The Progressive Era, World Wars, and the New Deal (1890-1945) Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of The Progressive Era, World Wars, and the New Deal (1890-1945) distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

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Quick Reference

American Imperialism

The expansion of U.S. political, economic, and military influence beyond the continental borders beginning in the 1890s, driven by economic interests, strategic concerns, and beliefs in racial and cultural superiority.

Progressivism

A broad reform movement from roughly 1900 to 1920 that sought to address the social, political, and economic problems created by industrialization and urbanization through government action, investigative journalism, and grassroots organizing.

The New Deal

President Franklin Roosevelt's series of federal programs, public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted between 1933 and 1939 in response to the Great Depression, fundamentally expanding the role of the federal government in American economic life.

Total War

A conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources -- military, industrial, and civilian -- for the war effort, blurring the line between combatants and non-combatants.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's 1918 plan for a post-World War I peace settlement, emphasizing self-determination, free trade, open diplomacy, and the creation of a League of Nations to prevent future wars.

Court Packing

FDR's controversial 1937 proposal to add up to six additional justices to the Supreme Court after the Court struck down several New Deal programs, widely criticized as an attempt to undermine judicial independence.

Japanese American Internment

The forced relocation and incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans -- two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens -- into detention camps during World War II under Executive Order 9066, justified by unfounded claims of espionage and sabotage.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement centered in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s and 1930s, in which African American writers, musicians, and artists produced works that celebrated Black identity and challenged racial stereotypes.

Key Terms at a Glance

Roosevelt Corollary:A 1904 addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting the U.S. right to intervene in Latin American nations as an 'international police power' to maintain stability and protect American interests.

Muckrakers:Progressive Era investigative journalists who exposed corruption, unsafe conditions, and social injustice through magazine articles and books, building public support for reform legislation.

Open Door Policy:A U.S. foreign policy (1899-1900) calling for equal trading rights for all nations in China, aimed at preventing any single power from monopolizing Chinese trade and protecting American commercial access.

Fourteen Points:President Woodrow Wilson's 1918 peace plan emphasizing self-determination, free trade, open diplomacy, and the creation of a League of Nations. The U.S. Senate ultimately rejected the Treaty of Versailles and League membership.

Red Scare:A period of intense anti-communist and anti-radical hysteria (1919-1920) following the Russian Revolution, marked by the Palmer Raids, mass arrests, deportations, and severe restrictions on civil liberties.

Harlem Renaissance:A 1920s-1930s cultural and intellectual movement centered in Harlem, New York, in which African American artists, writers, and musicians produced works celebrating Black identity and achieving mainstream recognition.

New Deal:President Franklin Roosevelt's series of federal programs, public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations (1933-1939) designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.

Social Security Act:A 1935 second New Deal law establishing a federal system of old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children, creating the foundation of the American welfare state.

Japanese American Internment:The forced relocation and incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII under Executive Order 9066, driven by racial prejudice and wartime hysteria rather than evidence of disloyalty.

Manhattan Project:The secret U.S. government research program (1942-1945) that developed the atomic bomb, culminating in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

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