Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis of 1893 argued that
The frontier had shaped American democracy and character
✓
Sea power decided which nations became great
Industrial cities were the true source of democracy
Slavery's spread had driven westward settlement
Correct Answer
The frontier had shaped American democracy and character
Turner claimed that the frontier experience had formed American democracy and individualism, and that its closing raised the question of where expansion would go next; historians have since criticized the thesis for ignoring Indigenous peoples. Sea power decided which nations became great was Alfred Thayer Mahan's argument. Industrial cities were the true source of democracy was not his thesis. Slavery's spread had driven westward settlement was not his argument.
Category: Roots of Empire
Question 2
In his 1890 book on the influence of sea power on history, Alfred Thayer Mahan urged the United States to pursue what?
A policy of strict isolation
A larger navy with overseas coaling stations
✓
Lower tariffs to win foreign markets
A large standing army on its borders
Correct Answer
A larger navy with overseas coaling stations
Mahan argued that great nations needed a strong navy, a network of coaling bases and a canal across Central America, ideas that shaped American naval building and expansion. A policy of strict isolation is the opposite of his advice. Lower tariffs to win foreign markets was not his focus. A large standing army on its borders was not his argument; he stressed naval power.
Category: Roots of Empire
Question 3
Critics mocked Secretary of State William Seward's 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia with what nickname?
Manifest Destiny
Dollar Diplomacy
Seward's Folly
✓
Splendid Little War
Correct Answer
Seward's Folly
Critics called the $7.2 million purchase Seward's Folly because they saw Alaska as a frozen wasteland, though its resources, including gold, later proved valuable. Manifest Destiny was the earlier belief that the nation was destined to spread across the continent. Dollar Diplomacy was Taft's later foreign policy. Splendid Little War was a description of the war with Spain in 1898.
Category: Roots of Empire
Question 4
Josiah Strong's 1885 book Our Country encouraged overseas expansion by arguing that
Overseas colonies would end the need for tariffs
The frontier had been closed by Native resistance
Immigrants should be sent back to Europe
Anglo-Saxon Protestants should spread their civilization
✓
Correct Answer
Anglo-Saxon Protestants should spread their civilization
Strong, a Protestant minister, claimed that Anglo-Saxons and their Christian faith were destined to spread across the world, a view that inspired missionaries and blended with social Darwinism. Overseas colonies would end the need for tariffs was not his argument. The frontier had been closed by Native resistance misstates both Strong and the history. Immigrants should be sent back to Europe was not the case he made for expansion.
Category: Roots of Empire
Question 5
In 1893, American businessmen in Hawaii, aided by U.S. Minister John Stevens and American troops, overthrew which ruler?
Queen Liliuokalani
✓
King Kamehameha I
King Kalakaua
Princess Kaiulani
Correct Answer
Queen Liliuokalani
Queen Liliuokalani had tried to restore royal power against the American sugar interests, and planters with Stevens's help overthrew her and set up a government that sought annexation. King Kamehameha I had united the islands by 1810. King Kalakaua was her brother, who died before her reign began in 1891. Princess Kaiulani was the heir to the throne and never reigned.
Category: Hawaii and the Pacific
Question 6
The United States formally annexed Hawaii in 1898, during which conflict?
Philippine-American War
Spanish-American War
✓
Boxer Rebellion
Russo-Japanese War
Correct Answer
Spanish-American War
Hawaii's value as a mid-Pacific naval base became clear during the 1898 war with Spain, and Congress annexed the islands that year. The Philippine-American War began in 1899. The Boxer Rebellion was an antiforeign uprising in China around 1900. The Russo-Japanese War was fought in 1904 and 1905.
Category: Hawaii and the Pacific
Question 7
Spanish general Valeriano Weyler's response to the Cuban revolt that began in 1895 outraged Americans because he
Seized American-owned sugar plantations
Sank American merchant ships near Havana
Forced rural Cubans into camps where many died
✓
Banned Protestant missionaries from Cuba
Correct Answer
Forced rural Cubans into camps where many died
Weyler's reconcentration policy herded rural Cubans into crowded camps where disease and hunger killed many, and American newspapers covered the suffering heavily. Seized American-owned sugar plantations is not what drew the outrage; the suffering in the camps was. Sank American merchant ships near Havana did not happen. Banned Protestant missionaries from Cuba was not the cause of American outrage.
