608 Chapter 22 From Isolation to Empire
Key Terms
dollar diplomacy A policy of President William
Taft to promote American economic penetration
to underdeveloped nations, especially in Latin
America; it sought to strengthen American influ-
ence without requiring the presence of U.S.
troops, 605
isolationism A national policy that eschews foreign
alliances, such as was propounded by George
Washington in his “Farewell Address.”
Isolationism was also embraced by part of the
Monroe Doctrineof 1823 and after the First
World War, when the United States refused to join
theLeague of Nationsand sought to distance
itself during the 1930s from the rumblings of
another world war. Isolationism ended as national
policy when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941, 586
Open Door policy A policy, propounded by
Secretary of State John Hay in 1899, affirming the
territorial integrity of China and a policy of free
trade, 602
Platt Amendment A law, passed in 1901 and
superseding the Teller Amendment, which stipu-
lated the conditions for the withdrawal of
American forces from Cuba; it also transferred
ownership of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to
the United States, 598
“reconcentration” camps A term that referred to
the Spanish refugee camps into which Cuban
farmers were herded in 1896 to prevent them
from providing assistance to rebels fighting for
Cuban independence from Spain, 591
Teller Amendment A rider to the 1898 war reso-
lution with Spain whereby Congress pledged that
it did not intend to annex Cuba and that it would
recognize Cuban independence from Spain, 592Review Questions
1.The introduction to this chapter holds that
American soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan in
part because of American imperialism after 1890.
Could Americans then have avoided imperial
expansion? What factors impelled them to support
imperialism?
2.On what issues did the anti-imperialists and the
imperialists agree? And how did they differ?
3.How did American involvement in the Caribbean
differ from the United States’ approach to China
and East Asia?
4.Why did McKinley choose to annex the
Philippines? Was his decision a wise one?
5.How did the Roosevelt Corollary modify the
Monroe Doctrine? How did Taft’s policies differ
from those of Roosevelt?
6.Was American imperialism from 1890–1910
chiefly beneficial or harmful to other nations? To
the United States?