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NOTE Paragraph

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During the 1890s, the United States
showed little interest in foreign affairs.

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Its army, a meager 28,000 soldiers,

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was twenty times smaller than
that of France or Germany.

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Its 10,000 man navy was six times
smaller than Britain's

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and half the size of Spain's.

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That all changed at the
turn of the 20th century

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as the United States became a world power.

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In 1898 and 1899,
the United States annexed Hawaii

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and took control of the
Philippines, Puerto Rico,

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parts of the Samoan islands
and other Pacific islands.

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The Spanish-American War
and the acquisition of the Philippines

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extended U.S. expansionist impulses

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and marked a sharp departure from
American foreign policy of the past.

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For the first time,

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the United States made a major
strategic commitment in the far east,

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acquired territory it never
intended for statehood,

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and committed itself to
police actions and intervention

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in the Caribbean and Central America.

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Expansion also raised the question
of whether the newly annexed peoples

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would receive the rights
of American citizens.

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Why did the United States adopt
an aggressive foreign policy

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at the end of the 19th century?

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And what would be the causes
and consequences of U.S. involvement

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in China, the Caribbean, Latin America,
and the Spanish-American War?