Behavioral Objectives (Test Items)

Here are the specific tasks you will be called upon to perform successfully on the Unit II Exam. The information required for mastery of the reading objectives is contained in Chapters 21-25 of America: Past and Present. The information required for mastery of the lecture objectives is contained in the classroom lectures for this unit - "America Acquires An Empire," "The Moderate Constituencies and Demands of Progressivism," and "Hicks and Slicks: The Urban-Rural Confrontation of the 1920s."

READING OBJECTIVES

Toward Empire

Identify the major issue in the Venezuela-British Guiana dispute.

Identify actions taken by the Cleveland administration during the Venezuela-British Guiana dispute and describe how these actions and attitudes reflected the expansionist sentiment and jingoism of the United States.

Describe how the Venezuela-British Guiana dispute was settled and the effects of this settlement on relations between the United States and Great Britain in subsequent years.

Describe the actions of various American groups in attempts to annex Hawaii during the 1890s and the outcome of these efforts.

Identify the impact each of the following had on bringing on the Spanish-American War: (a) General Valeriano Weyler and the "reconcentration" policy, (b) "yellow journalism", (c) the de Lome letter, (d) the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine

Identify concessions made by Spain to try to avoid war with the United States.

Evaluate President William McKinley's actions to solve the Cuban crisis short of war.

Identify the groups who favored and those who opposed the creation of an American empire in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and summarize their respective arguments.

Identify the "new" problems and responsibilities facing the United States in dealing with its new possessions and new-found global status following the Spanish-American War.

Identify and recognize the historical significance of each of the following: (a) Teller Amendment, (b) Platt Amendment, (c) Emilio Aguinaldo, (d) the Insular Cases (De Lima v. Bidwell, Dooley v. U.S., and Downes v. Bidwell), (e) Open Door Notes, (f)Boxer Rebellion
 
 

The Progressive Era

Identify innovations in the production and marketing of automobiles instituted by Henry Ford beginning in 1907.

Identify principles advocated by Frederick W. Taylor which eventually revolutionized the manufacturing process.

Identify the "new immigrants" arriving in unprecedented numbers between 1900 and 1920 being sure to describe their origins, language, religions, cultural habits, etc. Be familiar as well with the surge and arrivals from Mexico and Asia.

Identify examples of "nativist" reactions to the "new immigrants".

Contrast the Industrial Workers of the World and the Women's Trade Union with the American Federation of Labor.

Identify examples of popular forms of mass entertainment during the Progressive Era.

Identify and recognize the historical importance of each of the following: (a) muckrakers, (b) The Shame of the Cities, (c) the Niagara movement and the NAACP.
 
 

From Roosevelt To Wilson in the Age of Progressivism

Identify changes in city life demanded by city reformers, such as the National Municipal League, during the Progressive Era.

Describe Teddy Roosevelt's conception of the powers of the presidency.

Evaluate President Roosevelt's reputation as a "trust buster", being sure to identify fully TR's attitudes toward "big business" and government action toward them.

Identify and describe each of the following aspects of TR's Square Deal: (a) prosecution of the Northern Securities Company, (b) intervention in the anthracite coal strike, (c) the Elkins Act and Hepburn Act, (d) the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act

Identify each of the following and describe how each led to the feud between President Taft and ex-President Theodore Roosevelt: (a) Taft's conception of the powers of the presidency, (b) Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, (c) the Ballinger-Pinchot Affair, (d) antitrust prosecution of U. S. Steel

Compare and contrast Theodore Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" and Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" being sure to identify the philosophy and methods of each.

Identify the major provisions of each of the following "New Freedom" laws as well as their historical significance: (a) the Underwood Tariff Act, (b) the Federal Reserve Act, (c) the Clayton Antitrust Act, (d) Federal Trade Commission

Be familiar with the Wilson administration's record on racial issues.

Identify and recognize the historical significance of each of the following: (a) The Jungle, (b) Sixteenth Amendment, (c) the female suffrage movement, (d) the "Wisconsin Idea"
 
 

The Nation At War

Discuss the manner in which President Roosevelt aggressively "took the Canal Zone" from Columbia.

