DBQ 2

Josiah Strong

1) Wrote a book, Our Country, in which he stated that Americans had a religious duty to spread Christianity to less fortunate people in the world.

2) Argued that Anglo-Saxons were a superior race and it was their duty to “civilize” and Christianize other races.

3) This led to an increase in missionaries who traveled to places like Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. (1885)

William Randolph Hearst

1) Newspaper owner of the New York Journal who printed exaggerated and false reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba.

2) This type of false and exaggerated news reporting was known as “yellow journalism”.

3) Believing what they read in the papers, Americans called on President McKinley to interfere in Cuba. (1898)

Spanish-American War

1) Many causes of this, including yellow journalism and the mysterious sinking of the U.S.S. Maine.

2) Fought in Cuba and the Philippines.

3) Known as a “splendid little war”, it only lasted a few months before the Spanish surrendered.(1898)

Platt Amendment

1) The Teller Amendment in 1898 guaranteed Cuba its independence after the war.
2)This one required Cuba to promise never to sign a treaty with a foreign power, contradicting the previous agreement.
3) It also allowed the U.S. to intervene in Cuban affairs and maintain military bases in Cuba. (1901)

Emilio Aguinaldo

1) Filipino nationalist who fought with U.S. during Spanish-American War.
2) He eventually led guerilla fighters against the U.S. after the war in order to drive the U.S. out.
3) Led to a three year conflict with thousands of lives lost on both sides. (1898)

Open Door policy

1) As the U.S. began expanding its global power, Sec. of State John Hay wanted the U.S. to have a "sphere of influence" in China.
2) Approached other nations who had control in China and asked that all nations have equal trading rights.
3) No nation rejected this idea, leading U.S. to believe it was a success. (1899)

William Jennings Bryan

1) Leader of Anti-Imperialist League, he opposed U.S. actions of expansion in the Pacific.
2) Argued that the U.S. Constitution was valid in areas of U.S. control.
3) Served as Wilson's Secretary of State, he advocated for the spread of democracy. (1901)

Insular Cases

1) Series of Supreme Court cases which argued whether the U.S. Constitution and rights extended to territories under U.S control.
2) Questioned whether people in these territories should be considered U.S. citizens.
3) Ruled in favor of imperialists, arguing that constitutional rights were not automatically extended to those in conquered territories. (1901)

Big Stick Diplomacy

1) Used to refer to the foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt.
2) Idea that one could negotiate peacefully but use force when necessary when it came to other countries.
3) Roosevelt often used the power of the U.S. navy during his presidency. (1901-1909)

Panama Canal

1) U.S. saw need for a route connecting Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America.
2) Roosevelt orchestrated a revolt here, driving out Colombia and giving U.S. full control to build water route.
3) Water route was constructed in ten years, and the U.S. had control for decades, much to the dismay of many Central American countries. (1904)

Dollar Diplomacy

1) Foreign policy of William Howard Taft.
2) Intervened in areas and situations that promoted U.S. trade and business.
3) Expanded economic interests in China and Nicaragua. (1909-1913)

Moral Diplomacy

1) Foreign policy of Woodrow Wilson.
2) Respected the rights of other nations and advocated for the spread of democracy.
3) Granted rights to citizens of imperialized countries such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico. (1913-1917)

Roosevelt Corollary

1) Addition to the Monroe Doctrine, it continued to keep European countries out of the Western Hemisphere.
2) It allowed the U.S. to serve as an intermediary between European and Latin American countries.
3) U.S. would make sure Latin American countries paid their debts to European countries, using force to do so, instead of European countries sending military forces. (1905)

Taylorism

1) A system of scientific management created and promoted by Frederick Winslow Taylor to improve the efficiency of business.
2) Emphasized observing individual workers and eliminating inefficient and time-wasting practices in order to increase productivity.
3) Part of the Progressive Era's focus on fostering efficiency, it was embraced by reformers and business owners who wanted to increase profits, and Henry Ford's assembly line was a product of this system. However, it was despised by Unions and laborers who felt that it reduced workers to machines. (Early 1900s)

