BR: American Imperialism1. What was the practice of exaggerating stories in

the newspapers in order to influence public opinion called?

2. What three groups made up the Rough Riders?

3. What is Mercantilism?

4. After the Spanish-American War, what territories did the U.S. win from Spain?

5. Who was Assistant Secretary of the Navy before the War began?

We watched part of this already

The film, “Crucible of Empire” showed us some of the events in Cuba and in America, leading up to the war…

We are going to pretend that we know nothing about this event, and start from the beginning…

Cuba: Spanish Colony

• Supporters of U.S. expansion had been interested in this island for along time

• Late 1800’s, Cuba is a tense place, with revolts against the Spanish (since 1868)

• Spanish exile many Cuban leaders of the independence movement

90 miles from Florida…

Cuban Independence movement…

• Thousands of farmers in Cuba forced into concentration camps, in order to be kept from joining the rebellion

• Many of the exiled Cubans went to America, then plotted their return and came back to cause revolts against the Spanish rulers in Cuba

Jose Marti

Wars for Independence

• Marti shot in Cuba by Spaniards in 1895, but his life became inspiration for independence

• Guerrilla War- means “little war” in Spanish- “hit and run” style of fighting

• Rural Cubans herded into barbed wire cages.

The United States reacts…

Many Americans felt sympathetic towards the Cuban struggle and saw similarities between Cuba and the American Revolution

U.S. newspapers showed Spain as butchers, and called for war to free the Cuban people

The Influence of the Media

William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World = used sensational tales of Spanish atrocities to attract more readers and sell more newspapers…

Yellow Journalism

• The term originated during the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal from 1895 to about 1898

• Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well

• Other papers nicknamed these papers “Yellow”• When one of Hearst's writers wanted to come home

from covering the war in Cuba, because nothing was happening, he replied, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

How did the President repsond?

President William McKinley:

“I have been through one war. I have seen the dead piled up, and I do not want to see another.”

Also…. QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

DeLome LetterLetter written by a Spain’s minister to the United

States, stolen by a Cuban spy, and published in the newspapers…

It called the President a coward and weak…Americans were outraged…Hearst was selling many newspapers…the country was a step closer to war with Spain

The Maine Incident

Hearst pressed for U.S. intervention in Cuba

In 1897, he sent an artist to Cuba to create drawings showing Spanish cruelty, which Hearst then used to further make his case for war.

William Randolph Hearst

USS Maine, 2.15.1898

• In the American press, headlines proclaimed "Spanish Treachery!" and "Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!“

• Many Americans assumed the Spanish were responsible for the Maine's destruction.

McKinley repsonds..

• 4/11/98, he asks Congress to intervene in Cuba, “in the name of humanity.”

• 4/20/98, Congress officially recognizes Cuba as an independent country

• 4/25/98, Congress declares War on Spain

Teller Amendment

Congress passes this…

It states that once Cuba won its independence from Spain, the United States would “leave the government and control of the island to its people”

War with Spain, also includes the Spanish colony of the Philippines

• War starts here, not in Cuba• U.S. was already waiting to attack the Spanish

in the Philippines if Congress declared war• Spanish fleet easily defeated• U.S. enlists the help of Emilio Aguinaldo, a

Filipino patriot…• Spanish forces surrender the island on 8/14/98• 1 U.S. soldier dies…accidentally.

Fighting in Cuba

• Not as easy as in the Philippines

• Only 28,000 soldiers initially prepared

• Bad training, poor uniforms

• Theordore Roosevelt, Assistant Admiral to the Navy, retires to form a group called the Rough Riders, who fight in Cuba

A few weeks later..

• The U.S. defeats Spanish forces in Puerto Rico• Spanish surrender in Cuba

Conditions of the surrender/treaty-Spain gives up Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the

Philippines (for $20 million) to the United States-United States gained enormous world power now

by obtaining these colonies…-About 5,400 U.S. soldiers died…

Uproar in the Philippines1898, few Americans even

knew where the Philippines was!

President McKinley confesses: I am not sure where it is either, but it now belongs to us.

Some Americans questioned whether this was a good move…

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.