Editing William McKinley (section)

===Expanding influence overseas===
====Open door in China====
Even before peace negotiations began with Spain, McKinley asked Congress to set up a commission to examine trade opportunities in Asia and espoused an "[[Open Door Policy]]", in which all nations would freely trade with China and none would seek to violate that nation's territorial integrity.{{sfn|Gould|p=201}}

[[File:Siege of Peking, Boxer Rebellion.jpg|thumb|left|alt=painting of U.S. Army soldiers defending a fort in Peking while a zhengyangmen in the background burns|American soldiers scale the walls of Beijing to relieve the [[siege of the International Legations]], August 1900]]

American missionaries were threatened with death when the [[Boxer Rebellion]] menaced foreigners in China.{{sfn|Gould|pp=220–22}} Americans and other westerners in [[Peking]] were besieged and, in cooperation with other western powers, McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the [[China Relief Expedition]].{{sfn|Lafeber|p=714}} The westerners were rescued the next month, but several Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting the legislature.{{sfn|Gould|pp=220–22}} McKinley's actions set a precedent that led to most of his successors exerting similar independent control over the military.{{sfn|Lafeber|p=714}} After the rebellion ended, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy, which became the basis of American policy toward China.{{sfn|Gould|p=233}}

====Panama canal====
Closer to home, McKinley and [[John Hay|Hay]] engaged in negotiations with Britain over the possible construction of a canal across Central America. The [[Clayton–Bulwer Treaty]], which the two nations signed in 1850, prohibited either from establishing exclusive control over a canal there. The war had exposed the difficulty of maintaining a two-ocean navy when the Navy had to sail all the way around South America to reach the Pacific.{{sfn|Gould|pp=196–98}} Now, with American business and military interests even more involved in Asia, a canal seemed more essential than ever, and McKinley pressed for a renegotiation of the treaty.{{sfn|Gould|pp=196–98}} Hay and the British ambassador, [[Julian Pauncefote, 1st Baron Pauncefote|Julian Pauncefote]], agreed that the United States could control a future canal, provided that it was open to all shipping and not fortified.{{sfn|McCullough|pp=256–59}} McKinley was satisfied with the terms, but the Senate rejected them, demanding that the United States be allowed to fortify the canal.{{sfn|McCullough|pp=256–59}} Hay was embarrassed by the rebuff and offered his resignation, but McKinley refused it and ordered him to continue negotiations to achieve the Senate's demands.{{sfn|McCullough|pp=256–59}} He was successful, and [[Hay–Pauncefote Treaty|a new treaty]] was drafted and approved, but not before McKinley's assassination in 1901.{{sfn|McCullough|pp=256–59}} The result under Roosevelt was the [[Panama Canal]].