants will change American culture for the better, and hopefully become successful themselves. Immigrants created this great country and they have the ability to further improve it.

 

        

Causes of Civil War

John Brown Martyr or Terrorist?

 

       While tensions were running high during Bleeding Kansas, one man
decided to take violent actions which were unquestionably wrong. John
Brown, an abolitionist, brutally murdered five innocent pro slavery
southerners. After getting away with murder, John Brown then took
twenty men to Harpers Ferry in order to secure the arsenal by force.
By doing this, he killed seven innocent men and attempted to wage war
on the South causing Northerners to view him as a martyr and
Southerners to view him as a terrorist. Previous Southern fear of
losing their way of life only increased due to Northern support of
John Brown's actions. Although both North and South had opposite views
of John Brown, all can agree his violent actions, whether justified or
not, marked the beginning of the end of compromise.
         After John Brown got away with murder, abolitionists claimed his
actions were justified. They also called some rifles Beecher Bibles
because they would be used to stop the evils of slavery in the name of
God and "there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so
far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a hundred
Bibles" http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/beecher-bibles/11977. All this
aggression toward Southerners' peculiar institution made them feel
threatened. Following John Brown's execution for attempting to wage
war on the southern half of the United States, Northerners viewed him
as a martyr. At this time the South had not yet seceded, and waging
war on the South was considered waging war with the entire United
States in the eyes of Southerners. Just as the violent protesting in
Ferguson was supported by many, the violent actions taken by John
Brown were also supported by many Northerners even though in reality
both of these actions were indisputably wrong.
         Because so many Northerners supported these actions and viewed them
as martyrdom rather than terrorism, the South felt it had been
abandoned and it's way of life threatened. Southerners already
experienced fear of slave revolts such as Denmark Vesey's attempted
slave rebellion, and now the South felt they had experienced the first
attack from abolitionists. Perhaps the Confederates attacked Fort
Sumter because they believed John Brown and the North already attacked
them. The previous uneasiness in the South only intensified into
terror after the events at Harpers Ferry and caused the South to
enforce slave codes and night patrols in order feel safe. This might
be viewed as an overreaction but in times of fear people use emotions
rather than logic and intuition.
       Before Harpers Ferry, some southern legislatures still desired to
keep the union together but Brown's action at Harpers Ferry was the
tipping point for moderate southern legislatures. These once moderate
people were overcome with terror and afraid of the abolitionists. Fear
led to suspicion which caused Southern legislatures to support
Breckenridge rather than Douglas. This uneasiness helped break apart
the Democratic Party, the last national political party and one of the
few instruments used to hold the union together. With no glue to hold
the Union together as one piece, secession was inevitable.
         Whether John Brown's actions were justified or not, it is the point
of no return for keeping the union together. Once it was done,
secession from the Union was inevitable for the South. Although the
South's actions appear irrational today, the reason they acted in this
way was because of fear. Losing their way of life can be compared to
losing our right of expressing  religious beliefs. Some public schools
no longer allow God to be said in the pledge of allegiance yet America
was founded by Christians fleeing religious persecution. Many people
already feel threatened by this and if it continues, there could be
violence, secession, or even civil war in the future due to fear. For
southerners, their peculiar institution was a right and being forced
to give it up struck enough terror in them to cause them to secede.

American Renaissance

The Scarlet Letter

 Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, although difficult to read more than a few pages without putting it down, clearly shows the ideas of the American Renaissance. Specifically, it focuses on Romanticism. This novel even contains Transcendentalism, a branch of Romanticism, and some of it's ideas within the text. Although the novel takes place in Puritan times, Hawthorne still manages to express his Romantic ideas to the audience.
 Romanticism focused on emotion and morality, and transcendentalism also focused on human connection to nature. This new way of thinking was much different from other period in American history. Before Romanticism, writing focused on religion and then science. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne used good and evil to show the contrast in different ideas, and even to criticize the old American ways. This criticism is important because it shows the Romantic ideas of change or reform.  

War of 1812

Negative affects of the war for Native Americans

The Native Americans helped the British during the war of 1812 and were the reason the Americans did not take over Canada. While the British were fighting Napoleon, they were unable to send enough troops to America, and were forced to supply the natives with weapons instead. By using the natives, Britain  was able to protect its land but this ultimately weakened the natives for future resistance and caused the Americans at the time to despised the natives. This political cartoon depicts the animosity Americans had for the natives by portraying them as savages brutally killing Americans.

After the war, the United States and Britain lost nothing when it came to land but the Natives lost huge amounts of land in addition to losing the chance of stopping future American western expansion. Before 1815 natives were called Americans but after 1815 European Americans were called Americans. The British and Americans can argue which of the two countries lost but the natives truly lost the war of 1812. 

Frontier soldiers primarily fought Natives. There was already tension between frontier farmers and natives but after the war started, there was hatred. Andrew Jackson fought the Creeks at the battle of horseshoe bend and forced them to give up all twenty three million acres of their land. He would later fight the Seminoles. Because most of the United States consisted of farmers, the majority of people supported Jackson's victories in taking land from the natives. However, most people did not care about the five hundred Cherokee soldiers who helped Andrew Jackson win the battle of horseshoe bend, which allowed the United States to take all of the Creek tribe's land.