APUSH Period 7

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Naval officer whose 1890 book "The Influence of Sea Power upon History" argued national greatness depended on a powerful navy. He urged the U.S. to build a modern steel fleet and acquire overseas bases, directly influencing American imperialist expansion in the 1890s.

Queen Liliuokalani

Last reigning monarch of Hawaii, overthrown in 1893 by American planters backed by U.S. Marines. President Cleveland's attempt to restore her failed, and Hawaii was annexed in 1898, marking a key moment in American imperialism.

Pan-American Conference

Diplomatic meetings between the U.S. and Latin American nations beginning in 1889, organized by Secretary of State James Blaine to increase U.S. trade and influence and promote peaceful dispute resolution throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Jingoism

Extreme nationalism and aggressive foreign policy characterized by belief in national superiority and desire for military expansion. In the 1890s, American jingoists like Theodore Roosevelt and newspaper publishers Hearst and Pulitzer pushed for war with Spain and celebrated overseas expansion.

Cuban Revolt

Cuban insurrection against Spanish colonial rule beginning in 1895. Spanish General Weyler's brutal reconcentration camps, widely covered by yellow journalists, inflamed American public opinion and helped push the U.S. toward war with Spain in 1898.

Yellow Journalism

Sensationalist newspaper reporting that exaggerated events surrounding the Cuban revolt, pioneered by Hearst's New York Journal and Pulitzer's New York World. It inflamed anti-Spanish sentiment and helped provoke the Spanish-American War of 1898.

De Lome Letter

A private 1898 letter by Spanish minister Enrique de Lôme criticizing President McKinley as weak. Stolen and published by Hearst's Journal, it caused a major diplomatic incident and intensified anti-Spanish sentiment weeks before the sinking of the Maine.

Teller Amendment

A resolution attached to the 1898 declaration of war against Spain, stating the U.S. had no intention of annexing Cuba and would leave the island to its people once pacified. It was later undermined by the Platt Amendment.

Platt Amendment

1901 amendment incorporated into Cuba's constitution under U.S. pressure, limiting Cuban sovereignty by giving the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuban affairs, prohibiting foreign treaties without U.S. approval, and requiring Cuba to lease land for U.S. naval bases (Guantanamo Bay).

Sphere of Influence

A region where an outside power claims exclusive rights over trade and political affairs. European powers and Japan carved out spheres in China; the U.S. opposed this through the Open Door Policy, demanding equal commercial access for all nations.

George Dewey

U.S. Navy Commodore who defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, enabling the U.S. to take the Philippines. His decisive victory was a major early triumph of the Spanish-American War and launched American imperialism in Asia.

Emilio Aguinaldo

Filipino nationalist who allied with the U.S. during the Spanish-American War but led a guerrilla uprising against American annexation of the Philippines. The Philippine-American War (1899–1902) resulted in thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of Filipino deaths.

Rough Riders

The 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry led by Theodore Roosevelt, famous for charging up San Juan Hill in Cuba in July 1898. The regiment's diverse membership and battlefield glory made Roosevelt a national hero and launched his political career.

Hawaii

Pacific island chain annexed by the U.S. in 1898 after American planters overthrew Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. Acquired amid the Spanish-American War and growing interest in Pacific expansion, Hawaii became a vital military and commercial base.

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President (1901–1909) who championed the Square Deal, busted trusts, passed consumer protection laws, conserved natural resources, and oversaw the Panama Canal. His "Big Stick" diplomacy and Roosevelt Corollary expanded U.S. influence in Latin America.

Open Door Policy

U.S. foreign policy proposed by Secretary of State John Hay (1899–1900), calling on major powers to respect equal trading rights in China and preserve Chinese territorial integrity rather than dividing it into exclusive colonial spheres of influence.

Boxer Rebellion

A violent 1900 anti-foreign uprising in China that led to an international military intervention including U.S. troops. The U.S. used its indemnity share to fund Chinese student scholarships, reinforcing commitment to the Open Door Policy.

Panama Canal

A 51-mile waterway across Panama completed in 1914 connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Roosevelt backed a Panamanian revolution against Colombia in 1903 to secure the canal zone, transforming global commerce and U.S. naval strategy.

William Howard Taft

27th President (1909–1913) who continued Progressive reforms and pursued "Dollar Diplomacy" abroad. His split with Roosevelt led to the Bull Moose Party in 1912, dividing the Republican vote and allowing Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency.

Dollar Diplomacy

Taft's foreign policy using American financial investment rather than military force to expand U.S. influence, particularly in Latin America and Asia. Critics argued it served corporate interests at the expense of foreign sovereignty.

