Chapter 21 - An Emerging World Power

Question 1

American exceptionalism

Answer 1

•Idea that the U.S. had a unique destiny to foster democracy and civilzation

Question 2

USS Maine

Answer 2

• Ship exploded and sunk in Havana Harbor with 260 seamen lost
• “Remember the Maine”
• One factor pushing U.S. to war

Question 3

Teller Amendment

Answer 3

•Reassured Americans that their country would uphold democracy abroad as well as at home

Question 4

Insular Case

Answer 4

•The Constitution did not automatically extend citizenship to people in acquired territories; Congress could decide

Question 5

Platt Amendment

Answer 5

•(1902) Blocked Cuba from making a treaty with any country except the U.S. and gave the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuban affairs if it was fit. Cuba granted U.S. lease on Guantánamo Bay where U.S. built large base

Question 6

Open Door Notes/Policy

Answer 6

•U.S. Secretary of State John Hay sent big powers a note (1899) claiming the right of equal trade access for all nations seeking to do business in China. No response = Hay took it as yes

Question 7

Root-Takahira Agreement

Answer 7

•(1908) U.S. and Japan signed this, confirming principles of free oceanic commerce and recognizing Japan’s authority of Manchuria

Question 8

Panama Canal

Answer 8

•Opened 1914, gave U.S. commanding position in Western Hemisphere

Question 9

Roosevelt Corollary

Answer 9

•Turned Monroe Doctrine upside down: instead of guaranteeing that the U.S. would protect its neighbors from Europe and help preserve their independence, it asserted U.S.’s unrestricted right to regulate Caribbean affairs

Question 10

Zimmerman telegram

Answer 10

•From German foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman to his minister in Mexico, urging Mexico to join the Central Powers, promising that if the U.S. entered the war, Germany would help Mexico recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

Question 11

War Industries Board

Answer 11

•Established in July 1917, directed military production

Question 12

National War Labor Board

Answer 12

•Formed in April 1918, established an 8 hour day for war workers with time-and-a-half pay for overtime, and endorsed equal pay for women

Question 13

Fuel Administration

Answer 13

•Introduced daylight saving time to conserve coal and oil

Question 14

Food Administration/ Herbert Hoover

Answer 14

• Most successful wartime agency
• Created in August 1917 and led by Herbert Hoover
• Convinced farmers to nearly double their acreage of grain
• Increase allowed a 3 fold rise in food exports to Europe

Question 15

Committee on Public Information

Answer 15

•A government agency headed by jounralist George Creel. Professing lofy goals - educating citizens about democracy, assimilating immigrants, and ending the isolation of rural life - the committee set out to mold Americans into “one white-hot mass” of war patriotism. Distributed 5 million pieces of literature and enlisted thousands of volunteers to deliver short pro war speeches at movie theaters

Question 16

Four-Minute Men

Answer 16

•Volunteers of the Committee on Public Information to deliver short pro war speeches at movie theaters

Question 17

Sedition Act of 1918

Answer 17

•Prohibited any words or behavior that might “incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the U.S., or promote the cause of its enemies”. Defined treason loosely. Led to the conviction of more than a thousand people

Question 18

Schenck v. the U.S.

Answer 18

•(1919) The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a socialist who was jailed for circulating pamphlets that urged army draftees to resist induction