The Colonial Period (1607-1776)
The economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country, primarily by providing raw materials and a market for finished goods.
What is mercantilism?
In his 1796 Farewell Address, this President warned the U.S. to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."
Who is George Washington?
The 1898 explosion of this battleship in Havana Harbor served as a primary catalyst for the Spanish-American War.
What is the USS Maine?
The 1941 surprise attack on this naval base by the Japanese Empire brought the United States directly into World War II.
What is Pearl Harbor?
The U.S. foreign policy strategy during the Cold War aimed at preventing the spread of communism beyond its existing borders.
What is Containment?
This 1754–1763 conflict between Britain and France ended French colonial presence in North America and led to increased British taxation of the colonies.
What is the French & Indian (or Seven Years) War?
This 1823 policy declared that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization and that the U.S. would stay out of European affairs.
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
Secretary of State John Hay’s policy designed to ensure that all nations had equal trading rights in China.
What is the Open Door Policy?
This 1941 program allowed the U.S. to send war supplies to the Allies (specifically Britain) while technically remaining neutral.
What is Lend-Lease?
This 1947 plan provided billions of dollars in economic aid to rebuild Western Europe and prevent the rise of communist parties.
What is the Marshall Plan?
This series of British laws restricted colonial trade to British ships and ports, though they were often ignored during the period of "Salutary Neglect."
What are the Navigation Acts?
This 1848 treaty ended the Mexican-American War, granting the U.S. the Mexican Cession and establishing the Rio Grande as the border.
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
Theodore Roosevelt’s addition to the Monroe Doctrine, stating the U.S. had the right to intervene in Latin American affairs as an "international police power."
What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
This series of laws passed in the 1930s was designed to keep the U.S. out of foreign conflicts by banning arms sales and loans to nations at war.
What are the Neutrality Acts?
The 1962 confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the placement of nuclear missiles 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 proposal for a unified colonial government to coordinate defense; it was rejected but served as a blueprint for later union.
What is the Albany Plan of Union?
The British & French navies were both engaging in this, the practice of capturing American merchants and forcing them into military service.
What is impressment?
This intercepted message from Germany to Mexico proposed an alliance against the U.S. and helped pull the U.S. into World War I.
What is the Zimmerman Telegram?
This program led to the development of two atomic weapons used against Japan at Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
What is the Manhattan Project?
This 1964 resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson nearly unlimited authority to escalate military involvement in Vietnam.
What is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
This 1778 agreement was essential to winning the Revolution, as it provided the American colonies with military supplies, naval support, and a formal ally.
What is the Treaty of Alliance?
The 1795 treaty with Spain that granted Americans the "right of deposit" in New Orleans, allowing Western farmers to ship goods down the Mississippi.
What is Pinckney's Treaty?
Woodrow Wilson’s plan for post-WWI peace, which included the creation of the League of Nations and the principle of "self-determination."
What are the Fourteen Points?
At this 1945 conference, the "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) met to discuss the post-war reorganization of Germany and Europe.
What is the Yalta Conference?
The 1970s policy of "thawing" or easing Cold War tensions, most famously pursued by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.
What is Détente?