Chapter 20

Question 1

James Blaine

Answer 1

In 1889, as secretary of state he arranged the first Pan-American Conference in Washington D.C. Various nations in the Western Hemisphere met to discuss trade and other issues.

Question 2

Queen Liliuokalani

Answer 2

The Hawaiian queen who was forced out of power by a revolution started by American business interests. In 1893, American settlers aided in the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani. President McKinley completed the annexation of Hawaii in 1898.

Question 3

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Answer 3

He was a U.S. Navy captain whose ideas on naval warfare and the importance of seapower changed how America viewed its navy.

Question 4

George Dewey

Answer 4

A United States naval officer remembered for his victory at Manila Bay, Philippines in the Spanish-American War.

Question 5

Theodore Roosevelt

Answer 5

He became that 26th President in 1901. He as an expansionist who increased the size of Navy, “Great White Fleet”. He added the Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine. His motto was to “speak softly and carry a big stick”. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for mediation of end of Russo-Japanese war. Later arbitrated split of Morocco between Germany and France.

Question 6

Emilio Aguinaldo

Answer 6

Filipino nationalist leader who led guerrilla fighters in a three year war against U.S. control of the Philippines.

Question 7

John Hay

Answer 7

To prevent the United States from losing access to the lucrative China trade, Hay dispatched a diplomatic note in 1899 to nations controlling spheres of influence. He asked them to accept the concept of an Open Door, by which all nations would have equal trading privileges in China. The replies to Hay’s note were evasive. However, because no nation rejected the concept, Hay declared that all had accepted the Open Door policy. The press hailed Hay’s initiative as a diplomatic triumph.

Question 8

Goethals & Gorgas

Answer 8

Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Hundreds of laborers lost their lives in the effort. The work was com­ pleted thanks in great measure to the skills of two Army colonels-George , the chief engineer of the canal, and Dr. William Gorgas, whose efforts eliminated the mosquitoes that spread deadly yellow fever.

Question 9

William Howard Taft

Answer 9

Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard (1909-1913), did not carry a big stick. He adopted a foreign policy that was mildly expansionist but depended more on investors’ dollars than on the navy’s battleships. His policy of promot­ ing U.S. trade by supporting American enterprises abroad was known as dollar diplomacy.

Question 10

Henry Cabot Lodge

Answer 10

Henry Cabot , a Republican senator from Massachusetts, was respon­ sible for another action that alienated both Latin America and Japan. A group of Japanese investors wanted to buy a large part of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, extending south of California. Fearing that Japan’s government might be secretly scheming to acquire the land, introduced and the Senate in 1912 passed a resolution known as the Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The resolution stated that non-European powers (such as Japan) would be excluded from owning territory in the Western Hemisphere. President Taft opposed the corollary, which also offended Japan and angered Latin American countries.

Question 11

Woodrow Wilson

Answer 11

In his campaign for president in 1912, the Democratic candidate Wood­row Wilson called for a New Freedom in government and promised a moral approach to foreign affairs. Wilson said he opposed imperialism and the big­ stick and dollar-diplomacy policies of his Republican predecessors.

Question 12

Pancho Villa

Answer 12

Huerta fell from power in late 1914. Replacing him was a more democratic regime led by Venustiano Carranza. Almost immediately, the new government was challenged by a band of rebels loyal to Villa. Hoping to destabilize his opponent’s govern­ ment, Villa led raids across the U.S.-Mexican border and murdered several people in Texas and New Mexico. In March 1916, President Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing and an “expeditionary force” to pursue Villa into northern Mexico. They failed to capture Villa. President Carranza protested the American presence in Mexico. In January 1917, the growing possibility of U.S. entry into World War I caused Wilson to withdraw Pershing’s troops.

Question 13

Valeriano Weyler

Answer 13

Cuban nationalists, after fighting but failing to overthrow Spanish colonial rule between 1868 and 1878, renewed the struggle in 1895. Through sabotage and laying waste to Cuban plantations, they hoped to either force Spain’s withdrawal or pull in the United States as an ally. In response, Spain sent autocratic General Weyler and over 100,000 troops to crush the revolt. Weyler forced civilians into armed camps, where tens of thou­ sands died of starvation and disease, and gained him the title of “The Butcher” in the American press.

