Unit 7 APUSH Review Notes (1890-1945)

American Imperialism

• Imperialism: Expansion of a nation's empire.
• Manifest Destiny: Belief in westward expansion as part of national identity.
• Frederick Jackson Turner: Argued westward expansion was crucial to American identity.
• Alaska Purchase (1867):
  • Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. for 7,200,000.
  • William Seward (Secretary of State) led the purchase.
  • Initially criticized as "Seward's Icebox" or "Seward's Folly."
  • Gold discovered in 1898, validating the purchase.

Arguments for Imperialism

• Need for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods.
• Social Darwinism:
  • Expansion as proof of American fitness to survive.
  • European nations had empires, so America should too.
  • Racial Superiority:
    • Josiah Strong's "Our Country": Anglo-Saxons were the apex of human evolution.
    • Justification of imperialism as a Christian duty to spread civilization.
• Alfred Thayer Mahan:
  • "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History" (1890).
  • Strong navy needed for world power status and securing foreign markets.
  • Resulted in Congress approving a new steel fleet.
  • Territorial possession in key locations for coaling and supply stations.

Arguments Against Imperialism

• Self-determination for all nations.
• American tradition of isolationism (rooted in George Washington's farewell address).

Spanish American War

• Cuba: Desired territory, but a Spanish colony.
• 1895: Cuban nationalists' revolt crushed by Spain.
• Yellow Journalism:
  • Sensational headlines about Spanish atrocities in Cuba.
  • Influenced American public opinion in favor of intervention.
• Sinking of the USS Maine (1898):
  • Exploded in Havana Harbor, killing over 200 Americans.
  • Yellow journalists blamed Spain, leading to public outrage.
  • Later determined to be an accident.
• President McKinley's Ultimatum:
  • Demanded a ceasefire in Cuba.
  • Spain conceded, but McKinley still sought war.
• Declaration of War:
  • Congress declared war on Spain.
• Outcomes:
  • Acquisition of Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
  • Increased involvement in Asia.
  • Suppression of the Filipino nationalist revolt.

Acquisition of the Philippines

• Teddy Roosevelt sent the new steel fleet to the Philippines.
• U.S. troops, with the help of Filipino nationalists, overthrew Spain.
• The U.S. paid Spain 20,000,000 for the Philippines.

Annexation of Hawaii

• 1893: American settlers overthrew Queen Liliuokalani.
• The Spanish American War created the pretext to complete annexation in 1898.

Other Territorial Acquisitions

• Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory.
• Other Pacific and Caribbean islands acquired.

Filipino Response

• Filipinos enraged by American reestablishment of imperial control.
• Filipino nationalists fought against American intrusion.
• The U.S. granted the Philippines independence in 1946.

Open Door Policy

• John Hay (Secretary of State) sought to maintain U.S. economic access to China.
• European powers had established spheres of influence with exclusive trading rights.
• Hay asked European powers to observe an open door policy.
• Powers didn't formally agree, but Hay declared it a victory.

Teddy Roosevelt's Imperialism

• Became president in 1901 after McKinley's assassination.
• Big Stick Diplomacy:
  • "Speak softly and carry a big stick".
  • Aggressive foreign policy.
  • Involved the U.S. in international affairs; most notably the construction of the Panama Canal.
• Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine:
  • Monroe Doctrine (1823): Western Hemisphere was the U.S. sphere of influence.
  • Latin American nations were defaulting on debts to European powers.
  • Roosevelt declared the U.S. would police Latin American countries to ensure debt repayment.

Progressive Era

• Timeframe: Roosevelt's presidency to the end of Woodrow Wilson's presidency.
• Concerns of Progressives:
  • Rising power of big business.
  • Economic uncertainties (e.g., Panic of 1893).
  • Violent labor conflicts.
  • Influence of political machines.
  • Jim Crow segregation in the South.
  • Rights of women.
• Diverse Group: Protestant church leaders, feminists, union leaders, black activists.
• Overriding Belief: American society was failing and needed governmental intervention.

