Transcript Spanish-American War: Causes - White Plains Public Schools

CAUSES OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
US History | Spiconardi |
THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
• Cuba had been under
the control of the
Spanish since 1492.
• From 1868 to 1878,
Cubans fought for
independence, but were
crushed.
• In 1895, under the
leadership of José Martí,
Cubans once again
rebelled against the
Spanish and sought U.S.
assistance.
Marti was an expatriate who
gathered Cuban-Americans to return
to Cuba to fight for independence
THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
• Causes of Revolution
– Economic
• Spain increased taxes on
Cuba
• U.S. placed a tariff on
Cuban sugar
– Cuba’s economy suffers
– Cuban revolutionaries
destroy American sugar
plantations and mills in
Cuba
This upset American business interests. Many
called for the U.S. to become involved.
THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
• In order to suppress the rebellion, the Spanish
instituted a policy of reconcentration
– Reconcentration  The Spanish forced Cuban rebels
into detention camps and fortified towns
• The prisoners starved to death and many died due to the
spread of disease
AMERICAN REACTION
• Americans were
sympathetic to the
suffering of Cubans
• Many Americans called for
U.S. intervention to protect
trading interests
• President Cleveland was
against U.S. involvement,
but his pro-imperialist
successor President
McKinley
President McKinley being sworn in as
the 25th President of the United States
– What other imperialist issue
did these two presidents
disagree on?
The outgoing president Cleveland
YELLOW JOURNALISM
• Yellow Journalism Reporting the news in a sensational
way that often bends the truth to sell more papers and
shape public opinion
•Joseph Pulitzer
•Publisher of the New York World
“…blood on the
roadsides, blood in
the fields, blood on
the doorsteps,
blood, blood,
blood.”
•William Randolph Hearst
•Publisher of the New York Journal
“FEEDING
PRISONERS TO THE
SHARKS”
EXAMPLES OF YELLOW JOURNALISM
THE DELÔME LETTER
• A personal letter from Spanish Minister to the United
States from published in the New York Journal
– “…McKinley is: weak and catering to the rabble, and besides, a low
politician, who desires to leave a door open to me and to stand well with
the jingoes of his party.”
Someone who believes in extreme
patriotism and aggressive foreign policy
The New York
Journal ran a
headline: THE
WORST INSULT
TO THE UNITED
STATES IN ITS
HISTORY
SINKING OF THE MAINE
• The Spanish were unable to control the Cuban
rebellion, so McKinley sends the battleship Maine
to Cuba to protect American citizens
• Then on February 15…
SINKING OF THE MAINE
SINKING OF THE MAINE
• An explosion kills 266 of
the 354 crew members
on board
• Spain was blamed,
despite lack of evidence,
for setting a mine that
cause the ships explosion
• Americans increase the
public pressure to go to
war with Spain
WAR!
• On April 11, 1898, McKinley asks
Congress to use military force against
Spain for four reasons
– “The cause of humanity”
– “Protection of American life and property”
– “Very serious injury to the trade of our
people”
– “Constant menace to our peace”
• On April 19, Congress declared Cuba
independent and granted the
president’s request for force