Causes of the Spanish American War
Yellow Journalism, Imperialism, and the USS Maine Bring About War
Feb 3, 2009
By the time William McKinley took office in 1897, the Cuban insurrection had been active since 1895. The outgoing Grover Cleveland administration had worked toward a peaceful solution through diplomatic means with Spain, the colonial power ruling Cuba. McKinley, like Cleveland, sought to avoid United States intervention and war with Spain. Events in Cuba and in the United States, however, forced McKinley to reluctantly ask Congress for a declaration of war in April 1898.
Spanish Treatment of the Cuban People
American citizens were well aware of the inhumane treatment of the Cuban people by the Spanish, particularly the drastic measures of Valeriano Weyler, governor-general of Cuba since 1895. American newspapers regularly printed sensational stories of alleged Spanish atrocities, inciting readers who then put pressure on the Congress to intervene in Cuba. These stories comprised the “yellow journalism” of the period, led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.
General Weyler’s order requiring the concentration of rural Cubans in camps was a draconian measure that deprived the inhabitants of their normal livelihood. Senator Redfield Proctor, addressing the Senate in March 1898 after completing a fact-finding tour of Cuba, focused strongly on the “reconcentrados.” It was the plight of the Cuban people that most affected him: “The spectacle of a million and a half of people, the entire native population of Cuba, struggling for freedom and deliverance…”
“Remember the Maine”
In February 1898 the battleship USS Maine steamed into Havana harbor, ostensibly to protect American lives and property, although some researchers note that the recent presence of German warships may have also played a role in the decision to send the vessel. On the evening of February 15th, the ship exploded and sank with a loss of 266 lives. An inquiry into the event concluded that an external mine had caused the disaster but there was no evidence linking any parties to the explosion.
A week before the destruction of the Maine, the New York Journal printed a letter stolen from the Spanish ambassador in Washington. The “de Lome” letter referred to the President as “weak” and insulted McKinley in various sections of the letter. Americans were outraged. The Maine disaster further heightened tensions as the call for war echoed through the country.
Republican Imperialists
Within the Republican Party, imperialist minded leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and John Hay were actively working toward war with Spain. Roosevelt spoke to President McKinley frequently, attempting to win his support. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt worked tirelessly to upgrade the navy and having George Dewey, a more forceful commander, appointed commodore of the Asiatic Squadron with orders to proceed to Manila from Hong Kong as soon as war was declared.
Outbreak of War
By April 1898 there was sufficient pressure in the Congress to declare war. Congressional Republicans prevailed upon a reluctant McKinley to take the lead, even suggesting that his unwillingness might damage the party itself. Following the war declaration, Americans were jubilant. The conflict that John Hay called “the splendid little war” would be America’s shortest yet most popular war.
More American soldiers died of disease than of battle wounds yet the war would lead to a long term occupation of the Philippines that in itself would lead to a long and bloody civil war with the Filipino people. The Spanish American War turned the United States into an imperialist power, defining a new global policy as the nation moved into the next century.
Sources:
Ivan Musicant, Empire By Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century (Henry Holt and Company, 1998).
James Ford Rhodes, The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations 1897-1909 (The Macmillan Company, 1922).
Page Smith, The Rise of Industrial America: A People’s History of the Post-Reconstruction Era Vol. 6(Penguin Books, 1984).
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (available on-line).
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