The Spanish American War

Spanish American War
The late 1800s was a period when Westward expansion within the U.S. had ended, and the government was beginning to look outward. In 1895, one of the U.S.'s neighbors, Cuba, revolted against Spanish rule. The Spanish leader in Cuba, Valeriano Weyler forced the Cubans into reconcentration camps, killing over 200,000 ,out of the 1,600,000 Cubans. The U.S. immediately was sympathetic to the Cubans partly due to America's own revolution, and partly due to William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World. Both Hearst and Pulitzer increased U.S. sympathy by emphasizing Cuba's problems in their newspapers. When McKinley became president, in 1897, he decided to get involved with the situation in Cuba. On September 18, the U.S. asked Spain to stop the violence in Cuba. Spain gave the Cuban's more freedom, but did not grant them any independence. Two major events followed, that pulled the U.S. directly into the war. The first was the publication of a letter belonging to the Spanish minister in the U.S., Deputy de Lome. It was published in the New York Journal, and stated that McKinley was weak, and that the American's demands of Spain hadn't been taken seriously. The second event was the explosion of the U.S. battle ship, Maine. It was most likely blown up due to internal problems, but the Americans held Spain accountable; a good excuse to go to war. McKinley demanded that Spain have an armistice , desert the policy of reconcentration, and give Independence to the Cubans, with the U.S. a mediator of the peace negations. Spain only filled one U.S. demand by holding and armistice, but they refused to give Cuba independence. Spain officially declared war on April 24, 1898.

Sources Used

• http://www.accinet.net/~fjzwick/twain/amermtph.html
  
• http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/spanish.htm
  
• Henretta, Brownlee, Brody, Ware, Johnson, America's History , New York, 1997
  

More info on the Spanish American War

• Mark Twain's thoughts on the Spanish-American War
  
• Important Events and a in-depth Chronology of the Spanish-American War

• American Imperialist and Anti-Imperalist Roots
• Click here for my third graphic -- a picture of a market in Cuba