The Spanish American War
Annexation of Hawai'i
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Vocabulary
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Imperialism – Extending a country’s political or economic authority over other territories.
Rebellion – organized defiance of the government in charge.
Annexation – Adding land from one to another country, usually without permission.
Territory/Colony – A piece of land that’s controlled by another country but not fully part of that country.
Coups d'état – the overthrow of a government by non-democratic means (sometimes force)
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The Spanish American War
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It all started in Cuba
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Cuba In Rebellion - 1895
Cuba was Spanish Colony
Cuba was fighting for independence from Spain
The rebellion (in 1895) was lead by Jose Marti
Cuba is only 90 miles from
Florida and the US was very interested in getting
Spain out of our backyard.
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Spain Responded to Rebellion
Spain sent General
Valereano Weyler to crush
Cuban rebellion.
He placed thousands of
Cubans into “concentration camps” – thousands die.
U.S. is getting nervous about the violence.
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The United States & Cuba
Why did we care about
Cuba?
50 million dollar Cuban sugar industry
Trade was going downhill because of fighting there…
Made US businessmen angry.
US was concerned over hunger, starvation, and disease in Cuba
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American Response
By 1896, tensions were very high in Havana
Havana is the Capitol City of Cuba
McKinley responded by sending
U.S.S. Maine to Havana Harbor
McKinley was intending to protect
American citizens and property
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February 15, 1898 - USS Maine
Exploded in Havana Harbor
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260 Americans are killed
“Remember the Maine”
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What happened to the Maine?
Explosion was initially a mystery
U.S. immediately blamed Spain for the incident
Later investigations pointed to internal engine problems
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Quick Quiz
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Explain Imperialism? (own words)
Explain THREE facts about the Cuban rebellion.
How did Spain respond?
Why was U.S. interested in Cuba? THREE FACTS.
What happened in Havana Harbor? Why was the boat there in the first place? Who did the U.S. blame?
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The Maine in the News
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Yellow Journalism
Press printed headlines and stories with little attention to facts
Their Goal was to gain readers to make $$$
William Randolph Hearst famous publisher of Yellow Journalism
Angry public pushed American government to declare war.
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McKinley Responds
June 20 th 1898
17,000 troops sent to
Cuba to fight Spanish
Sends Teddy Roosevelt’s
Rough Riders - special unit under Roosevelt
(Secretary of Navy)
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Spanish American War in Cuba
San Juan Hill
Decisive battle of
Spanish American
War
Rough Riders charged up the hill in heroic fashion
T. Roosevelt awarded
Medal of Honor for his heroism
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War expands to the Philippines
The Philippines was a Spanish
Colony
US Commodore George Dewey destroyed 10 Spanish ships with
6 American ships
Filipino independence rebel
Emilio Aguinaldo helped the U.S.
U.S. promised Philippines their
Independence – this was not kept.
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Spanish American War Ends
U.S. defeated Spain by August 1898
Other Spanish colonies of Puerto
Rico and Guam become U.S. territories.
385 American soldiers killed in battle
What do we do with our new colonies? Cuba, Guam, Philippines,
Puerto Rico?
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Cuban Independence
America promised Cuba independence, but with exceptions on December 10, 1898
The Platt Amendment prohibited trade, and treaties with other nations
Guantanamo Bay was built as our military presence in the Caribbean
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Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam
The Philippines remained a U.S. territory until independence from the United States was achieved in 1946
Guam and Puerto Rico still remain U.S. territories today (the people are considered
U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens do not need a passport to travel to or from there).
People in Guam and Puerto Rico do not get to vote for president or representatives in
Congress
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Quick Quiz
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Explain yellow Journalism.
How did McKinley respond to the Maine? When?
Who did he send?
Explain four facts about the S.A. War in the
Philippines.
Explain three facts about the end of the S.A. War.
What happened to each new territory: Guam,
Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico.
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Annexation of Hawai'i
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The Hawaiian Kingdom
In 1810 Kamehameha the Great United all of the Hawaiian Islands into one kingdom, he called it Hawai'i.
The Hawaiian kingdom was an independent country with its own language, customs, and religious traditions.
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Hawaii’s Sugar Industry
By 1848, foreigners, mostly American Sugar
Planters, had gained influence with the
Hawaiian King (Kamehameha III)
In 1875 Hawaii’s King David Kalakaua and the
United States signed a treaty so Hawaiian sugar could be sold in the US tax-free…
This made Hawaiian Sugar cheaper in the US than it had been before, so Americans bought more of it and the sugar industry in Hawaii boomed
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Pearl Harbor
In 1887 King David Kalakaua was forced, by a militia of American sugar planters, to sign a new
Hawaiian constitution
It was called the Bayonet
Constitution and it stripped him of many of his powers as King.
It also made it easier to pressure the King to allow the United States to build a naval base at Pearl
Harbor to refuel American ships.
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Queen Lili'uokalani
When King Kalakaua died in 1891, his sister took the thrown.
She was determined to gain back the power that had been stolen from her brother and return power to the
Hawaiian People.
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Hawai'i’s last Queen
The American sugar planters of Hawai'i did not like Queen Lili'uokalani’s ideas.
They wanted to maintain power over the islands business affairs.
A prominent businessman named Sanford
Dole, with the help of the U.S ambassador to
Hawaii John Stevens organized an overthrow.
With the help of the U.S. Marines they overthrew the Queen in January of 1893
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U.S. Marines Block Queen’s Home
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President Cleveland Responds
Grover Cleveland was US president at the time and wanted the Queen’s power restored.
He did not want to annex Hawaii unless a majority of Hawaiians approved, which they didn’t.
However, he refused to force the new Hawaiian Government, made up of mostly American sugar planters, to give the Queen back her power, which they didn’t.
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Hawaii is Annexed
In 1897 William McKinley became president of the US. He was an expansionist and was very much in favor of annexation.
On
August 12 1898
, Hawaii was proclaimed a U.S. territory by Congress and this bill was signed by President
McKinley into law
No Hawaiians had ever voted on this.
Hawai'i became a State in
1959
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Quick Quiz
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Explain three facts about Hawaii’s Sugar Industry.
What was the Bayonet Constitution? What did it’s signing make possible?
What did Queen Liliuokalani want to do? Who overthrew her? How?
Explain the responses of two different U.S. Presidents
(Cleveland & McKinley)
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