Notes
Progressive reform
- Muckrakers (Sinclair, Tarbell, Steffens) exposed abuses. The Jungle led to the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts (1906).
- Political reforms: initiative, referendum, recall and the 17th Amendment (direct election of senators).
- Theodore Roosevelt: Square Deal, trustbusting, conservation. Wilson: Federal Reserve, Clayton Antitrust Act, FTC. The 16th Amendment allowed an income tax.
Rights and equality
- The suffrage movement, from Seneca Falls (1848) to Catt and Alice Paul, won the 19th Amendment (1920).
- Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois debated strategy; the NAACP (1909) and Ida B. Wells fought discrimination and lynching.
Imperialism
- Motives: markets, naval bases and cultural beliefs. The U.S. annexed Hawaii and won the Spanish-American War (1898), gaining Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.
- Open Door Policy, Panama Canal and Roosevelt Corollary expanded U.S. influence. Anti-imperialists objected.
World War I
- Causes: MAIN and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The U.S. entered in 1917 after unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram.
- Home front: the draft, Liberty Bonds, the Great Migration and limits on speech (Schenck).
- Wilson's Fourteen Points and League of Nations; the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles. The Red Scare followed.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Tarbell's series exposed Rockefeller's methods; Sinclair wrote about meatpacking.
The 17th Amendment (1913) created direct election of senators.
Many Populist goals, like the income tax and direct election of senators, were achieved by Progressives.
"Consent of the governed" comes from the Declaration of Independence.
The government prosecuted people who criticized the war or the draft.
Wilson wanted a fair peace; the final treaty was much harsher on Germany.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Between 1898 and 1920, the United States took on a larger role in world affairs.
(a) Describe TWO reasons the United States pursued an overseas empire around 1900.
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Businesses wanted new markets and raw materials, and leaders such as Alfred Thayer Mahan argued the nation needed naval bases and coaling stations to be a world power.
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(b) Explain TWO reasons the United States entered World War I in 1917.
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Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking American ships. The Zimmermann Telegram revealed that Germany offered Mexico an alliance against the United States.
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(c) Explain why the U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.
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Many senators, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, feared that joining the League of Nations would commit the U.S. to defend other nations and enter wars without Congress's approval. Wilson refused to accept changes, so the treaty failed.
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