Please respond to ONE of the following questions in a post of no fewer than 150 words and a second substantive (150+ words) post to another student. The United States prides itself on support of democracy and the protection of human rights. How did the United States reconcile this view with the annexation of foreign territories during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Support your response with at least two examples. Part B: Think about American foreign policy today. Compare it to the examples you used in Part A. How has foreign policy changed? Support your response with one current foreign policy issue or action. Women have had the right to vote in the United States for not quite 100 years – since 1920. It took suffragists many years to finally achieve a constitutional amendment giving women this right. Why did men resist the idea of women voting for so long? What issues finally helped the movement gain momentum and succeed? Part B: How did giving women the right to vote influence civil rights and politics in the United States? How might politics today be different if women were not involved? Everything discussed in this week can be connected in some way to current events and issues. Think about your life – potential or current career field, daily activities and interests, freedoms and rights etc. Discuss at least two issues or events we studied this week and explain how they have impacted and/or continue to impact your life today. BONUS (up to 3 points) .   Why was the U.S. so much slower than Europe to create a massive, modern military after the Civil War? The most important foreign action by the U.S. between the Civil War and WWI was the Spanish-American War.  This conflict established patterns for future American foreign policy. Taking Cuba, American imperialists argued, would establish the U.S. as an imperial power, albeit a minor one.  The U.S. was not yet a superpower.  Five European nations had just finished dividing the African continent in five, separate colonies.  Europe was also colonizing Asia and parts of the Middle East.  A new generation of politicians, best exemplified by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, demanded that the U.S. government start expanding their own empire.  Cuba remains central to U.S. foreign policy through today. Why was Cuba so important? Cuba was geographically close  to the U.S., a ferry ride less than an hour from Florida.  Money .   Cuba had the potential to make American companies unbelievably wealthy.  Cuba had acre after acre of sugar plantations.  Who cares?  In 1900, the average American ate less than eight (8) ounces of sugar annually. In 1959, Americans ate over six (6) pounds of sugar, mostly from Cuba. Americans had  economically developed  and industrialized significantly by 1898.     What did Americans want to develop further? Cheap raw materials Foreign markets for American manufactured goods After T. Roosevelt (helped to) create the Panama Canal, T. America’s economic stre.

1. Please respond to ONE of the following questions in a post of
no fewer than 150 words and a second
substantive (150+ words) post to another student.
The United States prides itself on support of democracy and the
protection of human rights. How did the United States reconcile
this view with the annexation of foreign territories during the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Support your
response with at least two examples. Part B: Think about
American foreign policy today. Compare it to the examples you
used in Part A. How has foreign policy changed? Support your
response with one current foreign policy issue or action.
Women have had the right to vote in the United States for not
quite 100 years – since 1920. It took suffragists many years to
finally achieve a constitutional amendment giving women this
right. Why did men resist the idea of women voting for so
long? What issues finally helped the movement gain momentum
and succeed? Part B: How did giving women the right to vote
influence civil rights and politics in the United States? How
might politics today be different if women were not involved?
Everything discussed in this week can be connected in some
way to current events and issues. Think about your life –
potential or current career field, daily activities and
interests, freedoms and rights etc. Discuss at least two issues or
events we studied this week and explain how they have
impacted and/or continue to impact your life today.
BONUS (up to 3 points)
.
Why was the U.S. so much slower than Europe to create a
massive, modern military after the Civil War?

2. The most important foreign action by the U.S. between the Civil
War and WWI was the Spanish-American War. This conflict
established patterns for future American foreign policy.
Taking Cuba, American imperialists argued, would establish the
U.S. as an imperial power, albeit a minor one. The U.S. was not
yet a superpower. Five European nations had just finished
dividing the African continent in five, separate
colonies. Europe was also colonizing Asia and parts of the
Middle East. A new generation of politicians, best exemplified
by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, demanded that the U.S.
government start expanding their own empire.
Cuba remains central to U.S. foreign policy through today.
Why was Cuba so important?
Cuba was geographically close
to the U.S., a ferry ride less than an hour from Florida.
Money
. Cuba had the potential to make American companies
unbelievably wealthy. Cuba had acre after acre of sugar
plantations. Who cares?
In 1900, the average American ate less than eight (8) ounces of
sugar annually.
In 1959, Americans ate over six (6) pounds of sugar, mostly
from Cuba.
Americans had
economically developed
and industrialized significantly by 1898.
What did Americans want to develop further?
Cheap raw materials
Foreign markets for American manufactured goods
After T. Roosevelt (helped to) create the Panama Canal, T.
America’s economic strength exploded internationally.
D.

3. Proving America’s Early Military Power
Internationally.
America’s military was comparatively weak, even after
WWI. In the late 1930s, for example, the League of Nations
ranked the U.S. military as the
19
th
strongest in the world. (We were rated after Belgium and the
Netherlands, for instance).
Political Generational Differences
. Younger, post-Civil War politicians like T.R. desperately
wanted war. The older generation of politicians, like Pres.
McKinley, remembered the Civil War violence. War did not
seem glamorous them.
The younger generation wanted to compete with Europe in
colonization and military strength.
E.
The First “Sin City”
The Italian Mafia invested early in Cuba, creating complicated
and wealthy networks of prostitution, gambling, lavish hotels
like the Tropicana Hotel, and all kinds of pornography after
1921. It was the first Vegas.
Cuba was not an American colony; therefore, was not under
U.S. “sin” laws.
F.
Government claims of foreign terrorism used to justify war.
When the U.S.S. Maine exploded in Cuban waters, the U.S.
government blamed foreign terrorism and justified military
action. While the explosion was terrifyingly real, terrorism was
not the cause.
G.
The Yellow Press
THE SPANISH-AMERCAN WAR WAS THE FIRST FOREIGN

4. CONFLICT WHICH WAS FUNDAMENTALLY AND
INTENTIONALLY INFLUENCED BY THE MEDIA. I AM
REFERRING SPECIFICALLY TO THE MAIN OWNERS OF
THE YELLOW PRESS, WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST AND
JOSEPH PULITIZER.
Like today,
most Americans were dependent on media coverage for
knowledge of foreign affairs. No one knew what was actually
happening Cuba. The yellow press and politicians like T.
Roosevelt said the Cubans wanted the U.S. to go to war with the
Spanish. Hearst and Pulitzer spend weeks telling Americans
that Cubans were being murdered, attacked and raped by
Spaniards. (We know now that this was far from true)
"Serious" newspapers and moderate politicians argued that most
Cubans had no problem with the Spanish government. No one
really knew which politician and media source was telling the
truth.