spanish-american war history mid-term essay

Cassanndre Sager
History 222 Sennet
13 November 2006
Mid Term- Spanish American War essay
In the 1890s the United States public had developed a "soft spot" for the Spanish ruled Cuba. The media in the United States played on that emotion of the public with exaggerated tales of horrible treatment of Cuba from the Spanish. The American public bought into these stories and felt an urge to go into Cuba and free the Cubans from Spanish rule. President Cleveland, however, thought it unwise to go into Cuba and assist the Cubans in attaining independence from Spain. He did, though, recognize the benefits of Cuba being an independent nation, and thusly pressured Spain to release its hold on Cuba. Cleveland offered for the United States to act as a mediator between Cuba and Spain, but Spain was too prideful to let Cuba go.
In 1896 President McKinley came into the office. He had a more lax view of what the United States government should do to aid the Cubans. He warned Spain that Cuba would become even more adamant for independence and cause its governing country trouble, and that it would be best for Spain to act on the Cuban sentiments immediately. Spain ignored McKinley’s advice, and that was that. It should be noted, however, that McKinley did not lack sentiments for the Cubans situation- he donated money to the Red Cross Cuban relief fun anonymously. Despite that, he maintained the opinion that it would be best for all if the United States stayed out of the Spanish-Cuban conflict and hoped that Spain would come to its senses and realize what great things could happen if it would just negotiate with the Cuban nationalists.
Too bad for McKinley- in 1898 there began to riots in Havana. To help the situation, McKinley sent the USS Maine to Havana so that the American citizens there would be safe during this time of rioting. The cause of what happened next has remained a mystery- the Maine exploded. No one really knows the cause of its explosion, but Americans were ready to jump in and blame Spain, and no one checked that finger-pointing. This was where the Spanish American War started. The war was a result of the American public’s pity for the Cubans and growing disdain for the Spanish and their treatment over Cuba. There was very little chance of Spain and Cuba sitting down to talk things out now, and very little chance of the American public approving of such waiting. And so McKinley sent troops to “secure a full and final termination of hostilities in Cuba”. Quickly thereafter, Congress recognized Cuba as an independent country and had troops begin to drive the Spanish out of Cuba. Of course this angered Spain, and war was declared on the United States.
The consequences of the Spanish-American War were these: Cuba gained independence, Spain was still able to maintain some dignity from not just giving up Cuba, and the United States inherited a big problem- The Philippines.
When war had been declared on the United States by the Spanish, Commodore George Dewey of the navy’s Asiatic Squadron destroyed Spain’s fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines. This caused the United States to have to consider seriously what it was going to do with the Philippines, now that it was under US control. Allow the Filipino people to be independent? Or annex the little nation? Eventually the Philippines were annexed into the United States, which caused no little uproar from Filipino nationalists. Led by Emilio Aguinaldo (who had assisted the United States in defeating the Spanish at Manila Bay), the Filipino people opened out in a guerrilla war against the United States that would result in more tragedies than the Spanish-American War. The rules of war were not followed- sneak attacks and abuse of prisoners and other such atrocities were common in this war. Many American soldiers died. A commission sent in 1899 by McKinley to the Philippines expressed its opinion that the reason for the Filipino outrage was the nationalist Filipino leaders wanting independence. This commission told McKinley that it would be in the United States’ and the Philippines’ best interested if the US allowed the Philippines independence. This did not happen, however, because a second commission led by William H. Taft resulted in Taft becoming a governor over the Philippines, and pacifying the Filipino nationalists.