The Spanish American War, 1898

Spanish Empire in the Caribbean: Background• Beginning in 1492, Spain was the first European

nation to sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean, explore, and colonize the Amerindian nations of the Western Hemisphere.

• At its greatest extent, the empire that resulted from this exploration extended from Virginia on the eastern coast of the United States south to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America excluding Brazil and westward to California and Alaska. Across the Pacific, it included the Philippines and other island groups.

• By 1825 much of this empire had fallen into other hands and in that year, Spain acknowledged the independence of its possessions in the present-day United States (then under Mexican control) and south to the tip of South America.

• The only remnants that remained in the empire in the Western Hemisphere were Cuba and Puerto Rico and across the Pacific in Philippine Islands, and the Carolina, Marshall, and Mariana Islands (including Guam) in Micronesia.

Spanish Empire in the Caribbean:Cuba• Following the liberation from Spain of

mainland Latin America, Cuba was the first to initiate its own struggle for independence.

• As early as 1868, Cuban rebels fought against Spanish rule

• 1895: Cuban revolutionary / poet Jose Marti dies

Spanish Empire in the Caribbean:US interests

• Economic interests extend well before 1898– 1878: American sugar interests bought up large

tracts of land in Cuba – 1898: the U.S. had more than $50 million

invested in Cuba and annual trade, mostly in sugar, was worth twice that much

• 1896: Sp. Gen. Valeriano Weyler (the “Butcher”).. Reconcentration

Spanish Empire in the Caribbean:Yellow Journalism

Joseph Pulitzer

New York World

William Randolph Hearst

New York Journal

Vs.

Led by newspaper owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, journalism of the 1890s used melodrama, romance, and hyperbole to sell millions of newspapers--a style that became known as yellow journalism.

The term yellow journalism came from a popular New York World comic called "Hogan's Alley," which featured a yellow-dressed character named the "the yellow kid." Determined to compete with Pulitzer's World in every way, rival New York Journal owner William Randolph Hearst copied Pulitzer's sensationalist style and even hired "Hogan's Alley" artist R.F. Outcault away from the World. In response, Pulitzer commissioned another cartoonist to create a second yellow kid. Soon, the sensationalist press of the 1890s became a competition between the "yellow kids," and the journalistic style was coined "yellow journalism."

http://www.pbs.org/crucible/journalism.html

Jingoism - An attitude of wildly enthusiastic, often excessive nationalism. Often, jingoists or jingoes push for war with other countries.

With so much competition between the newspapers, the news was over-dramatized and altered to fit story ideas that publishers and editors thought would sell the most papers and stir the most interest for the public so that news boys could sell more papers on street corners.

Spanish Empire in the Caribbean:US interestsUSS Maine

(Feb 15, 1898)

Spanish-American War: Results• A “Splendid little war!” -Ambassador John Hay

• Treaty of Paris: December 10, 1898 established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.

• The war had cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, of whom 90% had perished from infectious diseases.

Essential Question: To what extent is American expansionism characterized by a series of incidents and not the pursuit of a foreign policy?

• Argument: Series of Incidents– Rationale?– Supporting Argument?– Evidence?

• Argument: Pursuit of Foreign Policy– Rationale?– Supporting Argument?– Evidence?