Deck 21: Toward Empire, 1865-1902

Question 1

Theodore Roosevelt resigned from his position as________ to organize the Rough Riders.

A) vice president
B) secretary of defense
C) assistant secretary of defense
D) secretary of the navy
E) assistant secretary of the navy

Answer 1

assistant secretary of the navy

Question 2

For many political and religious leaders, expansionism________ .

A) meant the demise of the American system
B) would threaten the purity of the Anglo-Saxon race
C) would put the United States into direct conflict with European nations
D) would mean the triumph of American civilization around the globe
E) went against the ideals of American democracy

Answer 2

would mean the triumph of American civilization around the globe

Question 3

Josiah Strong________ .

A) fostered the concept of the righteousness of American expansion
B) believed that only missionary work should be done overseas
C) had little regard for the theories of Charles Darwin
D) hindered American expansion through his religious teachings
E) thought foreign trade was unimportant to the United States

Answer 3

fostered the concept of the righteousness of American expansion

Question 4

What did William Seward's foreign policy include?

A) avoiding entangling foreign alliances
B) concentrating on promoting trade and commerce
C) alliances with major European powers
D) U.S. domination of the Americas
E) U.S. acquisition of Mexico, but not Canada

Question 5

James G. Blaine's greatest diplomatic success was________ .

A) the purchase of Alaska
B) securing home rule for Canada
C) settling the Alabama claims with Britain
D) paving the way for the establishment of the Pan-American Union
E) averting a war with Britain over the boundary of Venezuela

Question 6

During the Cleveland administration, which nation did the United States almost go to war with over a Latin America boundary dispute?

A) Germany
B) Great Britain
C) Venezuela
D) Mexico
E) Spain

Question 7

In response to the successful American revolt in Hawaii in 1893, Grover Cleveland________ .

A) immediately annexed the islands
B) restored the queen to power
C) apologized to the Hawaiian people
D) refused to recognize the new government
E) tried, but failed, to restore the queen to power

Question 8

After 1890, the U.S. Navy's building program .

A) was called off altogether to help balance the federal budget
B) began to concentrate on fast, lightly armored commerce raiders
C) began to emphasize static coastal defenses over building ships
D) shifted to the construction of a battleship navy with offensive striking power
E) started using steel steamships instead of sailing vessels

Question 9

Which of the following was true according to the theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan?

A) Large armies will protect American interests around the globe.
B) American greatness will be recognized through industrial output.
C) Little will be gained from American expansion abroad.
D) A strong navy is an integral part of America's wealth and power.
E) Standing armies are dangerous.

Question 10

In their approaches to the Cuban rebellion against Spain, .

A) President Cleveland was generally neutral while President McKinley favored the insurgents
B) President Cleveland wanted to intervene on behalf of the insurgents, but President McKinley wanted neutrality
C) both Presidents Cleveland and McKinley wanted war with Spain
D) both Presidents Cleveland and McKinley were totally neutral
E) both Presidents Cleveland and McKinley opposed any involvement with Spain or Cuba

Question 11

One consequence of General Weyler's policy in Cuba was________ .

A) to generate public sympathy for the Cuban people among Americans
B) that it effectively ended the Cuban rebellion
C) to generate support for military action by President Cleveland
D) an alliance between Cuban rebels and the American government
E) the end of "reconcentration" as a policy

Question 12

By late 1897, Spain was________ .

A) unwilling to meet any American demands
B) trying to avoid a confrontation with the United States
C) directing the polices of General Weyler
D) determined to maintain control at all costs
E) willing to free Cuba rather than go to war

Question 13

Which of the following was true at the outset of the Spanish-American War?

A) There was little public support for the war in the United States.
B) The American military was well prepared to fight a war.
C) It was difficult to find the necessary volunteers for the American military.
D) The American army was composed of soldiers well trained in quelling Native American uprisings.
E) The American army was 200,000 strong.

Question 14

During the Spanish-American War, African Americans in the military________ .

A) found segregation and discrimination similar to civilian life
B) were treated as equals and given opportunities for advancements
C) had little opportunity to distinguish themselves in battle
D) were able to pressure the government for civil rights reforms
E) were never allowed command positions

Question 15

To what did the term "smoked Yankee" refer in the Spanish-American War?

A) northern artillery units
B) African American infantry regiments
C) guerrilla fighters in Cuba
D) Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders
E) members of integrated units

Question 16

The actions of Commodore Dewey in the Philippines________ .

A) had little effect on the outcome of the war
B) disproved Mahan's theories regarding naval supremacy
C) provided the United States with an unexpected prize of war
D) showed the surprising strength of the Spanish fleet
E) were undeniably illegal, even if effective

Question 17

Which individual is matched with the area of his greatest foreign policy success?

