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How did the spanish american war impact the united states
Effects of the spanish american war
Effects of the spanish american war
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April 15, 1898, was a pivotal movement in American history. The United States declared war upon Spain, and forever changed the lives of people in both countries. The war between the United States and Spain was preceded by three years of fighting by Cuban revolutionaries attempting to gain independence from Spanish colonial rule. Throughout these three years, many causes for a declaration of war were created adding fuel to a growing fire of outrage throughout the nation. Among these causes was the public’s general opinion. Many Americans were war-mad and felt sorry for Cuban people because even after the difficult Ten Years War of 1868-1878, they still had not gained their independence. Their sympathy towards Cubans was extended even further when the Spanish military commander Valeriano Weyler instituted the reconcentrado, or concentration camp system affecting over 300,000 Cubans. Americans were outraged at the thought of thousands of Cubans dying from inhumane reasons such as disease and starvation. The United States public also held empathy towards them as well, because not too long ago they had fought for their own independence as a country. The public opinion was based heavily upon what they read in newspapers. Known as “yellow journalism”, various publishers such as Hearst and Pulitzer made Cuban news distorted and blew it out of proportion. The Spanish-American war is known as the first “media war” or press-driven war in which this tactic was used to increase the sales of newspapers. These two publishers often filled their pages with stories that touched American citizens’ hearts, horror stories about the situations various Cubans were facing. Sensational headlines caused the public to become even more involve... ... middle of paper ... ...thereafter. Prior to this war, we had never taken any populated territories. The strong sense of public involvement running through the country caused the public to encourage the taking of colonies, and as a result America continued to do so. However, it was also logical that America would take advantage of its power and expand its territory accordingly. It was undoubtedly vital for the United States to become imperialistic for national security and economic reasons. As the nation expanded west, it seems reasonable that they would continue to do so by moving into the Pacific Ocean as well. Overall, the Spanish-American War opened the doors for America to reach its peak power. It allowed expansion, the gaining of valuable assets and much more. It was truly a turning point for America, and it helped us to become the great nation that we are today.
W. A. Swanberg argues that writers used crude exaggeration and sensationalism in the popular New York Journal newspaper to persuade the American citizens and President William McKinley to attempt to free Cuba by starting a war against Spain. William Randolph Hearst was the owner of this particular newspaper. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were both big names in the United States and had the power to sway popular opinion with their wealth. Their habits, personalities, and ways of life did not have much similarity. Immediately after the start of the trouble in Cuba, Hearst was ready to get involved with fighting in Spain. On the other hand, Pulitzer was not ready until after the war due to circulation. Just like other great leaders of the past, Hearst loved to be in control and have power. He used the newspaper as a way of influencing millions of people and masking his own beliefs behind the black and white pages.
After temporarily resolving the problems of Reconstruction and Industrialization, Americans began to resume the course of expansion. The horrors of the Civil War had interrupted the original Manifest Destiny that began in the 1840s. Now, as pioneers settled the last western frontiers, expansionists looked yet farther to the west -- toward Asia and the Pacific. American ships had long been active in the Pacific. The New England whaling fleets scoured the ocean in search of their prey. As ships crossed the vast ocean to trade in Asia, islands in the Pacific became important stops for coal, provisions, and repairs. In the South Pacific, the American navy negotiated with awestruck natives for the rights to build bases on the islands of Midway and Samoa. This practice had been going on for a while. The Hawaiian Islands, which lie closest to the American mainland, had long been an important stop for the Pacific fleet.
The American’s kept a watchful eye on the war between Spain and the Cuban revolutionaries during the Ten Year War. News of atrocities committed by the Spanish Army caused Americans to sympathize with the Cuban revolutionaries thanks to the coverage in the American press.3
The War of 1898 was a war between Spain and the United States of America. It is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted wars in American history. There were many circumstances that led up to the battle between Spain and America. The three main causes of the War of 1898 were the worsening economy during this time, nationalism, and imperialism. The Spanish American war was brief and included few battles. In fact, there was never much doubt of its outcome, but the war had major historical significance.
