Diplomacy & War
This president’s foreign policy was called “Big Stick” diplomacy.
Theodore Roosevelt
Define imperialism in one sentence, using the context of late 19th / early 20th century U.S. policy.
Imperialism: the policy of expanding a country’s power and influence by diplomacy or force
Who wrote “The White Man’s Burden”?
Rudyard Kipling
The policy of staying out of other nations’ affairs is called what?
Isolationism
Which act made it illegal to interfere with the war effort, aid the enemy, or publicly criticize the war during WWI? Summarize its impact on civil liberties.
Espionage and Sedition Acts — made aiding the enemy, false reports, interference with the war effort, or public criticism illegal.
Impact: curtailed free speech and led to prosecutions of dissenters.
Booker T. Washington argued that African Americans should focus on education and vocational training before demanding full civil rights. True or False? Briefly contrast his view with W.E.B. DuBois’s main position.
True. Booker T. Washington favored vocational education and accommodation; W.E.B. DuBois advocated immediate civil rights and higher education for a “Talented Tenth.”
The telegram that attempted to persuade a Mexican attack on the United States was called the ________ Telegram. Which country was it trying to influence?
Zimmerman Telegram; it tried to influence Mexico
This 1890s/early 1900s book exposed poor sanitation in Chicago meatpacking plants and led to regulatory reforms. Name the author and one reform that followed.
Upton Sinclair; led to public pressure for the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Name the “muckraker” who wrote about meatpacking industry abuses. Then name one other muckraker and the social issue they exposed.
Upton Sinclair; another muckraker: Jacob Riis (exposed urban tenement conditions) or Ida Tarbell (exposed Standard Oil practices).
Name the event described as the main “spark” that started World War I.
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Explain the purpose of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and give one example of how monopolies affected consumers or labor during the Gilded Age.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act — aimed to prohibit business combinations that restrained trade; monopolies could raise prices and reduce worker bargaining power.
The case of Plessy v. Ferguson established which legal doctrine about segregation? Explain its constitutional implication for public facilities.
Plessy v. Ferguson established “separate but equal” as constitutional if facilities were equal, legally permitting segregated public facilities until overturned.
Identify two major members of the Central Powers and one member of the Allied (Triple Entente) powers; explain briefly how alliances contributed to WWI escalation.
Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary; Allied: Great Britain (or France, Russia). Alliances turned a regional conflict into a world war by binding nations to defend partners.
Describe three methods used to prevent minorities (particularly African Americans) from voting after Reconstruction, and explain one constitutional or legislative response to try to address disenfranchisement.
Methods: literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses. Responses included the later Voting Rights Act of 1965 (federal enforcement) and constitutional amendments (15th Amendment prohibits voting denial by race, though enforcement was weak until later).
Explain the significance of the decimation of the buffalo on Native American life and describe one federal policy aimed at assimilating Native Americans, including its consequences.
Buffalo decimation removed a central source of food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual practice for Plains tribes. Assimilation policy example: sending Native children to boarding schools where native languages and culture were banned — resulted in cultural loss and trauma.