Roosevelt Corollary

A 1904 addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting U.S. right to intervene in Latin American nations unable to maintain order or pay debts. It justified repeated military interventions in the Caribbean and made the region effectively a U.S. sphere of influence.

Russo-Japanese War

Conflict (1904–1905) between Russia and Japan over Manchuria and Korea. Japan's surprising victories demonstrated rising non-Western power. Roosevelt mediated peace at Portsmouth, NH, earning the Nobel Peace Prize and enhancing U.S. prestige in Asia.

Puerto Rico

Acquired from Spain in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. The Insular Cases (1901) ruled the Constitution did not fully apply to unincorporated territories. Puerto Ricans received U.S. citizenship in 1917, reflecting debates over governing overseas possessions.

Woodrow Wilson

28th President (1913–1921) who enacted the New Freedom agenda, created the Federal Reserve, and led the U.S. into WWI. His idealistic Fourteen Points peace plan included the League of Nations, which the Senate ultimately rejected.

Moral Diplomacy

Wilson's foreign policy pledging to support democratic governments and oppose imperialism. In practice, Wilson intervened militarily in Mexico, Haiti, and Nicaragua, often contradicting his stated principles of self-determination and anti-imperialism.

Pragmatism

American philosophical movement by William James and John Dewey holding that ideas should be judged by practical consequences. It influenced Progressive Era reformers who emphasized experimentation and evidence over ideology in government and social policy.

Ida Tarbell

Muckraking journalist whose 1904 series exposed Standard Oil's monopolistic practices including bribery and secret railroad rebates. Her work shifted public opinion and contributed to the Supreme Court's 1911 decision breaking up Standard Oil.

Jacob Riis

Danish-American journalist whose 1890 book "How the Other Half Lives" used photography to expose tenement conditions in New York City, inspiring Progressive Era housing reforms and pioneering photojournalism as a tool for social change.

Muckrakers

Progressive Era investigative journalists who exposed corruption, social injustices, and corporate abuses. Key figures included Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil), Upton Sinclair (meatpacking), and Lincoln Steffens (municipal corruption). Their work generated public support for Progressive reforms.

Florence Kelley

Progressive reformer who fought for workers' rights as head of the National Consumers League, advocating minimum wages, eight-hour workdays, and an end to child labor. She successfully lobbied for the 1908 Muller v. Oregon decision upholding maximum-hour laws for women.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

A March 1911 factory fire in New York City that killed 146 garment workers, mostly immigrant women, because owners had locked the exits. The disaster catalyzed sweeping labor reforms including fire safety regulations, factory inspection laws, and worker protections.

16th Amendment

Ratified in 1913, authorized Congress to levy a federal income tax, reversing the 1895 Pollock decision. A key Progressive reform, it allowed the government to raise revenue based on income and shift the tax burden toward the wealthy.

17th Amendment

Ratified in 1913, established the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote, replacing selection by state legislatures. Progressives championed this change to reduce the influence of corrupt political machines and corporate interests over the Senate.

18th Amendment

Ratified in 1919, prohibited manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol, establishing Prohibition. The culmination of temperance activism, it ultimately failed, fueling bootlegging and organized crime, and was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program balancing interests of business, labor, and consumers through trust-busting, mediation of the 1902 Coal Strike, and consumer protection laws like the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.

Mann-Elkins Act

1910 legislation strengthening the ICC by giving it authority to regulate telephone, telegraph, and cable companies and to suspend new railroad rates pending investigation, part of the Progressive Era expansion of federal regulatory power.

The Jungle (Upton Sinclair)

A 1906 socialist novel exposing brutal conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry. Public outrage over unsanitary food processing (rather than Sinclair's intended focus on workers' exploitation) directly led to the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.

"Bull Moose" Party

The Progressive Party formed in 1912 by Theodore Roosevelt after failing to unseat Taft for the Republican nomination. Running on "New Nationalism," Roosevelt finished second but split the Republican vote, handing the presidency to Woodrow Wilson.

Booker T. Washington

African American educator who founded Tuskegee Institute and advocated gradual advancement through vocational training rather than demanding immediate political equality. His 1895 "Atlanta Compromise" accepted segregation in exchange for white support of Black economic development, drawing criticism from W.E.B. Du Bois.

W.E.B. Du Bois

African American scholar and NAACP co-founder who challenged Washington's accommodationism, demanding full civil rights and higher education for a "talented tenth" of Black leaders. His 1903 "Souls of Black Folk" became a cornerstone of the civil rights movement.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 by Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and others to fight racial discrimination through legal challenges and advocacy. It became the leading civil rights organization of the 20th century, winning Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Alice Paul

Radical suffragist who led the National Woman's Party, organized the 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade, picketed the White House, and drafted the Equal Rights Amendment (1923). Her confrontational tactics helped pressure Wilson and Congress to support the 19th Amendment.