Muckrakers

• Investigative journalists who exposed corruption.
• Ida Tarbell: Investigation into Standard Oil corruption (1902).
• Jacob Riis: "How the Other Half Lives" exposed urban tenement conditions.
• Upton Sinclair: "The Jungle" exposed the meatpacking industry's unsafe practices.

Voting Reforms to Increase Voter Participation

• Secret Ballot: Enabled private voting free from bosses' oversight.
• Direct Election of Senators:
  • 17th Amendment (1913): Citizens could vote for senators directly.
• Initiative, Referendum, and Recall:
  • Initiative: Voters could force legislators to consider a bill.
  • Referendum: Citizens could vote on a bill directly, bypassing the legislature.
  • Recall: Corrupt politicians could be removed before their term ended.

Efficiency of Government

• Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management:
  • Applied stopwatch timing to factory work to increase efficiency.
  • Progressives aimed to apply such principles to government.

Civil Rights

• Racial Segregation: Was the law of the land since 1896.
• Lynchings: Thousands of black citizens were lynched.
• Approaches to Solving the Problem:
  • Booker T. Washington: Education and economic advancement first and then political equality.
  • W.E.B. Du Bois: Political equality needed first for economic equality.

Movements

• Niagara Movement (Du Bois): Black intellectuals organized to secure rights.
• NAACP: Sought to abolish segregation and expand educational opportunities for black children.

Progressive Presidents

• Theodore Roosevelt:
  • Believed president should set the legislative agenda.
  • Consumer Protection:
    • Pure Food and Drug Act: Ensured safe food.
    • Meat Inspection Act: Set sanitation standards for meatpacking plants.
  • Conservation Laws:
    • Used Forest Reserve Act of 1891 to preserve 150,000,000 acres of federal land.
  • Trust Buster:
    • Enforced Sherman Antitrust Act (1890).
    • Distinguished between "good trusts" (regulated) and "bad trusts" (broken up).
  • Square Deal:
    • Intervened in the anthracite coal miner strike to negotiate a deal.
• William Howard Taft:
  • Broke up twice as many trusts as Roosevelt.
  • Continued conservationist policies.
• Woodrow Wilson:
  • Fought the "triple wall of privilege" (tariffs, banking, and trusts).
  • Underwood Tariff: Lowered tariffs to give relief to consumers.
  • Federal Reserve Act (1914): Established a national banking system with 12 district banks.
  • Clayton Antitrust Act: Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Women in the Progressive Era

• Temperance Movement:
  • Led by groups like the Anti-Saloon League.
  • 18th Amendment (Prohibition): Banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol.
• Women's Suffrage:
  • Some petitioned state legislatures, others protested.
  • 19th Amendment: Acknowledged women's right to vote.

World War One

• Initial Neutrality: America initially stayed neutral.
• Sinking of the Lusitania (1915):
  • German submarines sank a passenger ship, killing 128 Americans.
  • Germany backed off after U.S. threatened to break diplomatic relations.
• Resumption of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: Germany resumed sinking ships.
• Zimmerman Telegram: Germany solicited Mexico to become an ally against the U.S.
• Declaration of War: April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war to make the world safe for democracy.

American Involvement

• American Expeditionary Forces: Led by John J. Pershing, filled the holes in the French and British lines.
• Tipped the outcome decisively in favor of the Allies.

Home Front

• Mobilization: Agencies controlled prices, raw materials, and encouraged reduced consumption.
• Great Migration: Approximately 1,500,000 Black southerners migrated north seeking urban jobs and escaping segregation.
• Restriction of Civil Liberties:
  • Espionage Act of 1917: Imprisoned those inciting rebellion in the armed forces or obstructing the draft.
  • Schenck versus United States: Upheld limits on speech with "clear and present danger".
  • Sedition Act of 1918: Prohibited disloyal comments about the government.

End of the War

• Treaty of Versailles (1919):
  • Wilson's 14 Points included freedom of the seas, self determination, and a League of Nations.
  • U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty due to the League of Nations provision.
• Red Scare: Anti-communist sentiment and fear of communist infiltration.
• Palmer Raids: Attorney General Mitchell Palmer arrested and deported suspected radicals and communists; over 6,000 were arrested.

