To Imperialize or Not Imperialize
In his influential 1890 book, this Navy Captain argued that national power and economic prosperity depended on building a strong navy, island naval bases/ coaling stations, and canals.
Who is Mahan?
Queen Liliuokalani was overthrown in 1893 by American sugar plantation owners backed by U.S. Marines, making her the last reigning monarch of this country before its eventual annexation.
FL Standard: SS.912.A.4.1)
What is Hawaii?
The mysterious explosion of this U.S. battleship in Havana Harbor in February 1898 served as the main catalyst for war with Spain, prompting the famous couplet, "To Hell with Spain, remember the ____!"
What is the USS Maine?
The name of this document:
"I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at...
II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas...
III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers...
IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced...
V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims...
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed..." — Address to Congress, January 8, 1918.
What is Wilson's Fourteen Points?
Passed in 1917 to rapidly expand the military, this federal law required all men between ages 21 and 30 to register for the national draft.
What is the Selective Service Act?
Proponents of American expansion frequently used this racial and social theory to argue that wealthy, industrial nations were naturally superior and destined to dominate weaker countries.
What is Social Darwinism? or the White Man's Burden?
Proposed by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899, this policy insisted that all foreign nations maintain equal trading rights in China and respect Chinese territorial integrity.
(FL Standard: SS.912.A.4.1)
What is the Open Door Policy?
Sensationalist news reporting by publishers like Hearst and Pulitzer that exaggerated Spanish atrocities to stoke American public sentiment toward war.
What is Yellow Journalism?
Name the primary source:
"We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare... We make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together..." — 1917 secret message.
What is the Zimmermann Note (or Zimmermann Telegram)?
Headed by George Creel, this government propaganda agency used posters, rallies, and "Four-Minute Men" to rally public support and enthusiasm for the war effort.
What is the Committee on Public Information (CPI)?
Opponents of imperialism argued that annexing overseas territories violated the principle established in the Declaration of Independence that government requires the "consent of the..."
What is the governed?
Following the Spanish-American War, the U.S. acquired this Pacific archipelago, leading to a brutal three-year war against nationalist forces led by Emilio Aguinaldo.
(FL Standard: SS.912.A.4.2)
What are the Philippines (or the Philippine-American War)?
President Theodore Roosevelt’s addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting the U.S. right to act as an "international police power" in Latin America.
What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
The following message ended this practice by Germany during WWI
"The German Government should now declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels..." — 1916 German diplomatic promise."
What is the unrestricted submarine warfare?
Enacted in 1917 and 1918, these controversial federal laws criminalized anti-war speech, criticizing the U.S. government, and interfering with draft registration.
What are the Espionage and Sedition Acts?
This document was written to prevent the USA from annexing Cuba after the Spanish-American War
"The United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people." — Joint Resolution of Congress, April 1898.
What is the Teller Amendment?
This anti-foreign, anti-imperialist uprising in Beijing in 1900 was put down by an international coalition including U.S. troops sent to protect American interests.
(FL Standard: SS.912.A.4.1)
What is the Boxer Rebellion?
Added to Cuba's 1901 constitution, this provision restricted Cuban sovereignty, granted the U.S. the right to intervene, and leased land at Guantanamo Bay.
What is the Platt Amendment?
The message below served as a justification for this action by the USA.
"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty." — Address to Congress, April 2, 1917.
What is Declaration of War against Germany?
In this landmark 1919 Supreme Court decision, the Court ruled that anti-war speech could be restricted if it presented a "clear and present danger" to national security.
What is Schenck v. United States?
Formed in 1898 by prominent citizens including Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, this organization opposed U.S. territorial expansion, arguing it violated the principle of self-determination.
What is the American Anti-Imperialist League?
Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, ending a conflict between these two imperial powers in their conflict over Chinese territory.
What is the Russo-Japanese War? (FL Standard: SS.912.A.4.1)
To build the Panama Canal, the United States supported a 1903 independence revolution against this South American country after its senate rejected a treaty.
What is Colombia?
This message by Reservationist Republicans resulted in this treaty being voted down, resulting in the US not joining the League of Nations.
"The United States assumes no obligation to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country..." — Congressional record, 1919.
Spurred by wartime industrial labor demands in Northern cities and escaping Southern Jim Crow laws, millions of African Americans participated in this historic demographic shift.
What is the Great Migration?