Identify and contrast in detail Roosevelt's use of "balance of power" in conducting foreign affairs with Taft's "dollar diplomacy" and Wilson's "moral diplomacy".

Identify the specific governmental agencies and describe their operations in each of the following areas being sure to understand how they were, in effect, the implementation of TR's "New Nationalism" program vis-a-vis big business: (a) propaganda. (b) industrial production and distribution, (c) food production and distribution, (d) transportation, (d) labor

Identify the economic impact of World War I on the United States vis-à-vis the rest of the world.

Identify and discuss the more important particulars of Wilson's peace plan, known as the Fourteen Points, and evaluate how fully the Treaty of Versailles implemented this plan.

Identify mistakes made by President Wilson in trying to negotiate and win acceptance by the U.S. Senate of a treaty based upon the Fourteen Points.

Identify factors of the election of 1920 which support the belief that the United States was tired of reform and commitment both at home and abroad.

Identify and recognize the historical significance of each of the following: (a) Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, (b) the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, (c) arbitration or "cooling off" treaties, (d) arbitration of the Russo-Japanese War, (e) submarine warfare under traditional rules of international law, (f) Zimmermann Telegram, (g) the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany in January,1917, (h) Espionage Act of 1917, (I) Sedition Act of 1918.
 
 

Transition To Modern America

Identify how each of the following helped produce the economic boom of the 1920 and changed American business operations including new production methods, a variety of new consumer products, the merger movement, and new marketing techniques.

List specific weaknesses of the American economy during the 1920s.

Identify the key elements of the literary movement of the 1920s, especially how many of the influential writers rejected the values of American society during the decade.

Identify the various officials and corrupt practices of the Harding administration.

Identify and describe how each of the following policies of the Harding and Coolidge administrations, including Cabinet officials Mellon and Hoover, favored the business community: (a) policies of Herbert Hoover's Commerce Department, (b) tariff policies, (c) tax policies sponsored by Mellon's Treasury Department, (d) attitude toward agricultural overproduction.

Identify factors and policies which divided the Democratic party during the 1920s as well as demographic and partisan shifts quietly fashioning a new Democratic majority for the future.
 
 

LECTURE OBJECTIVES

"America Acquires An Empire"

Identify and discuss causes of American indifference to international affairs between 1860 and 1890. List specific consideration which did command American attention during those years.

Identify the concepts of Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism and describe the relationship between these concepts and expansionist sentiment.

Identify the major points of Alfred Thayer Mahan's books on naval power and describe the effect these ideas had on American expansionism in the 1890s and beyond.

Identify the impact the industrialization of the United States by the mid-1890s had on American attitudes towards the rest of the world and the creation of an overseas empire.

Define the term "jingoism" and identify prominent and influential jingoists.
 
 

"The Moderate Constituencies and Demands of Progressivism"

Identify important population/demographic trends at the beginning of the twentieth century and their relationship to the coming of progressive reform.

Describe the relationship between the Populists of the 1890s and the Progressives of 1900-1920 and identify the reasons the former were unsuccessful while the latter were successful.

Identify the various constituencies of Progressivism and their varying motivations for support of the reform movement.

Identify and discuss in detail specific governmental reforms which the Progressives felt would adjust American life to urbanism and industrialism.
 
 

"Hicks and Slicks: The Urban-Rural Confrontation of the 1920s"

Identify the supporters and opponents of national prohibition and their respective arguments and evaluate the effectiveness of the law as judged by the reaction of the American people.

Identify the groups who supported the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and their motivations for joining the organization.

Identify the targets and goals of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s.

Identify the National Origins Quota Act of 1924 and describe how it expressed the rural reaction to a changing modern America.

Identify the major points of the fundamentalist campaign within the Protestant denominations and how the anti-evolution laws expressed an anti-urban attitude.

Describe how the 1928 presidential election and its outcome were an expression of urban-rural confrontation in the 1920s.

Identify and recognize the historical significance of each of the following: (a) Eighteenth Amendment, (b) Volstead Act, (e) The Fundamentals, (d) the Scopes or Monkey Trial