The Issue of Immigration After the Spanish American War

Primary reasons for American intervention in foreign affairs were for foreign trade with other nations and to gain territory in other regions to expand. The “yellow journals” contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War because it pushed America’s involvement further by turning American’s opinion of the Spanish against them.

The Spanish-American War was called a “splendid little war” because at the time America actually wanted to go to war in order to become a large world power, so it benefited America. For Americans, the name “splendid little war” could be accurate as it provided the United States with what it wanted but the name used is simply never the right term to use for any kind of war as war creates violence and death which are anything but splendid.

America gained the Philippines through the Philippine-American War and later by using the Treaty of Paris which gave America ownership of previous spanish territory such as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. America used their policy of imperialism in order to intervene in nations and foreign territories with the Philippines when America had the option of assisting the Philippines in breaking away from Spain and then take over in order claim that they were serving a useful purpose to the wellbeing of Filipinos. There were arguments about American imperialism

The Roosevelt Corollary gave America police authority over the Caribbean which he tied in with the Monroe Doctrine. It changed America’s foreign policy because it also claimed that America had the right to precautionary undertakings using intervention in several Latin American nations in order to fix administrative and financial failures.

The phrase “dollar democracy” refers to a government’s approach foreign relations in order to establish stronger powers through foreign policies by using the power of a nation’s fiscal resources. The United States would use this to their advantage as they would consider any military interference from Latin America by a European power as a hazard to America’s security.

Imperialism was considered to be a highly gendered concept as it created different but much alike jobs for men and women. This came as a result of technological and social progress in order to rid them of the burdens of doing actual physical labor and brought them to a higher spiritual stance on their morals which gave them more important roles to play in society.

Some issues that concerned Americans about immigration was the question of what would the immigrants do when they got here? Racial violence towards the Chinese began in California as many immigrants were unable to support themselves financially, came with illnesses, and spawned criminal activity which was then delayed due to the Immigration Act of 1882.

Chinese immigrants were usually at the top of the list to most likely be excluded from entry into the United States mainly due to the reason that they were often blamed for racial inferiority and were deemed unfit to become an American citizen. They were also seen as corrupting society as they brought cheap labor immoral acts which consisted of prostitution. Chinese immigrants were then fully suspended from America with the Chinese Exclusion Act and made them the first illegal immigrants.