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American Colonial Money (Pawn Stars)
Quiz by Steven Jones
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Multiple choice quiz on this reading: By 1900, the United States had claimed its place as a world power through the Spanish-American War. As the new century began, the country governed subject territories in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, the Wake Islands, and the Philippines. U.S. troops also occupied Cuba. U.S. businesses reached beyond the country's borders. During the first decade of the new century, the Coca-Cola Company, Quaker Oats, AT&T, the Standard Oil Company, Du Pont, General Electric, and Ford Motor Company seized the opportunity for international sales. After finding international markets, they built factories abroad, taking advantage of lower labor costs in foreign countries. Then they asked for U.S. protection of their investments and interests. Foreign countries invested heavily in Central America. U.S. investors focused on banana plantations and mining, as well as railroads, with little money in government bonds. By 1913, U.S. investments in Central America totaled about $93 million. British investment in Central America peaked at about $115 million in 1913. About $75 million of that total represented railroad holdings, mostly in Costa Rica and Guatemala. The other $40 million was in government bonds, which were worth little or nothing. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine From its earliest days, the United States claimed a special interest in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823, warned European powers to keep their hands off Latin America. In 1902, Britain, Germany, and Italy mounted a naval blockade of Venezuela. They wanted to force the government to repay its debts. All the countries involved eventually agreed to settle the matter by arbitration. The United States stood back and did nothing, but U.S. citizens were clearly uneasy with the appearance of European military forces in "their" hemisphere. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, saying that the United States would act as a police officer to keep order in the region. He intended both to keep European military forces out of the hemisphere and to protect U.S. and European investors, exerting whatever pressure or control on Latin American governments that might be necessary to these ends. In 1905, the Dominican Republic owed $40 million in debts to European lenders. In order to prevent the European nations from using military force to collect their debts, Roosevelt used U.S. power. The United States basically took over collection of Dominican customs taxes, declared that $20 million of the debt was unjustified, and began repayment of the rest. Building a Canal The United States needed a canal through Central America, in order to save shipping time and costs. Colombia had the best location for a canal, and the United States negotiated a deal. It would pay Colombia $10 million for a three-mile-wide strip of land and would make annual rental payments of $250,000 yearly, beginning in 1912. Colombia's Senate turned down the deal, and Roosevelt exploded in rage, calling its members "foolish and homicidal corruptionists." Roosevelt considered seizing the land for the canal by military force but soon found an easier way. The province of Panama seceded from Colombia. A U.S. gunship stood off shore, protecting the Panamanian rebels. They formed a new republic under the protection of the United States. The new country of Panama and the United States agreed on a canal treaty within days. The new treaty had similar terms except that the Canal Zone would be five miles wide, instead of three, and the United States would guarantee and maintain the independence of Panama. Revolutions While Roosevelt welcomed the revolution that separated Panama from Colombia, he opposed most other revolutionary activity. So did his successors in office, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. The U.S. presidents sent troops to put down revolutions in Nicaragua and Haiti, using U.S. military forces to set up new governments in those countries and maintaining military occupations for years. U.S. military interventions were frequent throughout the hemisphere. Dollar Diplomacy President Taft preferred using "dollar diplomacy" to control Latin American countries. In Honduras, for example, U.S.-based banana companies virtually ran the government. Taft supported expanded U.S. investment in South and Central American countries, the Caribbean, and the Far East. He ordered Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox to protect U.S. investments, sending in military troops if necessary. On the World Stage As a world power, the United States did not limit its involvement to the Western Hemisphere. In 1905, President Roosevelt brought Russia and Japan to the negotiating table to end their war over control of Korea and Manchuria. Roosevelt agreed to Japanese annexation of Korea in return for Japan giving up any claim to China, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for settling this dispute. In 1906, Roosevelt's negotiating powers were tested again. This time, he mediated a dispute between the Alliance powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy—with the Entente—France, Russia, and Britain—over control of Morocco. The United States backed France and ended the dispute. No longer an