APUSH Review- Winter Exam
Chapter 27- Empire and Expansion (1890-1909)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: In the 1890s, a number of economic and political forces sparked a spectacular burst of
imperialistic expansionism for the United States that culminated in the Spanish-American War—a war
that began over freeing Cuba and ended with the highly controversial acquisition of the Philippines and
other territories.
Theme: In the wake of the Spanish-American War, President Theodore Roosevelt pursued a bold and
sometimes controversial new policy of asserting America’s influence abroad, particularly in East Asia and
Latin America.
KEY TERMS
Big Sister Policy
Great Rapprochement
Anti-Imperialistic League
Roosevelt Corollary
Imperialism
Open Door Note
Big Stick
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Spanish-American War
Hawaii Annexed
Acquisition of Philippines
Construction of Panama Canal
Maine
Great White Fleet
NOTES

The United States came late to empire-building, which European powers had used to colonize large parts of the
world in the nineteenth century.

Social Darwinism is one key justification for U.S. territorial expansion.

Having expanded to the Pacific Ocean by the late nineteenth century, the United States will go on to establish a global
empire. The first step is to defeat Spain and take over its crumbling empire. This is accomplished in the Spanish-American
War, when the United States ostensibly comes to the aid of Cubans who are seeking to break the chains of Spanish
imperialism. Having defeated the Spaniards and wrested from them their empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the
United States faces an insurgency by people who earlier were its allies, notably the Cubans and Filipinos, who bridle at
what they see as a new hegemonic power.

Despite nearly coming to blows over the Venezuelan boundary dispute, the United States and Britain establish a cordial
relationship that has endured. War and Diplomacy is an AP theme.

To protect U.S. economic interests in China, Secretary of State John Hay proposes the Open Door policy to guarantee
equal trading and commercial rights in China for all. The Chinese, however, are not consulted; this exacerbates tensions
between China and the western powers. Globalization is an AP theme.

McKinley’s assassination thrusts Theodore Roosevelt into the spotlight and the Oval Office—a man whom most
conservative Republicans distrust. Many advocates of U.S. imperialism are not disappointed by Roosevelt’s policies, such
as the construction of the Panama Canal and a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine that strengthens U.S. hegemonic
influence in Latin America.
Chapter 28- Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt (1901-1912)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: The strong progressive movement successfully demanded that the powers of government be
applied to solving the economic and social problems of industrialization. Progressivism first gained
strength at the city and state level, and then achieved national influence in the moderately progressive
administrations of Theodore Roosevelt.
Theme: Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor, William H. Taft, aligned himself with the Republican Old
Guard, causing Roosevelt to break away and lead a progressive third-party crusade.
KEY TERMS
Social Gospel
Muckrakers
Progressivism
Roosevelt’s 3C’s
Dollar Diplomacy
“Square Deal”
Elkins Act
Theodore Roosevelt
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Meat Inspection Act
Northern Securities Case
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
Standard Oil Anti-Trust Case
US Steel Anti-Trust Suit
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
17th Amendment
NOTES

Corporate abuses and the government’s attempt at patchwork reforms—Reform is an AP theme—over the previous
decades convince progressives that stronger action is needed.

Muckrakers galvanize Americans through exposés and novels describing, for example, the abuses of major corporations..

The American political system undergoes a revolutionary transformation that will lead to women getting the right to vote
in 1920 (Nineteenth Amendment). Also, election of senators by state legislatures is replaced by the much more
democratic direct election (Seventeenth Amendment).

Wisconsin becomes the model for reform at the state level, with Governor Robert M. La Follette in the vanguard. Again,
Reform is an AP theme.

Legislation had been passed to protect the American worker, though widespread abuse continues, sparking strikes. One
of the most important is the Anthracite Coal Strike, and it is significant because the federal government does not
instinctively take the side of management.

Roosevelt spearheads efforts to impose regulations on corporations and eliminate unfair competition, but his record as a
trust-buster is uneven, as a political cartoon suggests (13th ed., p. 666/14th ed., p. 715).

Roosevelt is a unique political leader, especially when it comes to his interest in protecting the nation’s resources
through conservation. Take note of a point in his message to Congress (13th ed., p. 668/14th ed., p. 716).

Conflict between Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, once political allies, divides the Republican Party.
Chapter 29- Wilsonian Progressivism at Home & Abroad (1912-1916)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: After winning a three-way election, focused on different theories of progressivism, Woodrow
Wilson successfully pushed through a sweeping program of domestic economic and social reform in his
first term.
Theme: Wilson’s attempt to promote an idealistic progressive foreign policy failed, as dangerous military
involvements threatened Latin America, the North Atlantic, and Europe.
KEY TERMS
New Freedom
New Nationalism
Triple Wall of Privilege
Woodrow Wilson
Tampico Incident
16th Amendment
Lusitania Torpedoed
Sussex Ultimatum
German U-Boats
Lusitania
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
WWI Begins in Europe
NOTES:

A split in the Republican Party between supporters of Theodore Roosevelt and of President William Howard Taft gives
the Democrats’ Woodrow Wilson's victory in the 1912 election.

