United States Imperialism
Concepts
Definitions/Explanations
Foreign Policy
= Actions that a nation takes in relation to other nations
Isolation/ism
= Policy of having little to do with the political affairs of
foreign nations
Expansion/ist/ism
= Policy of extending a nations boundaries
Imperialism
= Policy of powerful countries seeking to control the
economic and political affairs of weaker countries or regions
Great White Fleet
= New steam-powered warships with steel hulls were
already being built in the 1880s—by late 1890s, a
large/powerful American navy was ready for action—its
ships were called the Great White Fleet (all painted white)
“Seward’s Folly”
= William Seward’s mistake of purchasing Alaska because
they thought all it was, was a land of icy mountains and
frozen fish when really it had rich lands for farming, a
surplus of natural resources, and an important source of
petroleum and natural gas
Annex/annexation
= To add on—in 1867 William Seward persuaded Congress
to annex Midway Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
Midway Island
= An island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in which
Seward annexed in 1867
Matthew Perry
= (Early 1950s) President Millard Fillmore send Commodore
Matthew Perry to Japan; July 1853, he entered Tokyo Bay
with 4 warships; Japanese ordered the Americans out—
before leaving, Perry gave letter to a Japanese official from
the President—in it he asked the Japanese to open trading
relations with the U.S.; Perry returned a year later with 7
warships to get an answer; Japanese emperor signed the
Treaty of Kanagawa
Treaty of Kanagawa
= (1854) pact in which Japan agreed to help shipwrecked
