| LIST 40 | 40 US Interventions in Latin America in the 1800s |
The US didn't become a world power until after World War I, but was a hemispheric power for much of the nineteenth century. Indeed, US troops paid regular visits to Latin America throughout the 1800s in order to protect American private property and trade routes, to thwart postcolonial revolutionaries, and sometimes just to avenge “insults” of various sorts. The American resource-stretching imperialism we see today can be found in miniature here.
1
1823. While the US was not yet a world power, President James Monroe nonetheless declared the US the sole military protector of the Western Hemisphere against European powers.
2
1833. US troops to Buenos Aires to protect assets during insurrection.
3
1835–1836. Marines to Peru during attempted revolution.
4
1835–1836. Texas declared independence from Mexico; Sam Houston defeated Mexican Army in Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, leading to independent, white-ruled Republic of Texas.
5
1845. Texas annexed to the US by mutual agreement, over Mexican and British objections.
6
1846–1848. After winning the presidential election partially based on promises to bring Oregon and California under American control, James Polk precipitated the Mexican-American War. The US occupied Mexico City and compelled Mexico to surrender roughly half of its territory. The Mexican Cession consisted of present-day California, Nevada, and Utah, plus parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
7
1850–1855. US and Britain signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which brought the two powers together in managing trade across the Nicaraguan isthmus. Nicaragua was not consulted in this treaty, which superceded an 1849 US-Nicaragua treaty giving US businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt exclusive rights to transit routes. US and British interests retained control over trade routes, leading to civil war among Nicaragua's elite.
8
1852–1853. Marines back in Buenos Aires to protect assets during another revolution.
9
1854. US sloop-of-war Cyane shells Nicaraguan town of San Juan del Norte after residents mock an American diplomat and refuse to pay restitution for damage to American-held assets.
10
1855–1857. American William Walker invaded Nicaragua with a mercenary army and conquered the nation. The US recognized the Walker-installed puppet government of Patricio Riva; later Walker installed himself as President, legalized slavery, and requested annexation to the US as a slave state. He was expelled by a Vanderbilt-backed coalition. In December, US Marines captured Walker and brought him back to the US. Commodore Hiram Paulding was forced into retirement for heading up that mission.
11
1855. US naval forces spent four days in Uruguay guarding American assets during attempted revolution in Montevideo.
12
1856. US troops dispatched to what is now Panama to protect Atlantic-Pacific railroad assets after American Jack Oliver steals a slice of watermelon from a vendor and starts a brawl that turns into the riot known as the Watermelon War.
13
1856. Facing soil depletion and agricultural disaster, the US passed the Guano Island Act, allowing for the annexation of any uninhabited island in the world, so long as it has large supplies of bird waste for export. Ninety-four islands, some around Latin America, were ultimately seized. Nine guano islands remain US territory at the present.
14
1858. Two US warships landed troops in Montevideo, Uruguay, during another attempted revolution.
15
1859. US warships performed a show of force on Paraguay's Parana River after an attack on a US naval vessel.
16
1859. US troops crossed Mexican border in pursuit of legendary bandit and former South Texas Democratic Party boss Juan Cortina. Cortina had raided Brownsville, Texas, freed some Mexican prisoners, and declared the “Republic of the Rio Grande” at a nearby ranch.
17
1860. US troops were dispatched to the Bay of Panama to protect US assets during a struggle for Panamanian independence.
18
1861 and 1862. Colombia requested presence of US troops in Panama on two occasions, primarily to protect American-owned rail and trade assets.
19
1865. Back to Panama, protecting US assets during a very short-lived revolution (March 9 and 10).
20
1866. General Sedgwick and 100 soldiers occupied Matamoras, Mexico, for three days for no particular reason. US demanded Sedgwick's withdrawal.
21
1867. US Marines occupied Managua and Leon in Nicaragua.
22
1868. US troops protected American customhouse during another insurrection in Montevideo.
23
1868. US troops to Aspinwall, Colombia, to protect travelers during crisis after death of Colombia's President.
24
1870. US ships chased pirates flying a Salvadoran flag into Mexican waters on the Rio Tecapan. Two Americans were killed in the battle.
25
1873. US troops were sent to Panama again during conflict between Panamanian factions and the Colombian government, sans Colombian or Panamanian request or assent in May. In September, troops landed to protect railroad during local riot.
26
1873. US troops repeatedly crossed the Mexican border to hunt cattle thieves and bandits. Some crossings, including the Remolina Incursion in May, may not have been authorized by the US government.
27
1875. US troops crossed the Mexican border to hunt bandits, getting into a dust-up with the Mexican military at Las Cuevas.
28
1876. US troops to Matamoras, Mexico, after town government collapses.
29
1876. US and Mexican troops played footsie along border over the bandit issue.
30
1880. US ships to island of Ciare (Mexico) in Gulf of California to protect property of American citizens.
31
1885. US troops again were sent to Colon, Panama, for a single day in January to protect rails and goods in transit. In March, after an uprising in Colon, Marines landed and marched to Panama City. Colombia acceded to the intervention after it was a fiat accompli.
32
1890. US troops to Argentina to protect Buenos Aires consulate.
33
1891. US troops to Chile to defend consulate, August 28-30. On October 16, a confrontation between a crowd of angry locals and sailors assigned to the USS Baltimore lead President Harrison to consider war.?
34
1894. US Navy flexed muscle in Rio de Janeiro after rebellious Brazilian naval units interfere with trade.
35
1894. Troops summered in the Bluefields region of Nicaragua during local unrest.
36
1895. After local authorities give permission, two days spent in Bocas del Toro, Colombia, guarding American assets during an assault on the town by well-organized bandits. Naval vessels stayed in the area for a month after the Marines were pulled back.
37
1896. Two days in Corinto, Nicaragua, during riots.
38
1898. Two days in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, protecting American assets during local unrest.
39
1898. The Spanish-American War. Under Ulysses S. Grant, the US avoided becoming embroiled in Cuba, even after revolutionary Carlos Manuel de Cespedes wrote a constitution annexing the island to the US in 1869. However, by the 1890s, the closing of the Western frontier, industrialization, and mass culture, along with an extensive history of smaller interventions, set the stage for a conflict with Spain. Yellow press reports from publisher William Randolph Hearst and others fueled the fire for war. After the probably accidental destruction of the USS Maine, which was blamed on a Spanish mine, war was declared, eventually leading US troops to intervene in Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
40
1899. A military landing, along with British troops, at Bluefields and San Juan del Norte in Nicaragua, at the request of the besieged Nicaraguan government, which was threatened by insurrectionist General Juan Reyes. 