U.S. History
Unit III- Study Guide for Quest (small test?, large quiz?--> approx. 40 pts)
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All vocab terms from the unit vocab list
Motivations for American Imperialism
o Monroe Doctrine  Roosevelt
Corollary
o Extension of Manifest Destiny
o White Man’s Burden
Methods of American Imperialism
o Roosevelt’s Big Stick
o Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
o Wilson’s Moral Diplomacy
The reasons the U.S. was hesitant (more so
than European nations) to become involved
in Imperialism
The Spanish-American War
o Reasons (both selfless and selfserving) that the U.S. was
interested in Cuba
o Impact of, and definition of,
Yellow Journalism
o The basic steps leading up to the
war (e.g., Sinking of the Maine,
intercepted note from Spanish
Ambassador, U.S. desire for the
Philippines, etc.)
o Ultimate result of the war and the
Treaty of Paris
Some basics of facts of U.S. interventionism
o U.S. pursued (and got) an Open
Door Policy in China
o What the Boxer Rebellion was.
Be able to match the following imperialism
summaries with the appropriate geographic
location.
o Hawaii- American sugar
plantation owners launch an
overthrow of the local queen,
without the permission of the U.S.
president to protect their profits.
o Cuba (after the Spanish American
War)- The U.S. did some good in
this place (kicked out the Spanish,
set up schools, fought disease), but
it also forced this country to
accept the Platt Amendment into
its constitution, allowing the U.S.
the right to prevent this country
from making treaties with other
countries that were against the
interest of the U.S.
o China- The U.S. tries to ensure
that the U.S. and European nations
will share the freedom to profit by
trading with this country. After
violently crushing a native revolt
by ‘boxers’, the U.S. and
Europeans get their way.
o Panama- The U.S. helps to start a
civil war so that it can help one of
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the sides and then negotiate with it
to build a hugely time-saving
transport route.
o Nicaragua – the U.S. loaned this
country money to prevent a revolt,
but then gave U.S. banks the rights
to basically run the country until
they got their money back. When
the people of this country rebelled
in anger, the U.S. sent in troops
that stayed for decades.
o Puerto Rico – The U.S. freed this
colony as part of the SpanishAmerican War, but later denied
that it had to give the people of
this territory citizenship, even
even if the U.S. kept their land as
a territory. Nevertheless, the U.S.
congress did give these people
citizenship- congress just argued
that it didn’t have to.
o Philippines (after the Spanish
American War) – The people of
this colony felt that the U.S. had
promised them independence after
the Spanish American War.
However, the U.S saw the land as
too valuable to trade with Asia to
let go. In the guerrilla war, the
U.S. resorted, ironically, to using
concentration camps to put down
this land’s guerrilla fighters.
o Mexico- The U.S., disgusted by
the tyrannical ruler in this country,
sent in troops to hunt down antiAmerican bandits. The U.S.
eventually gives up the hunt after
a year and as their attention turns
to WWI.
The U.S. in World War I
o Why was America initially
neutral?
o What factors brought them into
the war? (economic factors,
Germany as bully, unrestricted
submarine warfare, Zimmerman
Note, Russia’s collapse)
o Government control of U.S.
economy during the war (Liberty
Bonds, rationing, daylight
savings)
o Loss of Constitutional Rights
(Espionage and Sedition Acts)
o Impact on Women and Minorities
(‘Great Migration’, women in
factories)
o Influenza pandemic
o U.S. position as (perhaps) leading
world power