The struggle of Cuba to gain its independence from Spain, which began in 1895, has captured the attention of many Americans. Spain’s brutal repressive measures to halt the rebellion were graphically portrayed for the U.S. public by American newspaper publishers, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer which caused to shape the national mood of agitation against Spain. Hearst and Pulitzer exaggerated the actual events in Cuba and how did Spanish brutally treated their prisoners by adding sensational words to catch the emotions of readers. 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 to 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. However, the peaceful settlement suddenly vanished after the incident of February 1898 when a private letter for a Cuban friend written by the Spanish minister Enrique Dupuy de Lome was stolen by a Cuban age...
The aftermath of the Spanish-American war affected the relationship between the two countries (The United States and Cuba) in both positive and negative ways. However, the war was not a direct cause of most of the events / problems that occurred in the years to
The Spanish-American War still confines hidden information tucked away in history. Indicators of war consisted of the De Lome Letter, the explosion of The Maine, and yellow journalism. No One knows for sure if the Spaniards truly sank the famous warship, The Maine, or if everyday occurrences were held to blame. The results of the war, however, led to gaining control of Cuba, but also giving it its own independence, and additionally building a military base there. Americans once again demonstrated their power and strength, which has led to more respect
The scene is set; America is the great power in the western hemisphere. Post Spanish-American War, America is faced with a dilemma of annexing the Philippines. In the winter of 1899 following the annexation of the Philippines, America had a problem. Filipinos had been fighting for independence from Spain and did not want to be seceded (83). Despite the Filipino objection, the United States displayed their assertion on the land. In conflict, both the Filipinos and American had many meetings with death. There were consequences and repercussions from invoking the American power on this foreign land. The American victory in the Spanish-American War helped propel the nation. Thesis: Although met with conflict from the natives, the
In contrary to America's earlier beliefs, however, the race for expansion became more of a global competition than that of controlling the surrounding lands. Other countries were quickly scooping the remaining uncontrolled territories up, and America felt that they needed to stake their clam in imperialism around the world. The cartoon presented in document "A" shows how all the European countries were picking away at the lands still open for taking. In addition to the sense of "catching up" with the other nations around the world. America also felt that they were more powerful than ever, with the addition of an improving navy, turning their attention to the seas for conquer. During the earlier attempts of expansion, America had virtually no navy, which made oversea conquest out of their reach, leaving them only the surrounding areas for taking.
The Spanish American war was one that had major implications for the United States. At the time, Cuba was ruled by Spain and America wanted Cuba to gain its own independent. On February 15, 1898 the U.S. battleship, the Maine, was blown up in the Havana Harbor killing 266 Americans. This act by Spain created a major shift in how America would handle the War of Independence fight with Cuba. President McKinley was in a particularly tough spot when it came to the handling of the situation. He was faced with the question whether or not to go to war with Spain which would not be an easy task.
On this day 191 years ago John Quincy Adams expressed his prediction for the future of Cuban-American contact. The Cuban wars of independence were only 15 years away from his prediction when he estimated. These independence wars continue to influence Cuba’s cultural and political attitude toward Europe and the United States; This in part due to the externalities involved in the remodeling of social structure in the aftermath of the revolution. The intentions and motives of each faction: rebels, United States government, Spanish government, United States public, and the Cuban public, varied widely to an extend that caused even more concern in the future. Depending on the point of view of an outsider the situation in Cuba seemed to be a continuation of revolution...
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.
The Spanish-American war was fought in the year 1898, 33 years after the end of the Civil War in 1865. The threat of Spain upon Cuba blazed the patriotic hearts of the Americans as what appeared to be Spain torturing its territories. There are many causes that can be credited to the condition of these territories and surprisingly, but not too ironically, it can be clearly traced to that of the American people.
The outcome of this war was that, American made huge land gains and got tons of raw resources which paved the road to its future power and prosperity. America gained almost all of the lands it has now except for Alaska and Hawaii. The raw resources made industrialization easier and the land increased agriculture, it also increased slaves, because there were more plantations, which needed more slaves.
As shown, America’s rapid change as the 19th century came to a close was supported by a various amount of imperialistic beliefs, motives, and incidents that almost jumpstarted the U.S. onto the world stage. Many of these incidents such as the public’s thirst for expansion, the annexation of several faraway lands, and the build-up of U.S. military forces would not have been possible without the Spanish American War. Moreover, the Spanish American war would not have been possible without the American people. Imperialism was a consequence of the American Democratic experiment, giving the people what they want.