READING ANTICIPATION GUIDE:  Economic Interests and U.S. Expansionism in the Late Nineteenth Century

 

1.          In the column labeled Before Reading, indicate your initial response (true or false) to the statement.

 

2.         After reading the chapters by Walter LaFeber and Jonathan Kirshner, answer the questions a second time and support your answers by citing evidence from one or more of the chapters.

 

Before Reading                                                                                                 After Reading

 

 

   ______             Since war was in the interests of Big Business, _________

business leaders convinced President McKinley

to declare war on Spain.                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   _______                   Powerful financial interests in the U.S. feared war      _________

                                    would destabilize markets and enhance the power

                                    of the federal government, so they adamantly

opposed any declaration of war on Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   ______                     Many Americans supported war with Spain because      _________

                                    Big Business opposed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   ______                     The issue of war with Spain was closely linked             _________

                                    to the debate over the gold standard and free

                                    silver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  ______                      Public opinion had little influence on policy makers      _________

                                    in either Spain or the United States in the months

                                    leading up to the Spanish American War.