Chapter 21: Vocab

Question 1

American Exceptionalism

Answer 1

The idea that the United States has a unique destiny to foster democracy and civilization on the world stage.

Question 2

Teller Amendment

Answer 2

An amendment to the 1898 U.S. declaration of war against Spain disclaiming any intention by the United States to occupy Cuba. The amendment assured the public that the United States would uphold democracy abroad as well as at home.

Question 3

Insular Cases

Answer 3

A set of Supreme Court rulings in 1901 that declared that the U.S. Constitution did not automatically extend citizenship to people in acquired territories; only Congress could decide whether to grant citizenship.

Question 4

Platt Amendment

Answer 4

A 1902 amendment to the Cuban Constitution that blocked Cuba from making a treaty with any country except the United States the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. The amendment was a condition for U.S withdrawal from the newly independent island.

Question 5

“Open Door” Policy

Answer 5

A claim put forth by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay that all nations seeking to do business in China should have equal trade access.

Question 6

Root-Takahira Agreement

Answer 6

A 1908 agreement between the United States and Japan confirming principles of free oceanic commerce and recognizing Japan’s authority over Manchuria.

Question 7

Panama Canal

Answer 7

A canal across the Isthmus of Panama connecting trade between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and opened in 1914, the canal gave U.S. naval vessels quick access to the Pacific and provided the United States with a commanding position in the Western Hemisphere.

Question 8

Roosevelt Corollary

Answer 8

The 1904 assertion by President Theodore Roosevelt that the United States would act as a “policeman” in the Caribbean region and intervene in the affairs of nations that were guilty of “wrongdoing or impotence” in order to protect U.S. interests in Latin America.

Question 9

Zimmerman Telegram

Answer 9

A 1917 intercepted dispatch in which German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman urged Mexico to join the Central Powers and promised that if the United States entered the war, Germany would help Mexico recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Published by American newspapers, the telegram outraged the American public and help precipitate the move toward U.S. entry in the war on the Allied side.

Question 10

War Industries Board

Answer 10

A federal board established in July 1917 to direct military production, including allocation of resources, conversion of factories to war production, and setting of prices.

Question 11

National War Labor Board

Answer 11

A federal agency founded in 1918 that established an eight-hour day for war workers (with time-and-a-half pay for overtime), endorsed equal pay for women, and supported workers’ right to organize.

Question 12

Sedition Act of 1918

Answer 12

Wartime law that prohibited any words or behavior that might promote resistance to the United States or help in the cause of its enemies.

Question 13

Great Migration

Answer 13

The migration of over 400,000 African Americans from the rural South to the industrial cities of the North during and after World War I.

Question 14

National Woman’s Party

Answer 14

A political party founded in 1916 that fought for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the early twentieth century.

Question 15

Fourteen Points

Answer 15

Principles for a new world order proposed in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson as a basis for peace negotiations at Versailles. Among them were open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, free trade, territorial integrity, arms reduction, national self-determination, and creation of the League of Nations.

Question 16

League of Nations

Answer 16

The international organization bringing together world governments to prevent future hostilities, proposed by President Woodrow Wilson in the aftermath of World War I. Although the League of Nations did form, the United States never became a member of state.

Question 17

Treaty of Versailles

Answer 17

The 1919 treaty that ended World War I. The agreement redrew the map of the world, assigned Germany sole responsibility for the war, and saddled it with a debt of $33 billion in war damages. It’s long-term impact around the globe – including the creation of British and French imperial “mandates”– was catastrophic.