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Difficulty: HardImperialism and the Spanish-American War

“The army and the navy are the sword and the shield which this nation must carry if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth—if she is not to stand merely as the China of the western hemisphere, fit only to be eaten up by the more warlike peoples... If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues.”

— Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life” speech, 1899

Which of the following arguments best aligns with Theodore Roosevelt's perspective on United States foreign policy as expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The United States must declare war to retaliate against foreign adversaries responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania in Havana Harbor.
  2. B
    The United States should leverage the Monroe Doctrine to establish formal defensive military alliances with sovereign Latin American nations.
  3. The United States has a geopolitical obligation to project military strength and actively engage in international affairs to maintain its standing among global powers.Answer
  4. D
    The United States should adopt a policy of absolute isolationism to avoid diplomatic and economic entanglements with European empires.

Answer

The correct answer is that the United States has a geopolitical obligation to project military strength and actively engage in international affairs to maintain its standing among global powers.
The correct option is correct because Theodore Roosevelt's 'Strenuous Life' speech advocates for robust military preparedness ('the sword and the shield') and active involvement in global affairs to ensure the United States competes effectively with other world powers and avoids national decline.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document.
Theodore Roosevelt argues that the military serves as the nation's protection ('sword and shield') and warns against weakness, stating that the United States must play a 'great part in the world' rather than avoiding international issues.
Understanding the core argument of the excerpt is essential to identifying which foreign policy position it supports.
2
Evaluate the options against Roosevelt's argument.
The statement about projecting military strength and engaging globally directly matches Roosevelt's call to action, while the other options introduce historical inaccuracies or represent opposite viewpoints.
This step ensures that the chosen option is both historically accurate and logically consistent with the source text.

Key Concept

Motivations for late nineteenth-century United States imperialism and the debate over global expansion.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Imperialism and the Spanish-American War

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