How Did The Us Control Cuba

To encourage a war, in the hopes of selling more newspapers, publishers wrote articles about Spain treating the Cubans bad even if they weren’t true stories. Americans wanted to support Cuban independence when Cuba rebelled against Spain. US declared war against Spain lasting only four months, American ships quickly defeated the Spanish Navy in the waters off of Cuba. American troops remained in Cuba after the war to insure Cuba’s independence from Spain while also simultaneously limiting its independence from the US. The United States had also declared the right to intervene with Cuban government.

America tried to resolve the issue peacefully, but Spain was not backing down and President William McKinley decided that Cuba was ‘in need of saving.’ “In response to the fear of European intervention, Theodore Roosevelt created a new policy called the Roosevelt Corollary. The Roosevelt Corollary advocated for U.S. intervention in Latin America” (pg. 627). The Roosevelt Corollary quickly became big news, but Latin America was not in support of the idea. “Latin America resented the U.S. and refused to accept its rise to power” (pg. 627).

To squash these rumors, the United States passed the Platt Amendment which basically said that Cuba would be a completely independant country as soon as the war was over and that the only intentions the US had was the wellbeing of Cuba and its citizens. There was a few conditions that Cuba had to follow, though, for good relations. The first, and in my opinion, most important condition is “That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island”. It is a little hard to believe that we went to war with Spain over the wellbeing of Cuba considering the fact that soon after that we began invading other Spanish colonized countries like the Philippines and Puerto Rico. It seems that the United States wanted to get in on the colonizing

Americans wanted to be an imperialist country. Cuba has many resources and land that Americans could use to make America superior. “In Cuba alone there are 15 million acres of uncut forest. There are mines of iron” (March of the Flag.) Declaring war when the USS Maine destroyed was the perfect time for Americans to surround Cuba and take over their land and resources.

In the early months of 1898, fundamental events took place in fairly rapid succession that led up to the Spanish American War and in turn the Battle for San Juan Heights. Together, these events solidified U.S. public opinion towards the U.S. involvement in a war to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. A war some saw as a necessity to end the appalling conditions on an island so close to the American mainland. Some American officials including the U.S. Consul-general in Havana, Fitzhugh Lee, believed that it was only a matter of time before Cuba would be annexed by United States. (The Spanish-American War: American Wars and the Media in Primary Document, W. Joseph Campbell 2005).

During the 1890s seemed to show cessation in both political and public forms. The presidency of William McKinley changed the course of not only the United States, but the course of many other countries as well. President McKinley was the last president that served in the Civil War. In the year of 1897 the most important issue became the welfare of Cuba. During this time Cuba was in a constant state of revolt. For ten years from 1868 to 1878 President Ulysses S. Grant and the Secretary of State Hamilton Fish stayed out of the conflict of Cuba. During the year of 1878 Spain discontinued one rebellion with a paper peace, but Spain would not let go of the land it had under its control.

Although there are many reasons why the Spanish-American war took place, the most important was Spain's resentment of Cuba's desire to also become an independent nation. Since Cuba was one of Spain's last territories, they were unwilling to allow independence. As a result, conflict between the two parties erupted. Since Cuba was smaller and less equipped to fight than Spain, their economy took a tumble. Due to the fact that the United States had a great deal of money invested in Cuba's sugar resources, many Americans felt the need to wage war. Additionally, there were separate events that caused anger to American Citizens. One such event was the destruction of a U.S. ship used to protect the American citizens in Cuba. Although the ship's

The Americans had invested in Cuba sugar and mining that led to the revolt of the Cubans in 1895. The pressure of war caused Depu De Lome who was a Spanish official to insult President McKinley. After the declaration of the War on April 21, 1898, the United States Signed the Teller agreement, where it indicated that it did not wish to annex to Cuba. The American Spanish and Mexican war that led to the assassination of President McKinley making Theodore Roosevelt to became president followed this. Consequently, the United States emerged as a world power after the 1898

Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and

In 1895 Cuba rebelled against Spain to declare their independence. Americans were outraged with the Spanish after they had killed off a quarter of the Cuban population. Newspapers flooded with propaganda and pressure for the U.S. to intervene and help the Cuban revolution. Americans felt that it was there duty to help Cuba and freeing them from Spain’s control. Not only did they feel it was the humanitarian thing to do but the Cuban rebellion also damaged American business in Cuba.

To begin though we need to see the backstory of how this had happened.With all of these things happening in Cuba, President Cleveland and President McKinley wanted to stay neutral. Also during this time, the United States was still thinking about the idea of Manifest Destiny and American Imperialism. Since land has already been claimed by the United States from coast to coast, they have to search elsewhere for expanding the country.

The Spanish-American War was fought mainly for economic reasons. The United States' primary motivation for entering the war was “purely economic” (Spanish-American War). The United States had a vested interest in Cuba – almost fifty million dollars invested in the island nation. Additionally, America had a sound trade history with Cuba: trading more with the Spanish colony than its motherland (Cuba). The rotting Spanish Empire provided a hindrance to American business interests. Tariffs and trade fees were especially troublesome to American businessmen. After the war, America had successfully the profitability of their investments. This was done through the Platt Amendment. This amendment had essentially dictated Cuba's economic policy: allowing Americans to check Cuban national debt and foreign treaties (Platt Amendment).

In both Cuba and the Philippines we overstayed our welcome. After chasing the Spaniards out, we became greedy. In the Philippines we now had an advantage militarily and economically. The strategic location of the Philippines in the West Pacific offered supreme tactical advantages for naval bases and ports. This convenience applied to Cuba as well and became too tempting for the U.S. to pass up. These advantages was enough for the U.S. to go back on an amendment agreed to before intervention. This amendment ensured that Cuba would retain freedom once Spain was gone. Evidently this was not enough to stop the U.S. from undermining it and stay in Havana. Our mission to free those who could not free themselves was overlooked for the benefit of the

There were a plethora of important events that took place that prompted the beginning of The Spanish American war. The war was officially started in 1898, bringing joy to the citizens of America and dismay to then president William Mckinley. Before the war, Cuba had been fighting for independence from Spain. The Cuban’s had already lost in the ten year war earlier, which had been fought to gain their independence from Spain. In the state's, newspapers and other media sources were greatly exaggerating the horrors and atrocities being

President Mckinely knew that they had to protect Cuba because they were so heavily involved. The United States would also benefit from this because Cuba and the Philippines were essential for trade and business. The sugar market and tobacco trade was very much affected by the revolution that was happening in Cuba. This made the Americans quick to act. This gave them another reason to get involved with foreign affairs.