Chapter 26 Vocab

Big Sister Policy

A foreign policy of Secretary of State James G. Blaine aimed at rallying Latin American nations behind American leadership and opening Latin American markets to Yankee traders. The policy bore fruit in 1889, when Blaine presided over the First International Conference of American States.

Great Rapprochement

After decades of occasionally “twisting the lion’s tail,” American diplomats began to cultivate close, cordial relations with Great Britain at the end of the nineteenth century—a relationship that would intensify further during World War I.

McKinley Tariff

Shepherded through Congress by President William McKinley, this tariff raised duties on Hawaiian sugar and set off renewed efforts to secure the annexation of Hawaii to the United States.

Insurrectos

Cuban insurgents who sought freedom from colonial Spanish rule. Their destructive tactics threatened American economic interests in Cuban plantations and railroads.

Maine

American battleship dispatched to keep a “friendly” watch over Cuba in early 1898. It mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, with a loss of 260 sailors. Later evidence confirmed that the explosion was accidental, resulting from combustion in one of the ship’s internal coal bunkers. But many Americans, eager for war, insisted that it was the fault of a Spanish submarine mine.

Teller Amendment

A proviso to President William McKinley’s war plans that proclaimed to the world that when the United States had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give Cuba its freedom. The amendment testified to the ostensibly “anti-imperialist” designs of the initial war plans.

Rough Riders

Organized by Theodore Roosevelt, this was a colorful, motley regiment of Cuban war volunteers consisting of western cowboys, ex-convicts, and effete Ivy Leaguers. Roosevelt emphasized his experience with the regiment in subsequent campaigns for governor of New York and vice president under William McKinley.

Anti-Imperialist League

A diverse group formed to protest American colonial oversight in the Philippines. It included university presidents, industrialists, clergymen, and labor leaders. Strongest in the Northeast, it was the largest lobbying organization on a U.S. foreign-policy issue until the end of the nineteenth century. It declined in strength after the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (which approved the annexation of the Philippines), and especially after hostilities broke out between Filipino nationalists and American forces.

Foraker Act

Sponsored by Senator Joseph B. Foraker, a Republican from Ohio, this accorded Puerto Ricans a limited degree of popular government. The first comprehensive congressional effort to provide for governance of territories acquired after the Spanish–American War, it served as a model for a similar act adopted for the Philippines in 1902.

Insular Cases

Beginning in 1901, a badly divided Supreme Court decreed in these cases that the Constitution did not follow the flag. In other words, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos would not necessarily enjoy all American rights.

Platt Amendment

Following its military occupation, the United States successfully pressured the Cuban government to write this amendment into its constitution. It limited Cuba’s treaty-making abilities, controlled its debt, and stipulated that the United States could intervene militarily to restore order when it saw fit.

Open Door note

A set of diplomatic letters in which Secretary of State John Hay urged the great powers to respect Chinese rights and free and open competition within their spheres of influence. The notes established the “Open Door policy,” which sought to ensure access to the Chinese market for the United States, despite the fact that it did not have a formal sphere of influence in China.

Boxer Rebellion

An uprising in China directed against foreign influence. It was suppressed by an international force of some eighteen thousand soldiers, including several thousand Americans. The Boxer Rebellion paved the way for the revolution of 1911, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.

Hay-Pauncefote Treatu

A treaty signed between the United States and Great Britain giving Americans a free hand to build a canal in Central America. The treaty nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which prohibited Britain or the United States from acquiring territory in Central America.

Roosevelt Corollary

A brazen policy of “preventive intervention” advocated by Theodore Roosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress in 1904. Adding ballast to the Monroe Doctrine, his corollary stipulated that the United States would retain a right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Latin American nations in order to restore military and financial order.

Gentlemen’s Agreement

Responding to anti-Japanese tensions on the West Coast, President Theodore Roosevelt and the Empire of Japan negotiated a compromise in 1907. Japan agreed to issue no new passports for Japanese citizens seeking employment in the United States. The Americans agreed to admit family members of Japanese already resident in the United States, and Roosevelt prevented the segregation of Japanese-American schoolchildren in California’s public schools. Secured without formal congressional approval, the arrangement was eventually superseded by the Immigration Act of 1924, which banned all immigration from Asia.

Great White Fleet

Signaling America’s growing military prowess and global ambitions, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the U.S. Navy’s battleship fleet on a highly visible voyage around the world. Their commander pointedly declared that he was ready for “a feast, a frolic, or a fight.”

Root-Takahira agreement

Agreement by which the United States and Japan agreed to respect each other’s territorial possessions in the Pacific and to uphold the Open Door in China. The agreement was credited with easing tensions between the two nations, but it also resulted in a weakened American influence over further Japanese hegemony in China.

Josiah Strong

Protestant minister and writer who promoted Anglo-Saxon superiority and supported American expansion and missionary work as a moral duty.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Naval strategist whose book The Influence of Sea Power upon History argued that national greatness depended on a strong navy and overseas bases.

James G. Blaine

U.S. secretary of state who promoted American influence in Latin America and supported economic expansion through Pan-Americanism.

Liliuokalani

Last queen of Hawaii who was overthrown by American planters and business interests, leading to U.S. annexation of Hawaii.

“Butcher” Weyler

Spanish general in Cuba known for brutal reconcentration camps that intensified American outrage and support for intervention.

George Dewey

U.S. naval commander who defeated the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.

Emilio Aguinaldo

Filipino nationalist leader who fought Spanish rule and later resisted U.S. control during the Philippine-American War.

John Hay

U.S. secretary of state who issued the Open Door Policy to protect U.S. trade in China and preserve Chinese territorial integrity.

Theodore Roosevelt

26th U.S. president who promoted American imperialism, expanded the navy, and asserted U.S. power through the Roosevelt Corollary and Panama Canal.