Unit 18. The Emergence of America As A World Power.
Topics from the Course Description a. American imperialism: political and economic expansion b. War in Europe and American neutrality.
c. The First World War at home and abroad d. Treaty of Versailles e. Society and economy in the postwar years.
Document Based Questions:
1. Analyze the factors that influenced the Senate in ratifying the Treaty of Paris in 1899 and assess their relative significance. our analysis and assessment should take into account the complexities and / or contradictions presented by the evidence.
(See: 1975 DBQ)
2. To what extent was late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century United States expansionism a continuation of past American expansionism and to what extent was it a departure?
Use the documents and your knowledge of United States history to 1914 to construct your answer.
(See: 1994 DBQ)
3. At the turn of the century, several nations were competing for international empires. After the Spanish-American
War, the United States government sought to extend and solidify its influence in the Western Hemisphere. Analyze the effects of American foreign policy in Latin America in the period 1899 to 1917.
(McGraw)
4. The United States became a major player in world affairs at the end of the nineteenth century. The majority supported American expansion as a national and moral imperative; others disagreed. Evaluate the validity of each position. Include long-term consequences of each point of view.
Use the following documents as well as your knowledge of the period 1880 to 1900 to construct the essay.
(Peterson)
5. When World War One broke out, the United States declared its policy of neutrality. Was the United States ever truly neutral in the conflict, and if so, when did it change to a policy favoring the Allies?
(Princeton)
6. It was the strength of the opposition forces, both liberal and conservative, rather than the ineptitude and stubbornness of President Wilson that led to the Senate defeat of the Treaty of Versailles.
Using the documents and your knowledge of the period 1917-1921, assess the validity of this statement.
(See: DBQ 1991)
Free Response Questions:
1. “Both the Mexican and the Spanish-American Wars were premeditated affairs resulting from deliberately calculated schemes of robbery on the part of a superior power against weak and defenseless neighbors.”
Assess the validity of this statement.
(See: 1986, #4)
2. “The United States entered the First World War not ‘to make the world safe for democracy’ as stated by President
Wilson, but to safeguard American economic interests.”
Assess the validity of this statement.

(See: 1989, #5)
3. “The taste of empire is in the mouths of the people!”
Assess validity of statement made at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War.
4. Compare the debates that took place over American expansionism in the 1840’s with those that occurred in the
1890’s, analyzing the similarities and differences in the debates of the two eras.
(See: 1992, #3)
5. The Spanish American War was the result of shrewd maneuvering on the part of a number of Washington imperialists such as Theodore Roosevelt, who pressured the weak and vacillating McKinley into war in order to gain a colonial empire in the Caribbean and the Western Pacific.
6. In the late 1800s the US embarked on a new wave of expansionism during which it acquired overseas territories.
Explain the reasons for this.
7. Assess the relative influence of THREE of the following in the American decision to declare war on Germany in
1917:
- German naval policy
- American economic interests
- Wilson’s idealism
- Allied propaganda
- America’s claim to world power
(See: 1995, #5)
8. Describe the relationship between the United States and Europe at the turn of the century in terms of their attitude toward and involvement with each other. Given this relationship, explain the US entry into World War One.
To what extent did the United States achieve the objectives that led it to enter the Great War?
(See: 2000, #4)
9. Analyze the ways in which the federal government sought support on the home front for the war effort during the
First World War.
(See: 2007-B, #5)
Unit 19. The New Era: 1920s
Topics from the Course Description a. The Business of America and the consumer economy.
b. Republican politics: Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.
c. The culture of Modernism: science, the arts, and entertainment.
d. Responses to Modernism: religious fundamentalism, nativism, and Prohibition.
e. The ongoing struggle for equality: African Americans and women.
Document Based Questions:
1. The 1920’s were a period of tension between new and changing attitudes on the one hand and traditional values and nostalgia on the other. What led to the tension between old and new and in what ways was the tension manifested?
(See: DBQ 1986)
2. Relying on a critical evaluation of the accompanying documents, analyze the factors that probably influenced
Congress to pass the Immigration Act of 1924.
(See: 1973 DBQ)

Free Response Questions:
1. In what ways did economic conditions and developments in the arts and entertainment help create the reputation of the 1920’s as the Roaring Twenties?
(See: 1999, #4)
2. “The business of America is business!”
Explain the significance of Coolidge’s statement in terms of US government policies in the 1920s and the long-term impact of those policies.
3. During the election of 1920, the Republican candidate, Warren Harding, called for a return to “normalcy” after the activism of the Progressive era. Why was this message popular with the electorate and how did Harding, and his successor, Calvin Coolidge, carry out that mandate?
4. Explain the immediate and long-range problems in the nation’s economy and world trade that led to the Great
Depression.