A) James G. Blaine : Latin America
B) George Dewey : Russia
C) William Seward : China
D) John Hay : Hawaii
E) John W. Foster : Alaska

Question 18

Which territory caused the most debate about the merits of the United States acquiring an empire?

A) Guam
B) Hawaii
C) Puerto Rico
D) the Philippines
E) the Dominican Republic

Question 19

Which of the following individuals favored the annexation of the Philippines?

A) Jane Addams
B) Andrew Carnegie
C) Mark Twain
D) William McKinley
E) Samuel Gompers

Question 20

The Philippine-American War was________ .

A) a minor event for Americans
B) more costly than the Spanish-American War
C) fought in a traditional manner
D) never completely resolved
E) over even before the Spanish-American War

Question 21

Who was the leader of the Filipino resistance to U.S. occupation of the Philippines?

A) Emilio Aguinaldo
B) Andres Samoza
C) William Howard Taft
D) Ferdinand Marcos
E) Jose Marti

Question 22

Under the terms of the Taft Commission, the United States________ .

A) would control the Philippines in perpetuity
B) gave the Filipinos complete independence
C) provided funds but did not interfere with local government in the Philippines
D) gave the army complete control of the Philippines
E) guaranteed future independence for the Philippines

Question 23

By 1900, China________ .

A) had succeeded in resisting European influence
B) was divided by civil war
C) had become vulnerable to European imperialism
D) had closed the door to the outside world
E) welcomed U.S. intervention

Question 24

The Open Door notes________ .

A) called for China to trade with the United States
B) met with the approval of western Europe
C) had little effect on American policy in the Far East
D) provided the United States with a sphere of influence in China
E) were publicly denounced in China

Question 25

How did the end of the Spanish-American War establish the United States as a world power?

A) It gave the United States lands beyond its borders, making it an imperial power.
B) It marked the first U.S. major military victory against a world power.
C) It opened the Caribbean to the United States, giving it protectorates like European countries.
D) It led to the annexation of the Philippines, giving the United States a stronghold in the Pacific and access to all of Asia.
E) It showed the rest of the world that the United States was militarily powerful and diplomatically weak, like most other world powers.

Question 26

Why was American expansion of the 1890s different from earlier expansionist moves?

A) It was intended for settlement.
B) It was primarily for agricultural objectives.
C) It would create economic and military colonies overseas.
D) It would venture into uninhabited areas.
E) It was the result of war.

Question 27

Why did some people in the 1890s, and even today, consider late-nineteenth-century American foreign policy an aberration?

A) As a democratic republic founded on the idea of freedom, the United States had no right to deny independence to other countries by annexation.
B) The United States had once been a colony itself, so creating other colonies around the world was part of its history and legacy.
C) The United States had once been a small country of just thirteen states, so expanding to new lands and creating new states was an aberration.
D) As a democratic republic founded on the idea of freedom, the United States had the obligation to seek the same rights for countries around the world.
E) As a former colony, the United States understood the challenges of gaining independence and could better assist new nations than Europe could.

Question 28

How did U.S. geography encourage isolationism?

A) The United States was so close to Canada and Mexico that expansion there seemed natural.
B) The United States was a relatively small country compared to Canada or Mexico, making it less willing to engage in armed conflicts over land.
C) The United States was protected on both sides by vast oceans that discouraged attack from Europe or Asia.
D) The United States had just concluded the Civil War and was more concerned with domestic affairs than foreign ones.
E) The United States was beginning to prosper and look for new markets for its products and workers for its factories.

Question 29

One factor that fostered a change in American foreign policy during the 1890s was________ .

A) the census report of 1890
B) concern over lack of natural resources
C) oversaturation of foreign markets
D) the fear of racial mixing
E) the perceived need to build up domestic markets

Question 30

How were religion and foreign policy related in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States?

A) Most U.S. foreign ministers were religious leaders, using their diplomatic posts for missionary access.
B) Most religious leaders believed that God had blessed the United States with riches that should be shared with the world's poor, making foreign policy mainly about charity.
C) Most religious leaders believed that God had given the United States to Christians, and they should be content and not seek more riches throughout the world.
D) Most religious leaders believed that Americans should bring Christianity to the rest of the world, so they advocated imperialist foreign policies.
E) Most religious leaders followed the "conversion by sword" example of European Christian powers in the Middle Ages, so they advocated U.S. military coups.

Question 31

Why did William Seward encourage the United States to buy Alaska?