Question 14

Alaska Purchase

Answer 14

Russia and Great Britain both claimed the vast territory of Alaska. Russia finally assumed control and established a small colony for seal hunt­ ing, but the territory soon became an economic burden because of the threat of a British takeover. Seeking buyers, Russia found Seward to be an enthusi­astic champion of the idea of the United States purchasing Alaska. As result of Seward’s lobbying, and also in appreciation of Russian support during the Civil War, Congress in 1867 agreed to buy Alaska for $7.2 million. However, for many years, Americans saw no value in Alaska and referred to it derisively as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox.”

Question 15

International Darwinism

Answer 15

Darwin’s concept of the survival of the fittest was applied not only to competition in business but also to competition among nations and races for military advantage, colonies, and spheres of influence. Therefore, to demonstrate strength in the international arena, expansionists wanted to acquire territories overseas. They saw this expansion as an extension of the idea of manifest des­tiny into the Caribbean, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean.

Question 16

Cuban Revolt

Answer 16

ban nationalists, after fighting but failing to overthrow Spanish colonial rule between 1868 and 1878, renewed the struggle in 1895. Through sabotage and laying waste to Cuban plantations, they hoped to either force Spain’s withdrawal or pull in the United States as an ally. In response, Spain sent autocratic General Valeriano Weyler and over 100,000 troops to crush the revolt. Weyler forced civilians into armed camps, where tens of thou­sands died of starvation and disease, and gained him the title of “The Butcher” in the American press.

Question 17

Yellow Journalism

Answer 17

Actively promoting war fever in the United States was ism, sensationalistic reporting that featured bold and lurid headlines of crime, disaster, and scandal. Among the most sensationalistic were two New York newspapers, Joseph Pulitzer’s World and William Randolph Hearst’s Journal, which printed exaggerated and false accounts of Spanish atrocities in Cuba. Believing what they read daily in their newspapers, many Americans urged Congress and the president to intervene in Cuba for humanitarian rea­sons and put a stop to the atrocities and suffering.

Question 18

DeLome Letter

Answer 18

One story that caused a storm of outrage was a Spanish diplomat’s letter that was leaked to the press and printed on the front page of Hearst’s Journal. Written by the Spanish minister to the United States, Dupuy de Lome, the letter was highly critical of President McKinley. Many considered it an official Spanish insult against the U.S. national honor.

Question 19

USS Maine

Answer 19

Less than one week after the de Lome letter made headlines, a far more shocking event occurred. On February 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine was at anchor in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, when it sud­denly exploded, killing 260 Americans on board. The yellow press accused Spain of deliberately blowing up the ship, even though experts later concluded that the explosion was probably an accident.

Question 20

The Rough Riders

Answer 20

Attacks by both American and Cuban forces succeeded in defeating the much larger but poorly led Spanish army. Next to Dewey’s victory in Manila Bay, the most celebrated event of the war was a cavalry charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba by the , a regiment of volunteers led by Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned his navy post to take part in the war. Roosevelt’s volunteers were aided in victory by veteran regiments of African Americans. Less heroic but more important than the taking of San Juan Hill was the success of the U.S. Navy in destroying the Spanish fleet at Santiago Bay on July 3. Without a navy, Spain realized that it could not continue fighting, and in early August 1898 asked for U.S. terms of peace.

Question 21

Treaty of Paris

Answer 21

Far more controversial than the war itself were the terms of the treaty of peace signed in Paris on December 10, 1898. It provided for (1) recognition of Cuban independence, (2) U.S. acquisition of two Spanish islands-Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and Guam in the Pacific, and (3) U.S. acquisition of the Philippines in return for payment to Spain of $20 million. Since the avowed purpose of the U.S. war effort was to liberate Cuba, Americans accepted this provision of the treaty. However, many were not prepared for taking over a large Pacific island nation, the Philippines, as a colony.