An idealist by nature and experience, President Wilson soon addresses some of the burning concerns of his time: the
high protective tariff, the power of the trusts, and banking monopolies. He also uses his rhetorical skills and academic
experience to convince the public and Congress that the plight of impoverished and exploited farmers and wage laborers
must be addressed.

Wilson alters foreign policy in Latin America. Roosevelt waved the Big Stick; Taft advocated what became known as
dollar diplomacy to protect and attract U.S. investments. Wilson, on the other hand, recoils from imperial pretensions.
But events in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico convince him to modify his objections to imperialism and use of
the U.S. military.

As militarism, nationalism, and imperialism strain relations among European countries, Wilson maintains a precarious
policy of neutrality. Germany’s use of U-boats to starve Britain into submission leads to what the United States considers
serious violations of its shipping and maritime rights. War and Diplomacy is an AP theme.
Chapter 30- The War to End War (1917-1918)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: Entering World War I in response to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson turned
America’s participation into a fervent ideological crusade for democracy that successfully stirred the
public to a great voluntary war effort, but at some cost to traditional civil liberties.
Theme: After America’s limited but important contribution to the Allied victory, a triumphant Wilson
attempted to construct a peace based on his idealistic Fourteen Points. But European and senatorial
opposition, and especially his own political errors, doomed American ratification of the Versailles Treaty
and participation in the League of Nations.
KEY TERMS
Zimmermann Note
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Committee on Public Information
War Industries Board
18th & 19th Amendments
Treaty of Versailles
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
Woodrow Wilson
George Creel
R.R. Controlled by Government
Herbert Hoover
Bolshevik Revolution
US Enters WWI
Defeat of Treaty in Senate
NOTES

With U.S.-German relations strained, what is left of the rapport erodes with the disclosure of the Zimmerman telegram
in March 1917. In it, the German government promises that if Mexico agrees to an alliance with Germany, it will regain
the territory it lost to the U.S. in the Mexican-American War. The following month, President Wilson asks and receives
from Congress a declaration of war. Opposition to U.S. entry into the war is strong in the Midwest and Southwest; the
Zimmerman telegram, however, infuriates residents of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Envisioning a postwar world in which nations would cooperate and respect one another’s right to self-determination and
recognize and enforce international law, President Wilson delivers what becomes known as the Fourteen Points in a
speech to Congress.

Leaving nothing to chance, and aware that the war is not popular with all Americans, the government enacts legislation
to stifle opposition to the war.

By and large, mainstream unions, such as the AFL, support the war effort and do not press their demands during the
conflict. Radical unions, such as the IWW (Wobblies), have no such reservations; indeed, they see the war itself as
contributing to what they consider the exploitative nature of capitalism. For many workers, however, real wages climb
during the war.

With Germany’s capitulation in November 1918, the war to end war, as it is optimistically referred to, ends. Wilson goes
to Europe to hammer out a plan to establish peace and cooperation for the future. Hoping for a “peace of right,” as
opposed to a “peace of might,” Wilson is soon disappointed. All of this material pertains to the AP theme War and
Diplomacy.
Chapter 31- American Life in the ‘Roaring Twenties’ (1919-1929)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: A disillusioned America turned away from idealism and reform after World War I and toward
isolationism in foreign affairs, domestic social conservatism, and the pleasures of prosperity.
Theme: New technologies, mass-marketing techniques, and new forms of entertainment fostered rapid
cultural change along with a focus on consumer goods. But the accompanying changes in moral values
and uncertainty about the future produced cultural anxiety, as well as sharp intellectual critiques of
American life.
KEY TERMS
Bolshevik Revolution
Red Scare
Immigration Act of 1924
Fordism
Impact of Automobiles
Mass Advertising
New KKK
18th Amendment/Volstead Act
Jazz
Scientific Management
Women in the 1920’s
Bull Market
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
Sacco & Vanzetti Trial John T. Scopes Trial
Introduction of the Automobile
Al Capone
Henry Ford
Radio Broadcasting begins
Sigmund Freud
Lindbergh’s Solo Flight
Prohibition
NOTES

Concerned about the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, the United States, Britain, and other nations send troops to
participate in the Russian Civil War in the hope of toppling Lenin’s communist government. Domestically, a systematic
effort to suppress Bolsheviks, or reds, is launched. A political cartoon in The American Pageant (13th ed., p. 721/14th ed.,
p. 771) makes it abundantly clear that leftists have no place in American life.

