Spanish American War
Learning Target: Identify the Causes
and Effects of the Spanish American
War
US History – Unit 2
Spanish American War
Causes of Spanish American War
• American Sympathy towards
Cuban Fight for Freedom
against Spanish Rule
– “Butcher” Weyler forced 300,000
Cuban Rebels into concentration
camps
• Monroe Doctrine – chance to get
Spain out of Western Hemisphere
• Economic Interests – sugar
plantations
• Yellow Journalism – American
Press got American’s behind going
to war
• Spark: Sinking of the USS Maine
Yellow Journalism
A type of journalism that distorts and exaggerates the
news to create sensations and attract readers
William Randolph Hearst
New York Journal
vs
Joseph Pulitzer.
New York World
1.What is most
noticeable about the
example?
2. How is this media
making people feel?
3. How would this
influence or change
peoples mind?
Characteristics of Yellow
Journalism
Characteristics of Yellow Journalism:
• Headlines in huge print, often of minor news
• Many pictures, or imaginary drawings
• use of faked interviews, misleading headlines,
and false information from so-called experts
• dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against
the system.
• Emotional words and symbols; scare tactics
Does Yellow
Journalism
Still Exist?
Important Events
• Sinking of the USS Maine
– 266 US Servicemen are killed
– Blamed on a Spanish mine
• Admiral Dewey – Surprise attack on the Spanish
Fleet in Manila Harbor
– All Spanish Ships are Sunk
• Spanish Defeated in Battle of San Juan Hill
– T. Roosevelt led the “Rough Riders” to victory
• Spain signs Treat of Paris Ending the War
Effects of the Spanish American
War
• US becomes an Imperialist Power
• Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
become colonies of the US
• Cuba gains its independence from Spain,
but becomes a US Protectorate
– US will “protect” and partially control Cuba
• Philippine rebels wanting independence
declare war on US
What really happened to the
Battleship Maine?
Which of the following is not a cause
of the Spanish American War
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1. Monroe Doctrine
2. Desire for economic
opportunity
3. Sympathy for the
Spanish
4. Sinking of the
Battleship Maine
5. Yellow Journalism
Which of the following is not an effect
of the Spanish American War?
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1. US became an
imperialistic power
2. Cuba became a US
Protectorate
3. Filipino rebels
declared war on the
US
4. Spain’s colonies were
free
Which of the following defines
Yellow Journalism
1. Factual, Unbiased
news
2. Distorted or
Exaggerated news
3. A type of news that
no longer exists
today
4. Proven news written
by experts
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Assignment
•
•
From some event in Ch. 7.4 or the Spanish
American War video clip, design the front
page of a newspaper in the “sensational”
style of Hearst and Pulitzer. Use a blank 8
½ by 11 inch piece of paper – include
headlines (both large and small) and
include some pictures.
Ideas: Purchase of Alaska from Russia,
Mexican American War, “Butcher Weyler’s”
treatment of Cubans, Annexation of Hawaii