American Imperialism: Crash Course US History #28

In which John Green teaches you about Imperialism. In the late 19th century, the great powers of Europe were running around the world obtaining colonial possessions, especially in Africa and Asia. The United States, which as a young country was especially susceptible to peer pressure, followed along and snapped up some colonies of its own. The US saw that Spain's hold on its empire was weak, and like some kind of expansionist predator, it jumped into the Cuban War for Independence and turned it into the Spanish-Cuban-Phillipino-American War, which usually just gets called the Spanish-American War. John will tell you how America turned this war into colonial possessions like Puerto Rico, The Philippines, and almost even got to keep Cuba. The US was busy in the Pacific as well, wresting control of Hawaii from the Hawaiians. All this and more in a globe-trotting, oppressing episode of Crash Course US History.

Chapters:
Introduction 00:00
New Imperialism 0:39
Economic Motivations for American Imperialism 1:52
The Panama Canal 3:00
Rising Nationalism: The Pledge of Allegiance & Flag Day 3:46
American Territorial Expansion 4:04
Imperialism in the Pacific 4:59
The Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War 5:47
Mystery Document 6:29
America Declares War 7:33
The Events of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War 8:23
American Territories Gained in the War 9:25
American Troops in China & The Philippines 10:03
The Philippine War 10:28
Puerto Rico, The Philippines, & The Foraker Act 11:05
Hawaiian Statehood 11:45
Anti-Imperialism 11:56
Supporters of Imperialism 12:24
Credits 13:30

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[mistertwister]

“Stupid disease always ruining everything”

People watching in 2020: 👁👄👁

[IadalaReader]

I'm an Alaskan, and I'm so offended! We aren't anything like Canada!

~stomps over to the ice rink to watch a relaxing game of hockey while swigging maple syrup~

[magicgallade]

*Says he doesn't acknowledge the existence of Alaska*

Most successful book contains Alaska in title.

[liana]

all the extreme patriotic people on these comments need to chill. If you actually want to kid yourself and think that America is this perfect country that has never done anything wrong, fine, stay with that mentality. just because someone (like john green) decides to acknowledge all the shit his country and his race has done, that doesnt mean that he hates his country. It means that he swallowed his pride and admitted that America is no angel. yall need to stop blindly following and agreeing with everything your country does just because of patriotism. learn to think for yourselves for christ's sake

[ShadoTempest]

Water boarding in Guantanamo Bay sounds rad if you don't know what water boarding or Guantanamo Bay is

[krakou]

Why rent when you can conquer.

You know it's a war declaration when the word peace appears more than the word war.

[calebdunlap]

"We annexed Hawaii 2 years before Obama was born in Kenya." Just full of jabs at Conspiracy theorists xD

[bentoth]

John, when you said "wait for it... disease" my mind seriously went straight to "the Mongols." Thanks for permanently forming that connection in my brain.

[SpazzyMcGee]

It really sucks what America did to the Philippines. There aren't many ways to sugar coat it either.

[jok]

"Why rent when you can conquer" 
That is going on my door, see if the landlord dares to enter...

[bijuutamer]

Take that 2008
2020: Challenge Accepted

[mgsan]

Love these crash course videos, although the name of the Filipino gentleman who fought against the Spaniards is Emilio Aguinaldo, not Emiliano. His name is as iconic to Filipinos as Thomas Jefferson's is to Americans.

[sabrinavanderwiele]

The trump joke gets funnier the older it is

[kobilibero]

SO you say american sent Huge boats
With guns
Gunboats

[HardlyBardly]

I knew the Philipines got a very raw deal from the US during that time, but I had no idea just how bad it was. As much as I love the dry humor in John Green's work, I especially like that he's not afraid to put the darkest parts of history on the table like this. You can't learn from history if it stays swept under the rug, after all.

[RoScFan]

I find the situation of Philippines and its struggle between two great powers, the US and Spain, and its parallel to Romania's struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire very fascinating. It is extremely anti-parallel. The parallels are the struggle between two empires, using one to overthrow the other and then fighting against the ones that at first helped. The differences lie in how different the powers in question were, the very different

[AkshayManjarekar]

4:15. Did anyone else notice that Wolverine gives us the finger? I see what you did there Crash Course.

[Uzzziii]

this channel has quite literally been helping me since middle school. I am now in college thank you so much for making history digestible for people who struggle with focus when reading =)

[junjunagbayani]

Just a few corrections
- It was Emilio Aguinaldo, not Emiliano.
- Thanks for referring to the Philippine-American War as 'Philippine War' instead of the former term 'Philippine Insurgency' because the latter term implied that the country had no working independent government.
- Many people do think that the Philippine-American War lasted until 1902 (not 1903), when the Americans declared the end of hostilities in the Philippines. However, if we are to add photos of the Battle of Bud Bagsak, then maybe we should count up to 1913.

[mikebanston]

Fun fact, Benjamin Franklin almost persuaded the British King to cede parts of Canada, during the treaty of Paris. Imagine, we almost acquired Canada peacefully.