19th Amendment

Ratified August 18, 1920, granting women the right to vote. The culmination of 70+ years of activism beginning at the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), it was won through the efforts of leaders including Anthony, Stanton, Catt, and Paul.

Lusitania

British ocean liner sunk by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. The attack outraged American public opinion, strained U.S.-German relations, and was a significant step toward eventual U.S. entry into World War I.

Preparedness

A movement (1914–1917) led by Roosevelt and others advocating military buildup before potential U.S. entry into WWI. Wilson eventually supported it through the National Defense Act and Naval Construction Act (1916), increasing army size and shipbuilding.

Zimmermann Telegram

A secret 1917 German proposal to Mexico offering help recovering Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in exchange for a military alliance against the U.S. Intercepted by British intelligence and published in American newspapers, it helped push the U.S. toward declaring war on Germany.

John J. Pershing

General who commanded the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in WWI, insisting American troops fight as an independent force. Previously led the punitive expedition into Mexico after Pancho Villa. The arrival of over two million American soldiers helped turn the tide for the Allies in 1918.

George Creel

Journalist who headed the Committee on Public Information (CPI) during WWI, orchestrating a massive propaganda campaign using posters, films, and speakers. While effective in rallying support, the CPI also contributed to anti-German hysteria and suppression of civil liberties.

Bolsheviks

Lenin's radical communist faction that seized power in Russia in November 1917, withdrew from WWI via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and established the Soviet Union. Their revolutionary ideology triggered the first Red Scare in the U.S. and fueled fears of communist subversion.

Fourteen Points

Wilson's January 1918 peace program outlining a just post-war world, including freedom of the seas, arms reduction, self-determination of peoples, and a League of Nations. Though the basis for Germany's armistice, most points were compromised at the Paris Peace Conference.

League of Nations

International peacekeeping organization proposed by Wilson and established by the Versailles Treaty (1919). The U.S. Senate rejected membership, led by Henry Cabot Lodge's objections to Article X. Without U.S. participation, the League was fatally weakened.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Republican Senate leader who opposed the Versailles Treaty and League of Nations, demanding Congress retain its war-making power. His personal rivalry with Wilson and concerns over U.S. sovereignty contributed to the Senate's rejection of the treaty in 1919–1920.

Self-Determination

Wilson's Fourteen Points principle that peoples of different nationalities should determine their own governance. While applied to some European peoples post-WWI, it was denied to colonized peoples in Asia and Africa, fueling nationalist resentment worldwide.

Reparations

Financial penalties imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty (1919), set at 132 billion gold marks. The crushing burden contributed to German hyperinflation and economic instability, fueled resentment exploited by Hitler, and helped pave the way for World War II.

Mobilization

Organizing a nation's military and economic resources for war. WWI mobilization included the Selective Service Act (drafting 2.8 million), the War Industries Board, the Food Administration under Hoover, and Liberty Bond drives, demonstrating the federal government's capacity to direct the entire economy.

Liberty Bonds

Government bonds sold to the American public to finance WWI, raising approximately $17 billion through patriotic propaganda campaigns. They built public investment in the war effort and gave ordinary Americans a financial stake in victory.

Spanish Flu

A 1918–1919 influenza pandemic killing an estimated 50–100 million worldwide, including ~675,000 Americans. Unusually deadly to young adults, it spread through military camps and cities, killing more Americans than WWI combat while receiving little wartime attention.

Schenck v. United States

A 1919 Supreme Court case unanimously upholding the conviction of a Socialist for distributing anti-draft leaflets. Justice Holmes established the "clear and present danger" test for limiting free speech, defining First Amendment limits during wartime.

Selective Service Act

Passed May 1917, establishing a military draft requiring men 21–30 (later 18–45) to register. Nearly 24 million registered and 2.8 million were drafted. A major expansion of federal power that fundamentally transformed the U.S. military.

The Red Scare (1st)

Anti-communist hysteria (1919–1920) triggered by the Bolshevik Revolution, labor strikes, and anarchist bombings. Attorney General Palmer's raids arrested thousands of suspected radicals, resulting in mass deportations and suppression of labor unions and civil liberties.

Palmer Raids

1919–1920 raids organized by AG Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover targeting suspected communists and radicals. Thousands were arrested without warrants and hundreds deported, violating civil liberties and contributing to the decline of radical labor movements.

