Spoils of warGuam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico became territories of the United States as part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the Spanish-American War of 1898. Since the war’s inception, scholars have written much about the motives behind United States’ policy makers’ decision to go to war with Spain, a war that thrust America into a new role as an imperial power. Scholars have vigorously disagreed about the main factors behind the decision to go to war. Those factors range from purely humanitarian reasons to a more sinister conspiracy theory. Show An example of one the theories claims that the US was guided solely by selfish economic motives to lift itself out of the effects of the worst economic depressions it had experienced up to that point and then make itself a dominant world economic power. The war with Cuba was simply the excuse needed to take control of Guam and the Philippines and to extend American hegemony into the Asia/Pacific region where unrestrained access to the China market would help alleviate America’s economic woes. Another recent proposed factor is the role that “gender politics” played in the decision for war. According to this thesis, US President William McKinley was pressured into supporting war so as not to appear weak and effeminate to the American people. They expected a strong manly chivalrous response to help save Cuba (portrayed as a “damsel in distress” in political cartoons and speeches) and assist Cuban rebels who had been fighting for their independence from Spain since 1895. Headed for warWhen the Cuban rebellion started, the US tried to remain neutral, but the so-called “yellow press” (unscrupulous newspapers) kept the conflict before the American public, and by focusing on Spanish atrocities, the press made it difficult for Americans to maintain a neutral stance. On 9 February 1898, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal published the contents of a December 1897 letter that Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, Spanish ambassador to the US, had written to José Canalejas, a Spanish friend and Madrid newspaper editor who was then in Cuba. Dupuy described McKinley as:
Other parts of his letter led Americans to believe that Spain was not sincere in its efforts to bring an end to its war against the Cuban rebels. When Hearst published Dupuy’s letter, the USS Maine had been in Havana harbor for 15 days. With Spain’s permission, President McKinley had sent the battleship to protect American lives and property in Havana after some recent rioting. Then on the evening of 15 February, an explosion sank the battleship and killed 264 sailors and two officers. America’s “yellow press” blamed Spain, despite a lack of evidence. Many in America now thought war with Spain was inevitable, including US Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. Ten days after the sinking of the USS Maine, Roosevelt, while serving as acting Navy secretary, sent a cable to Commodore George Dewey, commander of America’s Asiatic Squadron then anchored near Nagasaki, Japan. The cable stated:
Roosevelt’s order was in accordance with a contingency plan developed by a “special board” of the US Navy in June 1897 in case America went to war with Spain over Cuba. The board’s plan included an attack on Manila, Philippines to deprive Spain of a naval base and source of revenue. Presidents seeks congressional approvalPresident McKinley finally decided to send a message to the US Congress on 11 April 1898. After describing the many failed American efforts to negotiate a non-military solution to end the hostilities, McKinley asked Congress to authorize him to use the American armed forces to intervene as a neutral nation and stop both the Cuban rebels and the Spanish forces from fighting. In its response to McKinley’s message, Congress went beyond his request. On 19 April 1898, it passed a joint resolution that recognized Cuban independence (but did not recognize the Cuban Republic), told the Spanish government and armed forces to leave Cuba, authorized the president to use America’s armed forces to support Cuban independence and kick Spain out of Cuba, and declared that America had no intention of exercising sovereignty over Cuba. Despite Congress having gone beyond his original request, McKinley signed the joint resolution on 20 April and ordered a Naval blockade of Cuba on 21 April. Spain considered the joint resolution and the blockade to be acts of war, and it broke diplomatic relations with the United States on 23 April. Congress then formally declared war on Spain on 25 April, making it retroactive to 21 April when the blockade was established. Following orders to implement his part of the 1897 Navy contingency plan, Commodore Dewey sailed to Manila Bay and sank the Spanish fleet off the coast of Cavite on 1 May 1898. Upon hearing of Dewey’s success in Manila Bay, President McKinley took a new interest in perhaps holding on to a portion of the Philippines after the war was over. On 2 May, he ordered US Army troops to be dispatched to Manila Bay to reinforce America’s naval presence. Orders to seize GuamAt the same time, American Naval personnel showed a new interest in another Spanish possession in the western Pacific. On 9 May, the US Naval War Board advised Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long that the US should seize the Spanish possession of Guam in Micronesia. The next day, Secretary Long issued sealed orders that were to be given to Captain Henry Glass, commander of the USS Charleston, when his ship departed Honolulu for Manila with the first contingent of US troops. The sealed orders stated:
Glass first read the orders on 4 June, when his ship left Honolulu, and he followed them to the letter. On 20 June, the USS Charleston sailed into Guam’s Apra Harbor and fired a few cannon shots. Soon a small boat with four Spaniards, including a Lieutenant Gutierrez, approached the Charleston. The Spaniards apologized for not being able to return the salute due to a lack of gunpowder. Then they were surprised to learn that Spain and America were now at war and that they were now prisoners. Glass asked Gutierrez to inform Governor Juan Marina of the new situation and have him board the Charleston to discuss surrender terms. Marina refused, claiming that Spanish law prohibited him from boarding the ship, but he asked that Glass come on shore instead. The following day, 21 June, Glass sent Lieutenant William Braunersreuther to deliver an ultimatum to Marina. In his report to Glass of what transpired on shore, Braunersreuther’s wrote:
After the Spanish authorities surrendered to the Americans in Piti, the American flag was raised over Fort Santa Cruz, and the crew of the Charleston gave a 21 gun salute while bands on the ships played the “Star-Spangled Banner.” With all Spanish troops and government officials aboard the US transports, Glass sailed for Manila on June 22. Treaty of ParisAt this point, it was unclear what the future of Guam and the Philippines would be regarding whether or not they would remain under Spanish rule, become independent, or if another major power would take control. This matter became clear only after the short sixteen-week war officially ended on 12 August 1898. In October, negotiations for a final peace treaty began in Paris, France, and final disposition of Spain’s colonial possessions, especially the Philippines, became a contentious issue. When the American and Spanish negotiators finally signed the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898, one of its provisions gave possession and control of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States, with a stipulation in Article 9:
At no time were the Chamorros consulted on what they wanted for themselves or what would happen in their homeland. The issue of partitioning Guam from the Northern Marianas was not discussed with them either. The US bought from Spain all of the Philippines and Guam for a mere $20 million. American possession of these territories became final when the US Senate ratified the treaty on 6 February 1899. By Donald L. Platt, PhD For further readingGrenville, John A.S. “American Naval Preparations for War with Spain, 1896 1898.” Journal of American Studies 2, no. 1 (April 1968): 33-47. Hoganson, Kristin. Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. LaFeber, Walter. The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860-1898. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963. Musicant, Ivan. Empire by Default: the Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1998. Offner, John L. An Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States and Spain Over Cuba, 1895-1898. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Trask, David F. The War with Spain in 1898. New York: Macmillan Press, 1981. What were the 4 territories gained from Spanish American War?U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.
Which 3 places became US territories after the Spanish American War?The war ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the United States. The treaty ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine islands from Spain to the United States and granted the United States temporary control of Cuba.
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