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| | == Imperialism == | | == Imperialism == |
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| − | As the United States became more powerful in the late 1800s, and particularly in the 1890s, we began to "flex our muscle" and exert influence over small foreign countries. This influence by a large, developed country over a smaller, less-developed one is known as "imperialism". We were getting bigger and more powerful. Thanks to Manifest Destiny, we had expanded to the Pacific Ocean. Many felt, why stop there? The United States took Hawaii in the 1890s. | + | As the United States became more powerful in the late 1800s, and particularly in the 1890s, we began to "flex our muscle" and exert influence over small foreign countries. This influence by a large, developed country over a smaller, less-developed one is known as "imperialism". We were getting bigger and more powerful. Thanks to Manifest Destiny, we had expanded to the Pacific Ocean. Many then felt, why stop there? The United States next took Hawaii, an island paradise in the Pacific Ocean, in the 1890s. |
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| − | Americans then started wanting to free Cuba from Spanish control, and newspapers got into this act. "Yellow journalism" consisted of newspapers increasing their sales by stirring up a desire to go to war. The term is named after a popular comic strip called the "Yellow Kid." | + | Next Americans started wanting to free Cuba from Spanish control, and newspapers got into this act. "Yellow journalism" consisted of newspapers increasing their sales by stirring up a desire to go to war. The term was named after a popular comic strip called the "Yellow Kid." |
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| − | In the 1890s the two leading publishers were Joseph Pulitzer, who published the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, who published the New York Journal. They were in a "circulation war," with each running more and more sensationalistic headlines to try to sell more papers. The result of their greed for power and influence was the Spanish-American War. | + | In the 1890s the two leading publishers were Joseph Pulitzer, who published the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, who published the New York Journal. They were in a "circulation war," with each running more and more sensational headlines to try to sell more papers. The result of their greed for influence and revenue was the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. |
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| − | In 1895, some Cubans wanted to become independent from Spain. Americans seemed to like the idea. It would push Spain back to Europe. This idea also sparked idealism, reminding people of our own American Revolution. Big Business like the idea too, because it saw ways to profit from the island. So newspapers whipped the public into the mood for war, which the United States had not experienced since the Civil War, over 30 years earlier. | + | In 1895, some Cubans wanted to become independent from Spain. Americans seemed to like the idea. It would push Spain back to Europe. This idea also sparked idealism, reminding people of our own American Revolution. Big Business like the idea too, because it saw ways to profit from the island. So newspapers whipped the public into the mood for war, which the United States had not experienced since the Civil War, more than 30 years earlier. |
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| | == Spanish-American War == | | == Spanish-American War == |