Untitled Flashcards Set

📚 Period 7 (1890-1945) In-Depth Study Guide

🌍 Imperialism & Foreign Policy (1890s-1910s)

“Big Stick” Diplomacy 🏒

• Coined by President Theodore Roosevelt.

• “Speak softly and carry a big stick” = Negotiate peacefully but have a strong military to back you up.

• Example: The Panama Canal (1904) – U.S. helped Panama gain independence from Colombia, then built the canal for trade/military power.

Alfred T. Mahan ⚓

• Wrote The Influence of Sea Power Upon History.

• Argued that strong navies = strong nations.

• Inspired the U.S. to build the Great White Fleet, a powerful navy that flexed on the world.

Anti-Imperialist League 🚫🌎

• Formed in 1898 to oppose U.S. expansion after the Spanish-American War.

• Members included Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and William Jennings Bryan.

• Argued imperialism was against American values of democracy & self-determination.

Dollar Diplomacy 💰

• President William Taft’s idea of using money, not military, to control Latin America & Asia.

• Encouraged U.S. businesses to invest in foreign economies.

• Example: U.S. bankers took over Honduras’ economy to keep European nations out.

Great White Fleet ⚓🚢

• A fleet of 16 American battleships that Teddy Roosevelt sent around the world (1907-1909) to show off U.S. naval power.

• Main goal: Flex on other countries, especially Japan.

Insular Cases ⚖

• Series of Supreme Court cases (1901-1904) about whether people in U.S. territories (like Puerto Rico) had the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens.

• Decision: They don’t automatically get full rights. Basically, the U.S. was ruling colonies.

Jingoism 🇺🇸

• Extreme nationalism, often leading to aggressive foreign policy.

• Example: Yellow journalism hyped up war against Spain over Cuba (1898).

⚔ World War I (1914-1918)

Neutrality 🕊

• The U.S. stayed out of WWI for the first 3 years.

• Woodrow Wilson even ran for reelection in 1916 with the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War” (spoiler: he didn’t).

Submarine Warfare 🚢💥

• Germany’s U-boats (submarines) sank ships without warning.

• The sinking of the Lusitania (1915) (a British passenger ship with Americans onboard) turned U.S. opinion against Germany.

Zimmermann Telegram ✉📡

• Germany sent a secret message to Mexico in 1917, promising them U.S. territory (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico) if they attacked the U.S.

• British intelligence intercepted it → U.S. declared war.

Espionage Act (1917) & Sedition Act (1918) 🕵‍♂️🚔

• Made it illegal to speak out against the war or the government.

• Used to arrest Eugene V. Debs, a socialist leader.

• Led to Schenck v. U.S. (1919), which ruled that speech can be limited if it creates a "clear and present danger" (shouting "fire" in a theater example).

Fourteen Points & Treaty of Versailles ✍

• Wilson’s Fourteen Points: A plan for post-war peace (included League of Nations, no secret treaties, free trade).

• Treaty of Versailles (1919): Blamed Germany for WWI, made them pay billions in reparations, and redrew European borders.

• U.S. refused to sign it because of opposition to the League of Nations (fear of getting dragged into future wars).

🎷 The Roaring Twenties (1920s)

Harlem Renaissance 🎶📖

• Explosion of Black culture, music, and art centered in Harlem, NYC.

• Key figures:

  • Langston Hughes (poet, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers").

  • Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong (jazz legends 🎺).

Scopes Trial (1925) 🧬⚖

• A high school teacher, John Scopes, was arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee.

• Clarence Darrow defended Scopes, while William Jennings Bryan argued for the Bible.

• Symbolized the conflict between science & religion in the 1920s.

Prohibition & The Volstead Act (1919) 🍸🚫

• 18th Amendment banned alcohol; the Volstead Act enforced it.

• Led to organized crime (Al Capone, speakeasies, bootlegging).

• Repealed by the 21st Amendment (1933).

💰 Great Depression & New Deal (1929-1939)

Stock Market Crash & Black Tuesday (1929) 📉

• Caused by buying on margin (borrowing money to buy stocks) & bank failures.

• Unemployment skyrocketed to 25%.

First New Deal (1933-1935) & Second New Deal (1935-1938) 🏛

• FDR’s programs to fix the economy.

• First New Deal: Bank reforms (FDIC), public works (CCC, TVA).

• Second New Deal: Social Security Act, Wagner Act (protected labor unions).

Dust Bowl & Okies 🌪🚜

• A massive drought in the Great Plains (1930s).

• "Okies" were farmers who fled to California.

⚔ World War II (1939-1945)

Lend-Lease Act (1941) 📦💰

• The U.S. sent weapons and supplies to Britain & the USSR before joining the war.

Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) 🚢🔥

• Japan bombed a U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

• FDR: “A date which will live in infamy.”

• U.S. declared war the next day.

Korematsu v. United States (1944) ⚖

• Upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

• Later recognized as a major violation of civil rights.

D-Day (June 6, 1944) 🌊⚔

• Allied invasion of Normandy, France.

• Turning point in WWII → forced Germany into retreat.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki (Aug. 6 & 9, 1945) ☢💥

• The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

• Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending WWII.