Unit 3: Chapter 10

The late 1800s marked the peak of European imperialism, with much of Africa and Asia under foreign domination. Under imperialism, stronger nations attempt to create empires by dominating weaker nations—economically, politically, culturally, or militarily.

Competition among European nations for large empires was the result of a rise in nationalism, or devotion to one's nation. Nationalism usually suggests that a nation's people believe themselves, their ideals, and their goals to be superior to those of other nations.

Supporters of expansion denied that the United States sought to annex foreign lands. (To annex is to join a new territory to an existing country.)

By 1913, Keith's United Fruit Company not only exported 50 million bunches of bananas a year to the United States, it also played a significant role in the governments and economies of Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras. As a result, some people began calling the Central American nations banana republics.

Arbitration is the settlement of a dispute by a person or panel chosen to listen to both sides and come to a decision.

The intense burst of national pride and the desire for an aggressive foreign policy that followed came to be known as jingoism. The name came from a line in a British song of the 1870s: "We don't want to fight, yet by Jingo! if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too."

The Platt Amendment stipulated that the Cuban government could not enter any foreign agreements, must allow the United States to establish naval bases as needed on the island, and must give the United States the right to intervene whenever necessary.

Countries such as Russia, Germany, Britain, France, and Japan were seeking spheres of influence, or areas of economic and political control, in China.

In December 1904 and 1905, Roosevelt issued messages to Congress that became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. In this corollary, or extension of a previously accepted idea, Roosevelt denied that the United States wanted any more territory.

By this he meant maintaining orderly societies abroad through increased American investment in foreign economies. Although some of Taft's contemporaries mocked his approach, calling it dollar diplomacy, Taft himself later used this term with pride.

Racism is a belief that differences in character or intelligence are due to one's race. Many Americans of this period believed that people of Anglo-Saxon heritage were superior to other races.

Maintaining the necessary armed forces required more taxation, debt, and possibly even compulsory, or required, military service.

The Great White Fleet, as the gleaming white ships were called, made a big impression everywhere it sailed. For American citizens, the fleet clearly showed the benefits of having a powerful navy.