The 1920s

Politics

• Return to Normalcy: Republican Warren G. Harding promised reduced government intervention.

Economics

• Prosperity: Increased standard of living for most Americans.
• Increased Productivity:
  • Taylor's scientific management.
  • Henry Ford's assembly line.
  • Shift in energy technology (oil and electricity).
  • Laissez-faire government policies and tax cuts.

American Culture

• Urbanization: Over half of Americans lived in cities by 1920.
• Women in the Workforce: Opportunities increased, but women typically received lower wages than men.
• Flappers: Rejected traditional gender roles.
• Nativism: Backlash against increased immigration.
• Immigration Quotas: 1921 and 1924 quotas restricted Eastern European and Asian immigrants.
• Lost Generation: Writers disillusioned by the war and religious hypocrisy (e.g., F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway).
• Harlem Renaissance: Black literary movement in Harlem, New York City (e.g., Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes).
• Radio: Widespread popularity promoted mass culture.
• Movies: Became a form of mass entertainment.
• Crisis in American Values: Division between rural and urban Protestants.
• Scopes Monkey Trial (1925):
  • Conflict between modernists and fundamentalists over teaching evolution.
  • John Scopes was convicted, but the trial discredited fundamentalism.

The Great Depression

• Stock Market Crash: October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday).
• Buying Stocks on Margin: Rampant in the 1920s.
• Causes: Overproduction, underconsumption, risky investments, and the stock market crash.
• Poverty and Homelessness: Increased foreclosures and shantytowns called Hooverville's.

The New Deal

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Elected in 1932, believed in active government.
• Goals: Relief for the unemployed, recovery for businesses, and reform of economic institutions.

Programs

• Public Works Administration (PWA): Employed people for infrastructure work.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Built power plants and controlled erosion and flooding.
• Glass Steagall Act: Increased regulation in banks.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Insured bank deposits.
• Social Security Act of 1935: Collected workers' wages to pay monthly to retirees.

Opposition

• Liberals: Criticized it for doing too much for businesses.
• Conservatives: Criticized it for being extreme governmental overreach or socialism and wanted a laissez-faire approach to the economy.
• Supreme Court: Limited the scope of the New Deal.
• Court Packing Bill: FDR's unsuccessful attempt to appoint new justices.

World War Two

• Isolationism: American foreign policy returned to isolationism after World War I.
• Rise of Fascism: In Italy, Germany, and Japan.
• Aggression: Began with Japan's invasion of Manchuria (1937) and Germany's invasion of Poland (1939).
• Initial Neutrality: Americans favored the Allies but clung to isolationism.

US aid to Allies

*Cash and Carry Policy: The U.S. sold arms to belligerents who paid with cash and transported them on their own ships. Mostly benefitted Britain, who controlled the seas

*Lend Lease Act: The U.S. provided arms to Britain on credit

Entry into the War

• Pearl Harbor: Japanese surprise attack on December 7, 1941.
• Mobilization: Federal spending increased dramatically. Private factories were put to war time production.
• Economic Effects: Pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression.

Military and Society

• African Americans: 1,000,000 served in the military, faced ongoing discrimination.
• Mexican Americans: 300,000 served in the war.
• Bracero Program: Mexican farm workers entered the U.S. to help with harvest season.
• Japanese Americans: Over 100,000 were sent to internment camps.
• Korematsu versus United States: The court upheld the internment camps as a wartime necessity.

The Fighting of the War

• American Commitment: Saw the war as a fight for democracy and freedom against fascism.
• Holocaust: News of German atrocities strengthened the American commitment.
• D-Day Invasion: Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France.
• Germany Surrender: May 7, 1945.
• Fighting in the Pacific: US victory at Midway Island was a crucial turning point.
• Island hopping Campaign: US forces bypassed fortified islands in favor of less strategic ones to cut off supply lines to the Japanese.
• Atomic Bombs: Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan's surrender.
• US Dominance: US assumed dominant role in postwar peace settlements because the US was not devastated like Asia and Europe were.