Jacob Riis

1) Muckraking journalist who exposed the desperate conditions of tenements in city slums

2) Wrote a bestselling book entitled How the Other Half Lives

3) His photographs helped lead to urban reforms. (1890)

John Muir

1) Influential preservationist and founder of the Sierra Club (environmental club)
2) Has been called "The Father of Our National Parks" 3) Was friends with Theodore Roosevelt and convinced him as President to set aside land for protection. (Late 1800s)

Booker T. Washington

1) Former slave who became a leading advocate of black civil rights during the Progressive Movement
2) Stated in his "Atlanta Compromise" speech that blacks must accept segregation in the short term and focus on attaining economic equality before demanding full political equality
3) Founded the Tuskegee Institute which taught blacks industrial skills. (Late 1800s)

Clayton Antitrust Act

1) Federal law that tried to prevent the creation of monopolies
2) Part of Progressives' focus of curbing the power of big businesses
3) Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by closing loopholes that had allowed certain business practices that restricted competition. (1914)

Ida B. Wells

1) Influential journalist and black civil rights activist after the Civil War
2) Risked own life by leading an anti-lynching crusade 3) Through extensive research learned about the injustices surrounding the numerous lynchings of blacks and exposed them in her newspaper (1902)

Robert La Follette

1) Wisconsin governor who brought about many democratic reforms in the state's politics and then U.S. Senator
2) He introduced the idea of direct primaries and the referendum which empowered citizens to vote on local issues and tried to regulate railroads more
3) His "Wisconsin Idea" which incorporated professors in the law-making process (in order to curb the power of business) was the model for state progressive government (Early 1900s)

Square Deal

1) Name of President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic policy that focused on conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection
2) It aimed to help the middle class by increasing the role of the federal government
3) Term was first used during a coal miners' strike when the President sought a fair settlement between the company and workers (1901-1909)

The Jungle

1) Novel written by Upton Sinclair that exposed the unsanitary meatpacking conditions and poor working conditions
2) The book was based on the author's observations of Chicago stockyards
3) Led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Federal Reserve Act

1) Created a central banking system, consisting of twelve regional banks governed by the Federal Reserve Board
2) An attempt to provide the United States with a sound but flexible currency
3) Still around today and has helped to curb the number of panics/recessions facing the U.S. economy (1914)

W.E.B. DuBois

1) Famous black civil rights activist after the Civil War and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
2) First African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University
3) Demanded full political and social equality for blacks immediately (Early 1900s)

Black Great Migration

1) Refers to when millions of African Americans moved from the South to North
2) The lure of new job opportunities in the North due to World War I openings, crop (cotton) failures in the South, and harsh segregation in the South triggered this 3) Led to an increase in racial discrimination in Northern cities and various race riots in places like Chicago (1910-1930)

Alice Paul

1) Famous suffragist and women's activist who founded the National Women's Party
2) Led demonstrations and hunger strikes for women's suffrage which led to her imprisonment
3) She eventually convinced President Wilson to support women's suffrage and later fought for the Equal Rights Amendment (which did not pass) (1910s)

Nineteenth Amendment

1) Guaranteed women's right to vote
2) Prior to this, women could vote in some states in certain elections but now could vote in every election in all states
3) Susan B. Anthony fought hard for the passage of this but died shortly before its ratification (1920)

Lusitania

1) British passenger ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat and resulted in the death of 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.

2) This event as well as the sinking of other ships outraged Americans and turned public opinion against Germany; however, America remained neutral and avoided war when the German government issued the Sussex pledge, which stated that Germany would not sink passenger ships or merchant vessels without giving warning.

3) By 1917, Germany abandoned the Sussex pledge and announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in which it targeted and sank all ships, including America’s. This policy was one of the leading causes of America’s entry into World War One. (1915)

Schenck v. United States

1) A Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage and Sedition Acts, reasoning that freedom of speech could be curtailed when it posed a “clear and present danger” to the United States.