Nativism

Strong preference for native-born Americans over immigrants, fueling the KKK's resurgence, restrictive immigration laws (1921, 1924), and hostility toward Catholics and Jews in the 1920s. It represented a backlash against massive late 19th–early 20th century immigration.

Sacco & Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrant anarchists convicted of murder in 1920 in a trial widely seen as tainted by anti-immigrant bias and anti-radical hysteria. Their 1927 execution became a symbol of injustice facing immigrants and radicals in 1920s America.

The Great Migration

Movement of ~1.6 million African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities (1910–1930), driven by sharecropping poverty, racial violence, and Jim Crow laws. It transformed Northern cities, gave rise to the Harlem Renaissance, and reshaped American politics.

Fundamentalism

Protestant religious movement insisting on the literal truth of the Bible, emerging in reaction to modernism and Darwinian evolution. It gained strength in the 1920s, culminating in the 1925 Scopes Trial, which pitted Biblical literalism against the teaching of evolution.

Traditionalism

Broad cultural resistance to 1920s rapid change—urbanization, immigration, and changing gender roles—rooted in rural Protestant values. It supported Prohibition, the KKK, immigration restriction, and anti-evolution laws, reflecting a defining tension between old and new America.

Henry Ford

Automobile manufacturer who revolutionized industry with the moving assembly line (1913), dramatically reducing car costs and making them accessible to middle-class Americans. His $5 workday set new wage standards and his methods transformed American business and consumer culture.

Assembly Line Process

Manufacturing method pioneered by Ford in which workers each perform a specific task as a product moves along a conveyor belt. It reduced Model T production time from 12+ hours to ~93 minutes, lowered costs, increased wages, and transformed American industry.

Art Deco

Visual design movement of the 1920s–1930s featuring bold geometric shapes, rich colors, and celebration of modern technology, influencing architecture (Chrysler Building), fashion, film, and consumer goods. It was a defining aesthetic of the Jazz Age and Machine Age.

Charles Lindbergh

American aviator who completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in May 1927, becoming an international symbol of American ingenuity. He later became controversial as a leading spokesman for the isolationist America First Committee opposing U.S. entry into WWII.

Modernism

Cultural movement rejecting traditional forms in favor of experimentation to represent a rapidly changing world. Writers like Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Eliot defined literary modernism, which clashed with fundamentalism in the 1920s culture wars.

Scopes Trial

1925 Tennessee trial of teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution, pitting attorney Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan. A national spectacle, the trial exposed tensions between science and religion, modernism and fundamentalism, urban and rural America.

"Scarface" Al Capone

Chicago crime boss who built a Prohibition-era empire through bootlegging, speakeasies, and gambling. Responsible for the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, he symbolized Prohibition's failure and the rise of organized crime, finally convicted for tax evasion in 1931.

Margaret Sanger

Birth control activist and founder of the American Birth Control League (later Planned Parenthood) who fought for women's access to contraception as essential to health and autonomy, facing prosecution under the Comstock Law before establishing the first U.S. birth control clinic.

Harlem Renaissance

1920s cultural movement in Harlem in which African American writers, artists, and musicians—including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington—expressed pride in Black identity and challenged racial stereotypes, emerging from the Great Migration.

"Jazz Age"

F. Scott Fitzgerald's term for the 1920s, characterized by jazz music, flappers, social liberation, consumerism, and rebellion against Victorian morals. It reflected the decade's cultural dynamism, changing gender roles, and the rise of mass entertainment.

Marcus Garvey

Jamaican-born Black nationalist who founded the UNIA and the "Back to Africa" movement, promoting Black pride and Pan-African unity. Deported after a mail fraud conviction in 1925, his ideas influenced later movements including the Nation of Islam and Black Power.

Warren G. Harding

29th President (1921–1923) who promised a "return to normalcy." His administration pursued conservative, pro-business policies but was tainted by corruption scandals, most notably Teapot Dome. Harding died in office before the scandals were fully revealed.

"Return to Normalcy"

Harding's 1920 campaign slogan calling for a return to pre-war stability after WWI, the Progressive Era, and Wilson's idealism. It captured public desire for peace and prosperity and represented the conservative reaction that dominated the 1920s.

Teapot Dome

The Harding administration's major corruption scandal in which Interior Secretary Albert Fall secretly leased federal oil reserves to private companies in exchange for bribes. Fall became the first Cabinet member convicted of a felony while in office.

Calvin Coolidge

30th President (1923–1929) known for laissez-faire capitalism, tax cuts, and the belief "the business of America is business." His hands-off approach to economic regulation contributed to the speculative conditions that led to the Great Depression.