A) He predicted Alaska's rich resources.
B) He, like most expansionists, believed any new land was worth attaining.
C) It gave the United States access to Russia and Asia.
D) It gave the United States access to the Pacific Ocean.
E) He hoped the United States would annex Canada.

Question 32

How did the United States and Great Britain avoid war over Venezuela?

A) The U.S. defeat of Spain in Cuba sobered Great Britain into conceding Venezuela.
B) Great Britain's superior naval fleet, fully deployed off the coast of Venezuela and Guiana, discouraged
U.S. involvement.
C) Larger problems in Africa and Europe caused Britain to agree to negotiate with Venezuela.
D) The U.S. annexation of Hawaii and the Philippines sobered Great Britain into conceding Venezuela.
E) The Venezuelan people successfully boycotted British and U.S. products, demonstrating their resolve for self-rule.

Question 33

Why did American interest in Hawaii increase in the 1890s?

A) There was intense pressure by American missionaries.
B) There was a fear of German influence in the region.
C) The economic and military value of the islands increased.
D) American political leaders believed the islands could be a model for expansionism.
E) Native Hawaiians appealed to the United States for help.

Question 34

Why did the Republic of Hawaii embarrass President Cleveland?

A) It showed the world that Cleveland was an imperialistic president who orchestrated military coups to gain land.
B) It showed the world that Cleveland and the United States had an imperialist foreign policy that contradicted their independence-minded domestic policy.
C) The Republic was his idea, and it failed when it was only a week old.
D) It showed that the American rebels in Hawaii did not respect President Cleveland's authority.
E) It showed that the small country of Hawaii was able to defeat the United States, an embarrassment to America, which prided itself on its new world power status.

Question 35

Annexing the Hawaiian Islands was difficult because of________ .

A) the lack of clear motives for annexation
B) economic problems on the domestic front
C) the opposition to annexing European and Asian allies
D) the lack of consensus for annexation by Hawaiian planters
E) the fear of making the non-Christian Hawaiians citizens of the United States

Question 36

How were Admiral Mahan's naval theories connected to industrialism?

A) He applied industrialization theories to shipbuilding practices to help produce a large, new fleet of navy vessels.
B) He believed that industrialism created surplus products, making a need for merchant ships to reach foreign markets and a navy to protect these merchants.
C) He saw that, throughout history, only nations with strong navies were able to compete in industrial societies.
D) He believed that industrialization was dehumanizing people, so he encouraged the traditional manual labor of shipbuilding and sailing.
E) He believed that industrialism was distracting Americans from important foreign affairs, so he developed a navy that would focus Americans outward.

Question 37

In what way did the outcome of the Spanish-American War fulfill Theodore Roosevelt's hopes for it?

A) It gave the United States influence and eventually dominance in Latin America and Asia.
B) It made the United States a world power, equal to European imperialist countries.
C) It gave the United States more foreign markets for its surplus of industrialized goods.
D) It gave the United States influence in the Caribbean, it helped further annexation in Hawaii, and it was the impetus to creating a powerful navy.
E) It freed Cuba, it gave Americans something to think about other than material gain, and it gave the army and navy practice.

Question 38

What was one result of yellow journalism stories about Cuba in the 1890s?

A) Americans believed Cubans were conspiring to control the Caribbean and were, therefore, reluctant to go to war to help them gain independence.
B) Americans believed that Spain had a right to imperialist holdings in Cuba but that they should treat their colonies better.
C) Americans became enraged about Spain's treatment of Cubans and the sinking of the U.S. Navy ship, the Maine.
D) Cowardly journalists did not report Cuban atrocities for fear that the Spanish government would retaliate, hence the term "yellow journalism."
E) Powerful Asian governments saw Cuba as the first step in a series of imperialist moves, so they sent journalists to the United States to spread rumors against intervention.

Question 39

The Spanish-American War in 1898 was partially caused by________ .

A) a desire to annex Hawaii
B) fear of Spanish invasion
C) the sinking of the U.S.S. Constitution
D) yellow journalism
E) McKinley's desire to demonstrate American supremacy to European powers

Question 40

Why did President McKinley ask for a declaration of war against Spain?

A) He was weak, indecisive, and forced into war.
B) The conflicting national interests of Spain and the United States left few alternatives.
C) He hoped that a war would bring him political power and imperial gains.
D) Spain was unwilling to accede to any of the demands of the United States.
E) The Cuban people appealed to him directly.

Question 41

In what way was the Spanish-American War fought by small-town America?

A) Most of the volunteer soldiers were from small towns across the United States.
B) There were so many volunteers that each unit of soldiers was like a small town in size and function.
C) The Navy and Army found that men worked better if they knew someone in their unit, so they created a buddy system, pairing men from small towns.
D) Soldiers were organized into National Guard units by town, so they preserved their relations from their towns.
E) All of America was involved in the war effort, making uniforms, saving metal, conserving food; the war was won by people back home in small towns.

