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In 1900, Texas became the 6th most populated state in the United States. According to US Census records, its population grew from 200,000 in 1850 to more than 3,000,000 in 1900.
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By 1900, 10% of the U.S. controlled 90% of the nation's wealth. Many of the country's wealthiest industrialists and financiers adopted the social Darwinism ideology. The ideology maintained that their wealth was a product of natural order and they had no obligation to help the poor. H. L. Mencken expressed it as follows: "The strong must grow stronger, and that they may do so, they must waste no strength in the vain task of trying to uplift the weak" (1907).
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Founded in 1901, this party embodied the ideals of the Populist Party. In 1912, Eugene V. Debs, the socialist candidate for president, gained over 1 million votes, or 6 percent of the total votes cast. By 1913, around 150,000 people were members of the Socialist Party of America.
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JP Morgan spearheaded the merger of Federal Steel and the Carnegie Steel Company to form U.S. Steel, creating the first
billion-dollar corporation, which came to monopolize the steel industry. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Charles M. Schwab, William Henry Moore, and Elbert Henry Gary. -
Roosevelt was vice president until 1901 when McKinley was assassinated. Though Cuba gained formal independence in 1902, President Roosevelt still exerted control over it and Puerto Rico. In 1903, he deployed naval forces to ensure that Panama gained its independence from Columbia. In 1904, he pronounced the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, meaning that the United States would see any European Military intervention as a threat to American security.
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After losing the Spanish-American War, Spain gave control of the Phillippines to the U.S. However, Philippino revolutionaries considered the U.S. their new oppressor, so they fought and lost to the US in 1902. With its Philippine-American War victory, the U.S. expanded its global reach, giving it more influence in international politics, especially in Latin America.
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The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), commonly known as The Wobblies, is a radical labor union formed by labor leader William D. Haywood, who wanted an alternative to the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Unlike the AFL, the IWW accepted membership from all workers, regardless of gender, race, or skill set.
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Germany's indiscriminate torpedoing of merchant vessels in the North Atlantic, the Zimmerman telegram, and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania all converged as good reasons for the US to enter World War I, so on April 4, 1917, the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany.