3.02 us history

With war declared, the United States prepared to send troops to

Cuba. U.S. military leaders drew up plans to attack other Spanish holdings as well.

Commodore George Dewey

was commander of the U.S. naval fleet in Asia. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt told him that if war broke out, the United States needed to be ready.

The Spanish American War was costly. More than $250 million was spent to defeat Spain. About 2,000 soldiers died, mostly from

yellow fever, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. However, much of the American public supported the war and accepted its costs. The victory placed the United States in a position of power on the world stage, both economically and militarily.

To fight the revolutionaries, the Spanish army instituted a new program, called

"reconcentration." The Spanish army forced Cubans out of their villages and into camps called "reconcentrados." In doing so, the Spanish believed they would deny the rebels popular support, food, and supplies. Tens of thousands of Cubans died from starvation and disease in what are called concentration camps today.

Adding to the support were the efforts of

American newspapers. For several years, newspapers had been publishing shocking accounts of the suffering of the Cuban people.

However, there were Americans, including senators, who believed that taking control of the Philippines was imperialism at its worst. Some of those opposed formed the

Anti-Imperialist League.

The Philippine Islands are situated between the China Sea and Pacific Ocean. Because of this location, the islands greatly improved access to

Asian markets for American businesses.

Look at the map of the U.S. War with Spain. The small map in the bottom right-hand corner shows the location of the Philippine Islands. Note how the island chain is bordered by the China Sea and Pacific Ocean. Its location greatly improved access to

Asian markets. Cargo ships could stop in the now U.S.-held Guam to refuel before heading on to the Philippines.

After the war, President William McKinley wanted to restore order in

Cuba and Puerto Rico.

By the late 1800s, Spain had lost all of its American colonies, except

Cuba and Puerto Rico.

In 1867, American leaders acquired Alaska and the Midway Islands. Soon, U.S. interests fell closer to home. Unrest was spreading in

Cuba, a Spanish colony. Spain had once been a great world power. But it was a nation in decline in the late 1800s.

However, the Cuban government had to incorporate the terms of the amendment into the

Cuban constitution. These terms stayed in place until 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt put an end to all but the maintenance of the naval base at Guantánamo.

Both papers printed interviews with

Cubans fighting for freedom and tried to whip the nation into a frenzy to support Cuban independence. Then Hearst published a letter purchased from a Cuban spy that caused embarrassment for President William McKinley's administration. The letter, written by Spain's foreign minister to the United States, Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, called President McKinley "weak." Americans were outraged and demanded a response. The political cartoon shows the two publishers trying to push the United States into war.

Dewey then attacked the

Filipino capital of Manila, assisted by the Filipino rebel army led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The Filipino rebels took the capital, and Spanish forces surrendered on August 14, 1898.

In March 1898, President McKinley issued a series of demands.

First, the Spanish had to end their persecution of the Cubans. Next, they had to hold negotiations to authorize Cuba's independence. The Spanish government refused to agree to independence. On April 20, Congress authorized the use of force against Spain. It also recognized Cuban independence and passed the Teller Amendment.

The government also exiled many Spanish independence leaders. Among these exiled leaders was

José Martí. Martí, a Cuban poet, worked for Cuban independence while in New York City. Although Martí and his fellow leaders were exiled, the desire for independence was not lost.

Once Dewey received the news that war had been declared, he ordered his fleet to

Manila Bay in the Philippines. This chain of islands, east of Vietnam between the Philippine and South China seas, had been a Spanish possession since the 1500s.

Joseph Pulitzer

New York World

The army was largely made up of volunteers. One volunteer division was the now-famous

Rough Riders, a cavalry division that served as foot soldiers in Cuba. The second in command of the Rough Riders was Theodore Roosevelt. He had resigned his post as assistant secretary of the navy to recruit and train volunteers. He gained national fame for his service. Within a few short years, Roosevelt would become president of the United States.

In June, U.S. troops surrounded the Spanish at

Santiago, Cuba, where the Spanish Caribbean fleet was stationed.

