Unit 6 - The Rise of American Power (1890-1920)
An integral part of the curriculum is a lengthy, detailed lesson on U.S. Foreign Policy from 1865 to 1914. One of the first major events towards American global dominance was seen with the Spanish-American War when the United States tried to support the freedom movements in Cuba against Spanish rule and subsequently ended in a short, victorious war for the United States over Spain. Opposition to American expansion and political domination is seen in this handout called Nuestra Platforma that discusses the vows taken by the White Caps of Mexico against the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
An integral part of the curriculum is a lengthy, detailed lesson on U.S. Foreign Policy from 1865 to 1914. One of the first major events towards American global dominance was seen with the Spanish-American War when the United States tried to support the freedom movements in Cuba against Spanish rule and subsequently ended in a short, victorious war for the United States over Spain. Opposition to American expansion and political domination is seen in this handout called Nuestra Platforma that discusses the vows taken by the White Caps of Mexico against the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
This lesson leads into the end of American policy of neutrality and begins the events that lead up to America and World War I. I have included specific focus on the war with the World War I lesson (a total overview of the war) and the World War I presentation. Most U.S. History textbooks give three causes for America joining the war; unrestricted warfare, the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman Telegram. However, through my own research, I believe there is a fourth, Black Tom, a hidden reason for war. To end this section I have included some American culture with the lyrics for the famous song "Over There", the Statistics for World War I in charts and a summation and finally Woodrow Wilson and the Fourteen Points, a brief summary.
The final handout for this unit is called World War I and American Society and it covers important changes brought about during and after the First World War and includes the Great Migration, nativism, the 1917 Immigration Act, the Espionage Act of 1917, the Sedition Act of 1918, the Supreme Court case of Schenck v. United States and concluded with the Red Scare. It is a longer lesson than normal but very important to understand for the curriculum.
