AP US History Unit 7 Review Flashcards

Unit 7 Overview and the Imperialism Debate

• Scope and Importance: Unit 7 of AP US History (APUSH) is an expansive period covering imperialism, World War I, the 1920s, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. It accounts for approximately $10\%$ to $17\%$ of the AP exam.
• Definition of Imperialism: In the context of the United States at the end of the $19^{th}$ century, imperialism refers to the nation expanding its territory by acquiring other lands to become a global power.
• Historical Context: Prior to the major push for imperialism, there were smaller examples like Hawaii. A significant driver was the $1890$ census, which signaled that the American frontier was closed, effectively ending westward expansion.
• Arguments for Imperialism (Imperialists):     * Economics: Expansion provided access to new markets for trade and new natural resources.     * Power Politics: European nations were actively colonizing the world; the US did not want to fall behind in global influence.     * Racism and the "Civilizing Mission": Based on the belief that white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) had a duty to "uplift" or civilize others.     * Strategic Expansion: With the frontier closed (as of $1890$), the US looked overseas for further growth.     * Key Figures: Alfred Thayer Mahan and Josiah Strong.
• Arguments Against Imperialism (Anti-Imperialists):     * Self-Determination: Anti-imperialists argued that being an empire contradicted US Republican ideals and the principles of the Declaration of Independence.     * Racism: Some opposed expansion because they did not want to add non-white populations to the United States.     * Isolationism: Proponents argued that America should focus on domestic issues and avoid "overseas entanglements."     * Key Figures and Groups: The Anti-Imperialist League, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark Twain.

The Spanish-American War and Global Expansion

• Origins and Causes: The conflict began primarily because Cuba sought independence from Spanish control. Key catalysts included:     * Yellow Journalism: The use of sensationalized propaganda to sway public opinion.     * USS Maine: The sinking of the USS Maine following an explosion. Although the cause was unknown, US propaganda blamed Spain.
• The Conflict: The war was relatively short. Combat occurred in Cuba and the Philippines. The US Navy quickly defeated the Spanish forces.     * Decisive Battle: The Battle of Manila Bay.     * The Rough Riders: A volunteer group led by Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt that gained significant fame.
• Outcome - Treaty of Paris: This treaty ended the war with the following results:     * Spain Ceded Puerto Rico (which became a US territory).     * Spain Ceded Guam (which became a US naval base).     * Spain Ceded the Philippines to the US for $20\,million$.
• Post-War Conflicts and Policies:     * Philippine-American War: Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipinos fought for independence. The US suppressed this nationalist movement severely.     * Cuba: Technically independent, but occupied by US soldiers. The Platt Amendment was imposed to allow US control over Cuban affairs.     * Asian Trade: The US opened trade relations with several Asian countries, most notably China.

The Progressive Era ($1890s$ – $1920s$)

• Definition: Progressives responded to political corruption, social injustice, and economic inequality heightened by industrial capitalism and urbanization.
• Nature of the Movement: It was not a single unified group but a collection of various movements with shared goals. Reformers were typically middle-to-upper class, including many women working in cities and with immigrant populations.
• Muckrakers (Investigative Journalists):     * Upton Sinclair: Wrote The Jungle, exposing disgusting conditions in the meatpacking industry, leading to food regulations.     * Ida Tarbell: Investigated Standard Oil and exposed their illegal monopoly tactics.     * Jacob Riis: Produced How the Other Half Lives, a collection of photos and reports documenting horrific tenement housing conditions.
• Political Leadership:     * Theodore Roosevelt: Advocated for the "Square Deal," focusing on reigning in corporations, protecting consumers, and conserving natural resources.     * Woodrow Wilson: Advocated for "New Freedom," seeking to restore economic opportunity by breaking monopolies, lowering tariffs, and reforming the banking system.
• Social Rights Movements:     * Women’s Rights: Rooted in the Seneca Falls Convention. Key leaders included Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul.     * African-American Rights: Split leadership between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, the latter of whom demanded full civil rights immediately.
• Immigration and Environment:     * Immigration: Progressives were divided; some wanted restrictions while others wanted to support immigrants in urban centers.     * Environment: Divided between Preservationists (nature for its own sake) and Conservationists (responsible resource management). Both supported the creation of National Parks.

