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PROBLEMS WITH
SPAIN
Today’s objectives
 1) Explain why the United States was interested in Cuba
 Discuss how the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine affected the relations
between the United States and Spain
HOW DID AMERICA GO TO WAR WITH
SPAIN?
 2 pieces of the Spanish empire remain near the United States: Cuba and
Puerto Rico
 Many Americans were living in Cuba at the time
 Many American businesses held important sugarcane industries
 These people felt that the United States should help the Cubans
become free of Spanish control
DID THE US WANT TO GO TO WAR WITH
SPAIN?
 President McKinley did not want to go to war with Spain
 He offered to buy the island of Cuba, Spain refused
 In January of 1898, he sent the battleship USS Maine to Cuba to protect
American interests and property.
 The fighting continued…….
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAINE?
 The Maine docked in the harbor of Havanna, Cuba
 In the middle of the night on Feb. 15, 1898 the ship exploded
 The explosion killed 260 American sailors
 The sinking of the Maine shocked the nation
 Newspapers blamed the Spanish government (yellow journalism- writing
that prints sensational, exaggerated stories)
 How did it blow up? Spain? Cuban Rebels? Accident?
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
 McKinley demanded that Spain stop the fighting in Cuba
 Teddy Roosevelt sent Admiral Dewey and his fleet to the Philippine
Islands with orders to attack their main harbor if war broke out
 On April 9, 1898, Spain promised that it would stop its fighting in Cuba
 They did not want to go to war with the US, but many Americans did
 “Remember the Maine” became the new slogan on America
HOW DID MCKINLEY RESPOND?
 He was criticized for not punishing Spain for the soldiers we lost
 He asked Congress on 4/11/1898 for permission to use military force
to stop the war
 Want to help Cuba gain independence, not control it. (Spain knew about
it)
 Spain declared war first, then the US