Category: Spanish-American War
Question 8
Newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer stirred up war fever against Spain with sensational, often exaggerated stories, a style called
Muckraking
Investigative reporting
Photojournalism
Yellow journalism
✓
Correct Answer
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism used lurid headlines and exaggerated stories to sell papers, and Hearst's and Pulitzer's rival New York dailies helped push the public toward war. Muckraking exposed real social problems to spur reform. Investigative reporting means careful fact-finding, not sensationalism. Photojournalism is reporting through photographs.
Category: Spanish-American War
Question 9
The Teller Amendment, passed as Congress authorized war with Spain in April 1898, pledged that the United States would
Not annex Cuba after the war
✓
Pay Spain for the Philippines
Grant Puerto Rico statehood
Keep a naval base at Guantanamo Bay
Correct Answer
Not annex Cuba after the war
The Teller Amendment promised that the United States would not take Cuba as a possession, framing the war as a fight for Cuban independence. Pay Spain for the Philippines came later in the peace treaty. Grant Puerto Rico statehood was never promised. Keep a naval base at Guantanamo Bay came from the Platt Amendment of 1901.
Category: Spanish-American War
Question 10
The first major American victory of the war with Spain came when Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in
Santiago Bay, Cuba
Manila Bay, the Philippines
✓
San Juan harbor, Puerto Rico
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Correct Answer
Manila Bay, the Philippines
On May 1, 1898, Dewey's squadron sank the Spanish Pacific fleet at Manila Bay with almost no American losses, following a strategy of striking Spain's Pacific holdings. Santiago Bay, Cuba was where the Spanish Atlantic fleet was destroyed later, in July. San Juan harbor, Puerto Rico saw no decisive naval battle. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was not a battle site in this war.
Category: Spanish-American War
Question 11
Theodore Roosevelt won fame in the war with Spain by leading which volunteer cavalry unit in Cuba?
Buffalo Soldiers
Green Mountain Boys
Rough Riders
✓
Minutemen
Correct Answer
Rough Riders
Roosevelt resigned as assistant secretary of the navy to help lead the Rough Riders, whose charge in the fighting near Santiago made him a national hero. Buffalo Soldiers were Black regular army regiments, some of which also fought in Cuba but were not his unit. Green Mountain Boys were Revolutionary War militia from Vermont. Minutemen were colonial militia of 1775.
Category: Spanish-American War
Question 12
The 1898 Treaty of Paris included a $20 million U.S. payment to Spain that is usually linked to the transfer of which territory?
Cuba
Puerto Rico
Hawaii
The Philippines
✓
Correct Answer
The Philippines
The $20 million is usually described as payment for the Philippines; the same treaty also ceded Puerto Rico and Guam and ended Spain's claim to Cuba. Cuba became nominally independent rather than an American purchase. Puerto Rico was ceded under the same treaty, but the payment is conventionally tied to the Philippines. Hawaii was never Spanish and was annexed separately.
Category: Empire After 1898
Question 13
Which argument did members of the Anti-Imperialist League make against expansion after the war with Spain?
Ruling colonies violated the nation's democratic principles
✓
Colonies would provide needed naval coaling stations
Christian missionaries needed protection abroad
Overseas markets would end economic depressions
Correct Answer
Ruling colonies violated the nation's democratic principles
Many anti-imperialists, including Jane Addams and Andrew Carnegie, argued that governing people without their consent betrayed American ideals; some also feared labor competition or held racist views about assimilation. Colonies would provide needed naval coaling stations was an argument for expansion. Christian missionaries needed protection abroad was an expansionist argument. Overseas markets would end economic depressions was a business argument for empire.