World War I: The Global Conflict

• European Context ($1914$): European powers were entangled in alliances, high on nationalism, and heavily armed. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered a domino reaction of war declarations.
• Nature of War: Stalemate and trench warfare, notably at Verdun and the Somme in $1916$.
• US Entry ($1917$): Originally neutral, the US entered for two primary reasons:     * Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: Germany sank civilian ships with Americans on board, most notably the Lusitania.     * Zimmermann Telegram: A message from Germany to Mexico (intercepted by Britain) proposing an alliance against the US.
• Military Involvement: The American Expeditionary Forces played a relatively limited role in actual combat, but American supplies were decisive for the Allied victory.
• Treaty of Versailles:     * Forced Germany to accept full blame for the war and pay massive reparations.     * Woodrow Wilson proposed the League of Nations to prevent future wars.     * US Rejection: Wilson failed to include Republicans in negotiations. Consequently, Congress voted against joining the League of Nations.
• Casualties: Approximately $20\,million$ died globally; around $100,000$ were Americans.

World War I: Impact on the US Home Front

• Civil Liberties: Anxiety over disloyalty led to the limiting of speech. The Espionage and Sedition Acts criminalized anti-war speech and "disloyal" language. The American Protective League (APL) volunteered to report suspicious individuals.
• The First Red Scare: Triggered by the Russian Revolution in $1917$, Americans feared that communists, anarchists, and radicals were a threat to the nation.
• Nativism and Immigration Quotas: Post-war nativism led to the Emergency Quota Act and the $1924$ Immigration Act, placing numerical limits based on national origin.
• The Great Migration: Seeking high-paying factory jobs in Northern cities, many African Americans moved from the South to escape Jim Crow laws and gain economic opportunity.
• Red Summer of $1919$: A period of intense racial violence where white mobs attacked black communities in dozens of US cities.

The Roaring Twenties: Technology and Media

• Industrial Innovation:     * Henry Ford and the Assembly Line: Popularized breaking production into simple steps, increasing speed and lowering prices.     * Scientific Management: Frederick Taylor prioritized efficiency in production.     * The Automobile: Revolutionized lifestyle, leading to more roads, gas stations, motels, and massive suburban growth.
• Mass Media and Culture:     * Radios: Allowed people nationwide to listen to the same news, music, and advertisements simultaneously, creating a unified culture.     * Cinema: The growth of Hollywood gave Americans shared celebrities and fashion.
• Consumer Economy: The rise of buying appliances and cars through credit and installment plans.

The Roaring Twenties: Culture and Conflict

• Social Life: The $18^{th}$ Amendment made alcohol illegal, leading to speakeasies and the rise of organized crime. Cultural icons included flappers and jazz bands.
• The Harlem Renaissance: An explosion of African-American culture in Harlem, New York.     * Literature: Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes.     * Music: Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong.
• The Demographic Shift: For the first time in US history, more people lived in urban cities than in the rural countryside.
• Darker Undercurrents:     * Scopes Monkey Trial: Upheld a ban on teaching evolution in Tennessee.     * Sterilization: The Buck v. Bell case allowed the sterilization of certain individuals.     * Sacco and Vanzetti: An unfair trial and execution of Italian immigrants/radicals despite their likely innocence.     * Economic Warning: The era was built largely on "beliefs and borrowed money."