Herbert Hoover

31st President (1929–1933) whose presidency was dominated by the Great Depression. Preferring indirect aid over direct relief, he established the RFC but resisted helping the unemployed. His inadequate response led to his landslide defeat by FDR in 1932.

Alfred E. Smith

Democratic Governor of New York and first Catholic presidential nominee (1928), defeated by Hoover. His Catholicism, urban identity, and opposition to Prohibition made him unpopular with rural Protestants, but he helped build the urban ethnic coalition crucial to FDR's New Deal.

Great Depression

The worst economic downturn in U.S. history, beginning with the 1929 stock market crash. Unemployment reached 25%, banks failed, industrial production collapsed by half, and millions lost homes and farms, prompting the New Deal's expansion of federal government.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929—the day of the catastrophic stock market crash triggering the Great Depression. Sixteen million shares were sold in panic, wiping out billions in wealth and triggering bank failures and unemployment. The symbolic start of the Depression.

Federal Reserve

The U.S. central banking system established in 1913. During the Depression, the Fed's failure to prevent bank panics and its contraction of the money supply deepened the crisis. New Deal reforms strengthened banking regulation and deposit insurance to prevent future collapses.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

A 1930 law raising import duties to historic highs to protect American producers. It backfired when foreign nations retaliated, international trade collapsed, and the global depression worsened. Widely considered a major policy mistake that deepened the Depression.

Bonus Army/Bonus March

In summer 1932, ~20,000 WWI veterans marched to Washington demanding early payment of promised bonuses. After Congress refused, Hoover ordered General MacArthur to disperse them using cavalry and tear gas, destroying Hoover's public image.

RFC (Reconstruction Finance Corporation)

Created by Hoover in 1932 to provide emergency loans to banks and businesses, reflecting his belief in indirect, trickle-down aid. Critics called it "a millionaire's dole" for aiding corporations while ignoring unemployed workers; it was later expanded under the New Deal.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd President (1933–1945) who led the country through the Depression with the New Deal and through WWII to victory. He transformed the federal government's role in the economy, built the New Deal coalition, and served an unprecedented four terms.

21st Amendment

Ratified December 1933, repealing Prohibition (18th Amendment). Prohibition had failed to stop drinking while fueling organized crime. Repeal was supported by FDR and returned alcohol regulation to the states, the only amendment ever to repeal a previous one.

Three Rs

The conceptual framework of FDR's New Deal: Relief (immediate assistance to the unemployed), Recovery (stimulating economic growth), and Reform (long-term changes like banking reform and Social Security to prevent future crises).

First New Deal

Initial wave of legislation in FDR's first Hundred Days (1933) including the Emergency Banking Act, AAA, CCC, PWA, NRA, and FDIC. Focused primarily on immediate relief and economic recovery through an unprecedented expansion of federal programs.

Fireside Chats

Informal radio addresses by FDR explaining his policies in plain language and building public confidence. Beginning in March 1933 with a banking crisis explanation, they created a personal presidential connection with citizens and pioneered mass media for political communication.

New Deal Programs (AAA, PWA, CCC, TVA, NRA, SEC, FHA, CWA, WPA)

Major New Deal agencies: AAA raised farm prices by limiting production; PWA and WPA funded public works employing millions; CCC employed young men in conservation; TVA provided electricity to the rural South; NRA set business and labor codes; SEC regulated the stock market; FHA insured mortgages; CWA provided temporary jobs. Together they represented an unprecedented expansion of federal power into the economy.

FDIC

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created in 1933 to insure individual bank deposits, ending the bank runs that caused thousands of Depression-era bank failures. One of the most successful New Deal reforms, the FDIC still protects depositors today.

Social Security Act

Landmark 1935 legislation creating federal old-age insurance, state-administered unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children. It established the principle that government must protect citizens from economic insecurity and became the cornerstone of the American welfare state.

Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR's activist First Lady who transformed the role into a public advocacy platform. She championed civil rights, women's rights, and the poor, served as FDR's eyes and ears across the country, and later helped draft the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Huey P. Long

Populist Louisiana senator who criticized the New Deal as insufficiently radical and proposed the "Share Our Wealth" program guaranteeing a minimum family income. His mass following threatened FDR in 1936 until his assassination in September 1935, which influenced FDR to shift leftward with the Second New Deal.

Father Charles E. Coughlin

The "Radio Priest" who reached tens of millions of listeners. Initially a New Deal supporter, he turned against FDR and became increasingly radical and antisemitic in the late 1930s, reflecting the populist backlash that complicated FDR's political position.