Foreign Policy, Imperialism, and World War I
From advice to empire
Washington's Farewell Address warned against permanent alliances, and the Monroe Doctrine (1823) claimed the hemisphere as a sphere of interest. Late-century expansionism added Alaska (1867) and Hawaii (1898). The Open Door notes asked only for equal commercial access to China, not territory.
1898 and after
The Spanish-American War followed the Maine explosion and yellow-press agitation. The Teller Amendment disclaimed annexation of Cuba, but the Treaty of Paris gave the United States Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and the Platt Amendment (1901) made Cuba a protectorate. The Anti-Imperialist League objected, and the Philippines fought a long war of resistance. Roosevelt used big-stick power: backing Panama's revolt (1903), building the canal, and issuing the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Taft's dollar diplomacy used investment; Wilson's moral diplomacy emphasized democratic values.
World War I
Neutrality frayed under unrestricted submarine warfare and trade ties to the Allies. The Lusitania (1915) and the Zimmermann telegram brought a declaration of war in April 1917. Mobilization included the War Industries Board, the Committee on Public Information, the Espionage and Sedition Acts, and Schenck v. United States. Wilson's Fourteen Points proposed self-determination and a League of Nations; the Treaty of Versailles imposed reparations and war-guilt clauses, and the Senate, led by Lodge, refused ratification.
Traps. Teller is not Platt, and the United States never joined the League of Nations.
Worked example. A cartoon of Uncle Sam patrolling the Caribbean illustrates the Roosevelt Corollary, not dollar diplomacy.