IB History of the Americas: Section 1.1

Monetary Policy

Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling the money supply and thus interest rates.

infrastructure

Fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools

Horizontal Integration

system of consolidating many firms in the same business

Vertical Integration

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution

Monroe Doctrine

A statement of foreign policy which proclaimed that Europe should not interfere in affairs within the United States or in the development of other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

Annexation

The adding of a region to the territory of an existing political unit.

Social Darwinism

The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.

Eugenics

The science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics

Gold Standard

A monetary system in which paper money and coins are equal to the value of a certain amount of gold

Protectorate

A country whose affairs are partially controlled by a stronger power.

Jingoism

Extreme, chauvinistic patriotism, often favoring an aggressive, warlike foreign policy

Ulysses S. Grant

an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.

Robber Barons

An American capitalist who acquired a fortune in the late nineteenth century by ruthless means.

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and sociologist who applied the theory of natural selection to human societies (1820-1903)

Francis Galton

Interested in link between heredity and intelligence; founder of the eugenics movement

Goldwin Smith

- British professor and journalist
- believed that British values and heritage were superior to all others

John Fiske

A historian and popular lecturer on Darwinism who developed racial corollaries from Darwin's ideas that bolstered imperialist theory; in American Political Ideas (1885) he stressed the superior character of "Anglo-Saxon" institutions as a reason for global domination.

Josiah Strong

American clergyman who preached Anglo-Saxon superiority and called for stronger U.S. missionary effort overseas

John Burgess

Founder of Columbia University's School of Political Science and conducted an 1890 study called "Political Science and Comparative Law" that stated Anglo-Saxon nations possessed the highest political talents. Their duty is to uplift the less fortunate people, even if they must resort to imposing institutions upon them when necessary.

Rudyard Kipling

British writer who wrote of "the white man's burden" and justified imperialism

Alfred T. Mahan

Author who argued in 1890 that the economic future of the United States rested on new overseas markets protected by a larger navy. Wrote "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History"

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

Princess Liliuokalani

Hawaiian princess/queen who was overthrown by American businessmen

Background: Can you identify and explain the significant changes America was undergoing, domestically, in the late 19th century?

America was undergoing the reconstruction and the unification of the Southern colonies and the Northern colonies. This reconstruction took a lot of money and then caused America to go through depression along the road in 1873 and 1893.

What were the ideological reasons for an expansionist US foreign policy at the end of the 19th century?

The Monroe doctrine came into play
Europe interfering with Western Expansion
Gave the US the right to intervene in managing

What arguments, both moral and realist, did pro-imperialist Americans make to justify expansion abroad? How did these views impact Canada and Latin America?

The belief that the Anglo Saxon was the superior race, and the other races were inferior. The Darwinist ideas moved to a person that had the idea of combining the US and Canada. The US also said that they were rescuing the Latin American countries from Spain.

How did economic concerns impact foreign expansion in the late 19th century?

Businesses wanted to expand more and more. The move to gold put pressure on the economy until the gold was actually found. The US was also consuming more than expanding.

How did both the annexation of Hawaii and the Venezuelan Crisis impact political decisions made at the time?

The president and the jinoists had different ideals, and Cleveland just ended up interfering with the Uk when they tried to get gold in Venezuela.

Why did the USA embark on a period of territorial expansion in the years 1880-1900?

They wanted to expand further than they had boundaries on in the previous years, along with economical, political, and moral reasons for them to keep expanding.

To what extent was this expansion consistent with prior US foreign policy?

It was consistent with the Manifest destiny and the Monroe Doctrine composed by President Monroe.

To what extent was there domestic opposition to this expansion?

There were many nationalists and jingoists that supported the expansion of the US into the Western territories.