Spanish American War essays

Spanish American War essays A number of factors contributed to the U.S. decision to go to war against Spain. Since the early years of the 19th century, many Americans had watched with sympathy the series of revolutions that ended Spanish authority throughout South America, Central America, and Mexico. Many people in the United States were irritated that the Spanish flag continued to fly in Cuba and Puerto Rico. The brutality with which Spain put down Cuban demands for a degree of local autonomy and personal liberty aroused both sympathy and anger. Support for the cause of Cuban independence had deep historical roots in the United States, and this cause became the stated objective of the war. However, I believe that the U.S. reason for going to war was primarily due to their the growing imperialism and Cuba s independence was just a good excuse for them to try to extend American influence overseas knowing that they would be able to defeat Spain. The United States was booming industrially and without a foreign market, the country would have been fully saturated and very little consuming could be done. Therefore, fighting Spain for a noble cause would make them look good as well as be able to force Spain to give up much of their territories for the US to make use of. This is exactly what happened after the US won the Spanish-American War. The Spanish withdrew from Cuba, leaving the island under temporary U.S. occupation. Cuba was given its independence as promised, making the US look like heroes, while Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the United States. Then on December 1898, the United States announced the establishment of U.S. military rule in the Philippines. The US tried to justify taking over the Philippines. They argued that the United States could not honorably hand the islands back to Spain because Filipinos were "unprepared for self-government" and the islands would simply fall prey to Germany or an...