2) After America entered World War One, Congress passed the Espionage Act, which prohibited interfering with the draft and other acts of national “disloyalty.” Together with the Sedition Act, which made it a crime to criticize the government’s handling of the war effort, the United States limited civil liberties during the War.

3) The government used these laws to prosecute antiwar Socialists such as Eugene Debs and members of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) also known as Wobblies. (1919)

War Industries Board

1) Headed by Bernard Baruch, this federal agency coordinated industrial production during World War One, setting production quotas, allocating raw materials, and pushing companies to increase efficiency and eliminate waste.

2) This agency helped mobilize the United States for WWI, and under its direction, industrial production in the United States increased 20 percent.

3) It set a precedent for the federal government to take a central role in economic planning in moments of crisis, and it would serve as a model for later government agencies that were created to deal with the Great Depression. (1917)

“Make the world safe for democracy”

1) Given as the main reason for America’s entry into World War One by Woodrow Wilson, it reflected the president’s idealism and policy of Moral Diplomacy.

2) It was used to persuade Americans to support World War One, which went against United States’ history of isolationism from European conflicts.

3) Reflected in Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which was a proposal to ensure peace after World War One, calling for an end to secret treaties, widespread arms reduction, national self-determination, and a new league of nations. (1917)

Rejection of Treaty of Versailles

1) World War One concluded with this vengeful document, which secured peace but imposed harsh terms on Germany including reparations to be paid to the Allied Powers. It incorporated very few of Wilson’s Fourteen Points, but the President supported it because the document established a League of Nations.

2) Isolationists in the United States known as irreconcilables strongly opposed the document and America’s participation in the League of Nations after World War One. Meanwhile, reservationists led by Senator Lodge wanted to amend the document to include protections for the Monroe Doctrine.

3) Ultimately, the President was unable to convince the American public to support the document without reservations and the country never ratified it. (1919)

League of Nations

1) A world organization of national governments proposed by President Woodrow Wilson and established by the Treaty of Versailles, which worked to facilitate peaceful international cooperation.

2) Isolationists in America opposed U.S. involvement in the organization and were especially alarmed by Article X, because it morally bound the United States to aid any member who was being attacked by another country.

3) The United States never joined the organization because many politicians saw it as a violation of U.S. sovereignty, and the organization proved to be weak and incapable of dealing with the rising tensions that eventually led to World War Two. (1919)

First Red Scare

1) A period of intense anti-communism that resulted from growing fears among Americans that the radical ideas of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia would make their way to the United States and threaten democracy.

2) Led to the Palmer Raids, which were conducted by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in an attempt to round up Socialists and labor union leaders who were suspected of “subversive” activities. The Palmer raids ultimately resulted in the deportation of 6,000 people before being discredited.

3) While the fear of communism died down by 1920, it created intense anti-immigration and anti-labor feelings within America that continued throughout the decade. (1919)

Henry Ford

1) Founder of one of the largest motor companies in the United States and developer of one of the first mass produced cars, the Model T.

2) Inspired by Frederick Taylor and scientific management, he created the moving assembly-line, which sped up the manufacturing of automobiles and lowered their cost to $260. Additionally, he paid his workers a higher “living” wage, which allowed them to buy the cars they made, promoting consumerism.

3) The automobile and the moving assembly-line led to a new industrial revolution in the United States and by 1930, over 20 million cars had been sold to the American public. (1914)

Marcus Garvey

1) Jamaican-born political leader who founded the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and advocated for black nationalism.

2) The UNIA promoted resettlement of African Americans to their “African homeland” and the stimulation of a vigorous separate black economy within the United States.

3) He inspired an enormous amount of racial pride among his 4 million black followers and inspired later civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X. (1916)

18th Amendment

1) Constitutional amendment that prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. It ushered in the era known as Prohibition, which lasted until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

2) The Volstead Act, which was passed by Congress to enforce Prohibition, struggled to stop the consumption of alcohol. During this time, saloons were replaced by thousands of speakeasies, where men and women secretly consumed alcoholic beverages.

