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Alaska Purchase 1867
This purchase marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade to the Pacific coast of North America. Russia believed selling Alaska would off-set the designs with Great Britain.Sold to the U.S. for $7.2 million -
McKinley Tariff
enacted by Congress which created a crisis by ending Hawaii’s favored position in the sugar trade. The law permitted all countries to ship sugar duty-free to the United States. It also gave sugar producers in the United States a subsidy of two cents per pound. This caused sugar prices to drop, and the Hawaiian economy suffered. -
Venezuela Dispute 1895
A boundary dispute between Venezuela and Britain.Venezuela claimed that Britain was enroaching on Venezuela's soil. The clashing of opinions between Venezuela and Britain. -
Sinking of the Maine 1898
The Maine was suddenly blown up at the anchor in Havana Harbor on the night of February 15th, 1898. No one knows exactly why, but the consequence was the Spanish- American War. Apparently by a mine. -
Teller Amendment
Stated that once Cuba won its independence from Spain, the US would “leave the government and control of the Island to its people.” -
Hawaii Annexed 1898
The U.S. passing a treaty making the Hawaiian Islands officially apart of the U.S. When the U.S.S Maine was exploded the Spanish-American War began; therefore, the U.S. needed a Pacific fueling location. President Benjamin Harrison submitted the treaty for the Hawaiian Islands to be annexed. -
Annexation of the Philippines
some Americans questioned whether it was proper to annex a foreign territory and rule its government and its people. Business people wanted the islands to serve as a trading post for goods from Asia as well as a place for merchant ships to refuel. Some other supporter believed that the United States would bring democracy to the Philippines. Others held that US rule of the islands was necessary to keep out European powers. Opponents of annexation responded that by denying the Philippines indep. -
Open Door Note
US proposed to everyone about the foreign affairs of China. -
The boxer Rebellion
In the spring of 1900 the Boxers attacked Western missionaries and traders in northern China, killing more than 200 people. This uprising was supported by some Chinese government officials. The Boxers laid siege to the large, walled-in foreign settlement in Beijing, China’s capital. Foreign countries responded by sending troops to China. In August, after an eight-week siege, the international force rescued the foreigners. -
Drago Doctrine 1907
International law that rejects the right of a country to use force against another country to collect debts. It was the response to the actions of Britain, Germnay, and Italy who had blockaded and shelled ports in response to Venezuela's massive debt. Acquired under president Cipriano Castro. -
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
Agreement that gave the US sovereignty over a 10-mile-wide canal zone across the Isthmus of Panama. -
US and the Panama Canal
in 1901 Secretary of State John Hay began negotiations with the Republic of Columbia, which then included Panama. A treaty was drafted in 1903. In return for a 99-year lease on a six-mile strip of land across the isthmus, the US agreed to pay Colombia $10 million and a yearly rental of $250,000. Colombia’s senate held out for better terms and adjourned without ratifying the treaty. Bunau-Varilla traveled to Washington DC to get US support for the revolution. -
Roosevelt Corollary
President Theodore Roosevelt’s addition to the Monroe Doctrine; stated that the US would police affairs in the Western Hemisphere to keep Europeans from intervening in the region. -
The Great White Fleet
Concerned by Japan’s growing power, Roosevelt decided to remind the Japanese of US military might. In late 1907 he sent a fleet of four destroyers and 16 battleships, painted a dazzling white, on a 46,000-mile world cruise that included a stop in the Japanese port of Yokohama. -
Dollar Diplomacy
President William Howard Taft’s policy of influencing Latin American affairs through economic influence rather than military force.