American Influence Grows

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the economic, military, and ideological motives behind nineteenth-century American overseas expansion, as well as key figures and events in the acquisitions of Alaska and Hawaii.

Imperialism

The policy by which strong nations extend their political, military, and economic control over weaker territories.

Extractive economies

Colonial economies in which an imperial country removes raw materials from a colony and ships them back to the home country.

Alfred T. Mahan

A military historian and United States Navy officer who authored The Influence of Sea Power Upon History and urged the nation to modernize its fleet and acquire foreign naval bases.

Social Darwinism

The belief that life consists of competitive struggles in which only the fittest survive, utilized to justify imperialism by arguing superior nations and races were destined to rule over inferior ones.

Manifest Destiny

The long-held American belief that God had granted Americans the right and responsibility to settle the frontier and expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Josiah Strong

A religious missionary and author of Our Country who argued that Americans had a responsibility to spread Western values and that God was training the Anglo-Saxon race to civilize weaker races.

Frederick Jackson Turner

A historian who wrote The Significance of the Frontier in American History, arguing that the frontier had traditionally served as an arena for ambitious Americans and functioned as a safety valve against discontent.

Safety valve

A concept advanced by Frederick Jackson Turner describing the frontier's historical role in siphoning off potential domestic discontent by providing opportunities for fresh starts and fortunes.

Matthew Perry

The U.S. Commodore who sailed a fleet of American warships into Tokyo Bay in 1853 and negotiated a treaty opening Japan to trade with America.

William Seward

The U.S. Secretary of State who purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $\$7.2\text{ million}$.

Seward's Folly

A mocking nickname given by journalists to Secretary of State William Seward's 1867 purchase of Alaska, which critics viewed as an unnecessary frozen tundra.

Klondike Gold Rush

A stampede to goldfields in British Columbia and the Yukon territory following discoveries in the mid-1880s near Alaska, which spurred new Alaskan settlements until geography and harsh climate ended it by 1899.

James Blaine

The U.S. Secretary of State who sponsored the First International Pan-American Conference in 1889 to encourage trade and economic cooperation with Latin American nations.

King Kalakaua

The Hawaiian king who in 1887 was convinced by American planters to amend Hawaii's constitution to restrict voting rights exclusively to wealthy landowners.

Queen Liluokalani

The nationalist Hawaiian monarch who succeeded King Kalakaua, abolished the constitution granting political power to the white planter minority, and was overthrown in 1893.

Sanford B. Dole

A prominent lawyer connected to Hawaii's planter elite who led the government established following the overthrow of Queen Liluokalani and served as Hawaii's first territorial governor.

John Stevens

The U.S. minister to Hawaii who ordered United States Marines to assist American rebel planters in seizing power and deposing Queen Liluokalani in 1893.

Albert J. Beveridge

A Progressive U.S. Senator who argued in his 1898 speech 'The March of the Flag' that expanding trade into new foreign markets was essential to absorb America's surplus production of crops and manufactured goods.