AMERICA AT WAR SPANISHAMERICAN WAR AND PHILIPPINEAMERICAN WAR

AMERICA AT WAR SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR AND PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

BACKGROUND • SPAIN CONTROLLED CUBA • BEGAN AS A CUBAN NATIONALIST REVOLUTION ANGRY OVER BEING REPRESSED BY A COLONIAL POWER • US REMAINED NEUTRAL EVEN HAVING FEELINGS OF SYMPATHY FOR CUBA’S FIGHT • US BEGAN TO TAKE INTEREST IN THE WARCIN UBA DUE TO ITS’ INTERESTS IN THE COUNTRY ($50 MILLION IN CUBA) AND WAR WAS RUINING THEIR INVESTMENTS & BUSINESS INTERESTS

CAUSES • YELLOW JOURNALISM • THE DELOME LETTER • EXPLOSION OF THE USS MAINE

YELLOW JOURNALISM • EXAGGERATION OF THE TRUTH WRITTEN BY AMERICAN JOURNALISTS (WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST & JOSEPH PULITZER); • BOTH FIGHTING FOR MORE CIRCULATION, EACH NEWSPAPER TRIED TO OUTSELL THE OTHER BY WRITING ABOUT THE ATROCITIES DURING THE CUBAN REVOLUTION (BOTH REAL AND IMAGINED) • *EXAMPLE: CUBANS WERE FORCED INTO CONCENTRATION CAMPS BY THE SPANISH

THE DELOME LETTER • USING YELLOW JOURNALISM, A LETTER WAS LEAKED BY THE NEW YORK JOURNAL • WRITTEN BY THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR IN WASHINGTON, DUPUY DE LOME • DISCUSSED PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY IN UNFLATTERING TERMS. • THE LETTER DESCRIBED MCKINLEY AS WEAK AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BECAME INFURIATED.

EXPLOSION OF THE USS MAINE • WASHINGTON SENT THE BATTLESHIP MAINE TOCUBA IN WHAT WAS CALLED A “FRIENDLY VISIT” BUT IN ACTUALITY TO PROTECT AND EVACUATEAMERICANS IN SITUATION IN CUBA BECAME TOO DANGEROUS. • *FEBRUARY 15, 1898: THE MAINE MYSTERIOUSLY EXPLODED IN HAVANA HARBOR, KILLING A TOTAL OF 260 SAILORS. • *BOTH SPAIN AND US DID AN INVESTIGATION FINDING TWO DIFFERENT REASONS FOR THE EXPLOSION: • SPANISH EXPLANATION: DUE TO AN INTERNAL PROBLEM AND WAS AN ACCIDENT • US EXPLANATION: THE EXPLOSION HAD BEEN CAUSED BY A SUBMARINE MINE • *AMERICANS WANTING TO GO TO WAR BELIEVED THE LEAST LIKELY EXPLANATION (“REMEMBER THE MAINE. TO HELL WITH SPAIN. ”) • IN 1976 IT WAS CONCLUDED BY THE US THAT IN FACT THE EXPLOSION WAS A SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION, SUPPORTING THESPANISH EXPLANATION IN 1898.

WAR • APRIL 11, 1898: PRESIDENT MCKINLEY SENT A WAR MESSAGE TOCONGRESS • AMERICANS WERE GIDDY ABOUT WAR • ENDED AUGUST 1898 T(REATY OF PARIS)

EFFECTS • CUBA GAINED ITS INDEPENDENCE • US GAINED GUAM AND PUERTO RICO • US TOOK CONTROL OF THE PHILIPPINES FROM THE SPANISH (HAD TO PAY $20 MILLION FOR THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS) • UNITED STATES NOW CONTROLLED AN EMPIRE AND BECAME A WORLD POWER • ENDED AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM

PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR

BACKGROUND • AS A RESULT OF THE TREATY OF PARIS 1898, THE PHILIPPINES WERE PART OF THE UNITED STATES • ETHNICALLY DIVERSE • OVER 7 MILLION PEOPLE • LUSH ISLANDS BIGGER THAN THEBRITISH ISLES • ASSUMED THEY WOULD BE GRANTED THEIR FREEDOM LIKE THE CUBANS

CAUSES • TO CONVERT FILIPINOS FROM SPANISH CATHOLICISM • TO “CIVILIZE” THEPHILIPPINES • TRADE PROFITS • MAJOR CAUSE OF DEBATE ON SENATE FLOOR AND AROUND THE WORLD BETWEEN IMPERIALISTS AND ANTI-IMPERIALISTS

WAR • LED BY EMILIO AGUINALDO • 1899 -1901 • GUERILLA WARFARE • SORDID ATROCITIES INCLUDING CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND THE “WATER CURE” (FORCED WATER DOWN THROAT UNTIL THEY YIELDED INFORMATION OR DIED) • CAPTURED AGUINALDO IN 1901 • OVER 200, 000 FILIPINO DEATHS; 4234 AMERICAN DEATHS

RESULTS • CIVIL GOVERNOR WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT SENT TOPHILIPPINES IN 1901 • POURED MILLIONS INTO ISLANDS TO IMPROVE ROADS, SANITATION, AND PUBLIC HEALTH • IMPORTANT ECONOMIC TIES • MADE ENGLISH A SECOND LANGUAGE AND SET UP A GOOD SCHOOL SYSTEM • PHILIPPINES GAINED THEIR INDEPENDENCE JULY 4, 1946 • MORE IMMIGRANTS TO THE US THAN ANY OTHERASIAN NATION