On May 1, 1898, Dewey's fleet attacked the

Spanish fleet in Manila Harbor and defeated it. The Spanish lost around 400 men, while the U.S. Navy lost none.

In 1868, Cuban revolutionaries began the

Ten Years' War against Spain in an attempt to gain independence. The Spanish government put down the rebellion, and more than 200,000 lives were lost in the struggle.

William Randolph Hearst

The New York Journal

Several African American leaders opposed annexation of the Philippines for a different reason.

They did not want the United States to impose segregation on other nations the way it had on the South. Some Americans also feared that taking over the Philippines would increase immigration and threaten the jobs of American workers.

Teller Amendment

This Amendment stated that the Cuban people would take control of the island and the government at the end of the war. On April 25, Congress formally declared war on Spain.

They hoped to force the fleet out of the harbor so that

U.S. naval forces blocking the escape could attack. U.S. forces took the village of El Caney in July and then captured San Juan Hill, which overlooked San Juan Harbor. Nearby, the Rough Riders and two African American divisions—the Ninth and Tenth cavalries—captured Kettle Hill. Ironically, because so many African Americans were involved in the fighting, the battle received little coverage in the largely white-owned major newspapers

The event that finally pushed the United States to war occurred in 1898. In January the United States sent the battleship

USS Maine to Cuba to protect Americans there. On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 266 sailors. Newspaper headlines condemned the Spanish for the attack, though the cause of the explosion was unknown. "Remember the Maine!" became a popular slogan that appeared in many newspapers. It was not until the 1950s that an investigation determined that the cause of the explosion was a malfunction in the Maine itself.

With the Treaty of Paris signed, the United States moved toward making the Philippines

a U.S. territory. Supporters saw the Philippines as an important U.S. possession for economic and strategic reasons.

When the Senate met to ratify the treaty, many senators were highly opposed to its conditions. Those who objected felt that gaining control of Cuba and Puerto Rico and buying control of the Philippines went

against American values. They did not want the United States, the home of democracy and freedom, to become an imperialist power. The treaty passed by only one vote in February 1899.

Teller Amendment -

amendment that stated that the Cuban people would take control of the island and the government at the end of the war to achieve Cuban independence; the amendment was part of the resolution passed by Congress on April 20, 1898, that authorized the use of force against Spain

Platt Amendment -

amendment to a U.S. appropriations bill in 1901 that limited Cuba's rights as a sovereign nation; declared that Cuba would not give any of its land to a foreign government other than the United States; limited Cuba's right to negotiate treaties; gave the United States a permanent base at Guantánamo Bay and the right to intervene in Cuban affairs

The Teller Amendment had declared that the United States would not

annex Cuba. However, McKinley set up a military government there and in Puerto Rico. He hoped to create a stable government and protect American investments.

Many supporters of the annexation of the Philippines also believed in the importance of

bringing American values there.

Puerto Rico was established as a territory of the United States. In 1900, the U.S. Congress passed an act declaring that the United States would

choose Puerto Rico's governor, as well as part of its legislature.

In the mid-1800s, Cuban leaders

demanded independence.

Walter Reed and William C. Gorgas

doctors to study yellow fever

On December 10, 1898, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, officially

ending the Spanish-American War. In the treaty, Spain gave up its rights to Cuba. It also gave Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. The United States paid Spain $20 million for control over the Philippines. Spain's centuries' long role as a colonial power was officially over. The U.S. role as a world power was just beginning.

When the Spanish fleet tried to break through the American blockade there,

every Spanish ship was destroyed. The Spanish forces in Santiago surrendered. Americans then occupied the nearby island of Puerto Rico, another Spanish possession, and the Spanish were forced to surrender.

The amendment declared that Cuba could not

give any of its land to a foreign government other than the United States. It also limited Cuba's right to negotiate treaties. It gave the United States a permanent lease for a naval base at Guantánamo Bay and stated that the United States had the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. In return, the United States guaranteed that U.S. troops would be removed from Cuba.

In Cuba the fight was more difficult. The U.S. Army was not well prepared for a

ground war. Uniforms were made of wool and were too hot for the humid, tropical weather of Cuba. Food was scarce and some meat was rotten. Weaponry and ammunition were limited. Tropical diseases were rampant. More soldiers died from diseases than from combat.

