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USS Maine
USS Maine was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor during the Cuban revolt against Spain -
Alfred Mahan
Navy officer who wrote The Influence of Sea Power Upon History where he argued that nations needed strong navies in order to be major world powers -
Hawaii
On the Hawaiian Islands, a group of American sugar planters under Sanford Ballard Dole overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. The coup occurred with the foreknowledge of John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, and 300 U.S. Marines from the U.S. cruiser Boston were called to Hawaii, allegedly to protect American lives. -
Rough Riders
Rough Rider, member of 1st Volunteer Cavalry, in the Spanish–American War, one of a regiment of U.S. cavalry volunteers recruited by Theodore Roosevelt and composed of cowboys, miners, law-enforcement officials, and college athletes, among others. Their colorful and often unorthodox exploits received extensive publicity in the U.S. press. Col. Leonard Wood resigned as White House physician to command the regiment; Roosevelt, who resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy, was second in command. -
Yellow Journalism
journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration -
De Lome Letter
The De Lôme letter, a note written by Señor Don Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, to Don José Canalejas, the Foreign Minister of Spain, reveals de Lôme’s opinion about the Spanish involvement in Cuba and US President McKinley’s diplomacy. -
William McKinley
led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry and kept the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of free silver (effectively, expansionary monetary policy). -
Queen Liliuokalani
first and only reigning Hawaiian queen and the last Hawaiian sovereign to govern the islands, which were annexed by the United States in 1898. -
Guam
When the Spanish-American War broke out in April of 1898, Guam was under Spanish control (as it had been since the 1600s). The U.S. was actually more interested in conquering the Spanish Philippines, but it figured it needed to take Guam to secure the larger territory. The Philippines and Guam are only 1,500 miles apart. -
Cuba
US determination to control Cuba, consistent with the Monroe Doctrine, had a strong economic rationale even before Spain was defeated in the War of Independence in 1898. Debate raged between Cubans who aspired to true independence and an annexationalist minority, who favored union with the US. The Platt Amendment imposed on Cuba by the US -
Puerto Rico
During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, American troops raised the U.S. flag over the island, formalizing U.S. authority over its one million inhabitants.In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico to the United States. -
Phillippines
After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On February 4, 1899, just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. -
Battle of San Juan
On July 1, 1898, United States forces, including Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, defeated greatly outnumbered Spanish forces at San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill near the Spanish stronghold of Santiago de Cuba.
