Download READING FIVE: RESULTS OF THE WAR

Reading five: Results of the War
The “Splendid Little War”:
Spain signed a peace protocol, or cease-fire, on August 12, 1898- a day before Dewey and his ground
troops, unaware that the war was over, captured Manila. After close to two months of diplomatic
discussions, a permanent settlement was made in October 1898. In the Treaty of Paris, Spain granted
independence to Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United Sates for a
payment of $20 million. The new territories added 100,000 square miles and close to 10 million people
to the American empire.
Continuing U.S. Influence in Cuba:
While the Treaty of Paris ended Spain’s colonial domination of Cuba, the U.S. involvement on the
island did not end with the war. Cuba had been left in chaos. In response, President McKinley set up
a military government to administer Cuba. When the Cubans began to draft a constitution, the
United States insisted that it include a document called the Platt Amendment. This limited Cuba’s
foreign interaction and gave the United States the right to establish naval stations on the island and, if
necessary, to send troops to Cuba to keep order.
The Philippines Become a U.S. Colony:
President McKinley at first debated whether the United States should keep the Philippines as a
colony, but decided that Filipinos were “unfit for self-government.” Not wanting to return the islands
to Spain, he concluded that the best choice was for the United States to “take [the islands] and
educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.” However, not only were most
Filipinos Catholic, and hence already Christian, but they wanted self-government. Filipino
nationalists pleaded for independence, but were refused. When resistance leader Emilio Aguinaldo
refused to recognize U.S. rule of the islands, he was deported from his homeland. A three-year battle
between Filipinos and the United States finally ended in 1901, when the United States declared it had
crushed the revolt.
The U.S. Emerges a World Power:
The United States emerged from the war as a world power, with an empire that stretched from the
Caribbean Sea to the South China Sea. By 1899 the United States had expanded its control to include,
in addition to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, Hawaii (1898) and many other Pacific islands,
including Samoa (1899). The economic and political consequences of such expansion created a new
international role for the United States. Not only was its territory significantly larger, but control of
territories like the Philippines allowed the United States to further expand its role in and influence
over other parts of Asia.
Anti-Imperialism:
Many Americans were unhappy and angry about the United States’ new imperial status. Referring to
themselves as “anti-imperialists” they decried U.S. control of faraway peoples and lands. Antiimperialists included both Democrats and Republicans and remembers of all social classes. Some
snit-imperialists were driven by moral and humanitarian sentiments. They rejected the exploitation of
indigenous peoples and claimed that the United States was now doing that which it had fought a war
with Spain to end. Others cautioned the United States to stay out of the colonialism and militarism
present in Europe. They feared that U.S. intervention, and even trading, abroad would someday lead
to war with powers such as Japan. Furthermore, many who disapproved of imperialism questioned
whether the United States could uphold its principles, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution, as an empire.
Still others against imperialism feared that dark-skinned peoples from U.S. colonies might detract
from Anglo-Saxon “purity,” that they would never embrace democracy, and that their labor-abroad,
or imported to the United States-might reduce the value of American workers. Finally, some
Americans pointed to domestic priorities, such as ameliorating race relations, as reason enough to
avoid involvement abroad.
The Anti-Imperialist League:
Shortly after the end of the war with Spain, some prominent U.S. leaders organized the AntiImperialists League. The league opposed U.S. control of the Philippines and supported and
amendment to the Treaty of Paris promising Filipinos independence as soon as they form a stable
government. When the amendment was narrowly defeated, the anti-imperialists vowed to continue
to fight U.S. domination of the Philippines and other territories. In their 1899 platform, the league
called imperialism a policy that “is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which
it has been our glory to be free.” When the democratic and anti-imperialist candidate William
Jennings Bryan lost the presidential nomination in 1900 and McKinley was reelected, the antiimperialists’ platform was rejected. Nonetheless, their voices continued to be heard as U.S.
involvement abroad expanded.