Chapter 19 Vocabulary

Imperialism

Imperialism

Can be defined as a doctrine, political strategy, practice, state policy, or advocacy that consists in extending power by territorial acquisition or by extending political and economic control outward over other areas.

John Hay

Appointed Secretary of State in President William McKinley's Cabinet on September 30, 1898, and entered into duty the same day. He continued in office under President Theodore Roosevelt following McKinley's assassination in 1901 and served until his death in office on July 1, 1905.

Open Door Policy

The proposition to keep trade in China open equally to trade with all countries, preventing any one nation from controlling trade in the region. The policy also called for powers to respect Chinese territorial integrity.

Boxer Rebellion

Officially supported peasant uprising of 1900 that attempted to drive all foreigners from China.

Guano Islands Act

A United States federal law passed by the Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession in the name of the United States of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits.

Hawaii

An independent republic from 1894 until August 12, 1898, when it officially became a U.S. territory.

Porfirio Díaz

Known for his decades-long presidency and strong centralized state in Mexico. His elitist and oligarchical policies favoured foreign investors and wealthy landowners, culminating in an economic crisis for the country. He was ousted in 1911 during the Mexican Revolution.

Victoriano Huerta

A general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero

Venustiano Carranza

A leader in the Mexican civil war following the overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Díaz. Carranza became the first president of the new Mexican republic.

Pancho Villa

A Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader who fought against the regimes of both Porfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerta. After 1914 he engaged in civil war and banditry. He became notorious in the United States for his attack on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916.

John J. Pershing

The foremost military leader of his time

Served the United States in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippines, the Mexican Intervention, and the First World War

Spanish-American War

A conflict between the United States and Spain that effectively ended Spain's role as a colonial power in the New World. The United States emerged from the war as a world power with significant territorial claims stretching from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia.

Philippine-American War

A war between the United States and Filipino revolutionaries from 1899 to 1902, an insurrection that may be seen as a continuation of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule.

Valeriano Weyler

He fought against the Cuban rebels (1868–72) and then returned to Spain to serve against the Carlists, Bourbon traditionalists. He was captain general of the Canary Islands (1878–83), of the Balearic Islands (1883), and of the Philippines (1888), where he helped suppress native uprisings.

U.S.S. Maine

A second-class battleship built between 1888 and 1895, was sent to Havana in January 1898 to protect American interests during the long-standing revolt of the Cubans against the Spanish government.

“Yellow Journals”

A style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. During its heyday in the late 19th century it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States.

Rough Riders

The name given to the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in May 1898 to join the volunteer cavalry.

Treaty of Paris of 1898

Forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States.

Emilio Aguinaldo

The first of the great Filipino revolutionaries and a forerunner of the band of Asian patriots who fought in the 20th century to free their countries from colonial domination. He led the Filipino revolt against Spain in 1896, fighting with a collection of barefoot peasants.

Anti-Imperialists League

Opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from "consent of the governed."

Alfred Thayer Mahan

A lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire.

“Big-Stick” Diplomacy

President Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy

based on the theory that the United States could use force to maintain stability in Latin America

Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft’s Foreign Policy

A foreign policy in which the United States lent money to foreign countries in return for the ability to make decisions for the governments of those countries.

Roosevelt Corollary

1904

stated that the United States would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the Monroe Doctrine.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The first law restricting immigration in the U.S.

Passed in the spring of 1882

Gentlemen’s Agreement

1907

An informal agreement between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan whereby Japan would not allow further emigration to the United States and the United States would not impose restrictions on Japanese immigrants already present in America.