1. The Spanish-American War

2. The Coming of War -1898 Cuba & Puerto Rico were Spain's last remaining colonies in the Western Hemisphere -Cuba revolted against Spain often -U.S. regarded Spain as being tyrants

3. Cuban Rebellion Begins -Cuba generated sugar in the mid-1800s -1868 - Cuba rebels declare independence & launched a guerilla war = collapsed in 10 yrs. -rebels fled to the U.S. = Jose Marti – Cuban exile in NY who prepared/led new invasion of Cuba

4. -1890s – U.S. and Cuba linked economically -bought sugar - invested $50 million in Cuba’s sugar plantations, mines, & railroads Cuban Rebellion Begins

5. -1894 – U.S. imposes a tariff on sugar = destroys Cuba’s economy -Marti attacks Cuba in Feb. 1895 -seizes control of eastern Cuba -declared independence – Republic of Cuba in Sept. 1895 Cuban Rebellion Begins

6. -President Grover Cleveland declares U.S. neutral -many outside the Whitehouse supported the rebels Why would Americans support the rebels? America Supports Cuba

7. Causes of the Spanish-American War

8. -Yellow Journalism- sensationalist reporting, in which writers often exaggerated and even made up stories to attract readers - New York Journal - William Randolph Hearst -The Journal - Joseph Pulitzer Yellow Journalism

10. - Cubans did suffer horribly -Spain sent 200,000 troops to put down the rebellion -General Valeriano Weyler aka “El Carnicero” -rebels destroyed American investments = hope for American intervention -Weyler sent thousands of rural men, women, & children to concentration camps = thousands die of starvation and disease America Supports Cuba

11. -1897 – William McKinley becomes president -did not want to intervene - cost lives & hurt economy -tried to get negotiation between Spain & Cuba -Spain offers concessions = enraged Spanish loyalists in Cuba = riot in Havana -fearful for the safely of Americans U.S. sends the USS Maine in case of evacuation Calls for War

12. -February 9, 1898, a letter written by Spanish Ambassador to the U.S. was intercepted by a Cuban agent and leaked to the newspapers -De Lome letter - called McKinley weak b.c. he was trying to work things out with and practice diplomacy Calls for War

13. -U.S.S. Maine -exploded in the Havana Harbor (assume its Spanish) -Newspapers reported on the incident (many called for war) “Remember the Maine !” -April 19, 1898 Congress declared Cuba independent -April 24 th Spain declares war on U.S.

14. Factors Contributing to the Declaration of War