upstart, the United States had taken its place as a world power alongside its former colonial ruler.Write question 2. Early British Actions in the Colonies In 1760, near the end of the Seven Years’ War, a new British king, George III, began his reign. During his 59-year rule, he resisted revolutionary and Napoleonic France. However, George appointed advisors to manage his more distant foreign affairs in North America. These advisors knew very little about the day-to-day lives of colonists and were soon taking actions that enraged many of them. The Proclamation of 1763 The British government faced many problems after the Seven Years’ War. One was how to protect colonists and their land claims as they pushed westward into areas settled by Indigenous groups. In his Proclamation of 1763, George III said to simply draw a line down the crest of the Appalachian Mountains and order colonists not to settle past the boundary. To colonists whose fortunes were founded on Indigenous land, the king’s order suggested tyranny, or the unjust use of government power. They argued that White colonists had already claimed most of the land east of the Appalachians and that farmers had to move west to find land. Besides, colonists and land investors had already crossed the mountains into Indigenous territory. The British government ignored colonists’ arguments. To control the frontier, it sent an additional 7,500 soldiers to the colonies. The Proclamation of 1763 would later be cited as a grievance in the Declaration of Independence. The Stamp Act The British government had other problems besides stopping colonists from encroaching on Indigenous land. Another dilemma was how to pay off the large debt from the Seven Years’ War. The solution seemed obvious to Prime Minister George Grenville, the leader of the British government. People in Great Britain were already paying taxes on everything from windows to salt. In contrast, American colonists were among the most lightly taxed people in the British Empire. It was time, said Grenville, for them to pay their fair share of the cost of Britain protecting colonists and their interests. In 1765, Grenville proposed a new act, or law, called the Stamp Act, which required colonists to buy a stamp for every piece of paper they used. Newspapers, wills, licenses, and even playing cards had to be printed on stamped paper. Again, the colonists sensed tyranny. One newspaper, The Pennsylvania Journal, said that as soon as “this shocking Act was known, it filled all British America from one End to the other, with Astonishment and Grief.” It was not just the idea of higher taxes that upset the colonists. They were willing to pay taxes passed by their own assemblies, in which their representatives could vote on them. However, because the colonists had no representatives in Parliament, they saw the Stamp Act as a violation of their rights as British subjects. For this reason, they argued Parliament had no right to tax them. “No taxation without representation!” they declared. Loyalists simply refused to buy stamps, while other colonists protested the Stamp Act by sending messages to Parliament. Patriots took more aggressive action. Protesters calling themselves the Sons of Liberty organized in 1765 and began attacking tax collectors’ homes. In Connecticut, they even started to bury one tax collector alive. Only when he heard dirt being shoveled onto his coffin did the terrified tax collector agree to resign from his post. After months of protest, Parliament repealed, or canceled, the Stamp Act. Colonists greeted the news with great celebration. Church bells rang, bands played, and everyone hoped the troubles with Great Britain were over. The Quartering Act As anger over the Stamp Act began to fade, Parliament passed another controversial law in 1765. The Quartering Act ordered colonial assemblies to provide British troops with quarters, or housing. The colonists were also told to furnish the soldiers with “candles, firing, bedding, cooking utensils, salt, vinegar, and . . . beer or cider.” Providing these things for British soldiers cost money. New Jersey protested that the new law was “as much an Act for laying taxes” on the colonists as the Stamp Act. New Yorkers asked why they should pay to keep troops in their colony during peacetime. In 1767, the New York assembly decided not to approve any funds for supplies for the British troops, forcing them to remain on their ships. In retaliation, the British government suspended New York’s assembly until it agreed to obey the Quartering Act. Once again, tempers began to rise on both sides of the Atlantic.Influences on American Colonial GovernmentPeople of Southeast Asia By the late 20th century, Southeast Asia’s population (including Indonesia and the Philippines) was approaching a half billion, or about one-twelfth of the world’s total. This population, however, was unevenly distributed within the region. By far the nation with the largest population was Indonesia, with about two-fifths of the regional total; in contrast, Brunei’s population was only a tiny fraction of that. Nearly half of the regional population was accounted for by the mainland states, with Vietnam and Thailand being the most populous. Settlement patterns Southeast Asia is predominantly rural: three-fourths of the people live in nonurban areas. Moreover, population is heavily clustered in fertile river valleys and especially in delta areas, such as those of the Mekong and Irrawaddy