Kyle+-+PA+-+FA12

Theodore Roosevelt-Imperialist

**Occupation:**
Teddy attended Harvard University and studied biology, he also boxed there and formed an interest in naval affairs. In 1881, he was elected to the New York State Assembly and became the leader of the Republican party. Roosevelt wrote many books about hunting, the outdoors, and politics. After his mother and wife passed away in 1884, he left politics to become a rancher in Dakota. He then came back to New York and ran for Mayor in 1886 but came in third with 60,000 votes. TR gained fame and popularity for taking charge in the city police and at a national level he was a leader of civil service. He became the head of Department of Navy around the same time the Spanish-American war broke out, in 1898. He resigned from that position and established the "rough riders". In 1900 he was chosen to be Vice President, but when McKinley was killed in 1901, Teddy became the 26th US president.

**Position on Issue:**
Imperialism was believed to belong to the strongest and fittest. Theodore Roosevelt was a strong and intimidating man who forcefully worked and acheived Imperialism for America. Teddy's "Big Stick" policy was that he demanded everything he wanted and used power to scare and control other nations. Roosevelt wanted to build a canal in the central isthmus in order to strengthen the US navy. Colombia was controling Panama and the isthmus was between the two. Panama got impatient waiting for America to build the canal so some of the panamians revolted against the Colombian government. Colombia were gathered together to defeated Panama with ease so Roosevelt sent his navy and troops down to prevent Colombia from crossing over to Panama. His reason for doing his was his interpretation of the treaty of 1846 with Colombia to keep the isthmus neutral. From there he built the canal and sent more and more Americans down to work on it and keep it neutral. In 1903 Colombia and Venezuela fell behind in payments to Britain and Germany, so Germany bombed Venezuela (navy and ships). TR saw that Germany and Britain began to intervene within this part of the hemisphere, he didn't want this. TR then took the Monroe Doctrine (No foreign nations should intervene) and modified it, Roosevelt Corallory (we will intervene to prevent you from intervening). While at war with Spain, Roosevelt sent ships to Hong Kong, China in order to attack the spaniards that were in the Philippines. Troops were then sent over after Dewey's crew attacked the spanish in Manilla (Philippines), to help conquer and control. America used this event as a reason for annexing Hawaii because it was needed to transfer and transport ships and supplies from there to Manilla. The Filipinos assumed now that after America protected them from the Spaniards that they would receive freedom and independence like for Cuba. This led to war because the Filipinos began to get angry with America. Roosevelt wasn't afraid of war and infact wanted it in order to settle issues between America and other nations.

**List of Reasons for Interest in Topic:**
Theodore Roosevelt had interest in the topic of this issue was that he wanted to have access to China. The Philippines was located right by China, and with America having control and power there, they would have easy access to the land. Roosevelt wanted to stay competitive with the european nations, Russia and Britian because they were claiming parts of China.

Bibliography:

"Adopting Imperialism: How Teddy Roosevelt Shaped U.S. Foreign Policy." //Yahoo! Contributor Network//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. .

Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. //The American Pageant//. Twelfth ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Print.

"Theodore Roosevelt." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. .