Readings: Boyer, Paul S. et al. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People

 

Chapter 20: Politics and Expansion in an Industrializing Age,

   1877-1900

        - Expansionist  Stirrings and War with Spain, 1878-1901

 

Chapter 22: Global Involvements and World War I, 1902-1920

 

Zinn, Howard, People’s History of the United States 

    "The Empire and the People"

 

Webcasts

 

 

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. In 1898 the United States declared war on Spain, although there seemed to be little provocation. Why did the majority of Americans and most government leaders favor war?

  2. With the annexation of the Philippines, the United States for the first time imposed its rule on a distant people by military force. How can you account for this change in U.S. foreign policy? What pressures and groups led the nation in this imperialistic direction? Were there countergroups trying to prevent this course? If so, why were they unsuccessful?

  3. In what ways did U.S. policy in Asia and Latin America between 1900 and 1917 foreshadow U.S. intervention in World War 1?

  4. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson, proclaimed U.S. neutrality and asked the American people to be neutral in thought as well as action. In April 1917 Wilson asked Congress to declare was on Germany. What brought about this turnabout in American policy toward World War I?

  5. During World War I how did the U.S. government attempt to mobilize the economy, influence public opinion, and silence all dissent?

  6. Woodrow Wilson wanted to draw up a liberal settlement at the end of the war that would ensure peace and democracy for generations thereafter. What prevented the realization of his plans?

Identifications:

Alfred t. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History

Social Darwinism

William Randolph Hearst, The Journal, and Yellow Journalism

Teller Amendment vs. Platt Agreement

Emilio Aquinaldo

Anti-Imperialist League

Open Door Policy and Boxer Rebellion

Gentlemen's Agreement

Roosevelt Corollary

dollar diplomacy

General John J. Pershing

U-Boat

Lusitania

Jane Addams, Carrie Chapman Catt, and the Woman's Peace party

Sussex threat and pledge

Zimmermann telegram

Bernard Baruch and the War Industries Board

Herbert Hoover and the Food Administration

American Expeditionary Force

George Creel and the Committee on Public Information

Espionage and Sedition acts, 1917, 1918

Schenck v. United States and the "clear and present danger" doctrine

East St. Louis race riot, 1917; Chicago race riot, 1919

Wilson’s fourteen-point peace plan

Treaty of Versailles and Covenant of the League of Nations

Henry Cabot Lodge, reservationists and irreconcilables

Red Scare, 1919-1920, and the Palmer raids