Should the United States invade Cuba in 1898

• Should the United States invade Cuba in 1898? Or should the United States not engage Spain in war?

The Spanish American War 1898 AIM: Why did the United States go to War with Spain in 1898?

I. Basic Causes A. Economic: U. S. had $50 million invested in sugar in Cuba

B. Humanitarian: American’s sympathized with 100, 000 Cuban civilians dying in “Concentration Camps” 1. Valeriano Weyler “The Butcher”

“The horrors of the barbarous struggle for the extermination of the native poputation are witnessed in all parts of the country. Blood on the railroads, blood in the fields, blood on the doorsteps, blood, blood! The old, the young, the weak, the crippled, are all butchered without mercy. ”

C. Expansionists: T. Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, Sec. of State John Hay saw an opportunity

II. Immediate Causes A. Jingoism: Aggressive threatening patriotism. Why?

B. Yellow Journalism 1. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer publish sensational stories

C. De. Lome Letter 1. “Weak and a bidder for the admiration of the crowd” 2. Reaction:

D. Sinking of the Maine 1. Havana Harbor 2. 262 sailors killed 3. Public Reaction

E. Public Reaction War Hungry Fueled by Yellow Journalism Jingoes and T. R. called Mckinley “Wobbly Willie” Mc. Kinley against war since Civil War days Spain had already agreed to end reconcentration camps and armistice with rebels But, politics prevailed and he sided with Republicans

III. The War and its Results A. Teller Amendment 1. Declare war but promise not to take over Cuba as a colony “That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island …”

B. War in the Philippines 1. Admiral Dewey’s Manila Victory destroy Spanish fleet. 2. Emilio Aquinaldo – Filipino freedom fighter brought in to rouse Filipino support

3. Arguments for the annexation of Hawaii as a “coaling and provisions station” 4. July 7, 1898: Joint resolution rushed through annexing Hawaii

C. Invasion of Cuba 1. Deadly diseases; malaria, typhoid, dysentery 2. Rough Riders charge up “San Juan Hill” with Teddy Roosevelt and veteran soldiers 3. U. S. Navy destroys Spanish Fleet in Santiago Bay

D. Treaty of Paris 1898 1. Cuba gains independence a. Platt Amendment: 1. never to sign a treaty w/o U. S. approval 2. never build up excessive debt 3. allow US to intervene in Cuba’s affairs to preserve peace and order 4. U. S. Base at Guantanamo Bay 5. Significance:

2. Puerto Rico and Guam ceded to U. S.

What to do with the Philippines? “When…I realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them… I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; …I went down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night it came to me…”

1) 2) 3) 4) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable That we could not turn them over to France or Germany – our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable That we could not leave them to themselves –they were unfit for self government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule worse than Spain’s war That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them as our fellow men for whom Christ also died President Mc. Kinely on the Philippines

3. U. S. annexes the Philippines a. Pay’s Spain $20 million. b. Leads to Filipino Insurrection 1. Led by Emilio Aguinaldo 2. Thousands killed on both sides 3. Insurrection ends 1902

“We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages and turned their widows and orphans out of doors; subjugated the remaining ten millions by Benevolent assimilation… And so, by these Provinces of God – and the phrase is the government’s not mine—we are a World Power. ”

E. Anti-Imperialist League

1. Treaty of Paris challenged by members of the Anti-Imperialist League 2. Members: Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan

• This Club [the Massachusetts Reform Club] never met under circumstances more calculated to create the gravest anxiety in every patriotic man than tonight, and by patriotic man I do not mean him who measures his country's greatness by the extent of her territory, the size of her armies, the strength of her fleets, or even by the insolence with which she tramples upon her weaker neighbors, but him who knows that the true greatness of a nation, as of a man, depends upon its character, its sense of justice, its self-restraint, its magnanimity, in a word upon its possession of those qualities which distinguish George Washington from the prize-fighter — the highest type of man from the highest type of beast.

• The man who in times of popular excitement boldly and unflinchingly resists hot-tempered clamor for an unnecessary war, and thus exposes himself to the opprobrious imputation of a lack of patriotism or of courage, to the end of saving his country from a great calamity, is, as to "loving and faithfully serving his country, " at least as good a patriot as the hero of the most daring feat of arms, and a far better one than those who, with an ostentatious pretense of superior patriotism, cry for war before it is needed, especially if then they let others do the fighting.

F. Insular Cases: Dorr v. United States 1904 1. Facts: Dorr, editor of the Manila Freedom, arrested for libel, denied trial by jury, found guilty. 2. Issue: Was he denied his constitutional right to a trial by jury?

3. People in U. S. territories do not have same constitutional rights as U. S. citizens. 4. “The Constitution does not follow the flag. ”

I. Open Door in China A. Spheres of Influence 1. China’s weakness and failure to modernize lead to European interference

B. Hay’s Open Door Note 1. U. S. demands equal trading privileges 2. Agree to protect China’s Territorial integrity

C. Boxer Rebellion 1. Nationalism and Xenophobia against foreigners 2. Society of Harmonious Fists 3. Attack and kill foreigners 4. U. S. joints international force to crush rebels 5. Impact on China: