U.S. History: Imperialism, Progressivism, World War I, and the 1920s

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, figures, legislative acts, and events from late nineteenth-century American Imperialism, the Gilded Age agrarian movement, Progressivism, World War I, and the Roaring Twenties.

Imperialism

A policy in which a nation extends its power, influence, or control over other territories through military, economic, or political means.

Expansionism

The belief that a nation should grow by acquiring new territory or extending its influence, motivating U.S. interest in places like Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Annexation of Hawaii (1898)

The formal incorporation of Hawaii into the United States after American planters helped overthrow the monarchy in 1893, pursued for its Pacific naval and trade location.

Queen Liliuokalani

The last monarch of Hawaii, who ruled from 1891 until overthrown in 1893 by American and European business interests supported by U.S. forces.

Yellow Journalism

A sensationalized style of newspaper reporting that exaggerated or distorted events to attract readers, used notably by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.

William Randolph Hearst

A powerful newspaper publisher whose sensational stories and exaggerated reporting helped promote public support for U.S. intervention in Cuba.

Joseph Pulitzer

A newspaper publisher and rival of Hearst who competed for circulation through dramatic headlines and sensational reporting in the 1890s.

USS Maine

An American battleship that exploded in Havana Harbor, Cuba, on February 15, 1898, killing more than 250 sailors and increasing American support for war with Spain.

De Lôme Letter

A private letter by Spanish minister Enrique Dupuy de Lôme published in 1898 that criticized President William McKinley as weak, escalating U.S.-Spain tensions.

Spanish-American War (1898)

A brief conflict between the U.S. and Spain fought largely over Cuban independence, resulting in American acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Rough Riders

A volunteer cavalry regiment organized during the Spanish-American War, led by Theodore Roosevelt, famous for their role in the Battle of San Juan Hill.

Theodore Roosevelt

Assistant Secretary of the Navy who resigned to lead the Rough Riders, later becoming president after gaining national renown for his wartime service.

Treaty of Paris (1898)

The treaty ending the Spanish-American War in which Spain gave up Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States.

Philippines

An island nation in Southeast Asia acquired from Spain in 1898, sparking controversy over American imperialism and armed conflict with Filipino nationalists.

Emilio Aguinaldo

Leader of the Filipino independence movement who initially cooperated with the U.S. against Spain and later led Filipino forces in the Philippine-American War.

Second Industrial Revolution

A period of rapid industrial growth from the 1870s to early 1900s characterized by advances in steel, electricity, railroads, mass manufacturing, and urbanization.

Mechanization

The replacement of human or animal labor with machines, increasing productivity and reducing production costs in factories and agriculture.

Monopolies

Business structures in which a single company gains control of an entire industry, limiting competition and concentrating economic power.

Railroad Rates

Fees charged by railroads to transport passengers and freight, frequently criticized by farmers as excessively high in areas lacking competition.

Crop-Lien System

A credit arrangement in which farmers borrowed money or supplies against future harvests at high interest rates, frequently trapping them in persistent debt.

Sharecropping

A post-Civil War Southern agricultural system where farmers rented land by giving landowners a share of their crop, keeping many tenant farmers in poverty.

Tenant Farming

An agricultural system in which farmers rented land for cash or crops, offering slightly more independence than sharecropping but still presenting financial hardship.

Deflation (Greenbacks)

A decline in the general price level following the Civil War caused by withdrawing greenbacks from circulation, increasing money value and debt burdens.

Gold Standard

A monetary system where currency is backed exclusively by gold, opposed by many farmers because it restricted the money supply and lowered prices.

Debt Cycle

A recurring pattern where farmers borrowed funds for equipment and land but could not earn enough to pay debts, entrapping them in tenancy or lien systems.

Grange (Patrons of Husbandry)

An organization founded in 1867 to improve social and economic conditions for farmers and push for regulation of railroad freight and grain storage rates.

Granger Laws

Midwestern state laws passed in the 1870s aimed at regulating railroad and grain elevator rates to protect agricultural producers.

