AICE US History: 1898–1929 (Imperialism, World War I, and the 1920s)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, policies, people, and legal frameworks across American Imperialism, World War I, and the 1920s for AICE US History.

Imperialism

The policy or practice where a powerful country extends its political, economic, or military control over other territories or nations.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

A naval strategist who argued that national greatness depended on sea power, advocating for a modern naval fleet, coaling stations, and overseas bases to protect international trade routes.

Yellow Journalism

A sensationalist reporting style, prominent in newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, that exaggerated Spanish cruelties in Cuba to arouse public sympathy and encourage war.

USS Maine

An American battleship that exploded in Havana Harbor in February 1898, killing more than 260 people; public outrage fueled by the press blamed Spain and triggered the Spanish-American War.

De Lôme Letter

A private correspondence written by Spain's ambassador that criticized President McKinley as weak; its publication in 1898 was perceived as a severe national insult by the American public.

Treaty of Paris (1898)

The peace agreement ending the Spanish-American War, in which Spain transferred Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States and granted formal independence to Cuba under U.S. influence.

Annexation of Hawaii (1898)

The formal incorporation of the Hawaiian islands into the United States, undertaken to safeguard American sugar plantation investments and secure a vital naval location in the Pacific.

Philippine-American War (1899–1902)

A armed struggle waged by Filipino nationalists against U.S. forces following Spain's transfer of the archipelago, ending in the establishment of direct U.S. colonial control.

Platt Amendment (1901)

Legislation that limited Cuban independence by granting the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and providing land for a permanent American naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Open Door Policy (1899–1900)

A diplomatic proposal articulated by Secretary of State John Hay advocating equal commercial access for all nations in China and opposing exclusive foreign spheres of influence.

Big Stick Diplomacy

Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy doctrine centered on negotiating diplomatically while maintaining the visible, potent threat of military force—particularly a powerful modern navy.

Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

An expansion of the Monroe Doctrine claiming that the United States could act as an 'international police power' in Latin America to rectify chronic wrongdoing and prevent European military intervention.

Panama Canal

An artificial waterway constructed across the Isthmus of Panama after the U.S. backed Panama's 1903 secession from Colombia; it opened in 1914 to dramatically shorten maritime trade routes and naval transit.

Dollar Diplomacy

William Howard Taft's foreign policy approach aimed at extending American political influence in Latin America and East Asia through private banking and corporate investments backed by military pressure.

Moral Diplomacy

Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy philosophy asserting that U.S. support should be extended primarily to democratic, constitutional governments rather than authoritarian regimes.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

A German naval campaign of deploying U-boats to attack merchant, neutral, and passenger vessels without advance warning in the waters surrounding Great Britain, prompting U.S. entry into World War I.

Lusitania (1915)

A British passenger liner sunk by a German submarine off Ireland, killing 128 Americans and shifting American public opinion toward an anti-German stance.

Zimmermann Telegram (1917)

An intercepted diplomatic cable from the German foreign minister proposing a military alliance with Mexico, offering Mexico the return of lost territories if the U.S. entered World War I.

Selective Service Act (1917)

Federal legislation establishing a national military conscription system that required millions of young American men to register for service in World War I.

War Industries Board

A federal wartime agency charged with directing industrial production, establishing manufacturing priorities, and coordinating supplies for the American and Allied war effort.

Liberty Bonds

Government debt securities sold directly to the American civilian public to raise financial capital needed to fund military operations during World War I.

Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918)

Federal wartime statutes that penalized anti-war speech, opposition to the draft, and any statements deemed disloyal or abusive toward the U.S. government or war effort.

Fourteen Points (1918)

Woodrow Wilson's proposed post-World War I peace framework, which advocated open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, disarmament, national self-determination, and the creation of a League of Nations.

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The formal peace settlement ending World War I that imposed a war-guilt clause, heavy reparations, and territory losses on Germany, while chartering the League of Nations.

Article X (League Covenant)

The collective security clause in the League of Nations charter requiring members to aid any member facing aggression; it served as the primary objection raised by U.S. Senate opponents.

Henry Cabot Lodge

The Republican Senator who led the opposition against the Treaty of Versailles, seeking reservations to guarantee that only the U.S. Congress retained constitutional power to commit troops abroad.

Return to Normalcy

Warren G. Harding's 1920 campaign slogan promising a return to traditional domestic stability, reduced federal reform, and pro-business policies following the upheavals of World War I.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A major political corruption scandal during the Harding administration involving the secret, illegal leasing of federal naval oil reserves to private companies in exchange for bribes.

Calvin Coolidge

The Republican president (1923–1929) who championed pro-business governance, low corporate taxation, limited federal regulation, and minimal government intervention in the economy.

Mass Production

The manufacturing process utilizing moving assembly lines and standardized interchangeable parts to fabricate finished goods rapidly and at substantially lower costs.

Installment Buying

A consumer financing model that allowed buyers to take home expensive consumer durable goods and pay off the total purchase balance through small scheduled payments over time.

Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

The constitutional amendment that prohibited the denial of the right to vote on the basis of sex, extending national suffrage to American women.

Flappers

A cultural icon of young 1920s women who rejected traditional Victorian behavioral standards through shortened skirts, bobbed hair, listening to jazz, and pursuing personal independence.

Great Migration

The continuous relocation of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural South to Northern and Western industrial centers to escape Jim Crow segregation and obtain factory employment.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural, literary, and intellectual movement centered in Harlem, New York during the 1920s that celebrated African American identity and challenged racial stereotypes.

Langston Hughes

A leading African American poet and writer of the Harlem Renaissance whose literary works portrayed the authentic experiences, struggles, and pride of Black Americans.

Marcus Garvey

A prominent Black nationalist leader of the 1920s who promoted racial pride, economic self-reliance, unity among African descendants, and a 'Back-to-Africa' movement.

Eighteenth Amendment (1919)

The constitutional amendment that banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors within the United States, initiating the Prohibition era in 1920.

Volstead Act

Federal legislation enacted in 1919 to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, establishing formal legal definitions and penalties for beverages containing intoxicating alcohol.

Speakeasies

Underground, illegal commercial establishments and drinking dens operated to serve alcoholic beverages in violation of national Prohibition laws.

First Red Scare (1919–1920)

A nationwide period of anti-communist hysteria sparked by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, widespread labor strikes, and domestic anarchist bombings.

Palmer Raids (1919–1920)

A series of federal raids led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer that rounded up, detained, and deported foreign-born suspected radicals without traditional constitutional protections.

Emergency Quota Act (1921)

Federal immigration law that instituted a national-origins quota system, restricting the annual incoming immigration from any country to a set percentage based on prior census data.

Immigration Act (1924)

Statute that tightened national immigration quotas to 2% of the 1890 census, heavily favoring Northern and Western European entries while excluding Asian immigration entirely.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian-born anarchist immigrants convicted and executed for murder; their legal defense became an international symbol of nativist bias within the American justice system.

Scopes Trial (1925)

The criminal prosecution of high school teacher John Scopes in Tennessee for teaching Darwinian evolution, dramatizing the cultural rift between Christian fundamentalism and modern science.

Washington Naval Conference (1921–1922)

An international diplomatic assembly hosted in Washington where major maritime powers agreed to scrap battleships and fix naval tonnage ratios to avoid an armaments race.

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)

An international multilateral treaty in which signatory nations pledged to renounce war as an instrument of national foreign policy, though it contained no enforcement provisions.

Wall Street Crash (1929)

The catastrophic crash of the U.S. stock market in October 1929 that shattered investor confidence and brought an abrupt end to the 1920s economic boom.