On the night of February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, and sank. Most of the crew died. American newspapers blamed Spain, and about two months later the two countries were at war. The cause of the explosion is still debated; Navy inquiries in 1898 and 1911 blamed a mine, but a 1976 study by Admiral Hyman Rickover pointed to a fire in a coal bunker next to the ammunition magazine. The war that followed made the United States a power with colonies overseas.
This lesson covers Period 7 of AP US History, from 1890 to 1945. It is a long period, so this is an overview; later decks go deeper on the New Deal and World War II.
The big themes
- Reform in response to growth and instability. Progressives and then the New Deal expanded what government did.
- Mass culture and migration. Radio, movies and cars spread a national culture, while the Great Migration and new immigration laws changed who lived where.
- A world power, and an argument about it. Two world wars made the US a global leader, but Americans kept debating how involved the nation should be.
Imperialism
After the Spanish–American War, the Treaty of Paris gave the US Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Hawaii was annexed the same year. Filipino forces under Emilio Aguinaldo fought American rule from 1899. The Anti-Imperialist League argued that ruling people without their consent betrayed US ideals. The Open Door notes sought equal trade in China, and the Roosevelt Corollary claimed a right to intervene in Latin America.
The Progressives
Muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair exposed corruption and unsafe food. Theodore Roosevelt broke up trusts and pushed through the 1906 food and drug laws. Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. Amendments brought a federal income tax (16th), direct election of senators (17th), Prohibition (18th) and women's suffrage (19th). Progressivism had limits: many reformers accepted or supported segregation, and Wilson's administration segregated federal offices.
World War I
Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram brought the US into the war in April 1917. Wilson cast it as a fight for democratic and humanitarian principles. At home, the Espionage and Sedition Acts punished antiwar speech, and the Great Migration began as Black Southerners took industrial jobs in Northern cities. Wilson's Fourteen Points called for a League of Nations, but the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.
The 1920s
Cars, radio, movies and buying on credit created a national mass culture. The Harlem Renaissance celebrated African American art and writing. The decade also saw sharp conflict: the Red Scare, a revived Ku Klux Klan, the Scopes trial, and the Immigration Act of 1924. Immigration from Mexico, which the 1924 quotas didn't cap, grew.
The Great Depression and New Deal
The October 1929 crash began the Depression, but bank failures, debt and falling demand made it deep and long. By 1933 about a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal offered relief, recovery and reform: the FDIC, Social Security and the Wagner Act. Critics on the left said it did too little, critics on the right said it did too much, and historians still debate how far it ended the Depression.
World War II
Neutrality Acts in the 1930s reflected a wish to stay out of another war. Lend-Lease (1941) sent aid to Britain before Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war on December 7, 1941. Mobilization ended the Depression's mass unemployment and opened jobs to women and African Americans, who pressed for equal treatment. About 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into camps. The war ended in 1945 after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a decision historians still argue about, and the US helped found the United Nations.
Common mistakes students make
- Saying the Maine was proven to be sunk by Spain. The cause is still disputed.
- Treating Progressives as one group. They disagreed, and many accepted segregation.
- Calling the 1920s only a boom. It was also a decade of nativism and cultural conflict.
- Saying the 1929 crash alone caused the Depression. Bank failures and weak demand mattered as much.
Frequently asked questions
What years does APUSH Period 7 cover?
Period 7 runs from 1890 to 1945. The Course and Exam Description weights it at 10–17% of the exam.
What are the main topics in APUSH Period 7?
Imperialism, the Progressives, World War I, the 1920s, the Great Depression and New Deal, and World War II.
Why did the US become imperialist in the 1890s?
Leaders wanted markets, naval bases and global standing, and some used ideas of racial superiority to justify ruling others.
Did the New Deal end the Great Depression?
It eased the worst suffering and reformed banking and labor, but mass unemployment only ended with wartime mobilization.
Try it
Say each answer before you flip the card. Then compare 1919 and 1945: both times the US helped win a world war, but only once did it join the new world organization. What changed, and why then?
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