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5 reasons the us became involved in the spanish american war
America during spanish american war
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Introduction On April 25th, 1898, over 5,349 people were killed when the United States of America went to war with Spain. When the war ended it was a very happy day for many, but also a very sad day for others. Why did this happen? What did American and Spain have against each other? What resulted from the war? Causes of the War In the 1800s, Spain had control over a lot of land, like The Philippines Islands, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. But that reign didn't last very long. From 1868 to 1878, Cuba started to rebel against Spain to gain independence. This was called the Cuba War of Independence. However, after these ten years, the war was ended with no good results for Cuba; Spain still had control. Some years later in the 1890s, Cuba once again …show more content…
During Jose Rizal's absence, Andrés Bonifacio wanted to overthrow Spanish rule and called for the Filipinos to revolt. This was called Grito de Balintawak. In the 1880s and 1890s, Puerto Rico had political parties that wanted more independence, while others wanted to ally with the United States. However, the United States had a main interest in Cuba. In 1896, President Cleveland said that the U.S. might intervene if Spain doesn't end the crisis in Cuba. However in 1897, President McKinley wanted to get more involved after the New York Journal published a letter from the Spanish Minister that was criticizing the President. After the U.S.S Maine mysteriously blew up on February 15, 1898, President McKinley declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898. The fighting began in the Philippines Islands at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1st. Results of the War-The Treaty of Paris After the war ended, Spain renounced all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States for $20,000,000. This was the Treaty of Paris. This was a sad day for the once-proud Spanish rulers. Most of their oversea holdings were given to the United
The Americans now had control over half the territory they wanted, but this did not satisfy them, this only made them more eager to gain control of East Florida. Almost two years after this event peace concluded, Spain still had possession of East Florida. This time, Spain only had two solutions to avoid a shameful political breakdown in this region. One was to gain support of a European ally, and the second was to get some form of honor in this event by winning some of the best land in North America. The first plan fell through, with Britain and other European nations refusing to help Spain.
Sixteen are killed from the Mexican attack along the Rio Grande! In 1821, Mexico freed itself from Spain. Mexico was equal in size to the United States. Mexican government wanted to increase population, so they invited Americans to settle in Texas. These settlers did not want to abide by Mexico’s rules and laws. Texas then won independence from Mexico in 1836. In the year 1844, James K. Polk was elected as president. He was a strong believer in manifest destiny. Congress decided to annex Texas into the United States. Mexico felt that America stole Texas from them. This caused conflict between the two countries. Was it right for the United States to declare war against Mexico? America was justified in going to war with Mexico because they could
The Spanish American war had a complex beginning. By the 1890’s, Cuba had unsuccessfully battled Spain for its independence for many years. Due to the US’s economic interests in Cuba, the US government sought to stabilize the situation. The United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement that Cuba would become self-governing on January 1, 1898. But
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
In June of 1895, President Grover Cleveland took a stance of neutrality toward the Cuban conflict, though many American citizens grew concerned that the fight was too close to home. (Spanish-American) By December of the next year, Cleveland declared that the U.S. might be forced to take action if Spain was unable to solve the Cuban crisis alone. (Library of Congress) Spain granted Cuba limited autonomy in January of 1897, but the natives were not satisfied. As the Spanish resorted to ruthless tactics to keep the Cubans in line, their brutality created much sympathy in the United States. Tensions rose between America and Spain. The other shoe dropp...
The Spanish-American war cannot be directly sourced to one cause. Rather it was the result of the combination of events pre-dating the war and the spark that ignited our intervention into this conflict. This paper will trace the reasons behind the United States involvement in this war. The United States partaking in this war, was a signal to the rest of the world that the United States was ready to emerged as a world power. By having one of the best Naval Fleets, by the beginning of the war, the United States sent a messaged to the rest of the world that the US is ready and capable to become more involved in foreign affairs. However, it is important to question the importance of each cause that led up to the United States declaring war with Spain and putting itself between them and Cuba.
However, publishing stories against the atrocities of Spain did not convince President Cleveland to support the intervention with Spain. When President McKinley held the office in 1897, he wanted to end the revolt peacefully, and he tried to avoid the involvement of America in the conflict between Cuba and Spain. McKinley sent Stewart Woodford to Spain to negotiate for peaceful Cuban autonomy and it all went smoothly and the independence of Cuba was supposed to be awarded after the negotiation.... ... middle of paper ...
