Benjamin Tracy
United States political figure who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1889 through 1893, during the administration of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison.
General Weylar
Brutal general of the Spanish, created "reconcentration camps" in which rebels and Philippians were held indefinitely.
Treaty of Paris 1898
gave the US Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, after ending the Spanish-American war.
American anit-imperialist league
A league containing anti-imperialist groups; it was never strong due to differences on domestic issues. Isolationists.
Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba
The U.S. acquired these territories from Spain through the Treaty of Paris (1898), which ended the Spanish-American War.
Walter Reed
Discovered that the mosquito transmitted yellow fever and developed a cure. Yellow fever was the leading cause of death of American troops in the Spanish-American War.
Insular cases
Determined that inhabitants of U.S. territories had some, but not all, of the rights of U.S. citizens.
Teller Amendment
April 1896 - U.S. declared Cuba free from Spain, but the Teller Amendment disclaimed any American intention to annex Cuba.
Platt Amendment
it specified the conditions under which the U.S. could intervene in Cuba's internal affairs, and provided that Cuba could not make a treaty with another nation that might impair its independence.
Emilio Aguinaldo
led a Filipino insurrection against the Spanish in 1896 and assisted the U.S. invasion. He served as leader of the provisional government but was removed by the U.S. because he wanted to make the Philippines independent before the U.S. felt it was ready for independence.
Open Door notes
a note asking nations to offer assurance that they would respect the principle of equal trade opportunities, specifically in the China market.
John Hay
Secretary of State, created the Open Door Notes
Extraterritoriality
In the 1920's, China wated an end to the exemption of foreigners accused of crimes from China's legal jurisdiction.
Most Favored Nation Clause
Part of RTA Act in 1834, allowed a nation to make a special agreement with another nation and give them a preferential low tariff rate.
Election of 1900
Republican, William McKinley defeated Democrate, Williams Bryan. The issue was imperialism.
Roosevelt's Big Stick Diplomacy
Roosevelt said, "walk softly and carry a big stick." In international affairs, ask first but bring along a big army to help convince them. Threaten to use force, act as international policemen. It was his foreign policy in Latin America.
U.S.S. Oregon
Warship involved in Spanish-American blockade in Cuba in 1898. Went from Cuba to the Philippines by going around the Southern tip of South America. Showed that we need a better route between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
1850 - Treaty between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Abrogated by the U.S. in 1881.
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
1901 - Great Britain recognized U.S. Sphere of Influence over the Panama canal zone provided the canal itself remained neutral. U.S. given full control over construction and management of the canal.
Hay-Herran Treaty
Kept the purchase price of the canal strip in Panama the same but enlarged the area from 6 to 10 miles.
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
1903 - U.S. guaranteed the independence of the newly-created Republic of Panama.
Panama Revolution
The Isthmus of Panama had been part of Columbia. U.S. tried to negotiate with Columbia to build the Panama Canal. Columbia refused, so U.S. encouraged Panama to revolt. Example of Big Stick diplomacy.
Goethals and Gorgas
1906 - Army colonels who supervised the construction of the Panama Canal.
Venezuelan Crisis
1902 - England, Germany and Italy had blockaded Venezuelan ports because Latin American countries failed to make payments on debts owed to foreign banks. U.S. invoked the Monroe Doctrine and pressured the European powers to back off.
Drago Doctrine
Argentine jurist, Luis Drago, proposed that European countries could not use force to collect debts owed by countries in the Americas. They could not blockade South American ports. Adopted as part of the Hague Convention in 1907.
Roosevelt Corollary
U.S. would act as international policemen. An addition to the Monroe Doctrine.
"Colossus of the North"
1906 - Relations between U.S. and Canada including a reciprocal trade agreement. Tight relations made the U.S. and Canada a "Colossus."
Dominican Republic
In 1905, the U.S. imposed financial restrictions upon this Caribbean nation. Part of making sure Latin America traded with the U.S. and not Europe.
Russo-Japanese War
Japan had attacked the Russian Pacific fleet over Russia's refusal to withdraw its troops from Mancharia after the Boxer Rebellion (1904-1905) War fought mainly in Korea. Japan victorious
Treaty of Portsmouth
the U.S. mediated the end of the war. Negotiating the treaty in the U.S. increased U.S. prestige. Roosevelt received a Nobel Peace Prize for the mediation.
San Francisco School Board Incident
1906 - Racist schools segregated Chinese, Korean and Japanese students because of anti-oriental sentiment in California.
Elihu Root
Secretary of War under Roosevelt, he reorganized and monderized the U.S. Army. Later served as ambassador for the U.S. and won the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.
Root-Takahira Agreement
1908 - Japan / U.S. agreement in which both nations agreed to respect each other's territories in the Pacific and to uphold the Open Door policy in China.
Lansing-Ishii Agreement
1917, Lessened the tension in the feuds between the U.S. and Japan by recognizing Japan's sphere of influence in China in exchange for Japan's continued recognition of the Open Door policy in China.
Democracy, efficiency, pragmatism
Three characteristics that the U.S. felt made them superior to other countries. Many U.S. cities in the 1900 to 1920 instituted modern "scientific" political systems, such as the use of professional city managers, to replace inefficient traditional machine politics. The U.S. tried to spread there ideas abroad.
James G. Blaine
The 1884 nomination for the Rebublican presidential candidate
Pan-Americanism
stated that events in the Americans affected the U.S. and we thus had reason to intervene.
Venezuelan boundary dispute
Dispute between the U.S. and Britain involving the point at which the Venezuela / Columbia border was drawn. Britain eventually won the dispute.
Bering sea seal controversy
A dispute between the U.S. and Russia involving who could hunt seals in the Bering Sea.
Josiah Strong
argued that the American country and people were superior because they were Anglo-Saxon.
Alfred Mahan
In 1890, he wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History. He was a proponent of building a large navy. He said that a new, modern navy was necessary to protect the international trade America depended on.
Pago Pago
1878 - The U.S. gained the strategic port for use in refueling U.S. warships overseas. It was part of building an international military presence.
Virginius
1873 - Spain and U.S. government got into a squabble over the Cuban-owned Virginius, which had been running guns. Spain executed several Americans who had been on board. The telegraph was used to negotiate a truce. The incident was played up by the yellow journalists.
Reconcentration Policy
When Cubans started to rebel, Spaniards begain to reorganize prisoners into labor camps.
De Lome Letter
Written by the Spanish minister in Washington, Dupuy de Lôme, it was stolen from the mail and delivered to Hearst. He had called McKinley weak and bitter. It was played up by the yellow journalists.
Maine
February 15, 1898 - An explosion from a mine in the Bay of Havanna crippled the warship Maine. The U.S. blamed Spain for the incident and used it as an excuse to go to war with Spain.
Theodore Roosevelt
In charge of the navy when the Maine crisis occurred, he had rebuilt the navy and tried to start a war with Cuba.
Commodore Dewey
took his ship into Manila Bay, in the Philippine Islands, and attacked the Spanish Pacific fleet there. The U.S. had been planning to take this strategic port in the Pacific.
Cleveland and Hawaii
did not want to forcibly annex Hawaii, so he waited five years to do so. McKinley finally did it, felt the annexation overstepped the federal government's power.
Queen Liliuokalani
Queen of Hawaii who gave the U.S. naval rights to Pearl Harbor in 1887. Deposed by American settlers in 1893.
Annexation of Hawaii
By the late 1800s, U.S. had exclusive use of Pearl Harbor. In July 1898, Congress made it a U.S. territory, for the use of the islands as naval ports