Intolerance grows in the nation after World War I. A new and more virulent nativist strain emerges in the reborn Ku Klux
Klan, which has expanded its influence across the nation.

To shrink immigration from certain areas of the world, a quota system is put in place. That and the Immigration Act of
1924 dramatically reduce eastern and southern European immigration.

To control social and moral behavior, the prohibition movement addresses alcohol consumption. In 1919, the Eighteenth
Amendment is ratified, eliminating forever, or so supporters believe, the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of
intoxicating liquors.”

Automotive production becomes an integral part of the economy, as it stimulates demand in other businesses, among
them the gas and oil industry, and gives Americans relatively easy access to shopping (which itself is transformed by the
auto), schools, and the workplace.

The decade known as the roaring twenties witnesses cultural, social, and economic challenges to Victorian values.
Women begin to defy gender stereotypes through, for example, fashion, smoking cigarettes in public, and jazz dancing.
Chapter 32- The Politics of Boom and Bust (1920-1932)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: The Republican administrations of the prosperous 1920s pursued conservative, probusiness
policies at home, and economic unilateralism abroad.
Theme: The great crash of 1929 led to a severe, prolonged depression that devastated the American
economy and spirit and resisted Hoover’s limited efforts to correct it.
KEY TERMS
Republican “Old Guard”
Laissez-faire
Nine-Power Treaty
Ford-McCumber Tariff Law
Teapot Dome Scandal
Dawes Plan of 1924
Agricultural Marketing Act
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Norris- La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Black Tuesday
Herbert Hoover
NOTES

Harding is incorruptible, but some friends and appointees lack his honesty and tarnish Harding’s administration. See the
political cartoon in The American Pageant (13th ed., p. 747/14th ed., p.800).

Shocked by the enormous devastation that the war brought to Europe, the victorious world powers hold disarmament
talks (Washington Naval Conference) and agree to reduce the size of their navies. As part of the agreement, Japan is not
permitted to have a higher tonnage amount than Britain and the United States, but is granted hegemonic power in the
Far East.

Congress raises the protective tariff to augment the already big profits many businesses are amassing. European
countries retaliate with their own high tariffs, which stymie international trade and debilitate Germany, already
financially pressed by its obligation to pay war reparations.

Determined to be repaid its war loans, the United States creates the Dawes Plan, a complicated method of financial
payments that fails to get repayment but places considerable strain on European finances. See the chart (13 th ed.,
p.757/14th ed., p. 808), describing the plan as a “financial merry-go-round.”

The stock-market collapse (see the chart in the 13th ed., p. 761/14th ed., p. 813) starts a deep depression from which the
nation will not fully recover until World War II. The rest of the world shares in this calamity.

Near the end of Hoover’s term in office, the Japanese invade China. The U.S. response is tepid and does little to deter the
Japanese from taking future aggressive action.
Chapter 33- The Great Depression and the New Deal (1933-1939)
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: Roosevelt’s New Deal tackled the Great Depression with massive federal programs designed to
bring about relief, recovery, and reform.
KEY TERMS
FDR’s 3 R’s
Hundred Days
NRA
Dust Bowl
AAA
Fair Labor Standards Act
Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act
SEC
TVA
Social Security Act
CCC
Wagner Act
Keynesianism
KEY EVENTS & PEOPLE
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Prohibition Ended (21st Amendment)
Hundred Days Congress
NOTES

The first hundred days of Roosevelt’s presidency witness a torrent of executive and legislative programs, acts, and
policies that attempt to deal with the Great Depression and to reform the economic system, so that the nation will never
again experience such a devastating economic collapse.

To jumpstart the economy, Roosevelt institutes an inflationary policy in which deficit spending is used to create jobs. It is
hoped that this will reduce the number of people needing government aid and increase consumer spending, further
stimulating demand and, consequently, higher employment. Income would be taxed to help defray the cost of federally
funded jobs.

The Tennessee Valley Authority creates thousands of jobs and brings electricity to rural areas along the Tennessee River.
Critics claim that the TVA eliminates competition and is akin to government control of utilities similar to that found in
socialist economies.

One of the longest-lasting legacies of the New Deal is Social Security, which provides economic assistance to some of the
nation’s most vulnerable citizens, such as retired senior citizens.

When the conservative Supreme Court begins ruling New Deal programs, such as the National Recovery Act,
unconstitutional, FDR devises a plan to “pack” the court, an undertaking that is met with a storm of criticism. He
withdraws the plan.

Uncomfortable with deficit spending, FDR tries to balance the budget during the depression. Unemployment again rises,
and capacity utilization declines significantly before he returns to his original economic plan.