Week 4 Discussion

At the turn of the 20th century the United States began to gravitate its attention to expanding its territories and influence. Several of the tactics they used to achieve these goals were naval expansion and intervention, political diplomacy, and corporate expansion. The United States entered into the Spanish American war (1898) after adopting the Teller Amendment, to help free Cuba from Spanish rule. “The amendment made it clear that the United States did not harbor imperialist ambitions, and it announced that the United States would not acquire Cuba.” (Digital History) although they were allowed to intervene if it was deemed necessary. America also acquired several very beneficial territories from this war. “The 144-day war also resulted in the United States taking control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.” (Digital History) These territories allowed the U.S the ability to spread their control and gain power over the Pacific. A strategic naval base was also acquired when the U.S overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and annexed them in 1998. This increasing control popularized the idea of “white man's burden” “the notion that the United States and Western European societies had a duty to civilize and uplift the "benighted" races of the world.” (Digital History) America and American businessmen were able to gain a great amount of control through corporate expansion, particularly in the Caribbean and Latin America. Railroad expansion played a major role, it created an easier and more efficient way for the transportation of goods. Minor Keith was a prominent figure and contributor to economic expansion during this period. “Keith already owned banana plantations in Colombia and the Caribbean, controlled a railway network in Central America, and dominated the banana market in the southeastern United States.”(JSTOR) The Throughline podcast refers to Minor Keith's business adventure in Central America as “American colonialism” because businesses like Keiths wanted to use and control the resources of other countries for their own benefit without regard for the impact it would have on others involved (especially the workers they hired.) There is a difference however between the actions of Minor Keith and the federal government's intervention in island countries in the Pacific. Minor Keith was a private businessman focused on monetary personal gain, well the United States focus on imperialist advancement using military force to control. The similarities between these two events are however the people that were taken advantage of and exploited along the way because they were not as powerful, and the losses they suffered both of lives and land.

Digital History: https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=10&smtID=2

JSTOR Daily Fruit Geopeelitics:America’s Banana Republics 

https://daily.jstor.org/fruit-geopeelitics-americas-banana-republics/
Throughline “There Will be Banana” January 9, 2020