C27 - The Path of Empire 1890-1899

Question 1

Foraker Act

Answer 1

1900: Puerto Rico was US territory now (after the Treaty of Paris). Foraker Act granted Puerto Rico a limited degree of popular government.

In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted US Citizenship.

The country was very poor, and the US helped improve education, sanitation, transportation, etc.

Question 2

Rough Riders

Answer 2

Part of the invading US army that invaded Cuba. Directed by Colone Wood, but mostly organized by the attention-seeking Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned from the Navy Department to be part of this invading force.

Question 3

Pan-American Conference

Answer 3

1889. First Pan American Conference took place in Washington DC. Meeting between US and Latin American nations regarding trade and economic issues.

Presided over by US Secretary of State James G. Blaine.

2 outcomes of the conference: agreements that the US and many Latin American governments would reduce tariffs in order to increase trade between countries. Another outcome: started a tradition so future talks would be held.

Question 4

insular cases

Answer 4

1901: Supreme Court cases which ruled that people in US territories like Puerto Rico and Philippines were under US rule, but did not get all of the constitutional rights that other US Citizens are granted.

Question 5

Treaty of Paris

Answer 5

Treaty with Spain that took Spaniards out of Cuba, US bought the Philippines from Spain, and the US received Guam and Puerto Rico.

This treaty sparked a big debate in the US. Some didn’t believe with these expansionist actions. The Anti-Imperialist League sprang up as a response .

Question 6

Teller Amendment

Answer 6

Amendment passed by Congress in 1898 that said that after the US helped Cuba overthrow Spanish rule, it would give Cubans their freedom.

Question 7

James G. Blaine

Answer 7

Secretary of State under President Garfield and then President Harrison.

Led the 1st Pan American conference.

Question 8

jingoism

Answer 8

Jingoism is patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. Jingoism also refers to bias against free trade with foreign nations

Question 9

Richard Olney

Answer 9

President Cleveland’s Secretary of State.

No lover of the British. He wrote a scathing note to the British government reminding them of the Monroe Doctrine, which forbid European countries from expanding or colonizing anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

There was disputed land in Venezuela (South America) and US told Britain to get out. Britain replied by saying it was none of the US’s business.

Question 10

Anti-Imperialist League

Answer 10

Group that sprang up to fight President McKinley’s expansionist moves. They disagreed with the US controlling lands that weren’t part of the continental US (like Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and Guam and Puerto Rico).

Many prominent Americans were anti-imperialists; Presidents of Stanford and Harvard Universities, mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie and labor leader Samuel Gompers.

Question 11

Emilio Aguinaldo

Answer 11

Leader of Filipino insurgents (people who were fighting for freedom from Spain in Manilla Philippines).

Brilliant and supported by the US in the fight for independence from Spain.

Question 12

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Answer 12

Navy captain who wrote a book in 1890: The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. In his book, he said that control of the seas was key to a nation’s dominance.

New steel Navy ships were a big improvement.

His book helped stimulate a Naval race. World powers raced to improve their Navies.

Question 13

Valeriano Weyler

Answer 13

Spanish captain who went to Cuba in 1896 to put down Cubans who were demanding/fighting for independence from Spain. The cause of the Cubans’ actions was mis-management of the island by Spain and severe economic problems, especially related to their big crop: sugar.

Weyler came in like a cruel butcher and put many Cubans in concentration camps where many died of disease.

Question 14

Depuy de L’me

Answer 14

Spanish minister in Washington who wrote a letter in early 18988, insulting President McKinley. The letter was not meant to be public…it was stolen from the mail and then published by Hearst (a big newspaper publisher at the time).

Became such an outrage that Deputy De L’me was forced to resign.

Question 15

imperialism

Answer 15

National feeling that a country has the right to expand and even conquer foreign lands.

Question 16

Platt Amendment

Answer 16

1901: Cubans were forced by the US to write the Platt Amendment into their own constitution.

Because of the Teller Amendment of 1898, US was required to withdraw from Cuba in 1902. US did not want another power like Germany to take over Cuba. In return for saving Cuba and winning its independence from Spain, the US forced the Platt Amendment on Cuba. US had the right to send troops in to restore order if needed. 2 Naval stations were also given to the US, including the one still used, Guantanamo Bay.

Question 17

Theodore Roosevelt

Answer 17

Was up for a fight in 1898 over Spain’s actions in Cuba.

Accused President McKinley of being weak for not wanting to go to war.

Assistant Navy Secretary under John D. Long.

Question 18

Maine

Answer 18

US Navy ship that was sent to Cuba in 1898 to be available to evacuate Americans in Cuba if another uprising occurred.

A few days later the ship blew up while in Havana Harbor in Cuba.

Investigations later said that the explosion was started by a fire on board the ship, but the “yellow press” and American public at the time blamed Spain. This spurred anti-Spain sentiment in the US.

Question 19

George Dewey

Answer 19

US Naval captain who was given orders by Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt to move ships to Manila Philippines.

They quickly crushed the outmatched Spanish Navy.

He became an overnight national hero.

Question 20

reconcentration

Answer 20

Camps in Cuba where, starting in 1893, Captain Weyler from Spain kept Cubans. Many died from unsanitary conditions.

Question 21

Great reapproachment or reconciliation

Answer 21

By 1900, Britain recognized that it needed the US as a friend because they had so many hostile enemies in Europe. Germany, France, etc. were all hostile toward Britain.

So this new policy of reconciliation opened a new era of good US-British relations.

Question 22

Hawaii

Answer 22

Became part of US in 1898. The US already had agreements with the local Hawaiian government for years to have exclusive use of the large Pearl Harbor for US military use. White planters in Hawaii wanted to become part of the US for economic reasons…they produced sugar and wanted to sell in the US without a tarriff that was being charged while it was still a foreign country.

In 1893, the US Senate almost passed a bill making Hawaii a state, but President Harrison’s term ended. When President Cleveland came to power, he questioned whether most of Hawaii’s people wanted to become part of the US. He held the action off for 5 more years, before Hawaii finally became a state.

Question 23

Hearst and Pullitzer

Answer 23

Two widely-read newspaper publishers who sometimes sensationalized stories (exaggerated). This caused public uproar sometimes based on information that was not totally true or was exaggerated. Called the “yellow Press”, they had a lot of power to sway public opinion.

Question 24

Spanish-American War

Answer 24

1898: Short (113 days), low in deaths, very successful in proving America was a world power.

National pride (even cockiness?) was the result. John Philip Sousa published popular new military marching-band music.

Expansionism resulted - (adding US territories: Hawaii, Guam, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Phillippines). There were some negatives to come related to these territories. Improvements in Puerto Rico and Cuba were expensive (these were poor countries). Philippines was in the Far East, hard to manage and became a problem in 1941 during WW2 with Philippines’ neighbor Japan.

This war caused some overconfidence on the US’s part - they became unprepared militarily (exception was new modern Navy ships being built).

US expansionism made some world countries (including latin American countries) suspicious of US’s greed.

One more result of Spanish-American War: Further healing between the North and the South/former Civil War enemies.