The Great Depression

• Causes of the Collapse:     * Overproduction: More goods were produced than people could afford to buy.     * Debt: Heavy reliance on credit rather than real paper money.     * Economic Failures: Risky bank loans, lack of oversight, and the Federal Reserve's failure to intervene.     * Global Issues: Collapse of European economies that relied on US loans.
• The Spark: The Stock Market Crash of $1929$.
• Impact:     * $25\%$ Unemployment rate.     * Long bread lines and "Hoovervilles" (shanty towns made of scrap wood and cardboard).     * Migrant families searching for work and children missing school.
• Shift in Philosophy: Move toward Modern American Liberalism, calling for government responsibility for economic well-being and regulation of markets (end of laissez-faire).

The New Deal ($1933$ – $1939$)

• Transition of Power: Herbert Hoover was heavily criticized for his weak response. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) won a landslide victory in $1932$.
• Definition: Aggressive government intervention to stabilize the economy and prevent future depressions using the "Three Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
• Key Programs:     * Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): Jobs for young men in infrastructure and nature.     * Public Works: Building roads, schools, dams, and parks.
• Debate and Opposition:     * Radicals: Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin pushed for more extreme government intervention.     * Conservatives: The Supreme Court (e.g., Schechter Poultry Corp v. United States) struck down parts of the New Deal as unconstitutional.
• Lasting Legacy:     * Glass-Steagall Act: Separated commercial and investment banking.     * Social Security Act: Provided old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

Interwar Foreign Policy and the Path to WWII

• Attempted Isolationism: The US generally tried to stay out of foreign conflicts but remained active in certain ways:     * Dawes Plan: Loaning money to Germany to pay reparations so Britain and France could pay the US.     * Kellogg-Briand Pact: A pledge by nations not to use war to solve problems (unenforceable).     * Interventionism: Continued US presence in Haiti and Nicaragua.
• Rise of Fascism: As Hitler (Germany) and Mussolini rose to power, the US passed Neutrality Acts. Eventually, Roosevelt realized the Axis powers were dangerous and moved away from isolationism.
• The Catalyst: The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan caused the US to officially enter World War II.

World War II: Mobilization and the Home Front

• Economic Mobilization: Total war production effectively ended the Great Depression by creating millions of jobs.
• The Workforce: Women moved into male-dominated factory roles (often pushed out after the war). Mexican immigrants entered through the Bracero Program (agriculture and railroads).
• Civil Rights and Tensions:     * Zoot Suit Riots: Violent attacks against Mexicans and Filipinos in Los Angeles.     * Japanese Internment: FDR issued an executive order forcing approximately $120,000$ Japanese Americans into internment camps based on fear and racism.

World War II: The Theaters of War

• Moral View: Americans viewed the war as a fight for freedom and democracy against fascism. Atrocities like the Holocaust (approx. $6\,million$ Jews killed) and the Rape of Nanking (mass murder in China) reinforced this.
• European Theater:     * Battle of Stalingrad: The turning point on the Eastern front where Soviets began pushing Germany back.     * D-Day (June 6, 1944): Allied invasion of Normandy, France, leading to the liberation of Western Europe.
• Pacific Theater:     * Battle of Midway: Turning point where the US destroyed several Japanese aircraft carriers.     * Island Hopping: A brutal campaign to retake captured islands.     * The Atomic Bomb: Developed via the Manhattan Project. Robert Oppenheimer famously said, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."     * Ending the War: Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, leading to their surrender and a permanent moral debate.

Post-War Reality and the Cold War

• Total Deaths: Approximately $80\,million$ people died over the $6$-year war.
• US Superpower Status: Because the war was not fought on US soil, America emerged with the world’s most powerful military and untouched industrial capacity.
• Conferences (Yalta and Potsdam):     * Germany divided into occupation zones.     * Japan occupied and rebuilt under US supervision.     * War crime trials for Nazi leaders.
• United Nations (UN): Created to negotiate peace and prevent future global conflicts.
• Beginning of the Cold War: The Soviet Union occupied Eastern Europe and enforced communism, setting the stage for a long ideological conflict.

Questions & Discussion

• Final Inquiry: The narrator poses a philosophical question to the viewers: "What's your guys's opinion on the atomic bomb debate?"