The Spanish American War

The Spanish American war was a “just” war. In the 1800s, America was attracted to Cuba’s commercial value, and since Cuba was fighting for its independence from Spain, America stepped in to help. Other factors also contributed to the start of the war: the confusion with the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, which was thought to be caused by Spain at that time; Americans lives being threatened; manifest destiny…

In 1898, President McKinley sent the battleship U.S.S. Maine to Cuba to protect its businessmen there just in case the war gets worse. But the ship exploded on its way to Cuba! At that time, there were two popular beliefs of the cause of the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine that roamed America. American experts say that it was caused by Spanish’s mine, while Spanish officials argue that the explosion came from inside of the ship.

The government of her majesty of Spain felt sympathetic toward this unfortunate event. They expressed their sorrowness by giving assistance to the victims, attending funeral ceremonies of the 260 dead men, and sending the highest officers of the Spanish state to visit the American ambassador. They also requested judges from two disinterested countries to look over this case, to have as little bias as possible. They made this request because they wanted the U.S. to set the facts straight, to understand their helpful actions since the tragedy.

None of Spain’s actions were revealed to the American people because of yellow journalism. Yellow journalism is a type of media that expresses bias, and sensationalizes topic. This was very popular back then because of the small amount sources the public can turn to (no TV, radio, internet…). So the newspapers (only 2), who favored the america’s version of explanation toward the explosion, literally shaped the public’s mind into believing that.

Now that the American people think that they know the truth, they are screaming to go to war with spain. Not only them, even the congress wanted war! Despite how much president McKinley didn’t want war, because of his experience with the horrors of the civil war, the majority finally convinced him and the war was declared.

America defeated spain very soon (the war only took 113 days), and the U.S. annexed Puerto rico and Philippines as American territory.

Now the big question comes, “was the Spanish American war a just war?” Everyone has their own opinions and argument when it comes to a discussion, and here are what imperialist and anti-imperialist thought about the war at that time:

Speaker	Imperialist or anti-imperialist	Their point of view
Senator Beveridge of Indiana	imperialist	“America was made to organize the world!”
Professor William Sumner	Anti-imperialist	I believe on liberty, that America should leave other countries alone, because they all deserve the freedom that America respect so much.
Admiral Alfred T. Mahan	Imperialist	Other countries are growing, and America must follow the trend, or else we will be picked on.
Hawaii’s former Queen Liliuokalani	Middle	America doesn’t have the right to take over Hawaii, but they can take over other unexplored territory of the U.S.

Despite what other people thinks, when you win something, you are right (as proven through history)! Since America won the war, they should be right and shouldn’t give a chance to the losers to speak.

The Spanish-American War may or not have been just. It depends on the point of view you perceive it by. To the Americans the war was not only just but completely unavoidable. Spain's treatment against the Cubans, reminded America all too well of how it feels to be a colony over ruled and under appreciated. Of course there was also the fact that America wanted to make a name for itself amongts the power nations such as Great Britain, France, and Japan. Spain did not lose any of its grace, at the end of the war America and Spain signed a treaty, which was America paid Spain $20,000,000 and Spain ceded its territory e.g. Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. None of these territories wanted to be an American colony, so was this war just?

Not all Americans, thought America should own territories or commonwealths. These Americans were called Anti-Imperialists. The anti-imperialist's argument was that these other countries didn't want democracy or the Anglo-Saxon's spreading their self proclaimed superiority across the globe. Another argument in this heated debate was that (at the time(1998)) America still had much of it own land to explore and had no need to "explore" another countries land. The arguement of an African American was if the minorities in America must fight for equal rights than other weaker nations should have the same rights that they are fighting for.

Many Americans also supported the idea of going into other countries and exploiting their land and natives. These views have been in the minds of countless people for hundreds of years. A senator from Indiana stated " He [God] made us [The Anglo-Saxons/Americans] skilled in government so that we may manage government among savage and senile peoples". It was also believed that America must broaden it's supremacy onto foreign affairs. There was also the constant imposing threat that if America did not follow suit about spreading its influence as Japan and Europe were doing, it would suffer the same fate as the countries being taken over.

Once America received its new territory from Spain, it set out to prosper as much from these colonies as possible. Cuba had "economic potential" due to its sugar plantations, it is a mere ninety miles away from Florida's coast, and at this proximity Cuba was thought to be a legitimate extension of America. After Cuba gained its freedom, it was in a state of turmoil; with its corrupt government, unhygienic, disease ridden streets and homes, America felt it should respond. President McKinley reacted by setting up a military government to manage Cuban affairs. There was also an amendment added to Cuba's new constitution, called the Platt Amendment. This amendment restrained and limited Cuba's independence, such as disabling Cuba from borrowing freely from other foreign powers, and two navel stations were built on Cuban territory. Many Cubans resented this and America eventually returned governmental control back to Cuba.

The Dominican Republic was similarly related to Cuba in the way its new found in independence brought corruption and disorder to the small island. When the Dominican Republic improved its transportation and education, other countries began to invest in it. Unfortunately, the government was still corrupt and the Dominican Republic accumulated massive debts after its leader was assassinated, and the government was in utter chaos. The American President at the time Theodore Roosevelt set out to eliminate some of the country's debts if America was guaranteed to make a profit off of Dominican goods and products. This agreement went on for two years until the debts were clear. The president who succeeded Theodore Roosevelt, President William H. Taft created a foreign policy call "Dollar Diplomacy". This policy "encouraged US businesses to invest in foreign regions". It also ordered troops to be stationed in the Dominican Republic to withhold US businesses and establish order in the torn Country. The Dominican Republic believed America profits over-exceeded that of the Dominican people. The country fell into debt again and America had power over the country for eight years, spanning from 1916 to 1924. At this time American pulled its troops out of the Dominicsn Republic.

Then Puerto Rico became an American territory the US sent an American governor to have rule over the island. Also US judges were appointed to the Puerto Rican Supreme court. Althoug America controlled Puerto Rico, the Puerto Ricans did not have American citizenship. Some Americans did not want Puerto Ricans to immigrate to the US. Soon the US government passed the Forester Act, this act set up an American government in Puerto Rico. America also sponsored programs to lower the disease risk in Puerto Rico and to rebuild and repaired communities and roads. Seventeen years after the Forester Act was set into motion, the US Congress passsed the Jones Act. The Jones act granted Puerto Ricans, American citizenship, but excluded them from having the ability to vote and represent in Congress. Because it did not cost much to employ Puerto Ricans, Americans invested a great amount of money into Puerto Rican territory and businesses. This led to American investers owning well over half of Puerto Rico's top products, tabacco, sugar, banking, and overseas exports. This did not benefit the Puerto Rican people much, farmers could no longer compete with cheap selling American goods and had to sell their land or get paid very little for their produce. The Puerto Rican people were not in favor of how America took advantage of them, but there was not much that they could do to make a substantial difference. Living conditions in Puerto Rico was atrocious and abominable, and it has not changed significantly in the past decades.

Was the Spanish-American War just? It seems that at the time the war was thought to be: looking back at it now a hundred and twelve years later it does not seem so. America's reasons behind the war may not have been as good intentional as previously thought. America has had a huge impact on the territories it claimed, and the negative impact appears to outweigh the positive it may have brought onto these countries. Does this make the war unjust, or was America's intention different from what it set out to do: was America just taking as much as it could from a valuable opportunity? The answer is not clear nor is there just one plausible explanation.