APUSH Period 7 (1890-1945)

Imperialism

  • Expansion of America’s empire

  • Ambition to push westward: manifest destiny

    • Got nation from atlantic to pacific

  • Frederick Jackson Turner argued that westward expansion was crucial to national identity

    • Look beyond, internationally

  • Seward’s Folly: purchase of Alaska criticized

  • Debate between imperialists and anti-imperialists

    • Imperialists wanted more sources for raw materials and more markets, most ppl

    • Anti-Imperialists held to principle of self-determination, history of isolationism in foreign affairs

  • Social Darwinism: eagle wings spreading internationally

  • Congress approved construction of naval ships

  • Spanish American War

    • Cuba wanted but Spanish territory

    • Yellow Journalists published Spanish atrocities in Cuba, pushed Americans to think that intervention in Cuba was right

    • American Battleship Maine exploded killing 200, yellow journalists exploded, Americans wanted war

    • President McKinley demanded cease fire, or war, they complied, still went to war

  • Effects of winning

    • Sent navy to Spanish Philippines

    • Land invasion, overthrew Spain

    • US would pay $20 million for Philippines

    • Puerto Rico became US territory

    • Anti-Imperialists said that it was risky

    • American principles prevented them from purusing American values

    • Entangled in asian conflicts

    • Imperialists won, added Philippines

    • Philippines enraged, fought against

    • US won, but granted them independence

  • Open Door Policy

    • Saw economic policies going down in china

    • Spheres of Influence: trading rights in china

    • Open door trading privileges without excluding US

  • McKinley assassinated, Teddy Roosevelt President

    • Big Stick Diplomacy

    • Aggressive, Panama Canal

  • Britain sent ships to Latin America, violation of Monroe Doctrine = Roosevelt Corollary

Progressive Era

  • Progressives’ Concerns

    • Rising power of big business

    • uncertainties in economy

    • violence b/w labor groups and employers

    • influence of political machines

    • jim crow segregation

    • rights of women

  • Muckrakers brought things to light

    • Ida Tarbell: standard oil corruption

    • Jacob Riis: how the other half lives, picture book

    • Upton Sinclair: the jungle, meat packing

  • Pushed for voter reforms for citizens

    • Secret ballot: nobody could see who you’re voting for

    • Direct Election of Senators

    • 17th Amendment added, right to vote for senators

    • Initiative: voters could force consideration of bill if ignored

    • Referendum: bypass legislature and vote on bill directly

    • Recoll: remove corrupt politicial before term over

  • Civil Rights

    • Booker T. Washington: blacks should be equal footing economically thru education

    • WEB Dubois: needed to be recognized as politically equal

  • Niagara Movement: gathered black intelectuals

  • National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

  • Progressive Presidents

    • Teddy Roosevelt: representative of people, passed laws addressing consumer protection, pure food and drug act, meat inspection act, conservation laws, trust buster (Sherman Anti-Trust Act), Square Deal

    • William Hower Taft: more trust breaking

    • Woodrow Wilson: triple wall of privilege (banking, tariffs, trusts)

  • Women → Temperance Advocates

    • 18th Amendment banned sale of alcohol, prohibition

    • 19th Amendment: women’s right to vote

World War I

  • Stayed neutral at first

    • Lusitania sinking - 128 American passengers killed

    • Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

    • Zimmermann Telegram: MX to become ally, they would help regain land lost

  • American Expeditionary Forces

    • Limited role in combat compared to other allied powers

    • Tipped towards allies

  • Wilson established wartime agencies with progressive efficiency

  • More industries led to great migration, seeking new jobs in urban centers to help wartime effort

    • Black still faced discrimination

  • Congress passed Espionage Act: anyone who tried to rebel or obstruct would be imprisoned

    • Schenck v. US: against registering for the draft, speech could be limited if there is a clear threat

    • Sedition Act

  • WWI ended with treaty of Versailles, Wilson involved

    • 14 Points: League of Nations

    • US Senate refused to ratify treaty

    • League could pull US into war without Congress approval, didn’t join

  • Anti-German sentiment shifted to Anti-Communist sentiment after war

    • Feared communist infiltration → Xenophobia

    • Further immigration restrictions

    • Palmer Raids: Hoover gathered info on communists, massive arrests

Politics, Economics

  • Elected Republican Harving, return to normalcy promised

  • Economic slump turned into prosperity

  • Standard of living increased

  • Increased productivity @ factories (assembly line) → explosion of automobile manufacturing

  • Regulation and trust busting for tax cuts, laissez faire approach

  • Middle class women expected to bear children and take care of home

  • Women get lower wages than men for same work

  • Flappers rejected stereotypical gender roles

  • Spike in immigration after war, created backlash and nativism

    • Worried they would lose jobs w/ immigrants

  • Immigration Quotas: difficult for immigrants to settle in USA

  • The Lost Generation: writers

    • Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Pound

  • Harlem Renaissance

    • Many blacks resettled in Harlem, developed distinct art that grew out of black experience

  • Mass entertainment: radio, movies

  • Modernists, Fundamentalists

    • changing of morals, bible

    • Scopes Monkey Trial

The Great Depression

  • Stock Market crashed on Black Tuesday

  • Farmers in debt, people borrowed to invest in stocks thinking they’d be repaid

  • Huge volume of stocks sold, prices depressed

  • Brokers sold even more but no buyers available, everyone lost money

  • Hooverville: shantytowns to mock Hoover (lasseiz-faire)

  • FDR elected, believed in active government, New Deal

    • Relief Programs: Public Works Administration, Tennessee Valley Autority

    • Recovery Programs: Glass Steagall Act increased bank regulation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), feel safe putting money in banks again

    • Social Security Act

  • Everyone opposed court packing bill

World War II

  • Back into isolationism (Hoover, not FDR)

  • Facism led to start of WWII

  • FDR giving aid to Britain: Cash and Carry → Lend Lease Act

  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor led to involvement

  • Mobilization began, federal spending brought us out of Great Depression

  • African Americans and Mexican Americans fought, still faced discrimination

  • Farmers leaving, MX could come farm without procedure

  • Japanese Americans under suspicion, sent 100k+ citizens to Internment Camps

    • Korematsu v. United States

  • The Holocaust

  • D-Day invasion, successful but many died

  • Island Hopping Campaign, cutting of Japanese supply line

  • Atomic Bomb ended war with Japan

  • Dominant in Postwar Peace settlements b/c fighting wasn’t in US, came out as most dominant power