Spanish American War Causes

With the recent acquisition of the harbor at Pago Pago in Samoa, Imperialist sentiments began to rise in the United States during the 1890s. Americans were eager to expand beyond the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Spanish American War, which began with President McKinley’s declaration on April 11, 1898. The Treaty of Paris, signed in December of 1898, formally ended the war; Spain had ceded Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States, and the Spanish sold the Philippines for $20 million. Strong feelings of jingoism caused by Hearst’s and Pulitzer’s famous “yellow journalism” coupled with Cuban revolts in 1895 led up to the eruption of the Spanish American War. The causes of the Spanish American War first began with the Cuban revolts in 1868 (Brinkley 558). Feeling oppressed by the Spanish ruler, Cubans rose in rebellion and employed a “scorched-earth policy” to either drive Spain out of their country or enlist the help of the Americans (Bailey 646). Part of the reason why the Cubans began to rebel again in 1895 was due to the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894, which put high taxes on sugar. This ruined Cuba’s once prosperous sugar economy by halting imports to the United States (Brinkley 558). The Americans, who had not intervened in Cuban affairs until this
The explosion of the American battleship The Maine was blamed on Spanish officials in Cuba, although further evidence suggests that the tragedy was an accident. Nevertheless, “war hysteria swept the Country,” (Brinkley 560). “Yellow journalism” had blown up the event so much that Americans came up with battle cries such as, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” (Bailey 648). What had begun as desires to emancipate the tyrannized Cubans manifested into personal issues with Spain caused by “yellow journalism” and supported by staunch American