Chapter 23 Study Guide

Philippine Revolution-

Filipino nationalists had begun fighting for independence long before the Spanish-American War. When the United States took over their land after the war, Filipinos felt betrayed. Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, they now fought for freedom against a new imperial power: the United States.

United States interest in foreign territories

Americans could not ignore Europe's race for colonies. By the 1890s, the United States was a world leader in both industry and agriculture. Many people believed that the American economy would collapse unless the United States gained new foreign markets. Expansionists also argued that Americans had a right and a duty to spread western culture. For 100 years, the economy had boomed, as Americans settled the West. The 1890 census said, however, that the frontier was gone. People in crowded eastern cities had no new land to settle. The solution, said some, was to take new land overseas.

Puerto Rican Government

In Puerto Rico, the United States set up a new government under the Foraker Act of 1900. The act gave Puerto Ricans only a limited say in their own affairs. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were made citizens of the United States. Americans set up schools, improved health care, and built roads on the island. Even so, many Puerto Ricans wanted to be free of foreign rule.

Spheres of Influence-

In the late 1800s, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan carved spheres of influence in China. A sphere of influence was an area, usually around a seaport, where a nation had special trading privileges. Each nation made laws for its own citizens in its own section of land. The Open Door Policy said that the US had a right to trade with any country under the European influence. They didn't want the Europeans to limit trade with the US.

Platt Amendment (Cuba)

Legislation that severely restricted Cuba's sovereignty and gave the US the right to intervene if Cuba got into trouble

Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft's policy of building strong economic ties to Latin America.

Spanish treatment of Cuban people -

Spain opened up reconcentration camps, and they put innocent Cubans in them, in which these people died of starvation, disease, and uncleanliness in general.

Foraker Act (Puerto Rico)

This act established Puerto Rico as an unorganized U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans were not given U.S. citizenship, but the U.S. president appointed the island's governor and governing council

Panama Canal

When Theodore Roosevelt became President in 1901, he was determined to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama, which at this point was still a part of Columbia at this time. An isthmus a narrow strip of land connecting two larger bodies of land. Panama was an ideal location for a canal. Only 50 miles of land separated the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The area was owned by Columbia, who did not want to give away their land. Roosevelt knew that Panama wanted freedom, so he started their revolution. Roosevelt swooped in and took the land. The purpose of the Canal was to make it cheaper for the US to trade with Asia.

Expansionism

either physically or economically expanding a country's borders.

Imperialism

the policy of powerful countries seeking to control the economic and political affairs of weaker countries or regions. Ex. Cuba, Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and Latin America

Moral Diplomacy

- President Monroe's policy statement of condemning, imperialism, spreading democracy, and promoting peace.

Spanish-American War-

- The Spanish American War lasted for four months. The explosion of the US ship The Maine started up controversy in the US, it brought up a call for war against Spain. The battles stretched from the Caribbean to the Philippine Island.Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt believed it was important to attack the Spanish in the Philippines as soon as the war began. In August 12 the war came to an end. A treaty was signed in 1898, it gave Cuba its freedom, gave the US Puerto Rico and Guam, U.S paid 20 million for the Philippines.

Cuba Libre

In 1868, the Cuban people had rebelled against Spanish rule. The revolution was finally crushed after 10 years of fighting. In 1895, Martí returned to Cuba. With cries of Cuba Libre!—"Free Cuba!"—rebels launched a new fight against Spain. The rebels burned sugar cane fields and sugar mills all over Cuba. They hoped that this would make the island unprofitable for Spain and persuade the Spanish to leave. The rebels killed workers who opposed them. They even blew up some passenger trains. To stop the revolution, Spain opened up reconcentration camps in which innocent Cubans starved and died of disease.

The Maine-

In 1898, fighting broke out in Havana, the Cuban capital. Acting promptly, President McKinley sent the battleship Maine to Havana to protect American citizens and property there. On the night of February 15, the Maine lay at anchor in Havana harbor. Just after the bugler played taps, a huge explosion ripped through the ship. The explosion killed at least 260 of the 350 American sailors and officers on board. The real cause of the explosion remains a mystery. Most historians believe that a boiler blew up or there was an accident in the ship's own ammunition hold.

Boxer Rebellion

In 1900, the Boxers attacked westerners, whom they called "foreign devils," all over China. More than 200 foreigners were killed. Hundreds of others were trapped in Beijing, the Chinese capital. Foreign governments quickly organized an international army that included 2,500 Americans. Armed with modern weapons, they fought their way into Beijing. They freed the trapped foreigners and crushed the uprising. Several nations saw the Boxer Rebellion as an excuse to seize more land in China.

Actions taken by the US at the end of the Spanish-American War

In August 12 the war came to an end. A treaty was signed in 1898, it gave Cuba its freedom, gave the US Puerto Rico and Guam, U.S paid 20 million for the Philippines. The Platt Amendment was an amendment to the 1902 Cuban constitution that allowed the US to intervene in Cuban trade. The Foraker Act was a law passed by Congress that gave Puerto Rico a limited say in the government.

Open Door Policy-

the United States was eager to gain a share of the China trade. However, Secretary of State John Hay feared that the imperial powers would cut China off to American merchants. To prevent this, Hay sent a letter in 1899 to all the nations that had spheres of influence in China. He urged them to keep an "open door" in China permitting any nation to trade in the spheres of others. Reluctantly, the imperialist powers accepted the Open Door Policy.

Isolationism

to have little to do with the political affairs of other nations, to focus mostly on our own interests and not worry about other countries' wars.