Part I: the Spanish-American War Ameican Continent
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Part I: The Spanish-American War rf he ro,d $ 1j.h would FventuaJly lead to Lhe lapa- Amedcans. extendiry U.S. conftol over the lush Gland I nese attack on fearl H"rbor ln l94l and ninety miles from the tip of Florida seemed only logi- Amedca's involvement in Vieham began in the hot cal. Cuba was often depicled as a choice piece of ituit sugar cane fields of Cuba over a century ago. which would naturally Iall into the yard oI iis pow- Cuba, the lar8esi island in the Caibbearr held ertul neighbor when tully iipe. special significance for policymakers in both Spain and the United States at the end of the 19ih c€ntury. lf is aut dcshnv lo hauc Cuba and it is to folly I For Spain, Cuba n'as the last majof remnant of whai debale lhe question. ll naluftll! bplong< la thp I had once been a huge empire in the New World. Ameican continent. I N€arly all of Spain s possessions in ihe Westem Hend- Douglas, 1860 presidential candidatu'l -StEhen sphere had been lost in the early 1800s. and Spain itself had sunk to the level of a third-raie European power. Nonetheless, the government in Maddd refused to RevoLutror'r rt{ Cual consider granting independence io Cuba - "the Pear] of the Antilles" - or seliing the island to anoiher In 186& a revolt against Spanish rule broke out in Cuba. Many of ihe leading rebels hoped to eventu' At the time, the country with ihe geatest inter- ally join the United Staies after breaking {ree fiom est in a.quirin8 Cuba wac LhF United Sidte-. For |rdny Spain. Presideni Ulysses Grant was open io the Nore ro Sruoelrs "A splendid litt1e r{al." That is how hisiory has remembered ihe Spanish-American war. The war iiself was bdef and the casualties were comparatively tow, but ihe results of the conflict Iorever changed the lvay Amedcans viewed their country, iheir values, and the role of the.United States in the world. The Spanish- American war and the policy choices that follow€d laid the foundation Ior America's intemational leadership in the 20ih ceniut As we enter the 21st century, Ame cans are ponde ng many of the same questions that gipped our nation a century ago. We are again consideling who we are as a natior! what we are becomin& and which values we most pdze. As at the turn of the last ceniury. divisions along the lines oI race, ethdc backgrourd, and economic class coniinue to Eouble our society. Our stake in the global economy js growin& as it was in the 1890s, and yet many ArIIe cans do not share m our couniry's prosperity. By Lookint into the mirror of the Spanish-American Wal era, we can better understand how far we have come as a nation and gain a more balanced perspective on the policy choices we face today. In this uni!, you will view the events of ihe 1890s from a front-row seat. Using primary sources - stat€ments made alld docrments written during the pedod under study - you wil participate in the debate over the values and policies which brouSht the United States into a new era. You, too, wil join generations of historians in assessint the decisions made at the time. Did they betray the values upon which our county was Iounded? Or were they the inevitable results of America's "cominS of age"? Finaly, the issue of lac€ in the unit deserves speclal note. As you will leam, race was a key element in the events that yo11(.lI study. Racial stereotypes arld severe discrimination aJfected boih t1rc conduct of ihe war and broader U.S. Ioreign policy. Sadly, racist attitudes and beliels were common at the ium of the century. They are presented here to deepen your insight inio the history of the pedod. Reluctaht Calass6: Anehd Choices lot the 21st Cehtury Edua an Ptai*t Entets Lhe age at hpetiati.n Waten lnstitute tat htehalianal judies, Btuen Uhiveciq Cuba. Th€ eff€cts were immediately felt in Cuba. As Cuba's economy spuitered, the cause of rebellion again gained momentum. This time, much of the funding and organization for the movement cane from Cuban immigrants in New York arld Florida. They helped buy weapons and smuggle them into Cuba aboard ships sailing from southem U.S. pots. Such "filibustering" expeditions were illegal under international law, and U.S. coasial patrols blocked How did Spaln rcspond to the Cuban rcvolt? A tull-scale revolt erupted in Cuba in 1895 and soon engxlfed the island. Spain responded evm more harsNy than in th€ tust rcund of rebellio& sending more than 120,000 troops to fight an estimated 60,000 Cuban insultents. The military commander of the Cuban national- ists, Marimo