Studied by 7 people
Imperialism
The expansion of one country’s political, economic, and military influence over another country.
Alaska
Purchased in 1867. Seen as a polar icebox with no value until gold was discovered there. This lead to increased desires for imperialist expansion.
Josiah Strong
Argued that that white Anglo-Saxon race was the pinnacle of human evolution and therefore the fittest to survive.
Influence of Sea Power on History
Published by Alfred Thayer Mahan. Argued that any country that was strong on the world stage got that way because of strong navy. This argument lead to an act which increased the steel navy.
Spanish American War
Caused by American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. The United States won and gained possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. This marked the emergence of the United States as a global power and the beginning of its overseas empire.
Yellow Journalism
Emphasizes sensationalism over factual reporting. It is characterized by bold headlines, exaggerated stories, and the use of scandalous or lurid details to attract readers.
Platt Amendment
Inserted in the Cuban Constitution allowing the United States to intervene in Cuba if American economic interests were threatening, making it difficult for Cuba to act.
The Philippine War
Conflict fought from 1899 to 1902 between the United States and the Philippines, in which the Filipinos sought independence from colonial rule. Resulted in American victory and the establishment of an American colonial government in the Philippines.
Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
Process by which the United States took control of the Islands, which had previously been an independent kingdom. Occurred following a period of political upheaval and economic instability in the country.
Spheres of Influence
Areas in which a country has significant political, economic, or military influence. These areas are typically outside of the country's borders, and are used to expand its power and protect its interests. Used in China’s Open Door Policy.
Open Door Policy
Set of principles proposed by the United States to promote equal access for all nations to trade in China. It proposed that all countries should have equal opportunities to trade with China, and that China should not be partitioned or monopolized by any one country.
Progressive Causes
Growing power of big businesses, uncertainties in the economy, violent conflicts between labor groups vs. employers, political machine power, Jim Crow segregation int eh South, alcohol, and lack of women’s suffrage.
Progressive Belief
Society, on some level, was deteriorating and the only cure was significant government intervention.
Muckrakers
Writers who exposed corruption and other societal problems. They used investigative reporting techniques to bring to light issues such as political corruption, dangerous working conditions, and unsanitary food production practices.
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
Exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meat packing industry. Helped lead to the passage of significant federal food safety laws such as the Meat Inspection and The Pure Food and Drug Acts.
Ida Tarbel
American journalist, best known for their investigative reporting that led to the breakup of the Standard Oil Company's monopoly in the early 20th century.
How the Other Half Lives - Jacob Riis
Exposed unsanitary and disease ridden living conditions of the poor and working class living in New York’s tenements.
Secret Ballot
Voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. It is designed to ensure that the voter's choice is secret, free and fair, and to prevent intimidation or vote buying from political bosses.
17th Amendment (1913)
Established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. Greatly supported by the Progressive Party.
18th Amedment
The Anti-Saloon League, American Temperance Sociiety, and women had this passed which forbade the manufacture and sale of alcohol.
19th Amendment (1920)
Allowed women the right to vote.
Initiative
Established that voters could require legislators to consider a bill that they chose to ignore.
Referendum
Established that voters themselves could vote on the adpotion of proposed laws.
Recall
Established a way to remove a corrupt politician before their term was complete.
Scientific Management - Fredrick Taylor
To make factories work more efficiently, this man would go to factories and implement his system of reforming the most inefficient parts of a factory for the manager.
Niagara Movement - WEB Du Bois
Founded by black intellectuals who met frequently to plan protests in order to secure rights for the black population.
NAACP
Aimed to abolish all forms of segregation and expand educational opportunities for black children.
Teddy Roosevelt
Became president after the assassination of William McKinley and ran on the program “The Square Deal” in his reelection. He was widley known as being a trustbuster and conservationist (Forest Reserve Act) as well.
Square Deal
Program meant to protect consumers, regulate corporations, and improve working conditions. It was based on three main ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection.
Anthracite Coal Strike
Labor conflict involving mine workers who demanded better working conditions and higher wages, while the owners resisted these demands. The strike ended when President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and helped negotiate a settlement between the two sides.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Law designed to prevent monopolies and promote competition in business by prohibiting certain business practices that are considered anticompetitive, such as price-fixing and market allocation agreements, and it allows the government to break up monopolies and regulate certain business activities.
Triple Entente/Allied Powers
Britain, Russia, and France.
Triple Alliance/Central Powers
Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.
Lusitania
British ocean liner that was sunk by a German submarine during World War I. The sinking of the ship, which killed more than 1000 passengers and crew, was a major factor in the United States' decision to enter the war.
Zimmerman Telegram
Secret diplomatic communication that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I. The message was intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence and pushed the US into WW1.
Treaty of Versailles
Officially ended World War I between Germany and the Allied Powers. Included provisions that punished Germany for its role in the war, including significant territorial losses and financial reparations.
14 Points - Woodrow Wilson
Freedom of seas, self-determination of nations, established of the League of Nations. The President’s illness induced absence for many meetings allowed the French and British to go on and punish Germany instead. Also, the League was formed, but the US was not a member.
Total War
When a country mobilizes much of its economic, industrial, and social resources in order to win (ex. WW1).
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Combined these acts made it a crime to oppose the war, interfere with the draft, or say anything in opposition to the war.
Schenck vs. US
Established the "clear and present danger" test for determining whether speech is protected by the First Amendment. The court ruled that a man’s anti-war speech posed a clear and present danger to the war effort, and therefore was not protected by the First Amendment.
Red Scare
A period of fear and paranoia in the United States during the early 20th century, characterized by the belief that Communist and socialist ideologies were infiltrating American society. This occurred after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
Palmer Raids
A series of raids conducted by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States.