3) Prohibition led to an increase in organized crime as violent gangs fought for control of the bootlegging business in cities across America. The most notorious of these gangsters was “Scarface” Al Capone who controlled the illegal distribution of alcohol in Chicago. (1919)

Model T

1) Known as the “Tin Lizzie,” it was one of the first mass produced automobiles by the Ford Motor Company, which became very popular because it was cheap, rugged, and reliable.

2) The automotive industry quickly became the biggest industry in America, employing 6 million Americans by 1930 and making Detroit the motorcar capital of America. It also stimulated related industries such as steel, oil, rubber, glass, and fabrics.

3) It appealed to young people who saw the automobile as a source of freedom, which allowed them to spend their leisure time away from home. However, some conservatives in society condemned it as “a house of prostitution on wheels,” and feared its effects on traditional morality. (1920s)

Margaret Sanger

1) Feminist who founded the birth control movement and fought to give women legal access to contraceptives, which were illegal at the time and considered “obscene.”

2) Inspired by her time spent working as a nurse in poor immigrant communities, she believed that birth control and the ability to control family size was necessary to end the cycle of poverty that many women faced.

3) She opened the first birth control clinic in 1916, and her early clinics would eventually become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. (1920s)

Lost Generation

1) Americans who came of age during or immediately after World War One. The war forced them to confront traditional values in American society and question the ideals that led America into the War including patriotism, the self-made man, and religion.

2) Best represented by a group of American writers who often hailed from ethnic and regional backgrounds different from the Protestant New Englanders who had traditionally dominated American culture, they helped pioneer new ways of thinking in 1920s.

3) Writers such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis questioned postwar America’s “return to normalcy” and saw the 1920s as overly materialistic. (1920s)

Harlem Renaissance

1) Outpouring of African American expression, which created new forms of music, art, and literature that celebrated African American culture and argued that blacks were full citizens and social equals to whites.

2) This movement resulted from the Great Migration, improved education, and the creation of national organizations such as the NAACP and Marcus Garvey’s UNIA that promoted racial pride.

3) Helped usher in the Jazz Age, as black music such as the blues and jazz became worldwide sensations due to artists such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Meanwhile, some of the most celebrated pieces of American literature were created by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. (1920s)

Birth of a Nation

1) Created by D.W. Griffith, it was one of the first full length silent films, and it helped give rise to the movie industry during the 1910s.

2) Set in the Reconstruction period, the movie glorified the Ku Klux Klan and negatively portrayed both blacks and Northern carpetbaggers.

3) The movie served as a propaganda tool for the KKK, and it contributed to a revival of the Klan in the 1920s, whose membership swelled to over 5 million people across the United States. (1915)

Immigration Quota Acts

1) These laws established quotas or a set number of people allowed to immigrate into the United States each year, and ended the era of relatively unrestricted immigration that had characterized most of U.S. history up until that point.

2) The laws were intentionally biased against new immigrants, and immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe was significantly limited. Meanwhile, immigrants from Asia were shut out entirely from entry into the United States.

3) The law reflected growing nativism in the United States after World War One, which resulted from the First Red Scare and a backlash to the ethnic, religious, and political diversity of new immigration. (1921; 1924)

Sacco and Vanzetti

1) Two Italian immigrants who were accused of murder, found guilty, and were later sentenced to death by electrocution.

2) The trial took place during the First Red Scare, and many people believed that the judge and jury were prejudiced against the two men because they were Italians and radical anarchists.

3) They became martyrs for Socialists and radicals in the United States, and their trial sparked protests around the world, but their conviction was never overturned despite the lack of evidence. (1921)

Washington Naval Conference

1) Meeting of all of the major world powers in the United States to discuss the issue of disarmament.

2) The meeting produced a number of important treaties including the Five-Power Treaty, which set limits on the number of battleships and aircraft carriers that the major world powers were able to possess, thus, preventing an arms race after World War One. The Nine-Power Treaty was an agreement between the world powers to continue the Open Door Policy following the War.

