Imperialism: The Spanish
American War
US History: Spiconardi
Underlying Causes
• Economic
– Spain increased taxes on Cuba
– U.S. placed tariff on Cuban sugar
•Cuba’s economy suffers
•Cuban revolutionaries destroy American sugar
plantations and mills in Cuba
Underlying Causes
• Humanitarian
– Spanish military mistreats Cubans
•Civilians detained in camps by Gen. Weyler
– 30% die from disease and starvation
Underlying Causes
• Expansionist
– War offered an opportunity to seize territory from
Spain, a nation in decline
– Senator Henry Cabot Lodge’s speech to the Senate:
•What are three specific reasons Lodge provides to justify
American involvement?
•How does Lodge attempt to persuade people to adopt
his argument?
Immediate Causes
• Jingoism super patriotism & demand for aggressive actions
• Yellow Journalism  exaggerated and sensationalized news
– Competing publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer print
stories about atrocities of the Cuban Revolution
• Often distorted events for garner an emotional response from the American
public
Immediate Causes
• What are four (4) arguments the New York
World uses to subscribe to their argument?
Yellow Journalism Headlines
Immediate Causes
• The DeLôme Letter
– A personal letter from Spanish Minister to the
United States from published in the New York
Journal
– “Besides the natural and inevitable coarseness with which he repeats al
the press and public opinion of Spain has said of Weyler, it shows once
more that McKinley is: weak and catering to the rabble, and besides, a
low politician, who desires to leave a door open to me and to stand well
with the jingoes of his party.”
Immediate Causes
• Sinking of the Maine
– US battleship mysteriously explodes and sinks in the harbor of
Havana Cuba
• 266 Americans killed
• US blames Spain for planting a bomb
Results
• Treaty of Paris
– Spain grants Cuba independence
• US controls Cuban politics and
economy
– US acquires Philippines for $20
million
– US gains Puerto Rico & Guam
• Sparks debate: Imperialists vs.
Anti-Imperialists
• Increases American involvement
in Latin America