Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1900-1910
Theme 1
Government and the People
Progressives were not a single unified movement. They fell into four
categories: social, moral, economic, and political. Some common basic
beliefs were:
1. Government should be more accountable to its citizens.
2. Government should curb the power and influence of wealthy interests.
3. Government should be given expanded powers so that it could become
more active in improving the lives of its citizens.
4. Governments should become more efficient and less corrupt so that they
could competently handle an expanded role.
The Labor
Movement
Socialists
Womens
Groups
Theme 2
Who are the Americans
Most immigrants who entered the United States through the West Coast
were from Asia. Chinese and Japanese formed the largest groups.
In the mid-1800s, American railroad companies recruited about a quarter of
a million Chinese workers.
Under pressure from labor unions, Congress passed the Chinese
Exclusion Act in 1882. The act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering
the country. It was not repealed until 1943.
The Asiatic Exclusion League was a white supremacist organization active
along theWest Coast of the United States and Canada through the early
twentieth century. Its supporters were primarily English speaking labor
union members who opposed all forms of Asian immigration because of
the downward pressure on wages that Asian immigrants caused
In 1906, the San Francisco school board ruled that all Chinese, Japanese,
and Korean students should attend separate schools. The Japanese
government condemned the policy.
President Theodore Roosevelt made a compromise with the Japanese
government. It was called the Gentlemens Agreement because it was not
official. It called for San Francisco to end its policy and for Japan to stop
issuing passports to laborers.
Theme 3
Economic and Social Change
Progressive Legislation
Chapter 18, Section 2
Municipal Reforms
Chapter 18, Section 2
State Reforms
Chapter 18, Section 2
From Governor
to Vice President
Unlikely
President
View of Office
The Square Deal became Roosevelts 1904 campaign slogan and the
framework for his entire presidency.
Roosevelts square deal called for limiting the power of trusts, promoting
public health and safety, and improving working conditions.
Outlawed monopolies and practices that restrained trade, such as price fixing.
Banned interstate shipping of impure food and deliberate mislabeling of food and
drugs.
Required federal inspection of meat processing to ensure sanitary conditions.
Created Federal Reserve System of government banks to supervise private banks and
provide a flexible money supply.
Created within the Department of Labor to improve the status of working women.
Progressive LegislationAssessment
Chapter 18, Section 2
Progressive LegislationAssessment
Chapter 18, Section 2
Theme 4
The U.S.A. and the World
Americans needed a shorter route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A
French company had bought a 25-year concession from Colombia to build a
canal across Panama. (A concession is a grant for a piece of land in exchange
for a promise to use the land for a specific purpose.) Defeated by yellow fever
and mismanagement, the company abandoned the project and offered its
remaining rights to the United States for $100 million.
Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.
Roosevelt used this old African proverb to guide his foreign policy.
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine The United
States will act as an international police power in the
Western Hemisphere and intervene to prevent intervention by
other powers.
Roosevelt in Latin America Under Roosevelt, the United
States often intervened in Latin America.
Roosevelt in Asia Roosevelt wanted to preserve an open
door to trade with China. He won a Nobel peace prize for
negotiating a peace settlement between Russia and Japan.
Woodrow Wilson
Under Wilson, the United States
applied more moral and legalistic
standards to foreign policy
decisions.
Wilsons policy drew the United
States into the complex and
bloody Mexican Revolution.
Wilsons moral diplomacy did
not work well in Mexico. Many
lives were lost, and U.S. financial
interests lost ground.
U.S.Mexico relations were
strained for many years.
Debating Imperialism
Chapter 17, Section 4
Anti-Imperialists
A moral and political argument:
Expansionism was a rejection of
our nations founding principle of
liberty for all.
A racial argument: Imperialism
was just another form of racism.
An economic argument:
Expansion involved too many
costs. Maintaining the armed
forces required more taxation,
debt, and possibly even
compulsory, or required, military
service. In addition, laborers from
other countries would compete
for jobs with U.S. workers.
Pro-Imperialists
Imperialism offered a new kind of
frontier for American expansion.
A new international frontier would
keep Americans from losing their
competitive edge.
Access to foreign markets made
the economy stronger.
In 1907, President Roosevelt sent
the Great White Fleet, part of the
United States Navy, on a cruise
around the world to demonstrate
U.S. naval power to other nations.
American citizens clearly saw the
advantages of having a powerful
navy.
In the Caribbean and Central America, the United States often had
to defend governments that were unpopular with local inhabitants.
Many U.S. citizens in Latin America heard the cry Yankee, Go
Home!
Even before the completion of the Panama Canal, the
Panamanians began to complain that they suffered from
discrimination.
However, many countries also began to turn to the United States
for help.
The United States was both welcomed and rejected in other
countries.
The American government still struggles to reconcile its great
power and national interests with its relationships with other
nations.