3) The meeting represented America’s new isolationist foreign policy following World War One; however, as much as it tried, the United States could not turn its back entirely on the outside world. (1921)

NBC

1) The first national commercial radio station in the United States.
2) Allowed news to become national and would lead for the first time to presidential addresses.
3) Created the first entertainment stars and created an American culture of superstardom. (1924)

Scopes Trial

1) High school teacher was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act

2) This act made it unlawful to teach evolution in state funded schools

3) William Jennings Bryan argued for prosecution (creationism) while Clarence Darrow made his name argue for the defense (evolutionism). (1925)

Dust Bowl

1) Period of severe storms ("black blizzards") that damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American prairie due to droughts and overgrazing the land.

2) Affected over one million acres in places like Texas and Oklahoma.

3) Led to the term "Okies", which was a mass migration of farmers to California, as in the novel "The Grapes of Wrath". (1930s)

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

1) Created in the 1933 Banking Act which was to restore confidence in the banking industry which had failed.
2) Extended federal oversight to all commercial banks. 3) Set an insurance limit of $5,000 on total deposits in one bank. (1933)

Civilian Conservation Corps

1) Voluntary work relief plan for young, unemployed, unmarried men ages 18-25.

2) Provided manual labor jobs that focused on the conservation and development of natural resources on government owned land.

3) One of the most popular of the New Deal programs, the CCC is often referred to as "Roosevelt's Tree Army". (1933)

Agricultural Adjustment Act

1) New Deal law designed to boost farm prices by reducing surplus.

2) Paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land or bought livestock for slaughter.

3) The Supreme Court decided in United States vs. Butler that the act was unconstitutional, giving Roosevelt a setback in stabilizing the farm economy. (1933)

Indian Reorganization Act

1) Federal legislation that has been called the "Native New Deal".
2) The goal was to reverse the long trend of assimilation and encourage tribal traditions and culture.
3) Restored the management of assets back to the originating tribes. (1934)

Works Progress Administration

1) New Deal agency that employed millions of unemployed (mostly unskilled) men to carry out public works projects.

2) Was responsible for the creation of thousands of roads, bridges and buildings around the country.

3) Its largest and most successful program was the TVA which provided electricity to the Southern United States. (1935)

National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act

1) Foundational U.S. labor law that guarantees the right of private sector workers into trade unions, collectively bargain and strike.

2) Was strongly opposed by the Republican party but was upheld by the Supreme Court.

3) Some of its provisions were weakened by the 1947 Taft Hartley Act. (1935)

John Lewis

1) American leader of organized labor and the president of the United Mine Workers of America.
2) Driving force behind the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations which established United Steel Workers of America.
3) Played a major role in helping Roosevelt win a landslide victory in 1936. (1935)

Social Security Act

1) Francis Townsend galvanized support to issue direct payments to the elderly.
2) The new program, signed into law by Roosevelt, was an old age program funded by payroll taxes. Money taken out of paychecks while working would be returned to live off of as income after retirement.
3) Contributed to a major decline in the poverty rates of the elderly but became a major part of the federal budget. (1935)

Huey Long

1) Known as the "Kingfish", he was a governor and senator from Louisiana.
2) A populist who believed that Roosevelt's New Deal was insufficient to tackle the Depression.
3) Developed the "Share Our Wealth" program which would establish a net asset tax to help poverty and homelessness. (1935)

Keynesian economics

1) A theory that, in the short run, the government must intervene to stabilize the markets.
2) Believers advocate government spending during times of economic depression or recession.
3) Roosevelt adopted this policy in 1938 with success. (1938)

New Deal Coalition

1) A coalition of interest groups and voting blocs that voted for democratic presidents from 1932 to late 1960's.

2) Included city machines, labor unions, minorities, farmers, white southerners and intellectuals.

3) The coalition fell apart in the bitter factionalism of the 1968 election. (1930s)

Mexican Repatriation

1) Mass deportation of Hispanic Americans from 1929-1936.

2) Sixty percent of those deported were birthright citizens making it the legal definition of ethnic cleansing.