Emilio Aguinaldo

helped the US army defeat Spain, part of the rebel group.

The United States controlled the Philippines until 1946, when

it gave the island nation full independence. Control of the nation by the United States did lead a number of Filipinos to immigrate to the U.S. for employment and education.

As expected, the people of the Philippines were outraged that the United States was attempting to make their country a U.S. possession. Emilio Aguinaldo, who had helped the U.S. army defeat Spain,

led rebels in a bloody war against U.S. troops for three years. More than 4,000 Americans and some 220,000 Filipinos died, mostly from disease. Aguinaldo was finally captured, and the rebels were defeated.

The United States sent two Army doctors, Walter Reed and William C. Gorgas, to Cuba to study the disease. The two doctors proved that

mosquitoes, which breed in standing water, transmitted the virus. The army put in place a program to drain the standing water found around Havana. The disease was almost completely eliminated from the city.

Although slow to join the European powers' empire-building movement, Americans felt that the United States needed

new territory, too. They also wanted to spread American ideas about religion and government.

As the conflict in Cuba continued, the Journal and the World printed increasingly dramatic stories about events there. The more shocking the story, the more

newspapers were sold.

As the United States expanded into Latin America and Asia in the early 1900s, some Americans supported expansionism while others continued to be highly

opposed to imperialism.

In 1894, the Spanish government canceled a trade pact between the United States and Cuba, which

outraged Cubans. The following year, Spain raised taxes and passed new trade restrictions. Cuban rebels assembled an army and launched a renewed Cuban War for Independence. Martí urged invaders to launch more revolts against the government.

By 1898, the Spanish government had offered Cuba the option of

partial self-government. It had also closed the concentration camps. However, Cubans still demanded complete independence. Those demands found support in the United States.

In 1901 the U.S. Congress passed the Platt Amendment. The Platt Amendment made Cuba a

protectorate—a country under the control of another country.

By the late 19th century, the United States had moved away from isolationism and had begun to get involved in foreign affairs. The need for

raw materials and new markets for investment and the sale of products drove imperialism and expansionism. Competing nations also wanted bases around the globe for their large navies.

Yellow Press -

sensationalist reporting designed to increase readership; originated between the New York Journal and the New York World in the late 1800s

These newspapers were well known for

sensationalist, or exaggerated, stories. The two newspapers had competed with one another to increase readership. Often, their stories were accompanied by dramatic headlines and shocking illustrations. This style of journalism came to be known as the yellow press, after a popular comic strip called "The Yellow Kid," one of the first comic strips in an American newspaper. "The Yellow Kid" originated in the Sunday World, but Hearst hired its creator away from the World. The comic was then published in the Journal, and the World developed a rival series.

The articles appeared mainly in two New York newspapers,

the New York Journal, published by William Randolph Hearst, and the New York World, published by Joseph Pulitzer.

They protested against

the corruption of the Spanish colonial government. They also wanted political representation in the Spanish parliament and lower taxes.

Many Americans supported Cuban independence simply because

the desire for freedom was a familiar theme in U.S. history.

In 1895, Martí and a group of rebels launched a revolt. Months later, Martí died a martyr during the Cuban fight for independence. Martí's death was not in vain. Because of his efforts and the efforts of other leaders, the revolutionary army made some early gains. It took over

the eastern part of the island and named it the Republic of Cuba. By 1896, rebels controlled most of the island.

Treaty of Paris -

treaty signed on December 10, 1898, by the United States and Spain ending the Spanish-American War; the treaty gave control of Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, relinquished Spanish claim to Cuba, and gave the United States control over the Philippines in exchange for $20 million

In this lesson, you will learn about how the Cuban move for independence involved the United States in

war. You will also find out how the results of the war led to U.S. territorial growth, the building of the Panama Canal, and an increased U.S. presence in Latin America.

One major problem in Cuba was a

yellow fever epidemic that devastated both the local population and U.S. troops stationed there.