Secretary of War

1. Secretary of War By Logan Karnemaat

2. The Secretary of War is in the President’s Cabinet. The Secretary of War was involved in dealing with the problems of the United States of America and many different countries. During the time period of the late 1800’s, the Secretary of War was involved with many different things. They tried to protect the country.

3. The Secretary of War is responsible for when the country goes to war. The Secretary of War tries to keep peace with other countries. The U.S Department of War was established in 1789, and then it later became the Department of Defense. The Secretary of War is in charge of the Army which is military protection on land. The Secretary of War is in charge of the Navy which is military protection in the water. The Secretary of War is in charge of the Air Force which is military protection in the air.

4. The Great White Fleet was a nickname for the Navy in the late 1800s. The 1890 Congress wanted to enlarge the Navy because it would make the Navy a lot stronger. The plan was to increase the Fleet. The Great White Fleet was a 16 ship fleet. They were painted white. The Fleet covered over 43,000 miles. They stopped at 20 harbors and went through 6 continents. The Great White Fleet was sent around the world by President T. Roosevelt.

5. President T. Roosevelt made a Corollary, statement about U.S. involvement with the countries around us. A Corollary is part of the Monroe Doctrine. The Corollary was to help defend our country and to watch over those around us. It warned the Latin American Countries that if there was wrong doing the U.S might use the “international police power.” Another part of the Corollary was that President T. Roosevelt wanted the neighboring European countries to pay back their debts to the United States.

6. The marines were called to come ashore on the Hawaiian islands because the planters were revolting a decision that the queen was trying to pass. She wanted more power in the monarchy. With the marines’ help, there was no battle and the planters got a new government. In the U.S., the Chinese Exclusion Act stated no Chinese workers could come and be a part of the gold rush. Bordering countries with China were taking advantage of China’s weaknesses. They took over major parts of China. The U.S. wanted to still trade with China, so they sent out an open door policy saying everyone should have equal abilities to trade. The Chinese didn’t like the power the other countries had. They revolted by invading parts of their country where foreigners were living. The U.S. Marines became involved and an open door policy was put in place. President T. Roosevelt and the U.S. government sent a warship to Panama to keep the Colombians out of Panama. Because of this, Panama became an independent country and allowed the U.S. to rent the 10 mile strip of land across the isthmus.

7. The Secretary of War plays a big part in defending the U.S. He helps solve problems that the U.S. deals with. His job is to protect the country. America is kept safe partly because of the Secretary of War.

8. Sources United States Secretary of War, http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/United_States_Secretary_of_War.html U.S Department of Defense, http://www.defense.gov/about/ The Great White Fleet, http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq42-1.htm United States History, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007, Section 3 The United States and Latin America, Pages 704-71