3) Widely blamed for making economic downturn of Great Depression worse, it was mostly carried out by cities and state governments. (1930s)

Neutrality Acts

1) Passed in response to the growing threats and wars that ultimately led to World War II.
2) Spurred by a growth of isolationism and non-interventionism that came from disillusionment of WWI. 3) Was the work of the Nye committee, which blamed US involvement in WWI on arms merchants trying to profit. (1930s)

Selective Training and Service Act

1) First peacetime conscription in United States history. 2) Required men who reached their 21st birthday to register with their local draft boards.
3) Part of Roosevelt's preparedness plan in response to the beginning of WWII in Europe. (1940)

Lend-Lease Act

1) Program in which the United States supplied the UK, China, Soviet Union and Free French with military hardware.
2) In return, the US was given leases on Naval and Army bases in allied territory.
3) This program stopped the pretense of US neutrality and provided open support for the allies in WWII. (1941)

Pearl Harbor attack

1) Surprise, preemptive military strike by the empire of Japan on a then neutral United States.

2) Led to the immediate declaration of war by the United States on Japan and became known as "day that will live in infamy"

3) Permanently ended American neutrality and led to an era of interventionism. (1941)

Korematsu v. United States

1) Decision that upheld the Japanese exclusion from West Coast military areas.
2) Case was started in response to Roosevelt administration relocating all citizens of Japanese ancestry (including American citizens) to internment camps.
3) The conviction was later overturned and the case has been repudiated as a horrible example of racism and bigotry. (1944)

War Production Board

1) Supervised the mobilization of the U.S. economy from peacetime to wartime.
2) Responsible for rationing items such as gasoline, rubber, and plastics for the war effort.
3) Also sold government war bonds to raise revenue for the creation of planes, tanks, and other weapons. (1942)

“Rosie the Riveter”

1) Propaganda poster and song used to encourage women to enter the workforce during World War II.

2) Over 5 million women contributed to the war effort in mostly industrial jobs such as shipbuilding.

3) Women were inspired to continue the fight for equality after the war. (1942)

Bracero Program

1) Agreement with Mexico to allow farm workers to enter the U.S. and work without formal immigration process.
2) Approximately 4.5 million workers arrived during the 22 year program, but workers were paid little and treated poorly.
3) Led to "zoot suit riots" in 1943 in Los Angeles, where U.S. servicemen and Mexican immigrants violently clashed. (1942)

Double “V” campaign

1) African-American civil rights leaders encouraged Americans to fight for both victory abroad in Europe and victory against discrimination.

2) Inspired by the fact that many African Americans faced discrimination both in the work place and military. 3) Increased membership in the NAACP as a result. (1943)

Manhattan Project

1) Secret code name of the development of the atomic bomb led by the United States

2) In reaction to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology which Adolf Hitler could use

3) Produced the first atomic bombs which the United States used on Japan during World War II (1942-1946)

Hiroshima

1) First of two cities in Japan to be destroyed by an atomic bomb dropped by the United States

2) The atomic bomb destroyed 90% of this city and killed over 80,000 immediately (more later due to radiation)

3) After the dropping of the atomic bomb here and in Nagasaki, Japan surrendered and World War II ended (1945)

War Refugee Board

1) United States agency created to attempt to rescue victims of the Nazis, mainly Jews, during World War II

2) This agency began after millions of people (85% of the victims) had already been killed in concentration and extermination camps by the Nazis

3) President Franklin Roosevelt and this agency are credited with saving 200,000 lives (1944)

Potsdam Conference

1) Last of the Allied meetings during World War II
2) Attended by the "Big Three" (leaders from the United States, Great Britain, and Soviet Union)
3) During this meeting, Truman revealed to Stalin that the U.S. had a new powerful weapon which led to further distrust between the two countries (1945)

United Nations

) Peacekeeping organization that was formed after World War II and is still around today
2) Replaced the League of Nations that formed after WWI and unlike the League, the United States joined this organization
3) Originally consisted of 50 nations committed to international peace and today has 193 member nations (1945)