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

A Supreme Court ruling upholding the right of state governments to regulate private property and businesses dedicated to public use, such as grain warehouses.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

The first major federal regulatory act, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad operations and prevent unfair pricing.

Farmers' Alliance

A cooperative agricultural reform movement of the 1880s that worked to ease farmers' economic hardships and laid the groundwork for the Populist Party.

Populism

A political movement originating in the late 19th century representing agrarian and working-class interests against banks, corporations, and monopolies.

People's Party (Populist Party)

A political party founded in 1892 calling for free silver, government ownership of railroads, a graduated income tax, and direct election of senators.

Omaha Platform (1892)

The manifesto of the People's Party adopted at Omaha, Nebraska, outlining agrarian and labor demands for major economic and electoral reforms.

Free Silver

The proposed policy of unlimited silver coinage alongside gold to expand the money supply, cause mild inflation, and alleviate farmers' debt burdens.

Bimetallism

A monetary standard backing currency with both gold and silver, supported by agrarian reformers seeking to expand the volume of currency in circulation.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic and Populist presidential nominee in 1896 who championed bimetallism and delivered the iconic 'Cross of Gold' address.

Cross of Gold Speech (1896)

A renowned address delivered by William Jennings Bryan arguing against strict adherence to the gold standard at the expense of working people.

Election of 1896

A critical presidential race where William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan, affirming the gold standard and checking independent Populist momentum.

Subtreasury Plan

A proposal by the Farmers' Alliance for government warehouses where farmers could store crops and secure low-interest loans while waiting for prices to rise.

Direct Election of Senators

An electoral reform proposed by Populists to elect U.S. senators by popular vote rather than state legislatures, enacted via the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

Progressivism

A reform movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries using government power to address urban, industrial, political, and corporate abuses.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists and authors who exposed corporate corruption, unsafe working conditions, and municipal abuses to inspire public reform.

Jacob Riis

A photojournalist whose book 'How the Other Half Lives' highlighted the plight and squalor of New York City's tenement slums, advancing housing reform.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraking author and reformer whose novel 'The Jungle' detailed unsanitary meatpacking conditions and inspired landmark consumer legislation.

The Jungle (1906)

A novel by Upton Sinclair exposing horrific sanitary and labor conditions in Chicago's meatpacking plants, directly spurring federal food laws.

Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's domestic platform built around the three Cs: corporate regulation, consumer protection, and natural resource conservation.

Trust-Busting

The federal prosecution and dissolution of monopolistic trusts under antitrust laws, popularized during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency.

Northern Securities Case (1904)

A landmark Supreme Court decision that broke up J.P. Morgan's Northwest railroad monopoly and affirmed federal authority under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Federal legislation prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or fraudulently labeled foods and pharmaceuticals.

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Federal law establishing strict cleanliness guidelines for meatpacking plants and mandating federal inspections of all meat products crossed in interstate commerce.

Woodrow Wilson

The 28th U.S. president (1913–1921), champion of the New Freedom program, and wartime commander-in-chief who formulated the Fourteen Points.

New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson's domestic program focusing on dismantling trusts, reducing protective tariffs, and overhauling the national banking structure.

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

Legislation creating the Federal Reserve System to control the nation's money supply, adjust interest rates, and regulate commercial banks.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (1914)

A federal regulatory agency created to investigate corporations, identify anticompetitive activity, and halt unfair trade practices.

Triple Entente

The pre-World War I diplomatic and military alliance linking Great Britain, France, and Russia against the Central Powers.

Triple Alliance

The prewar military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, from which Italy departed to join the Allies during World War I.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

The German naval policy of using U-boats to sink merchant and passenger ships without advance warning in war zones surrounding the British Isles.

Zimmermann Telegram (1917)

A intercepted diplomatic cable from Germany proposing a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S. in exchange for reclaimed lost territories.