Question 22

Insular Cases

Answer 22

Cases. One question concerned the constitutional rights of the Philippine people: Did the Constitution follow the flag? In other words, did the provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply to whatever territories fell under U.S. control, including the Philippines and Puerto Rico? Bryan and other anti­ imperialists argued in the affirmative, while leading imperialists argued in the negative. The issue was resolved in favor of the imperialists in a series of Supreme Court cases (1901-1903) known as the (island) cases. The Court ruled that constitutional rights were not automatically extended to territorial possessions and that the power to decide whether or not to grant such rights belonged to Congress.

Question 23

Platt Amendment

Answer 23

Congress made withdrawal of troops conditional upon Cuba’s acceptance of terms included in an amend­ ment to an army appropriations bill-the Amendment of 1901. Bitterly resented by Cuban nationalists, the Amendment required Cuba to agree ( 1) to never sign a treaty with a foreign power that impaired its independence, (2) to permit the United States to intervene in Cuba’s affairs to preserve its independence and maintain law and order, and (3) to allow the U.S. to maintain naval bases in Cuba, including one permanent base at Guantanamo Bay. A Cuban convention reluctantly accepted these terms, adding them to its country’s new constitution. In effect, the Amendment made Cuba a U.S. protectorate. As a result, Cuba’s foreign policy would, for many years, be sub­ject to U.S. oversight and control.

Question 24

“Spheres of Influence”

Answer 24

Russia, Japan, Great Britain, France, and Germany had all established of influence in China, meaning that they could dominate trade and investment within their sphere (a particular port or region of China)

Question 25

Open Door Policy

Answer 25

Hay was alarmed that the Chinese empire, weakened by political corruption and failure to modernize, was falling under the control of various outside pow­ers.

Question 26

Boxer Rebellion

Answer 26

In 1900, a secret society of Chinese nationalists-the Society of Harmonious Fists, or s-attacked foreign settlements and murdered dozens of Christian missionaries. To protect American lives and property, U.S. troops participated in an international force that marched into Peking (Beijing) and quickly crushed the rebellion of the s. The countries forced China to pay a huge sum in indemnities, which further weakened the imperial regime.

Question 27

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

Answer 27

Roosevelt was eager to begin the construction of a canal through the narrow but rugged terrain of the isthmus of Panama. He was frustrated, however, by Colombia’s control of this isthmus and its refusal to agree to U.S. terms for digging the canal through its territory. Los­ ing patience with Colombia’s demands of more money and sovereignty over the canal, Roosevelt orchestrated a revolt for Panama’s independence in 1903. With the support of the U.S. Navy, the rebellion succeeded immediately and almost without bloodshed. However, the new government of an independent Panama had to sign the Hay–Varilla Treaty of 1903 granting the United States all rights over the 51-mile-long and IO-mile-wide Canal Zone as “if it were sovereign … in perpetuity “ to keep U.S. protection. Years later, Roos­evelt boasted, “I took Canal Zone and let Congress debate.”

Question 28

Panama Canal

Answer 28

Started in 1904, the Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Hundreds of laborers lost their lives in the effort. The work was com­pleted thanks in great measure to the skills of two Army colonels-George Goethals, the chief engineer of the canal, and Dr. William Gorgas, whose efforts eliminated the mosquitoes that spread deadly yellow fever. Most Americans approved of Roosevelt’s determination to build the canal, but many were unhappy with his high-handed tactics to secure the Canal Zone. Latin Americans were especially resentful. To compensate, Congress finally voted in 1921 to pay Colombia an indemnity of $25 million for its loss of Panama. In 1999, United States returned the Canal Zone to the Republic of Panama to end the growing bitterness over the original treaty

Question 29

Roosevelt Corollary

Answer 29

Another application of Roosevelt’s big-stick diplomacy involved Latin Ameri­can nations that were in deep financial trouble and could not pay their debts to European creditors. For example, in 1902, the British dispatched warships to Venezuela to force that country to pay its debts. In 1904, it appeared that European powers stood ready to intervene in Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic) for the same reason. Rather than let Europeans intervene in Latin America a blatant violation of the Monroe Doctrine-Roosevelt declared in December 1904 that the United States would intervene instead, whenever necessary. This policy became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Mon­roe Doctrine. It meant that the United States would send gunboats to a Latin American country that was delinquent in paying its debts. U.S. sailors and marines would then occupy the country’s major ports to manage the collection of customs taxes until European debts were satisfied.

