The Latin American Context: Turn Of The 19th Century

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

In the mid-1800s, Spain ruled the island of Cuba. the United States, at that time, received most of Cuba's exports, and they supported the Cuban independence movement; if Cuba was independent, then the United States would benefit from the country. Soon, the big U.S. presses, such as The New York Journal and The New York World, knew that the event was in the people's feelings. They sensationalized their headlines and graphic features to attract readers, which soon was known as "yellow journalism". The press also knew a lot of the reader's interests, and they exaggerated their news. During the January of 1898, the United States sent the USS Maine, which is a battleship, to Havana, which is the capital of Cuba, in order to halt the riots between

America’s support for the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule and the explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor are the major influences that led to the Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War was a conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898. As Cuba was controlled by territorial expansion by the Spanish, Cubans fight for independence from Spain will arise. Cubans fight for Independence from Spain is what brought the U.S to intervene.

Many historians argue that the U.S. took the moral high ground during the war because they set out to end the suffering of the Cuban people at the hands of Spain, citing the crux of McKinley’s War Message. Although this may be true to some extent, the worst of the rebellion had ended by 1898 as the result of a ceasefire agreement and the departure of General Valeriano Weyler; therefore, American interference was needlessly invasive. Some also point to the Teller Amendment as counter-evidence against the imperialistic nature of the war, but, following the war, the Platt Amendment to the Cuban Constitution transformed Cuba from a truly independent nation into a puppet of the U.S. for enforcing the Monroe Doctrine on Europe’s empires. Moreover, the motive to free an oppressed Cuba fails to explain why the U.S. also took action to remove Spain from the Philippines, where no major rebellion was taking place. Although morality may have played some role, its motivational effect was far outweighed by the imperialism and hysteria factors.

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

To protect the interests of the nation, the United States sent the USS Maine into Havana Harbor, but on February 15, 1898, the unthinkable happened. The battleship exploded, killing 260 members of the crew. Without a thorough investigation, the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry stated the explosion was caused by Spain. Doubt from the public was virtually absent and the United States declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War. The war resulted in a swift American victory, leading to the addition of multiple territories. Although the explosion is now known to have been caused by an internal fire, it caused American intervention and imperialism in both Latin America and islands in the Pacific

Nationalism was another major factor in declaring war against Spain. Nationalism emerged in the United States and all of its people seemed to support the war. The “yellow press” printed multiple stories of scandals, including the explosion of the Maine in the Havana harbor. The yellow press printed that the Spanish were responsible for this action, which led to the slogan “Remember the Maine.” Nationalism and pride surged within the United States and war became imminent. The “rough riders,” who were volunteers from the United States, invaded the Santiago harbor in order to drive out Spanish ships. They paved the way for the American army and forced Spain to sign an armistice. After the war was over and the Cubans were free, The Platt Amendment was passed. It provided that Cuba had to state in its own constitution that the US might intervene with troops in Cuba in order to restore order and to provide mutual protection. It also promised to sell or lease naval stations to the US. The doctrine of Manifest Destiny also played a major part in the war. The US wanted to expand its country and spread its Anglo-Saxon culture. Imperialism was also part of this objective.

Cuba, a Spanish colony, had been in rebellion since 1895. The brutal Spanish response turned American sympathies to the Cuban insurgents. The US Battleship Maine arrived in Havana Harbor in January 1898 with a dual mission to protect American interests and present the Spanish with a show of force. At 9:40 PM on the evening of February 15, an

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.

The Spanish-American War was a war focused on control over Cuba. As previously stated, Spain touted a powerful navy, victory would cause the entire world to notice and give the United States a seat at the international table. Americans took notice of Spanish brutality to Cuban uprisings attempting to gain freedom and were sympathetic to the Cuban people. Fighting for our independence was fresh on the minds of Americans who began to support Cuban freedom from Spain. Dispatching the USS Maine off the coast of Cuba proved to be a fateful strategic move made by President McKinley because just days after on February 15th 1898 the ship was destroyed, killing over 250 sailors. Although believed to be an accident, yellow journalists ran with the story of war receiving overwhelming support from the public. War was declared in April of 1898 and just after

     Cuba had been rebelling against Spanish rule for decades and the United States never intruded. America claimed that the reason for their involvement in 1895 was to assist Cuba against Spanish slaughter, but they hadn’t thought about involving themselves until their trade for sugar with Cuba was cut off. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 placed high taxes on sugar, destructing Cuba’s sugar market and causing the discontinuation of trade with the United States. Cuba had acted as America’s primary sugar market. President Cleveland and successor, McKinley, desired to stay neutral, but the revealing of the Spanish De Lome letter and the sinking of the Maine in 1898 presented no other option.

     While all of these political jobs we¹re going on for Theodore Roosevelt there were some serious problems going on down in Cuba. At that time Cuba was owned by Spain, and at the end of the 1890¹s people in the united states started reading horrible stories in the newspapers about how the Spaniards were treating the people down in Cuba. The united states decided to stay neutral until February 15, 1898 when the ³USS Maine,² a battleship that was docked in Havana exploded, killing over 250 soldiers and marines. about two months later the united states declared war on Spain, starting the Spanish-american .

Spain treated Cuban revolutionaries horribly and yellow journalism-exaggerated news articles about the happenings in Cuba- emotionally affected Americans and swayed them in considering to help Cuba. The final draw that convinced the United States to intervene and go to war was the sinking of the military ship, the U.S.S Maine. The Ship exploded in Cuba and blame was put onto Spain. After the war ended, Cuba gained independence and the United States gained the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. The war established that the United States was now a world power and furthered the U.S’s expansion overseas to the Caribbean, Central America and Asia(Document

Commencing as an attempt to help liberate Cuba from Spain, the U.S. could not avoid the Spanish-American War. The risk of losing control of long term investments in Cuba’s mining, sugar cultivations, and extensive trade worried the United States, as its goals where to protect those investments and build greater markets. Although reluctant to going war in the beginning, the explosion of the U.S. Battleship Maine and the interception of the Lôme Letter, infuriated President Mckinley at which the American citizens demanded for war. On August 12, 1898 the United States and Spain sign a ceasefire agreement calling for peace, yet excluded from any accommodations were the Cubans; in 1900, with the drafting of the Platt Amendment giving Cuba its independence, the United States continued to disregard the interests of Cuba. Cuba would continue to be demanded to allow U.S. interventions as it saw fit and had to sell land to to be used as U.S. naval and coaling stations.

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