APUSH Period 7 (1900-1945)

Imperialism

U.S. policy of extending political/economic control over foreign territories; justified by Social Darwinism and Mahan's sea power theory.

Spanish-American War (1898)

U.S. defeated Spain; gained Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines; marked U.S. emergence as a world power.

Yellow journalism

Sensationalist newspaper reporting by Hearst and Pulitzer that inflamed public opinion toward war with Spain.

Open Door Policy (1899)

U.S. demanded equal trading rights in China; reflected American commercial ambitions in Asia.

Panama Canal (1914)

U.S.-built waterway through Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific; symbol of American power and engineering.

Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

Extended Monroe Doctrine; U.S. claimed right to intervene in Latin American nations to maintain stability ("Big Stick" policy).

Muckrakers

Progressive-era investigative journalists (Sinclair, Tarbell) exposing corporate and political corruption.

The Jungle (1906)

Upton Sinclair's novel exposing meatpacking conditions; led to Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.

16th Amendment (1913)

Authorized a federal income tax.

17th Amendment (1913)

Established direct election of U.S. senators (previously chosen by state legislatures).

18th Amendment (1919)

Prohibited manufacture and sale of alcohol (Prohibition).

19th Amendment (1920)

Granted women the right to vote.

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

Created central banking system to regulate money supply and prevent financial panics.

Zimmermann Telegram (1917)

Germany secretly proposed a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S.; helped push the U.S. into WWI.

Espionage & Sedition Acts (1917–18)

Federal laws criminalizing antiwar speech; suppressed dissent and targeted socialists and labor activists.

Wilson's 14 Points

Wilson's post-WWI peace plan: self-determination, freedom of the seas, League of Nations; mostly rejected at Versailles.

League of Nations

Wilson's proposed international peacekeeping body; U.S. Senate rejected membership, fatally weakening the organization.

Red Scare (1919–20)

Fear of communist revolution after the Russian Revolution; led to Palmer Raids and deportation of radicals.

Harlem Renaissance

1920s African American cultural explosion in Harlem; literature, music, and art celebrating Black identity and culture.

Great Migration

Mass movement of Black Americans from the Jim Crow South to Northern cities (1910–1970); reshaped U.S. demographics.

Scopes Trial (1925)

Tennessee teacher tried for teaching evolution; symbolized clash between modernism and religious fundamentalism.

Stock Market Crash (1929)

Collapse of stock prices in October 1929; triggered the Great Depression.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)

Raised tariffs on imports; triggered retaliatory tariffs worldwide and worsened the Great Depression.

New Deal

FDR's programs to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Depression; greatly expanded the federal government's role in the economy.

Social Security Act (1935)

Created federal old-age pension and unemployment insurance; cornerstone of the American welfare state.

Wagner Act (1935)

Guaranteed workers' right to organize and collectively bargain; dramatically strengthened labor unions.

Court-packing plan (1937)

FDR's failed attempt to add justices to the Supreme Court; seen as executive overreach and damaged his political standing.

Isolationism

Pre-WWII U.S. policy of avoiding foreign entanglements; reflected in the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s.

Lend-Lease Act (1941)

Allowed U.S. to supply Allied nations with war materials without formal entry into WWII.

Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941)

Japanese surprise attack on U.S. naval base in Hawaii; brought the U.S. into WWII.

Japanese American internment

FDR's Executive Order 9066 forced ~120,000 Japanese Americans into detention camps; upheld in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944).

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Allied invasion of Normandy, France; began liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. program to develop the atomic bomb; resulted in bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945).

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president; trust-buster; conservationist; built the Panama Canal; pursued aggressive foreign policy ("Big Stick").

Woodrow Wilson

28th president; led U.S. into WWI; proposed 14 Points and League of Nations; enacted major Progressive reforms.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

32nd president; led U.S. through the Great Depression (New Deal) and most of WWII; only president elected four times.

Herbert Hoover

31st president; blamed for the Great Depression; opposed direct federal relief, believing it would undermine character.

Upton Sinclair

Muckraker journalist; The Jungle (1906) exposed the meatpacking industry and led to federal food safety legislation.

Ida Tarbell

Muckraker who investigated and exposed Standard Oil's monopolistic practices in McClure's Magazine.

Eugene Debs

Socialist labor leader; founded the American Railway Union; ran for president five times; imprisoned under Espionage Act.

Marcus Garvey

Black nationalist leader who founded the UNIA and "Back to Africa" movement; promoted Black pride and economic self-sufficiency.

Langston Hughes

Poet and central figure of the Harlem Renaissance; celebrated Black life and culture; criticized racial injustice.