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.