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U.S. Attempts to buy Cuba
Americans had always had their eye on Cuba, and in 1854, diplomats had recommended to President Franklin Pierce they they buy Cuba. The Spanish said they would rather see Cuba sink into the ocean than to see it in the hands of the Americans. It was only 90 miles from the southern coast of Florida. It was one of the factors that pushed us into war with Spain. -
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Spanish American War 1854 - 1898
Analyze all the events and decide whether this was a war to promote freedom and democracy or to build an empire. Use evidence to defend your position. -
Cuba's First War for Independence
In 1855, Cuba tried to rebel against Spain, which turned out to be unsuccessful. One thing was accomplished during this war; slaves were abolished. Seeing this, American capitalists began to invest in sugar cane on the Islands. It showed America that they had no interest in being part of Spain and under their government. It gained America’s sympathy seeing how unhappy they were. -
Jose Martí led Cuba's Second War for Independence
The Anti-Spanish portion of Cuba were soon in a second war of independence. Cuban journalist names Jose Martí had began a revolution. Jose had given orders for rebellious Cubans to go out and intentionally destroy property (American property and Spanish). Jose had hoped that this would provoke the US into helping them free Cuba from the Spanish. However, the US was on the edge weather to support Spain in the war or Cuba. The cry "Libre Cuba!" was adopted, which got the U.S.'s attentio. -
Yellow Pages Spread Stories About Cuba
Weyler’s choice in how to restore order started a war between the press-specifically between William Randolph and Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer began to publish very exaggerated accounts of what went on in Weyer’s camps, which soon became known as yellow journalism. He said that Weyler was poisoning the wells and feeding children to sharks. These stories deepened America’s sympathy for the Cuban people. It angered them to hear these stories because they didn’t know that they were false stories. -
Valeriano Weyler was sent to Cuba by Spain
Weyler was sent in an attempt to restore order after the first and second wars for Independence. To accomplish this, he crowded central and western Cuba into concentration camps. This took away the aid for rebels. 300,000 people were shoved into these camps, and most of them died from hunger and disease. This by itself could be a good reason to fight. No one wants to watch people suffer and die in concentration camps. -
Publication of the De Lome Letter Continued
The letter was never supposed to be seen by anyone. It was written by Enrique Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish minister to the U.S. The letter criticized McKinley, calling him weak and thirsty for the admiration of the crowd. The minister apologized, but the damage had been done. American’s were extremely angry over the disrespect to their President. After this, very few Americans would be angry to go to war; they would be avenging their President. -
Publication of the De Lome Letter
American sympathy was growing after the newspapers came out. When McKinley took office in 1897, many people were demanding the intervention of America to rescue the people in the camps. McKinley instead used diplomatic means to get peace, which worked for a while. Spain brought Weyler back and removed the concentration camps. They even offered Cuba a small amount of self government. In February, 1898, a letter was leaked to the New York Journal. -
Explosion of USS Maine
President McKinley sent the USS Maine to Cuba to go pick up any Americans that might be in danger. The ship had blown up in Havana Harbor and 260 men were killed in the explosion. At the time, Americans had blamed the Spanish for the explosion, but no one really know how it happened. There was a $50,000 reward for the people who caught the Spaniards that committed the crime. This was the final straw for America, even though it wasn’t Spain’s fault. They were done putting up with Spain’s games. -
U.S. Declares war on Spain - Part One
The first war happened in the Philippines. George Drewry gave the command to open fire at a Spanish fleet in Manila. Within a few hours, the Spanish men were defeated along with all of their ships. American gained control of Cuba. During the battle, the Americans had began using the phrase, “Remember the Maine"-the battle cry. The Filipinos were like the Cubans and wanted to be free from Spain. Two months later, the US had joined Forces with the Filipinos, gaining 11,000 soldiers to fight Spain. -
US Declares War on Spain - Part Two
The second war took place in the Caribbean. We started out blocking the Spanish in the bay of Santiago de Cuba. Since Spain was already defeated in the Philippines, the Americans had shown how tough they really are. So they’re intimidated. Plus, Americans had a small professional Army plus over 125,000 volunteers to fight. Two days later, the Spanish fleet tried to escape resulting in a naval war.