Emergency Quota (1921) and National Origins Acts (1924)
Set new immigration, especially from Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia, quotas extremely low.
Great Migration
The relocation of more than 6 million Black Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West. Many moved to escape Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement but also to find jobs.
Tulsa Massacre
Result of the strained relationship between the white and black communities and the heightened jealousy of the success of the Black Wall Street area. Armed white men looted, burned and killed hundreds of black residents.
Assembly Line
Manufacturing process that involves a series of workers and machines that work together to produce a product in a more efficient manner. This allowed products to be made more quickly increasing production and decreasing in cost.
Popular Culture
Widespread cultural elements that are prevalent in a society at a given point in time. This can include music, movies, television shows, fashion, slang, and other trends. Increased as a result of new technology.
Harlem Renaissance
Cultural movement characterized by a flourishing of African American art, literature, music, and intellectual thought. Challenged the prevailing racism and stereotypes of African Americans in the United States.
Flappers
Mew generation of young women in the 1920s who rejected traditional social norms and embraced a more modern and liberated lifestyle. They wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, and danced to jazz music in speakeasies and were a symbol of women’s liberation.
Modernists
Urban protestants who believed that their faith was large enough to embrace the changing culture of gender roles and nativists.
Fundamentalists
Rural protestants who condemned the city morals because of their belief that every word of the Bible needed to be taken literally/seriously.
Scopes Monkey Trial
High school science teacher was accused of violating the state's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of any theory that denied the biblical account of creation. Ultimately, the teacher was found guilty and fined $100, although the verdict was overturned on a technicality and modernism prevailed.
Great Depression Causes
Farmers overproduction and high tariffs leading to farmer’s debt, risking investment behaviors, anyone could borrow large amounts of money.
Hoovervilles
Makeshift communities that sprang up during the Great Depression . They were named after the President who was blamed for the economic crisis and believed it would eventually correct itself.
New Deal - FDR
Adressed the relief of the unemployed, recovery for business, and reform of economic institutions. Transformed the US into a limited welfare state and seriously expanded the aims of modern American liberalism.
Relief of Unemployed
Public Works Association (employed for federal infrastructure work), Tennesee Valley Authority (ran electric power plants), Civialin Conservation Corps (employed young men for forestry projects).
National Industrial Recovery Act
Act aimed to stimulate economic recovery by establishing codes of fair practice for industries and promoting industrial growth. Aimed to increase employment by allowing businesses to collaborate to establish fair wages, prices, and working conditions, and to limit production in order to stabilize prices.
Glass-Steagall Act
Increased regulation in banks and limited the ways banks could invest peoples money.
Social Security Act (1935)
Provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to eligible individuals. The program is funded by payroll taxes paid by workers and their employers.
Isolationism
A foreign policy approach where a country chooses to limit its involvement in international affairs and focus on its own domestic affairs.
Kellogg-Brinad Pact
The main aim of the pact was to renounce war as a means of settling international disputes. This pact was an effort to prevent another world war like the one that had ended only a decade earlier. Example of isolationist policy.
Interventionists
Individuals or groups who advocate for the use of interference in the affairs of other countries, often by a more powerful nation. This goal of interventionists was to promote their own interests, such as economic or political gain, or to prevent harm to others.
Cash and Carry Program
Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass a lesser Neutrality Act act allowed any belligerent in the war to purchase armaments from the US as long as they paid cash and used their own ships to transport them. Used to aid Britain who controlled the seas.
Lend-Lease Act
Allowed Britain to obtain arms they needed from the US on credit.
Pearl Harbor (1941)
Site of a surprise attack by the Japanese which led to the United States' entry into World War II. The attack resulted in the destruction of many American ships, aircraft, and other military equipment, as well as the deaths of over 2,400 Americans. Considered a turning point in U.S. history and is remembered as a day of infamy.
Rosie the Riveter
Figure posted on campaigns to increased Women’s involvement in industrial work as a labor shortage happened as a result of men going off to war.
Double V Campaign
Victory against the war abroad and racism at home.
Selective Service Act
Authorized the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry. First draft during peacetime.
Japanese Relocation Act (1942)
Government order authorizing the Secretary of War and U.S. armed forces commanders to designate military areas from which "any or all persons may be excluded." As a result, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast and relocated to internment camps. Widely criticized as a violation of civil liberties and constitutional rights.
Korematsu vs. USA
The Supreme Court held that the wartime internment of American citizens of Japanese descent was constitutional and a Marshall necessity.
Holocaust
Systematic murder of Europe's Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War 1941 - 1945. Helped justify US involvement in the war.
WW2 Pacific Battles
Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway (1942) helped the US push back the Japanese who conquered a large portion of key pacific territories.
D-Day
Brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history. Start of Allied operations which would ultimately liberate Western Europe, defeat Nazi Germany and end the Second World War.
Island Hopping
The US bypassed heavily fortified Japanese occupied islands in favor of smaller, less strategic islands, and in doing so effectively cut off the Japanese supply lines. This was a success.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Nuclear bombs had been secretly tested under the Manhattan Project. The decision was made by Harry Truman to drop bombs on these cities.
Yalta Conference (1945)
Meeting Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Decided that Germany would be jointly occupied and that Eastern European nations would be able to hold free elections for their leaders. Stalin would later violate this agreement.
Marshall Plan
Provided markets for American goods, created reliable trading partners, and supported the development of stable democratic governments in Western Europe.
United Nations
International organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
Big Stick Diplomacy - Theo Roosevelt
The policy of carefully mediated negotiation ("speaking softly") supported by the unspoken threat of a powerful military.
Note 
Flashcard (129)