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Monroe Doctrine
A United States policy that rejected European colonization in America. The doctrine gave the U.S. the authority to mediate border disputes in the Western Hemisphere. -
Hawaiian Annexation
The nationalism spurred by the Spanish-American war, urged McKinley to annex Hawaii after Cleveland refused to. The U.S. became involved with Hawaii through the sugar trade, then put a tariff on the growing of sugar cane causing the country to fall into a depression and overthrow the Queen. -
Teller Amendment
It was an amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress in reply to President William McKinley's War Message. It placed a condition on the United States military's presence in Cuba. -
Anti-imperialist League
An organization established to fight the Philippines annexation into the U.S. for economic, racial, moral and legal reasons. -
Open Door Policy
A policy by President Mckinley to create trade opportunities between the U.S. and China while having American interests in the Far East. It allowed the United States to expand its markets for industrialized goods. -
Insular Cases
A series of court cases determining the status of land taken by the U.S. during the Spanish–American War. They resulted as a response to the issue of the Election of 1900 and the American Anti-Imperialist League. -
Newlands Reclamation Act
A federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. The act at first covered only 13 of the western states as Texas had no federal lands. Texas was added later by a special act passed in 1906. This Act aims to provide financial backing to farmers who are unable to carry out their irrigation due to financial constraints. -
Platt Amendment
It was a treaty between the U.S. and Cuba in an attempt to protect Cubas independence from foreign invasion. It contained seven conditions for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Cuba at the end of the Spanish–American War and that Cuba sign a treaty accepting the seven conditions. -
Panama Canal
The United States took over the Panama Canal to have a quicker passage to the Pacific from the Atlantic and vice versa for more efficient and cheaper trade. It cost $400,000,000 to build.
The Panamanian Revolution allowed the United States to build the canal. -
The Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet were the powerful United States Navy battleships that completed a journey around the world from 1907 to 1909, during President Theodore Roosevelts term. -
Bull Moose Party
dissolved in 1920, Roosevelts political party (progressives) -
Federal Reserve Act
The U.S. legislation that created the current Federal Reserve System. The Act was developed to establish economic stability by introducing a central bank to oversee monetary policy. Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Act sought to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency by defining unethical business practices, such as price-fixing and monopolies, and upholds various rights of labor. Much more successful than the sherman antitrust act. -
Federal Trade Commission
Is an independent agency of the government to enforce civil U.S. antitrust laws and the promotion of consumer protection. Its job is to make sure companies compete fairly and don't mislead or trick people about their products and services. -
Submarine Warfare
A type of warfare in which submarines attack neighboring ships from under the water. Germany coined unrestricted submarine warfare in early WW1 as they sunk all types of enemy ships (war and civilian) without warning. -
Sussex Pledge
A pledge made by Germany to the U.S. following submarine warfare agreeing to give warning before sinking merchant and passenger ships for the safety of passengers and crew. Ended 20 days later when the ferry "SS Sussex" was torpedoed by a German submarine. -
Red Scare
The period (1917-1920) in the U.S. where widespread fear of communism or anarchism was promoted based on recent events (real or imagined). The Russian Revolution and anarchist bombings led to the first Red Scare. -
Selective Service Act
This Act authorized the U.S. to draft a national army for service in WW1 by requiring all able men ages 21-30 to register for the military. Approximately 10 million men had been drafted within a few months. -
Fourteen Points
A statement made by President Woodrow Wilson with the goal of ending WW1 and preventing any future wars. They were principles of peace that could be used as blueprints for peace negotiations. they were deemed a failure. -
Sedition Act
An act by the U.S. Congress that extended the offenses of the Espionage Act of 1917. The Act permitted the deportation, fine, or imprisonment of anyone who interferes with government bonds or casts the government/war effort in a negative light. -
Palmer Raids
A series of raids conducted from 1919-1920 by the U.S. Department of Justice to arrest anarchists and radical leftists under President Woodrow Wilson. Happened as a result of the first Red Scare, as it was about socialist revolution and political radicalism. -
Volstead Act
After being strongly influenced by the American Temperance Society, Womens Christian Temperance and the Anti-Saloon League, the Volstead act was put into place as an attempt to enforce the Prohibition. It worked at the beginning by lowering crime rates and drunken arrests, price of illegal alcohol became too high for most to afford, and alcohol consumption dropped approximately 50%. -
Harlem Renaissance
A turning point for African-American culture. An explosion of intelligence, society, and art spanning the 20's in Harlem, New York. -
Lost Generation
The title given of the war's survivors in the early post-war period. They were considered to be “lost” due to their tendency to act aimlessly, even recklessly, often focusing on the accumulation of personal wealth. -