rivers. Historical, cultural, and environmental influences also have affected the settlement patterns. Java and other core areas such as the Bangkok (Thailand), Hanoi, and Manila metropolitan areas contain high population densities. While the rate of urbanization in Southeast Asia is relatively low compared with those of other developing regions, it is increasing rapidly. Singapore is unique in that it is essentially totally urban. In addition, the Philippines has a much higher than average level of urbanization, in part because of its Spanish and American colonial history. The largest cities—Jakarta (Indonesia), Bangkok, and Manila—are among the world’s most populous. The growth of cities of all sizes is being fueled primarily by natural increase, but rural-urban migration also is a significant contributor. Rural dwellers continue to be attracted by the promise of employment and other opportunities, but for many migrants the informal (undocumented) economic sector in these large cities is the only hope for some form of employment. Settlement patterns in rural areas tend to be associated with agricultural practices. Shifting cultivation is still common in some parts of the region (notably the remote interior areas of Myanmar, Vietnam, and the island of Borneo), although the amount of land so utilized is gradually shrinking. The village is the unit of settlement and often functions collectively, and typically it is moved from time to time. By contrast, wet-rice cultivation, the dominant form of agriculture in Southeast Asia, is sedentary and results in relatively large rural agglomerations with well-developed village life and customs. Dry and upland farming often produces scattered homesteads. Population resettlement to provide agricultural employment and access to land is important in some Southeast Asian countries, notably Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. By far the largest program has been conducted in Indonesia, where more than four million people have been voluntarily resettled from Java and Bali to the less populated islands. Despite considerable success, the program has been plagued by such problems as improper site selection, environmental deterioration, migrant adjustment, land conflicts, and inadequate financing. A program in Malaysia also has been quite successful, in part because it has set much smaller resettlement targets and has been better funded. Vietnamese development policy also has utilized the resettlement of people in an effort to revitalize areas outside the major population centres.Colonial American JobsColonial American, Ch. 3, Part BEarly American Exploration and Colonial History Quiz Colonial Period Early colonial settlements were similar in that each developed near the coastline. EX) Jamestown (1607) Plymouth (1620) New England Colonies- the New England Colonies developed initially as religious outposts by various subjugated groups. Influenced by good harbors, abundant forests, rocky soil, and a short growing season. Geographic factors influenced the economy of New England by promoting the growth of trade and manufacturing. Developed villages with town-hall meetings. Had small farms and commercial fishing. American Indians were viewed by the Puritans as needing to be saved from their sinful ways since they were not Christians. In the early years of English colonization, Puritans did not openly embrace the American Indians but relied on them for help in the difficult early years for survival. As the English population increased, so did the conflict with natives of the area. A series of bloody wars (King Philip’s War and the Pequot Wars) during the colonial period between the Puritans and the American Indians of New England Southern Colonies- The climate (long growing season), rich soil, and deep rivers of the southeastern U.S. had a major impact on the history of the U.S. before 1860 because the region provided agricultural products that were processed in the North and in Europe. Developed plantations (large farms that used slave labor) because of fertile land and a long growing season. Relations with American Indians in the Southern Colonies began somewhat as a peaceful coexistence. As more English colonists began to arrive and encroach further into native lands, the relationship became more violent. Mid Atlantic (Middle Colonies)- were created from the previous Dutch New Netherland colony and had good harbors and river systems that shaped their development. The Hudson and Delaware Rivers provided highways to the interior of North America. Furs acquired from American Indians through trade for European goods were transported toward the coast along swift rivers. Later, the region’s farmers were able to use the rivers to ship wheat and other agricultural goods to markets in other colonies and Europe. The rivers also provided colonists access to manufactured goods imported from European markets. Harbors in cities such as Philadelphia and New York City allowed the Mid-Atlantic Colonies to grow into major commercial hubs for all of England’s American colonies. Ship building was common in the mid Atlantic colonies. The natives (American Indians) who resided there were typically relied upon for trade with the English and not the target of war, as was often the case in the other English colonial regions. Pennsylvania, in particular, treated the American Indians with more respect as evidenced by William Penn’s insistence on compensating the natives for their lan