America Claims an Empire Practice Flashcards

This set of 68 vocabulary flashcards covers key concepts, figures, and events of United States Imperialism as outlined in the lecture notes.

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other (weaker) nations either politically, economically, or militarily.

Social Darwinism

A theme of imperialism suggesting that more "fit" nations can take over "lesser" ones.

White Man’s Burden

The duty to improve and ’civilize’ non-white places.

Industrialization

A process that allowed nations to view themselves as intellectually superior and use advanced weaponry to take over others.

Alfred T. Mahan

Author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History who urged the U.S. to develop a strong navy to protect business interests.

Isthmus of Panama

One of the locations Alfred T. Mahan instructed the U.S. to construct a canal to increase naval presence.

The Maine and the Oregon

Examples of large battleships that Alfred T. Mahan urged the U.S. to build.

Natural Resources

Raw materials that nations seek to acquire by colonizing other areas of the world.

Manifest Destiny

The ideological belief that Americans had a God-given right to expand their borders.

American Exceptionalism

A belief that Americans have a unique mission to spread freedom and democracy abroad.

Seward’s Folly

The nickname for Secretary of State William Seward's purchase of Alaska from the Russians in $1867$.

Alaska

A territory purchased from Russia that provided timber, minerals, and oil and became a state in $1959$.

McKinley Tariffs

Imposed taxes on imported sugar that sparked calls to annex Hawaii and make it a U.S. territory.

Pearl Harbor

A strategic naval base established by the U.S. Navy in Hawaii.

Queen Liliuokalani

The monarch of Hawaii who was overthrown by the USMC after threatening the power of white landowners.

Sanford B. Dole

The individual put at the head of the Hawaiian government after the overthrow of the monarchy.

Annexation of Hawaii

The event that occurred in $1898$ under William McKinley, leading Hawaii to become the $50^{th}$ state in $1959$.

Cuba Libre!

A slogan meaning "Free Cuba!" favored by the American public during the Cuban revolt against Spain.

Jos Mart

A poet and journalist who sparked a revolution in Cuba in $1895$ using guerilla warfare.

General Valeriano Weyler

A Spanish General who forced Cubans into concentration camps where thousands died from disease and starvation.

Yellow Journalism

A style of writing that uses sensational and exaggerated headlines to lure readers, used by Pulitzer and Hearst.

Joseph Pulitzer

A newspaper tycoon who used Yellow Journalism to influence public opinion regarding Cuba.

William Randolph Hearst

A newspaper tycoon who, along with Pulitzer, lured readers with sensationalized headlines about Spanish atrocities.

De Lme Letter

A published letter written by the Spanish Ambassador in February $1898$ that criticized McKinley as weak.

U.S.S. Maine

A U.S. ship that blew up in Havana, Cuba, on February $15$, $1898$, killing $260$ Americans.

Remember the Maine!

A rallying cry used after the sinking of a U.S. battleship to fuel the declaration of war against Spain on April $20$, $1898$.

Commodore George Dewey

The U.S. commander who destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay within hours during the first battle of the Spanish-American War.

Emilio Aguinaldo

A Filipino rebel leader who joined U.S. forces to push out the Spanish.

Rough Riders

A volunteer cavalry unit including Teddy Roosevelt that participated in the invasion of Santiago, Cuba.

Battle of Kettle Hill

A conflict where the Rough Riders and two African American regiments led an uphill charge.

Battle of San Juan Hill

The battle for which the uphill charge at Kettle Hill cleared the way.

John Hay

The Secretary of State who referred to the Spanish-American War as ‘A splendid little war’.

Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines

Three territories the United States gained control of following the Spanish-American War in $1898$.

Commonwealth of 1952

The status granted to Puerto Rico which provides U.S. citizenship but not the right to vote in presidential elections.

Teller Amendment

A statement passed by the U.S. stating it did not intend to take over Cuba after the Spanish-American War.

Yellow Fever Epidemic

A disease the U.S. military helped eliminate in Cuba following the Spanish-American War.

Philippine-American War

A conflict from $1899$ to $1902$ resulting from Filipinos resisting U.S. colonization.

Independence of the Philippines

The event that occurred on July $4$, $1946$ after years of U.S. control.

Sick man of Asia

A term used to describe China when it was weak from war and foreign intervention.

Open Door Policy

A proposal by John Hay that China’s trading rights should be shared and not monopolized by any one country.

Boxer Rebellion

A nationalist movement in China in response to the Open Door Policy, eventually defeated by an eight-nation force.

Anti-Imperialist League

A group including Mark Twain and Jane Addams that denounced the McKinley administration for being expansionist at any cost.

Treaty of Portsmouth

An agreement negotiated by Theodore Roosevelt that ended the Russo-Japanese War.

Philippe Bunau-Varilla

An agent for a French company who convinced the U.S. to take over the building of the Panama Canal.

Panamanian Rebellion

An event engineered by the U.S. to help Panama break away from Colombia so the U.S. could build a canal.

Panama Canal

A central American waterway that opened in $1914$ after the U.S. secured rights from the newly independent Panama.

Economic Imperialism

The practice of controlling markets and sending businesses to other regions, such as Latin America.

Monroe Doctrine

An $1823$ policy declaring the Americas exempt from European colonization.

Roosevelt Corollary

An extension of the Monroe Doctrine stating the U.S. was the ‘international police power’ in the western hemisphere.

Big Stick Diplomacy

A foreign policy associated with Theodore Roosevelt characterized by the phrase ‘Speak softly, and carry a big stick.’

Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft’s policy of giving financial aid and allowing U.S. businesses to invest abroad to foster good relations.

Substituting dollars for bullets

The phrase used to describe William Howard Taft's Dollar Diplomacy.

Nicaragua Debt

A situation in $1911$ where Taft allowed American banks to take control of railroads and the national bank to pay off debts.

Missionary Diplomacy

Woodrow Wilson’s belief that the U.S. had a moral responsibility to end dictatorships and uphold democracy abroad.

Water-boarding

A brutal tactic used by the U.S. to suppress the Filipino rebellion during the Philippine-American War.

Guerilla Warfare

The type of combat used by Cuban rebels under José Martí against the Spanish.

Concentration Camps

Facilities where Spanish General Weyler, and later the U.S. in the Philippines, held civilians who died from disease and starvation.

Santiago, Cuba

The location where the U.S. army, including the Rough Riders, invaded during the Spanish-American War.

Havana, Cuba

The city where the U.S.S. Maine was located when it exploded in February $1898$.

Manila Bay

The site of the first battle of the Spanish-American War in the Philippines.

Mark Twain

A famous author and prominent member of the Anti-Imperialist League.

Grover Cleveland

A former U.S. President who was a member of the Anti-Imperialist League.

Andrew Carnegie

A wealthy industrialist who was a member of the Anti-Imperialist League.

Jane Addams

A social reformer and member of the Anti-Imperialist League.

James Monroe

The U.S. President who first established the Monroe Doctrine in $1823$.

Western Hemisphere

The region where the Roosevelt Corollary asserted the U.S. as an international police power.

World's Policeman

A theme of imperialism where the U.S. or European powers use internal turmoil in other nations to seize power.

William McKinley

The U.S. President who annexed Hawaii and witnessed the start of the Spanish-American War.