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Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War was an 1898 conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America; it produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. Proved that the United States could take on a country that at one time was a world power. -
USS Maine Explosion
Arriving in January 1898, USS Maine sank on February 15 after an explosion tore through the ship. Initial reports concluded that Maine had been sunk by a naval mine. Sparking a wave of outrage across the United States, the loss of the ship helped push the nation towards war. The yellow press took every opportunity to inflame the situation with the exhortation to ‘Remember the Maine’, publicize the alleged cruelties of Spanish repression and encourage a belligerent hunger for action. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door policy—first initiated in 1899, with a follow-up missive in 1900—was significant in its attempt by the United States to establish an international protocol of equal privileges for all countries trading with China and to support China's territorial and administrative integrity. The importance of this is that China was not split up into multiple different colonies, and that it bred resentment among the Chinese that foreign countries were dictating their future status. -
Foraker Act
In April of 1900, U.S. President McKinley signed a civil law that established a civilian government in Puerto Rico. The Foraker Act passed after the U.S. took possession of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. The law also maintained the colonial status of the island, granted Puerto Rican citizenship to its residents, and defined the island's political and economic relationship with the United States. It remained in effect until 1917. -
Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Meat Inspection Act of 1906, U.S. legislation, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. Since the inception of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 the law has been expanded to include other kinds of meat products. -
Dollar Diplomacy
The term "Dollar Diplomacy" refers to the use of diplomacy to promote the United States commercial interest and economic power abroad by guaranteeing loans made to strategically important foreign countries. Taft’s dollar diplomacy did the United States more harm than good. Today the term is used disparagingly to refer to the reckless manipulation of foreign affairs for protectionist financial purposes.
