Key Terms

• Progressivism


  Period of widespread social activism and political reform across the U.S.
• Muckrakers


  Journalists who used publicity to expose corruption in government and business to attack urban social problems
• History of the Standard Oil Company

  Work by Ida Tarbell that documented abuse of power by a 19th century trust company
• How the Other Half Lives


  Photojournalist Jacob Riis’ documentation of the appalling living conditions in the lower East Side of New York City
• The Jungle


  Novel by Upton Sinclair that inspired pro-consumer federal laws regulating meat, food, and drugs
• Southern Horrors


  Authored by Ida B. Wells to expose lynching
• Triangle Shirtwaist Fire


  New York City disaster that underscored urban workers’ need for government protection
• Square Deal


  Theodore Roosevelt’s domestic program calling for conservation, consumer protection, and control of corporations
• Antiquities Act


  Authorized the President to protect significant natural and cultural monuments
• Influence of Sea Power Upon History

  Admiral Mahan’s influential book emphasizing sea power and advocating for a big navy
• Queen Liliuokalani 


  Last monarch of Hawaii who defied the U.S. government and was overthrown as a result
• Teller Amendment


  Proclamation that once the U.S. overthrew Spanish misrule, it would give Cuba its freedom
• Treaty of Paris (1898)


  Under this agreement the US acquired Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam
• Platt Amendment


  Limited Cuba’s treaty-making abilities, controlled its debt, and stipulated that the US could intervene militarily in Cuba
• Foraker Act


  Declared Puerto Rico an insular territory with a limited degree of popular government
• Insular Cases


  1901 ruling that the U.S. constitution does not automatically apply in colonial territories under the American flag
• Philippine Insurrection


  Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, this was a struggle for independence from the US control
• Anti-Imperialist League


  Argued against US intervention abroad and self-determination of independence
• Open Door Notes


  John Hay’s diplomatic efforts to maintain American access to China
• Boxer Rebellion


  Anti-foreign Chinese revolt of 1900 that brought military intervention by Western troops, including Americans
• Roosevelt Corollary 


  Declared an American right to intervene in Latin American nations (demonstrates Big Stick Diplomacy)
• Panama Canal


  Connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, allowed the US to tie its empire together
• Treaty of Portsmouth


  Organized by Theodore Roosevelt to mediate a conclusion to the Russo-Japanese War
• Gentlemen’s Agreement

  Informal agreement that would not allow further emigration of Japanese to the US and ended Japanese segregation in San Francisco public schools
• Dollar Diplomacy


  Under President Taft the government attempted to encourage American investments abroad to uphold US foreign policy
• Socialist Party of America

  Led by Eugene V. Debs, it drew support from unions, progressives, populists, and immigrants
• Federal Reserve Board


  A twelve-member agency appointed by the president to oversee the banking system under a new federal law of 1913
• Federal Trade Commission


  New regulatory commission designed to prevent monopoly and guard against unethical trade practices
• Clayton Antitrust Act


  Reform law that strengthened a previous law to limit business monopolies
• 16th Amendment


  Gives Congress the power to collect income taxes
• 17th Amendment 


  Senators shall be elected by popular vote
• 18th Amendment


  Forbids the manufacture or sale of alcohol (prohibition)
• NAWSA


  Formed in 1890, this organization demanded the right to vote for women
• National Women’s Party


  Led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, this organization pioneered civil disobedience in demand of the 19th Amendment
• Moral Diplomacy 


  Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy to support countries with democratic government
• “Pancho” Villa


  Angry over US policy in Mexico, he retaliated by attacking the US in Columbus, New Mexico
• Lusitania 


  Passenger ship whose sinking in 1916 challenged American neutrality
• Sussex Pledge


  Germany’s agreement in 1916 not to sink passenger and merchant vessels without warning
• Zimmerman Telegram


  Message that proposed a German alliance with Mexico and encouraged Mexico to go to war against the US
• Committee on Public Information


  American government propaganda agency that aroused zeal for Wilson‘s ideals and whipped up hatred for Germany