Committee on Public Information (CPI)

A federal wartime agency led by George Creel that used films, pamphlets, and 'Four Minute Men' speeches to mobilize home front support for WWI.

Liberty Bonds

Interest-bearing government securities sold to American civilians to help finance Allied military operations during World War I.

Hull House

A prominent settlement house in Chicago offering social services, education, and childcare to European immigrants and impoverished urban residents.

Jane Addams

A prominent social reformer who co-founded Hull House in Chicago and became a pioneering leader of the Settlement House Movement.

Florence Kelley

A leading Progressive reformer who campaigned against child labor, championed factory workplace safety, and directed the National Consumers League.

National Consumers League (NCL)

An advocacy group headed by Florence Kelley that mobilized consumer boycotts to press for ethical working conditions, fair wages, and child labor limits.

Settlement House Movement

A reform initiative where educated, middle-class volunteers lived in urban immigrant neighborhoods to provide direct welfare, education, and health services.

Fourteen Points (1918)

Woodrow Wilson's peace proposal outlining principles including freedom of the seas, disarmament, national self-determination, and a League of Nations.

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The peace settlement that formally concluded World War I, placing severe reparations and territorial penalties on Germany and establishing the League of Nations.

League of Nations

An international peacekeeping organization created after WWI; the United States never joined due to Senate opposition led by isolationists.

Paris Peace Conference (1919)

The international convention of Allied statesmen following the 1918 armistice that drafted the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Self-Determination

The principle promoted in Wilson's Fourteen Points maintaining that national and ethnic groups possess the right to choose their own government and sovereignty.

Return to Normalcy

Warren G. Harding's 1920 campaign theme promising an end to wartime interventions, high taxes, and international entanglements in favor of domestic business growth.

Warren G. Harding

The 29th U.S. president whose administration favored pro-business deregulation, lower taxes, and isolationism following World War I.

Calvin Coolidge

The 30th U.S. president who supported free-market prosperity and limited government oversight throughout the economic expansion of the 1920s.

Herbert Hoover

The 31st U.S. president and former WWI Food Administrator who favored voluntary private cooperation over compulsory federal action during economic distress.

Prohibition

The nationwide constitutional ban on the manufacture, distribution, and sale of intoxicating liquors, established by the Eighteenth Amendment.

Volstead Act (1919)

The federal statute establishing the legal apparatus and defining alcoholic beverages to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment.

Harlem Renaissance

A 1920s artistic, musical, and literary explosion centered in Harlem, New York, celebrating Black pride, identity, and creative expression.

Marcus Garvey

A prominent Black nationalist who advocated racial self-reliance, separatism, and the Back-to-Africa movement through the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

Red Scare

A nationwide period of anti-communist hysteria and anti-immigrant sentiment immediately following World War I, prompting federal raids on radicals.

Scopes Trial (1925)

The highly publicized Tennessee trial of teacher John Scopes for teaching biological evolution, highlighting the cultural clash between modernist science and fundamentalism.

Big Stick Diplomacy

Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy approach, symbolized by the adage 'speak softly and carry a big stick,' using naval readiness to enforce diplomatic goals.

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting the U.S. right to exercise international police power in Latin America to stabilize disorderly nations and deter European intervention.

Dollar Diplomacy

President William Howard Taft's foreign policy aimed at replacing military intervention with American commercial investment and loans in Latin America and East Asia.

Moral Diplomacy

President Woodrow Wilson's diplomatic policy seeking to spread democratic ideals and deny recognition to oppressive or undemocratic foreign regimes.

War Industries Board (WIB)

A federal wartime agency that coordinated industrial output, allocated raw materials, fixed prices, and converted civilian factories for military production during WWI.

Great Migration

The large-scale movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern and Midwestern industrial centers seeking defense jobs and escape from Jim Crow laws.

Red Summer (1919)

A wave of violent, deadly racial conflicts and white mob riots that erupted in dozens of American cities following demobilization after World War I.

Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

The constitutional amendment prohibiting any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.