In a brief paragraph, use information from the lesson to explain the United States' foreign policy after the Spanish-American War.

In May of 1893, fairgrounds covering nearly two square miles of Chicago were opened to the public. The city had been chosen to host the World's Columbian Exposition, a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World. The fair was a grand display of American history and world culture featuring carefully crafted buildings, exciting exhibits, notable speakers, and remarkable new inventions: the giant Ferris Wheel, strange new foods such as the hamburger, and a concoction of popcorn, molasses, and peanuts called "Cracker Jacks." Some 27 million people-one quarter of the nation's population in the 1890s-visited the exposition, making it the largest tourist attraction in United States history.

The Chicago World's Fair, with its scale-model replicas of classic architecture, its immaculate streets and sidewalks, and its wealth of wholesome entertainment, was quite different from the world that existed outside the fairgrounds. Like a nineteenth-century Disneyland, the exposition offered, for those who could afford the admission fee, a respite from the humdrum of daily life.