APUSH Unit 7: 1890-1920

1. Context: America Becomes a World Power (1890–1920)

Causes / Context

  • Industrialization created surplus goods → need for foreign markets.

  • Belief in economic imperialism (control trade rather than formal colonies).

  • Alfred Thayer Mahan argued strong naval power was essential for global influence.

  • Social Darwinism & white supremacy justified expansion.

  • Closing of the frontier (1890) pushed attention overseas.

Key Actions

  • Spanish-American War (1898) launched U.S. into imperialism.

  • Open Door Policy (1899–1900) promoted equal trade access in China.

  • Panama Canal (completed 1914) strengthened military and trade power.

  • Roosevelt Corollary expanded Monroe Doctrine → U.S. intervention in Latin America.

  • Dollar Diplomacy (Taft) used economic influence instead of military force.

  • World War I demonstrated U.S. military and economic strength.

Effects

  • U.S. emerged as a global creditor nation.

  • Expanded influence in Latin America and the Pacific.

  • Shift from isolationism toward selective intervention.

2. Attitudes About America’s Role in the World

Similarities

  • Nationalism and belief in American superiority.

  • Assumption that the U.S. had a duty to “civilize” others.

  • Economic motivation for expansion.

Differences

  • Imperialists: supported expansion, naval power, overseas territories.

  • Anti-Imperialists: opposed expansion on moral, racial, and constitutional grounds.

  • Debate over formal empire vs. informal economic control.

  • Tension between isolationism vs. interventionism.

3. Effects of the Spanish-American War

Immediate Effects

  • U.S. gained Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam.

  • Cuba became a U.S. protectorate under the Platt Amendment.

  • Hawaii annexed for strategic and economic reasons.

Long-Term Effects

  • Philippine-American War (1899–1902) suppressed Filipino independence.

  • Insular Cases ruled constitutional rights did not fully apply to territories.

  • Anti-Imperialist League opposed U.S. imperialism.

  • Debate over race, democracy, and empire intensified.

  • Marked the U.S. as a colonial power.

4. Progressive Reform Movement: Goals & Effects

Goals

  • Address problems of industrialization, urbanization, corruption.

  • Expand democracy and make government more responsive.

  • Protect workers, consumers, and the environment.

Key Reforms

  • Political reforms: initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators (17th Amendment).

  • Women’s suffrage: activism → 19th Amendment (1920).

  • Labor reforms:

    • Support for unions (AFL)

    • Collective bargaining

    • Minimum wage & child labor laws (state level)

  • Muckrakers exposed corruption (Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair).

  • Consumer protections:

    • Pure Food and Drug Act

    • Meat Inspection Act

    • Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

  • Settlement houses (Hull House, Jane Addams).

  • Environmental reforms: conservation & preservation.

  • Socialist ideas influenced labor and reform politics (Eugene V. Debs).

Presidential Approaches

  • Roosevelt: New Nationalism (strong federal regulation).

  • Wilson: New Freedom (less regulation, more competition).

  • Progressives expanded freedoms by using government power, not limiting it.

5. Attitudes Toward Natural Resources (1890–1945)

Gilded Age

  • Unrestricted exploitation of land and resources.

Progressive Era

  • Rise of conservation and preservation.

  • Theodore Roosevelt supported federal protection of land.

  • Gifford Pinchot: conservation = controlled use for public benefit.

  • Creation of national parks and forests.

  • Marked a shift toward environmental responsibility.

6. Causes & Consequences of U.S. Involvement in World War I

Causes

  • Initial neutrality due to isolationist tradition.

  • German unrestricted submarine warfare (Lusitania).

  • Zimmermann Telegram.

  • Economic ties to Allies.

  • Wilson framed war as a moral cause → Fourteen Points.

Effects

  • U.S. troops helped end the war.

  • U.S. emerged as world’s leading creditor.

  • Treaty of Versailles punished Germany, contributing to WWII.

  • League of Nations proposed but rejected by U.S. Senate.

  • Spread of self-determination ideas (in theory, uneven in practice).

7. International & Internal Migration Patterns

Causes

  • Poverty, persecution, authoritarian governments in Europe.

  • Industrial job demand in the U.S.

  • World War I reduced European immigration.

  • Russian Revolution displaced populations.

Internal Migration

  • Great Migration: African Americans moved North for jobs and safety.

  • Increased Black urban populations.

Effects

  • Growth of cities and industrial workforce.

  • Rise in nativism and immigration restrictions.

  • Resurgence of KKK.

  • Cultural movements like the Harlem Renaissance.

  • Ethnic tensions and segregation in northern cities.

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8. Innovations in Communication & Technology

Innovations

  • Telephone, radio, motion pictures.

  • Assembly-line production.

  • Advances in advertising and mass media.

Effects

  • Rise of mass consumer culture.

  • Increased standard of living.

  • More women in the workforce.

  • Faster spread of information and ideas.

  • Greater global economic interdependence.

  • U.S. investment in rebuilding Europe after WWI.

9. Developments in Popular Culture

Changes

  • Expansion of leisure activities (sports, movies, music).

  • Cheaper mass-produced goods.

  • Growth of consumerism and advertising.

Women

  • Greater workforce participation during WWI.

  • 19th Amendment expanded political rights.

  • Prohibition (18th Amendment) aimed to regulate leisure culture.

  • Rise of flappers → personal freedom, self-expression.

  • Feminism shifted from political reform to cultural independence.

  • Equal Rights Amendment proposed but failed.

African American Culture

  • Harlem Renaissance: literary and artistic movement.

  • Celebrated Black identity, culture, and creativity.

  • Influenced national culture despite continued discrimination.