American Expansion and Imperialism

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation extends its power over weaker countries or territories

Protectorate

A country that keeps its own government but is protected and controlled by a stronger nation

Yellow journalism

News reporting that exaggerates or sensationalizes stories to sell newspapers

Autonomy

The right of a people or region to govern itself

Jingoism

Aggressive and extreme nationalism that pushes for war or a forceful foreign policy

Sphere of influence

A region where one foreign power claims special trading and investment rights

Open Door policy

John Hay's policy that all nations should have equal trading rights in China

Anglo-Saxonism

The belief that English-speaking nations had a superior culture and a duty to spread it

Manifest Destiny

The belief that American expansion was a God-given right and duty

Alfred T. Mahan

Navy captain whose book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History argued a strong navy was the key to world power

Josiah Strong

Minister who linked Anglo-Saxonism to Christian missionary work to build support for expansion

Alaska

Territory the United States took control of in 1867

Commodore Matthew Perry

Opened trade with Japan in 1854 with the Treaty of Kanagawa

Sanford Dole

Leader of the sugar planters who overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and became Hawaii's first territorial governor

Queen Liliuokalani

Hawaii's queen who resisted U.S. influence and was overthrown in 1893

Annexation of Hawaii

President McKinley annexed Hawaii in 1898

1894 sugar tariff

U.S. tax that devastated Cuba's economy and sparked a new rebellion against Spain in 1895

Reconcentration camps

Camps where Spanish troops forced rural Cubans and thousands died of starvation and disease

USS Maine

Battleship that exploded in Havana Harbor in February 1898 killing 266 people and many Americans blamed Spain

Cause of the Maine explosion

Still debated but later studies point to a problem inside the ship such as a coal fire

Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst

Rival newspaper owners whose papers used yellow journalism to cover Cuba

Commodore George Dewey

Destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines in May 1898

Rough Riders

Volunteer cavalry unit with Theodore Roosevelt that fought at San Juan Hill in Cuba

Buffalo soldiers

African American cavalry regiments who helped capture Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill

Emilio Aguinaldo

Filipino leader who helped the U.S. fight Spain and then fought the U.S. when he realized it would not grant independence

Treaty of Paris (1898)

Ended the Spanish-American War and gave the U.S. Puerto Rico and Guam and the Philippines

Anti-imperialists

Opponents of empire such as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie

Platt Amendment

Made Cuba a U.S. protectorate by letting the U.S. intervene and lease naval bases there

Foraker Act

1900 law that set up a civil government in Puerto Rico

Boxer Rebellion

1900 uprising by a Chinese secret society against foreign influence that killed more than 200 foreigners

Japan defeats China (1894)

War over Korea that shocked Western nations by showing Japan's military strength

April 6 1917

Date the United States declared war and joined World War I

Monroe Doctrine

1823 policy warning European nations not to colonize or interfere in the Western Hemisphere

Big stick diplomacy

Theodore Roosevelt's approach of backing negotiation with the threat of military force

Speak softly and carry a big stick

West African saying Roosevelt used to describe his foreign policy

Roosevelt Corollary

Roosevelt's 1904 addition to the Monroe Doctrine claiming the U.S. right to intervene in Latin America

International police power

Roosevelt's idea that the U.S. would step in to restore order in the Western Hemisphere

Venezuela crisis (1902)

Britain and Germany and Italy blockaded Venezuela's ports after it failed to repay its debts

Dominican Republic (1905)

First place the U.S. applied the Roosevelt Corollary by collecting its customs taxes

Panama Canal

Waterway that cut the sea trip from New York to San Francisco from about 12000 miles to 4900 miles

Colombia

Country that controlled Panama and refused to let the U.S. build the canal

Panama's revolt (1903)

Uprising against Colombia that the U.S. backed with warships so it could get canal rights

William Gorgas

Surgeon General who controlled mosquito-breeding areas to reduce malaria and yellow fever during canal construction

Canal workers' deaths

Over 5600 workers who were mostly Black West Indians died from disease and accidents

Dollar diplomacy

Taft's policy of using loans and business investment instead of troops to expand U.S. influence

Nicaragua

Country where American banks made loans in 1911 and U.S. Marines stayed until 1933

Moral diplomacy

Wilson's approach of promoting democracy by moral example rather than force

Porfirio Diaz

Dictator who ruled Mexico for over 30 years while foreign investors owned its railroads and factories

Francisco Madero

Reformer who led the 1910 Mexican Revolution and was murdered in 1913

Victoriano Huerta

General who seized power in Mexico in 1913 and whom Wilson refused to recognize

Veracruz (1914)

Mexican city seized by U.S. Marines which led to anti-American riots

Pancho Villa

Mexican guerrilla leader who raided Columbus New Mexico in 1916 and killed 17 Americans

General John J. Pershing

Led about 5800 troops into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa but failed

Guerrillas

Small bands of fighters who use surprise attacks instead of large battles

Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Caribbean nations where Wilson sent troops in 1915 and 1916

Effect of Wilson's Mexican policy

Latin Americans saw moral diplomacy as no better than Roosevelt's big stick diplomacy