(Evidence) APUSH Chapter 20: An Emerging World Power

American exceptionalism

the idea that the United States has a unique destiny to foster democracy and civilization on the world stage

Our Country

(1885) a popular book that justified American imperialism on the basis of evangelizing “heathen races”

Social Darwinism

(late 1800s, early 1900s) applied the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ to human society, argued that the ‘most fit’ became rich and the ‘least fit’ lived in poverty

Plessy v. Ferguson

(1896) a crucial Supreme Court case in which the Supreme Court made segregation legal and gave the states the power to impose segregation laws

Teller Amendment

(1898) a declaration by the U.S. disclaiming any American intention to occupy Cuba

Treaty of Paris of 1898

Spain gave up control of Cuba, gave Guam and Puerto Rico to the US, and agreed to sell the Philippines to the US for 20 million dollars

Spanish-American War or War of 1898

(1898) a short war in which the United States supported Cuba’s fight for independence in order to gain territories from Spain

Philippine-American War

(1899-1902) a Filipino insurrection following the Philippine purchase by the US, a long and bloody war in which Filipino rebels proved difficult to defeat

Insular Cases

(1901) a set of Supreme Court cases that ruled that the United States wasn’t obligated to give citizenship to its new territories

Jones-Shafroth Act

(1917) under Wilson, granted Puerto Ricans US citizenship so that America could more easily take power

Platt Amendment

(1902) stipulated that Cuba could make treaties with no country but the United States

Jones Act of 1916

committed the US to giving independence to the Philippines, but set no date for the giving of said independence

“open door” policy

(1899) a claim by US Secretary of State John Hay saying that all nations seeking to do business in China should have equal trade access

Root-Takahira Agreement

(1908) an agreement between the US and Japan confirming the idea of free trade across the oceans and recognizing Japan’s authority over Manchuria (a resource-dense area of modern-day China)

Hay-Paunceforth Treaty

(1901) Britain ceded Central American canal building rights to the US

Panama Canal

(opened 1914) a canal across the narrowest strip of Panama that gave the US a powerful position in the Western hemisphere

Roosevelt Corollary

(1904) Theodore Roosevelt’s assertion that the United States had the right to police  and intervene in the affairs of nations it deemed guilty of wrongdoing or impotence

Mexican Revolution

(1910-1920) started off with the overthrow of dictator Porfirio Diaz, and, with American intervention (that created major distrust in the years to come), the Mexican government was placed under the control of Venustiano Carranza

Sussex Pledge

(1916) after torpedoing British luxury liner Luistiana, Germany agreed not to target passenger liners or ships unless it was sure the ship carried munitions ( Germany broke this pledge the following year)

Zimmerman telegram

(1917) a telegram sent to Mexico from Germany during WWI in which Germany promised to help Mexico regain lost territory if it attacked the United States; this telegram convinced the US to join WWI

“Over There”

(1917) a famous song written in 1917 to encourage American patriotism and enlistment to the Army during WWI

War Industries Board (WIB)

(established 1917) a federal board created to direct military production, like resource allocation, price setting, and factory conversion to military purposes

National War Labor Board

(established 1918) federal agency that set an eight-hour workday for war workers, endorsed equal pay for women, and supported workers’ right to organize

Espionage Act of 1917

decreed that the post office could ban or throw out mail it deemed to be treasonable

Sedition Act of 1918

prohibited words or behavior that encouraged resistance of the United States or encouraged its enemies

Schneck v. United States

(1919) a socialist American was convicted for handing out anti-draft pamphlets

Abrams v. United States

(1919) outlawed speech considered by the government to pose a clear and present danger to the country’s safety

National Women’s Party (NWP)

(founded 1916) a political party that fought for women’s suffrage and, after achieving its goals, advocated for an Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution

Nineteenth Amendment

(ratified 1920) gave women the right to vote

Fourteen Points Speech

(1919) an idealistic speech by Wilson promoting peace, open diplomacy, freedom of seas, national self-determination, and the creation of a League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles

(1919) the treaty that ended WWI, redrawing the world map, saddling Germany with all of the war debt, and creating future conditions for WWII