The United States finished fighting for Cuba’s independence from Spain, and then turn and take control over the Philippines attempting to civilize them and force them into a more Americanized lifestyle. America’s rule was worse then Spain's in many aspects. In the short 48 years the U.S. Annex the Philippines over 1.5 million Filipinos died, far less died in the 300 year Spanish rule. Furthermore, the United States tried to justify the annexation because they helped educate them, however if they were able to read the Philippines could accuse America of hypocrisy against our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The Constitution stating, "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights of which . . .
The Spanish-American War was the brief conflict that the United States waged against Spain in 1898. The war had grown out of the Cuban struggle for independence, and whose other causes included American imperialism and the sinking of the U.S warship Maine. The actual hostilities in the war lasted four months, from April 25 to August 12, 1898. Most of the fighting occurred in or near the Spanish colonial possessions of Cuba and the Philippines, nearly halfway around the world form each other. In both battlegrounds, the decisive military event was the complete destruction of a Spanish naval squadron by a vastly superior U.S. fleet. These victories, after brief resistance, brought about the surrender of the Spanish to U.S. military forces as indicated by a peace treaty signed between the two countries on December 10, 1898, in Paris, France. In the end, the Americans had minimal casualties, while the Spanish suffered immense fatalities and damage to their naval resources (Encyclopedia Britannica).
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
Declaration of war At the time of the sinking of the Maine U.S. President William Mckinley was in office. Pres. Mckinley had hoped to avoid going to war with Spain but along with thousands of other Americans was swept up in the feeling to support war. In 1898 Pres. mckinley asked to declare war on Spain.
Immediately following the war with Spain, the United States had both the political will to pursue imperial policies and the geopolitical circumstances conducive to doing so. But the way in which these policies would manifest was an open question; was the impulse to actively remake the world in America’s Anglo-Saxon image justified? Hence, there were several models of American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. In the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Samoa, the United States asserted unwavering political control. In Cuba, and later throughout most of the Caribbean basin, the economic and political domination of customarily sovereign governments became the policy. Ultimately, the United States was able to expand its territory
The first reason for the Spanish American War was public opinion. In 1895, American citizens took notice of a Cuban revolt against their corrupt Spanish oppressor. The Cuban insurgents reasoned that if they did enough damage , the US might move in and help the Cubans win their independence. Not only did Americans sympathize with the Cubans upon seeing tragic reports in the newspaper, but they also empathized in that the US once fought for their own independence from Britain. If France didn’t intervene, the Americans probably would not have won their freedom. As if this did not rally enough hate for the Spanish among the American Public, fuel was added to the flame by the Spanish General (“Butcher”) Weyler. He attempted to crush the rebellion by herding Cubans into barbed-wire concentration camps. In turn, the American public was outraged.
The Spanish American War started in 1898 and lasted about four months. Although the war might have seemed focused on freeing Cuba from Spain and gaining independence for Cuba and the Philippines, it was actually stimulated by nationalism and commercialism. Commercialism was a major factor when declaring war because the United States depended on Cuba and the Philippines for trade and business with other countries, especially in Asia and Latin America. Another major factor for the war was that the United States wanted to spread its Anglo-Saxon culture around the world and emerge as a world-wide power. Other minor motives for the war include the United States coming to the aid of the Cubans in their revolt against Spain and the feeling that the United States had the right to go into the Philippines because it had a superior culture.
On July 25, 1898 United States troops invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War . As Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim and Kal Wagenheim state“ The war marked new eras for both the United States and Puerto Rico. It was America’s first major step as an imperialist power , The Spanish American War was a small war , edging towards immense consequences ” (77) . December 10, 1898 The Treaty of Paris between The United States and Spain was signed, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States . From there on The United States gained total control of the island of Puerto Rico and “ undertook a sustained Americanization campaign designed to make Puerto Rico in its sympathies , views, and attitude toward life and toward government essentially American” ( Morris 7 ). The United States claimed that their intention of possessing the island was to free the island from the Spanish but, Puerto Ricans soon learned that they would just be a controlled possession of the United States , this made some natives very unhappy. In just a short period of time Puerto Rico went from being a possession of Spain to the possession of the United States . Going through these sudden changes has caused many issues in the political , economic, and social status of Puerto Rico.