Building an Empire
In 1898, the U.S. officially annexed this Pacific island chain after American sugar planters overthrew its last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani.
What is Hawaii?
Future president Theodore Roosevelt became a national hero by leading this colorful, ragtag volunteer cavalry regiment during the fighting in Cuba.
Who are the Rough Riders?
Upton Sinclair’s stomach-churning 1906 novel The Jungle aimed for America's heart but accidentally hit its stomach by exposing the unsanitary conditions of this Chicago industry.
What is the meatpacking industry?
The assassination of this Archduke of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo was the immediate spark that ignited World War I.
Who is Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
This was the collective name for Woodrow Wilson’s ambitious blueprint for a peaceful, post-war world order, which he brought to the Versailles Peace Conference.
What are the Fourteen Points?
To create a shortcut for military and commercial ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the U.S. backed a revolution in Colombia to build this massive engineering marvel.
What is the Panama Canal?
This American battleship mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898, serving as the immediate catalyst for the Spanish-American War.
What is the USS Maine?
This energetic U.S. President became famous for his "Square Deal" agenda, his love for conservation, and his aggressive reputation as a monopoly-busting "Trust Buster."
Who is Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt?
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
This international peacekeeping organization was President Wilson's ultimate dream, though the U.S. Senate vehemently rejected it out of fear it would drag America into endless foreign conflicts.
What is the League of Nations?
This sensationalized, exaggerated style of newspaper reporting used by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst whipped up American public fury against Spain.
What is yellow journalism?
While the war began as a fight to liberate Cuba, the most controversial territory acquired by the U.S. in the peace treaty was this Asian archipelago, which triggered a brutal follow-up guerrilla war for independence.
What are the Philippines? (Accept the Philippine Islands)
Ratified in 1920 after decades of intense activism, this Constitutional Amendment finally granted women the right to vote nationwide.
What is the 19th Amendment?
The sinking of this British luxury ocean liner by a German U-boat in 1915 killed 128 Americans and pushed U.S. public opinion drastically closer to entering the war.
What is the Lusitania?
Passed in 1917 and 1918, these two controversial federal laws criminalized anti-war speech, anti-draft protests, and any behavior deemed "disloyal" to the United States government.
What are the Espionage and Sedition Acts?
Championed by Secretary of State John Hay, this diplomatic policy demanded that all European imperial powers leave trade in China open to all nations on an equal basis.
What is the Open Door Policy?
Winning the grueling battle for San Juan Hill was critical because it gave the U.S. Army high-ground artillery positions directly overlooking this strategic Cuban port city, ultimately forcing the trapped Spanish fleet to attempt a desperate, doomed breakout.
What is Santiago? (Accept Santiago de Cuba)
This horrific 1911 industrial disaster in New York City killed 146 garment workers—mostly young immigrant women—because the factory owners had locked the exit doors to prevent breaks.
What is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire?
This intercepted secret telegram from Berlin to Mexico City offered a military alliance, promising to help Mexico reconvey Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if they fought the U.S.
What is the Zimmermann Telegram? (Accept Zimmermann Note)
While the Treaty of Versailles reshaped the global map, two massive European nations were completely excluded from the peace negotiations: a defeated Germany, and this former allied nation undergoing a communist revolution.
What is Russia? Soviet Union / USSR)
This addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserted that the United States had the right to act as an "international police power" to intervene in Latin American affairs.
What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
This 1901 amendment was forced into the new Cuban constitution, severely limiting Cuba's treaty-making power, granting the U.S. the right to intervene militarily, and leasing Guantanamo Bay to the American navy.
What is the Platt Amendment?
Co-founded by Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889, this famous facility served as a model for the "settlement house" movement, providing education, childcare, and healthcare to poor immigrant neighborhoods.
What is Hull House?
Once the fighting began, the Triple Alliance morphed into the "Central Powers"—a wartime coalition named for their geographic location in Europe, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and this collapsing Middle Eastern empire.
What is the Ottoman Empire?
To honor his historic leadership during World War I, Congress awarded this general the prestigious, custom military rank - "General of the Armies" making him the highest-ranking living officer in American history up to that point.
General John Pershing