Gomez, aimed at the economic " Spanieh uatfare" foundation of Spanish rule. He attempted to cut off Spanish gairisons in the cities fJom food supplies in the countryside. Sugar groweE were ordered to siop proposaL but he was persuaded by his secretary of producin&.while small farmers w€re forbiddm #om state to keep the United States a sale distance from the sellinS supplies to the Spanish. Gomez wamed that conflict. After a d€cad€ of fighting and the loss oI violators would be severely punished. By 1898, 200,000 lives, the rebels put down their ams. Spanish Gomez had indeed brouSht the Cuban economy to a rule rcmained in place, althouth Spain pledged to standstill. Of course, i rocent civilians paid a healy allow limited self -govemment. The Spanish also saw econorfc control as the What wefe U.S, intercsts in Cuba? key to victory. Unable to pin down the nationalist With the revolt over, $50 million woth oI forces, they sought to isolate them from the Seneral American investment flowed into Cuba. Most of it population in the counEyside. spain's govemor in was channeled into th€ island s sugar indusEy/ which Cuba, General Valeriano weyler, herded hundreds of represented four-fiIths of the Cuban economy. The thousands of Cuban peasants into towns policed by United States was also far and away the largest cus- Spanish troops. The "reconcentration" carnps, how- tomer for Cuban sugar. In 1890, th€ United States ever, lacked adequate Iood, housin& a]ld sanitation. rcmoved tariffs on Cuban sugar entering the Amencan Disease and starvation took a ierrible ioll. market. The legislation boosted the fortunes ol both the overall Cuban economy and American investors How did the "ye ow press" sway U.S. public on the island. Cuban-Amedcan trade soon ap- opinion? Foached $100 million annua y. AB the war in Cuba intensided, coverage in the The depression of 1893, however, quickly spread Ame can press increased. Many of the stones were from the Unit€d States to Cuba. Pressure mounted in supplied by Cuban nationalists living in the United ConSress to cut back on imports and proteci Ameri States. Publishers of the so-caled "yelow press" - can sugar Producers. In 1894, the United States named because the newsprint used was slithdy yel- imposed a 40 percent tariff on sugar imports from low - soon found that news oI th€ Cuban revolt sold R e lbta ht Colo ssus : A n e d @ choi@s tot lh. 21sl Cqlury Educnon P@j@t Enr36 |te Age ol lnperialkn WaEon lBtitd. lu lntet@timl Snrdi6, Brcwn UntueBtty newspapeB. They were eater to print reports of Span- the Spanish ambassador to Washington, Enrique ish ahocities, real or fictitious. Dupuy de Lome, had sent to a fiend in Spain. The wii I iam Randotph Hear,r andlre$lflilzsr letter included a biting critiqu€ oI the president. owners of two of the largest newspaper chaiff/ com- "McKir ey is weal and a bidder for the admiration of peted fiercely for news about Cuba. Both men sent the crowd," Dupuy de Lome wrote, "besides L€ing a teams of reporters and atists to cover the revolt and would'be politician who tries to leave a door open generaie suppo$ for U.S. intervention in the conflict. behind himself while keepint on good terms wiih the Religious magazinet particularly ihose published by jintoes of his party." Protesiant denominations, likewise called for the Publication oI the letter provoked outrage in the United Stat€s to join the fighting on humanita an United States. Many Amedcans took de Lome's com- Srounds. ments as an insult against then counily. The Spanish ambassador quickly resitned and Spain apologized. No man's life, fio mafi's ploperty is safe. Anei- BFforp the eptode died down, however, Atrericans cafl citizens afe imprisoned or slain without were again stunned by a much mo(e serious incident couse. American prcpetty is destroyed atl aII in Cuba's Havana harbor. sides....Cuba will sootl be a wildemess of black- ened fuins. mis year there is little to lioe upa11. How alid Ame cans "Remember the Maine?" Next year tJpre uiLI be nothifig. The horrors of a On January 25, 189& the U. S. S. i"4rin e, a second- barbarous struggle for thc exlermination of the class battleship in the U.S. fleet, dropped anchor in natioe population are uitnessed in all parts of the Havana harbor on a courtesy cali. Visits by foreign country. Blood on the rcadsides, blood on the warships in time oI peace were common in the late felds, bload 011 the doorcteps, blood, blood, blood! 19th century, and Madlid welcomed McKir ey's re- Is there no nation wise eno gh, braxte efiough to quest to send the Ma,r,e to Cuba.