Question 42

How was the Spanish-American War ironic for African Americans?

A) Most of the people African American soldiers fought against in Cuba had the same African heritage.
B) African Americans were not permitted to fight in the Cuban conflict but were allowed to fight in the Philippines.
C) African Americans were not permitted to fight in Cuba and could only work as cooks, medics, and servants to white soldiers.
D) The United States was fighting to give Cubans freedom, yet they were annexing Hawaii and the Philippines, essentially denying them freedom.
E) The United States were fighting to give Cubans freedom, yet they denied freedom to African Americans.

Question 43

How are the conflicts in Cuba and the Philippines in the 1890s related?

A) The United States intervened in both places to give colonists their freedom and to help them become immediate independent states.
B) Both conflicts took place in the Pacific Ocean and allowed the winning countries (the United States and Great Britain, respectively) more influence in Asia.
C) Both involved Spain, the United States, and a rebellious colonial population.
D) Both were both fought to give the United States more influence in Latin America.
E) The United States entered both conflicts to try to improve a weak economy.

Question 44

Arguments opposing annexation of the Philippines included that________ .

A) the natives could not be Christianized
B) colonization was anti-American
C) the Filipinos wanted to become Spanish citizens
D) the location was too far from the U.S. mainland to be protected
E) the Philippines had nothing to offer as a trade partner

Question 45

Why did American missionaries want to "Christianize" the Philippines?

A) Many American missionaries may have felt that Roman Catholicism was not a legitimate form of Christianity or that it was not being properly practiced by Filipinos.
B) Most Filipinos were not Christian, and American missionaries felt it was their obligation to convert them.
C) Most Filipinos were Christian, but American missionaries wanted to annex the Philippines for money, so they told President McKinley otherwise.
D) Although many missionaries had tried to "Christianize" the Filipinos, they resisted culturally and religiously.
E) American missionaries knew that "Christianizing" the Filipinos would make it easier to govern and control them.

Question 46

How did the Boxer Rebellion affect U.S. policy in China?

A) The United States realized that China would not cooperate with the Open Door policy and began to join the European nations in dividing up China.
B) The United States affirmed the Open Door policy and declared China's independence from any foreign (European) rule.
C) The United States saw that China was determined to keep out foreign influence, so it withdrew to the Philippines to avoid armed conflict.
D) The United States realized that anti-imperialists back home wanted it to withdraw from China, so it negotiated secretly.
E) The rebellion in Canada turned U.S. attention away from China and to the anti-imperialist demonstrations closer to home.

Question 47

Does U.S. foreign policy today more closely reflect the isolationist or the expansionist model?

A) Because the United States no longer participates in armed conflicts in other countries, it reflects the isolationist model.
B) It reflects the isolationist model because the United States only participates in the world economically, and not militarily or politically.
C) Because the United States participates in affairs throughout the world for its own benefit, it reflects the expansionist model.
D) Because the United States only participates in the other countries' struggles for freedom, and not for any U.S. gain, it reflects the expansionist model.
E) It reflects the isolationist model because the United States tries to establish its influence only in the Americas.

Question 48

American foreign policy today most closely resembles the U.S. foreign policy of the 1890s toward

A) Venezuela: the United States nearly went to war with a European power over another country's border dispute
B) the Philippines: the United States used military power to help a country gain independence and then helped establish its government
C) Hawaii: the United States annexed and then made a state out of a valuable foreign land
D) Cuba: the United States used military power and defeated an imperial enemy in a few weeks
E) Alaska: the United States bought land from another country and made it a state

Question 49

What can be assumed about isolationists given the immense popularity of the Republican party in the early twentieth century?

A) If pro-isolationist Republicans were the most popular party, then it can be assumed that expansionists were a minority.
B) If anti-imperialist Republicans were the most popular party, then it can be assumed that pro- imperialists were a minority.
C) The Republican party was pro-isolationist.
D) If pro-expansionist Republicans were the most popular party, then it can be assumed that isolationists were a minority.
E) The Republican party was anti-imperialist.

Question 50

How did the Spanish-American War turn into a war of imperial expansion?

Question 51

What factors encouraged some Americans to favor imperial expansion in the late nineteenth century? How did these goals contradict the American tradition of isolationism?

Question 52

What were the main objections to keeping the Philippines after the Spanish-American War? Have any of the predictions of the treaty's opponents come true?

Question 53

What postwar events in the Philippines and China revealed to America the realities of imperialism?