Question 30

Russo-Japanese War

Answer 30

Imperialist rivalry between Russia and Japan led to war in 1904, a war Japan was winning. To end the conflict, Roosevelt arranged a diplomatic conference between the two foes at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1905. Although both Japan and Russia agreed to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japanese nationalists blamed the United States for not giving their country all that they believed they deserved from Russia.

Question 31

Treaty of Portsmouth

Answer 31

To end the conflict, Roosevelt arranged a diplomatic conference between the two foes at , New Hampshire, in 1905. Although both Japan and Russia agreed to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japanese nationalists blamed the United States for not giving their country all that they believed they deserved from Russia.

Question 32

Great White Fleet

Answer 32

To demonstrate U.S. naval power to Japan and other nations, Roosevelt sent a fleet of battleships on an around-the-world cruise (1907-1909). The great white ships made an impressive sight, and the Japanese government warmly welcomed their arrival in Tokyo Bay.

Question 33

Gentlemen’s Agreement

Answer 33

A major cause of friction between Japan and the United States concerned the laws of California, which discriminated against Japanese Americans. San Francisco’s practice of requiring Japanese American children to attend segregated schools was considered a national insult in Japan. In 1908, President Roosevelt arranged a compromise by means of an informal understanding, or “gentlemen’s agreement.” The Japanese government secretly agreed to restrict the emigration of Japanese workers to the United States in return for Roosevelt persuading California to repeal its discriminatory laws.

Question 34

Intervention in Nicaragua

Answer 34

U.S. presidents used the Roosevelt Corollary to justify sending U.S. forces into Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. One long-term result of such s was poor U.S. relations with the entire region of Latin America.

Question 35

Anti-Imperialism

Answer 35

Taft believed that private American financial investment in China and Central America would lead to greater stability there, while at the same time promot­ing U.S. business interests. His policy, however, was thwarted by one major obstacle: growing anti-imperialism both in the United States and overseas.

Question 36

Jones Act

Answer 36

Wilson won passage of the Jones Act of 1916, which (1) granted full territorial status to that country, (2) guaranteed a bill of rights and universal male suffrage to Filipino citizens, and (3) promised independence for the Philippines as soon as a stable government was established

Question 37

ABC Powers

Answer 37

To aid revolutionaries fighting Huerta, Wilson called for an arms embargo against the Mexican government and sent a fleet to block­ ade the port of Vera Cruz. In 1914, several U.S. sailors went ashore at Tampico where they were arrested by Mexican authorities. They were soon released. However, Huerta refused to apologize, as demanded by a U.S. naval officer. Wilson retaliated by ordering the U.S. Navy to occupy Veracruz. War seemed imminent. It was averted, however, when South America’s powers­ Argentina, Brazil, and Chile-offered to mediate the dispute. This was the first dispute in the Americas to be settled through joint mediation.

Question 38

Pershing’s Expeditionary Force

Answer 38

Huerta fell from power in late 1914. Replacing him was a more democratic regime led by Venustiano Carranza. Almost immediately, the new government was challenged by a band of rebels loyal to Pancho Villa. Hoping to destabilize his opponent’s govern­ ment, Villa led raids across the U.S.-Mexican border and murdered several people in Texas and New Mexico. In March 1916, President Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing and an “expeditionary force” to pursue Villa into northern Mexico. They failed to capture Villa. President Carranza protested the American presence in Mexico. In January 1917, the growing possibility of U.S. entry into World War I caused Wilson to withdraw Pershing’s troops.