Anti-Imperialist League
(1898-1921) diverse group formed in order to protest American colonial oversight in the Philippines. It included university presidents, industrialists, clergymen, and labor leaders. Strongest in the Northeast, the Anti-imperialist League was the largest l
Big Sister policy
(1880s) A foreign policy of Secretary of State James G. Blaine aimed at rallying Latin American nations behind American leadership and opening Latin American markets to Yankee traders. The policy bore fruit in 1889, when Blaine presided over the First Int
Boxer Rebellion
(1900) An uprising in China directed against foreign influence. It was suppressed by an international force of some eighteen thousand soldiers, including several thousand Americans. The Boxer Rebellion paved the way for the revolution of 1911, which led t
Foraker Act
(1900) Sponsored by Senator Joseph B. Foraker, a Republican from Ohio, this accorded Puerto Ricans a limited degree of popular government. It was the first comprehensive congressional effort to provide for governance of territories acquired after the Span
Great Rapprochement
After decades of occasionally "twisting the lion's tail," American diplomats began to cultivate close, cordial relations with Great Britain at the end of the nineteenth century�a relationship that would intensify further during World War I. (672)
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
(1901) A treated signed between the United States and Great Britain, giving Americans a free hand a free hand to build a canal in Central America. The treaty nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which prohibited the British or U.S. from acquiring
Insular Cases
(1901-1904) Beginning in 1901, a badly divided Supreme Court decreed in these cases that the Constitution did not follow the flag. In other words, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos would not necessarily enjoy all American rights. (683)
insurrectos
Cuban insurgents who sought freedom from colonial Spanish rule. Their destructive tactics threatened American economic interests in Cuban plantations and railroads. (673)
Maine
(1898) American battleship dispatched to keep a "friendly" watch over Cuba in early 1898. It mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, with a loss of 260 sailors. Later evidence confirmed that the explosion was accidental, resulting from
McKinley Tariff
(1890) Shepherded through Congress by President William McKinley, this tariff raised duties on Hawaiian sugar and set off renewed efforts to secure the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. (672)
Open Door note
(1899-1900) A set of diplomatic letters in which Secretary of State John Hay urged the great powers to respect Chinese rights and free and open competition within their spheres of influence. The notes established the "Open Door Policy," which sought to en
Platt Amendment
(1901)Following its military occupation, the United States successfully pressured the Cuban government to write this amendment into its constitution. It limited Cuba's treaty-making abilities, controlled its debt, and stipulated that the United States cou
Roosevelt Corollary
(1904) A brazen policy of "preventive intervention" advocated by Theodore Roosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress in 1904. Adding ballast to the Monroe Doctrine, his corollary stipulated that the United States would retain a right to intervene in the
Root-Takahira agreement
(1908) Signed on November 30, 1908, the United States and Japan agreed to respect each other's territorial possessions in the Pacific and to uphold the Open Door in China. The Agreement was credited with easing tensions between the two nations, but it als
Rough Riders
(1898) Organized by Theodore Roosevelt, this was a colorful, motley regimen of Cuban war volunteers consisting of western cowboys, ex-convicts, and effete Ivy leaguers. Roosevelt emphasized his experience with the regiment in subsequent campaigns for Gove
Teller Amendment
(1898) A proviso to President William McKinley's war plans that proclaimed to the world that when the United States had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give Cuba its freedom. The amendment testified to the ostensibly "anti-imperialist" designs of the
Josiah Strong
a popular American minister in the late 1800s who linked Anglo-Saxonism to Christian missionary ideas
Alfred Thayer Mahan
a United States Navy officer, geostrategist, and educator. His ideas on the importance of sea power influenced navies around the world, and helped prompt naval buildups before World War I. Several ships were named USS Mahan, including the lead vessel of a
James G. Blaine
a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time United States Secretary of State, and champion of the Half-Breeds. He was a dominant Republican leader of the post Civil War period, obtaining
Richard Olney
Began as a leading corporate lawyer who noted that the Interstate Commerce Act could be used by the railroads. He became Attorney General and helped to stop the Pullman Strike. He later bacame the Secretary of State under President Cleveland. He declared
Liliuokalani
The queen of Hawaii in 1887 who disliked foreigners entering her country. She didn't want to go to war with America because she knew her people would get massacred.
Dupuy de Lome
was a Spanish ambassador to the United States. Through the so-called De L�me Letter, he defamed U.S. President William McKinley, an act which eventually contributed to the Spanish-American War.
George Dewey
a United States naval officer remembered for his victory at Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War, U.S. naval commander who led the American attack on the Philippines
Emilio Aguinaldo
Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895-1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901. (p. 743)
William H. Taft
US president, took over presidency after theodore Roosevelt, strengthened ICC, TRUST BUSTER
John Hay
Was the Secretary of State in 1899; dispatched the Open Door Notes to keep the countries that had spheres of influence in China from taking over China and closing the doors on trade between China and the U.S.
Theodore Roosevelt
26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War