Category: Empire After 1898
Question 14
The Platt Amendment, which Cuba was required to add to its constitution, gave the United States
Ownership of Cuba's sugar plantations
The right to intervene in Cuban affairs
✓
A seat in the Cuban legislature
Control over Cuba's public schools
Correct Answer
The right to intervene in Cuban affairs
The Platt Amendment let the United States intervene in Cuba to keep order, limited Cuba's treaty-making, and secured a naval station at Guantanamo Bay, making Cuba a protectorate in practice. Ownership of Cuba's sugar plantations was not part of it. A seat in the Cuban legislature was not granted. Control over Cuba's public schools was not one of its terms.
Category: Empire After 1898
Question 15
The Foraker Act of 1900 gave Puerto Rico what?
Full statehood in the Union
Independence after ten years
A civil government under U.S. control
✓
Permanent rule by the U.S. Army
Correct Answer
A civil government under U.S. control
The Foraker Act ended military rule and set up a civil government whose governor and upper house were appointed by the U.S. president. Full statehood in the Union was not granted then or since. Independence after ten years was not promised. Permanent rule by the U.S. Army is what the act replaced.
Category: Empire After 1898
Question 16
Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door notes of 1899 asked the powers holding spheres of influence in China to
Withdraw all foreign troops from Chinese soil
Divide China into formal colonies
Ban Christian missionaries from China
Give all nations equal access to trade in China
✓
Correct Answer
Give all nations equal access to trade in China
Hay asked the powers to keep treaty ports open to everyone and charge all nations the same fees, protecting American access to the China market without taking territory. Withdraw all foreign troops from Chinese soil was not what the notes requested. Divide China into formal colonies was what Hay hoped to prevent. Ban Christian missionaries from China was not part of the notes.
Category: East Asia
Question 17
The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising by Chinese nationalists who sought to
Drive Westerners and their influence out of China
✓
Win Chinese emigrants the right to enter America
Replace the ruling dynasty with a republic
Seize Japanese territory in Korea
Correct Answer
Drive Westerners and their influence out of China
The Boxers attacked foreigners and Chinese Christians to rid China of Western influence, and an international force that included American troops crushed the uprising. Win Chinese emigrants the right to enter America was not their aim. Replace the ruling dynasty with a republic describes the later revolution of 1911. Seize Japanese territory in Korea was not their goal.
Category: East Asia
Question 18
When Colombia's senate rejected a U.S. canal treaty in 1903, Roosevelt responded by
Starting construction in Nicaragua instead
Backing a revolt that made Panama independent
✓
Declaring war on Colombia
Dropping the canal plan for a decade
Correct Answer
Backing a revolt that made Panama independent
Roosevelt sent warships that kept Colombian troops from putting down a Panamanian revolt, recognized the new nation within days, and quickly gained the rights to build the canal. Starting construction in Nicaragua instead was a threat he made but did not carry out. Declaring war on Colombia did not happen. Dropping the canal plan for a decade is wrong; construction began in 1904.
Category: Big Stick Diplomacy
Question 19
The Roosevelt Corollary of 1904 added to the Monroe Doctrine the claim that the United States could
Annex any island in the Caribbean
Close the hemisphere to European trade
Act as an international police power in Latin America
✓
Ban European immigration to the Americas
Correct Answer
Act as an international police power in Latin America
Roosevelt declared that chronic wrongdoing or instability in Latin America could require the United States to step in as a police power, and he first applied the idea in the Dominican Republic. Annex any island in the Caribbean was not claimed. Close the hemisphere to European trade was not part of it. Ban European immigration to the Americas had nothing to do with the corollary.
Category: Big Stick Diplomacy
Question 20
Taft's dollar diplomacy sought to expand American influence abroad mainly by
Annexing new overseas colonies
Sending the navy on goodwill tours
Mediating wars between rival empires
Using American investment and loans
✓
Correct Answer
Using American investment and loans
Taft aimed to substitute dollars for bullets, using American loans and business investment, especially in Latin America and China, to gain influence, though he still sent marines when a government resisted. Annexing new overseas colonies was not his approach. Sending the navy on goodwill tours describes Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. Mediating wars between rival empires describes Roosevelt's role in ending the Russo-Japanese War.
Category: Dollar Diplomacy