Spanish-American War Quiz

How was the Spanish American War of 1898 a major turning point in U.S. history?

• It marked the first American victory over a European power

• It revealed that the US had become a world power

• It showed American support for European economic interests in East Asia

• It demonstrated the need for better communications in wartime

What is the main idea of the political cartoon?

• President McKinley and the Senate pushed through the annexation of Hawaii despite opposition at home and in Hawaii

• Most Hawaiians would have preferred to be annexed by Japan rather than the US

• The annexation of Hawaii was popular with most Americans but not among Hawaiians

• President McKinley would have preferred to let Hawaii remain independent

• American industries need raw materials and markets overseas

• Imperialist expansion threatens to bring the United States into conflict with European powers

• The system of imperialism is contrary to American democratic principles

• Colonial peoples are inviting American leadership to develop their economies

Look at the excerpt above, the excerpt is from Alfred Thayer Mahan's Influence of Sea Power on History. In this book Mahan urged Americans to build a large navy and acquire colonies as Britain had. What other strategy did Mahan advocate for the United States to succeed as a naval power?

• developing an Air Force

• building a canal through Central America

• having a large standing Army

• placing military bases in Europe

• They sprayed insecticides to kill mosquitoes and built concrete locks to raise ships to a higher elevation

• They built new paved roads so that a greater number of dump trucks could remove the excavated earth

• They used steam shovels to dredge the interior lake and bring its elevation down to sea level to build a sea-level canal

• They used pneumatic drills and dynamite to remove several of Panama's mountains, making construction of the canal easier

The political cartoon above was published in 1903. The hill in the background says "Bogota", the capital of Colombia. Eight years later, Theodore Roosevelt stated: "I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the Canal does also". To what event do the cartoon and President Roosevelt's statement refer?

• Roosevelt's decision to help Panamian rebels against Columbia in exchange for the Canal Zone

• the many obstacles that the geography of Panama posed to the construction of the canal

• a debate in Congress over whether to appropriate funds to build the Panama Canal

• the debate over whether construction of the canal would be useful to US national security

Which of the following best supports the view that Americans went to war with Spain in 1898 for humanitarian purposes?

• President Cleveland had previously refused to annex Hawaii when US landowners had overthrown Queen Liliuokalani by force.

• Congress passed the Teller Amendment promising that the United States would not annex Cuba, even if it won the war

• Mark Twain said 'We do not intend to free but subjugate the people of the Philippines'.

After observing how the European great powers had carved out "spheres of influence" in China, what action did U. S. Secretary of State Hays propose ?

• The US would blockade all Chinese ports if it was not given control of Hong Kong

• The US and other foreign nations should enjoy equal trading rights in China

• The US would help China recover all of the lands taken by European powers

• The US would help the Boxers to overthrow foreign influence in China

• They intended to spread the democratic form of government to China

• They believed that the Constitution required US acquisition of the Philippines

• They saw the Philippines as a useful base for increasing American trade with East Asia

• They feared the growing economic and naval power of the Japanese Empire

• American imperialists were mainly concerned with maintaining US trade with Europe

• American imperialists intended to challenge European control of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia

• American imperialists saw their nation's main opportunities in the Pacific and the Caribbean

• American imperialists believed it was their 'Manifest Destiny' to take over both Canada and Mexico