Treaty of Versailles
The peace treaty that ended WW1 by ending the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Created by the Paris Peace Conference, it solely blamed Germany making them pay billions, making them take responsibility and taking away land acquisitions. These punishments led to WW2 as Germany rebelled. -
League of Nations
A worldwide intergovernmental organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference to maintain world peace following WW1. It ceased operations after WW2. Even though U.S. President Woodrow Wilson founded it, the U.S. never joined it. -
Jones Act
A federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the United States. The Act requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents. -
Five-Power Naval Treaty
A treaty signed among the major nations that had won World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. -
Dawes Plan
A plan that successfully resolved World War I reparations that Germany had to pay. It ended a crisis in European diplomacy following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. -
Scopes Trial
An American legal case in which a high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. (separation of church and state). -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
An international agreement to not use war to settle disputes. Did not succeed in ending war or stopping the rise of militarism. -
Black Tuesday
The day in 1929 when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. Led to the Great Depression. -
Dust Bowl
A period of severe dust storms that damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies. An area of Oklahoma, Kansas, and northern Texas affected by severe soil erosion in the which obliged many people to move. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
A law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the United States. Signed into law by President Herbert Hoover. -
New Deal
A program that focused on the relief of the poor and unemployed, recovery of the economy and reform of the financial system. It was as a result of the Great Depression and successfully reformed wall street, shifted political power to Democratic New Deal Coalition, social security and relief for the poor and unemployed. -
Good Neighbor Policy
A policy designed by FDR to improve relations with Latin America by encouraging interaction between the United States and Latin America as equals. -
21st Amendment
Repeals the 18th amendment in which prohibited the sale or consumption of alcohol. By repealing the 18th amendment crime rates lowered. -
Wagner Act
Also known as the National Labor Relations Act, guarantees the right of private sector employees to form unions, collective bargaining and take collective action (strikes). -
Social Security Act
Signed into law by FDR. Created insurance against unemployment, a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped. -
Spanish Civil War
A civil war fought in Spain by the Republicans, government formed, and the Nationalists, the rebels, caused by major socio-economic issues. Resulted in Nationalist win, ending the second Spanish republic and became a prelude for WW2. -
Manhattan Project
The project that housed the research and development of nuclear weapons during WW2. It produced the first Atomic Bomb, and was led by the U.S. with support from Great Britain and Canada. Started out of fear that Germany had been working towards an Atomic bomb since the 30's and it was in the Hands of Adolf Hitler. -
The Holocaust
The WW2 genocide of European Jews by Nazi soldiers led by Adolf Hitler that resulted in approximately 11 million deaths in 4 years. After gaining power in early wins of WW2, the Nazis set out for territorial expansion and resulted in the holocaust. -
Lend-Lease Act
U.S. government could "lend or lease" war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States.” (United Kingdom, Free France, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations). Under this policy, the United States was able to supply military aid during World War II while still remaining officially neutral. -
Atlantic Charter
An agreement between President FDR and Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill for post-war peace. The charter combined elements from FDR's Four Freedoms and Churchill's London Declaration. Although it failed for these two leaders, it set the basis for modern United Nations. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The bombing of the U.S. naval fleet on a Hawaiian island, Oahu, by the Japanese in order for them to conquer SE Asia without the U.S. interference. As a result, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Japanese internment
The forced relocation and incarceration in concentration camps in the western interior of the country of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific Coast. During WW2 by FDR. -
Battle of Midway
A naval battle in the Pacific Ocean during WW2 between the U.S. and Japan with an American victory. This battle took place 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the coral sea. -
Braceros Program
The program was established by agreement with the Mexican government to recruit temporary Mexican agricultural workers to the United States to make up for wartime labor shortages in the Far West. -
Potsdam Conference
The last of the three meeting between the Big Three Nations of WW2. It was unsuccessful as they did not settle most of the important issues and set the stage for the cold war. -
Cuban Revolt
An armed revolt led by Fidel Castro and his group of rebels to overthrow President Fulgencio Batista. Six years later, Castro succeeded throwing Batista out of the country and established a new communist Cuban government led by himself.
