ing U.S. ties with Latin America.In order to become a legitimate world power, traditionally one must defeat another world power. The U.S. was looking to do just that, and what better place to start a war than in a place 90 miles from home. Spain had been sent on a downward spiral ever since the 1700s. It had lost nearly all it’s colonial possessions during the Napoleonic Wars, and was in no condition to fight a war and win. The U.S. saw this as an opportunity at a chance at legitimization because Spain was only 90 miles away in Cuba. In order for a democracy to start a war, the people that make up the democracy need to be behind the war. Ever since 1895, newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Josef Pulitzer had been participating in what is called yellow journalism. All this time, their papers had been stirring pro imperialistic ideas, while rousing popular support against Spain, by sensationalizing Spanish brutality, and gloryizing the heroic, democratic deeds of the Cuban rebels. America had the public support to go to war in 1898; all that was need now was a spark to light the fuse. This spark came with the blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15th, 1898. A U.S. commission was sent to investigate, however no matter what the investigation concluded, America was going to war with Spain. In order to appease anti imperialists, Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which guaranteed the U.S. would not annex Cuba, leaving them independent. The war only lasted 113 days. It saw the total decimation of a European power by the United States. The Spanish Pacific Fleet was destroyed by Commodore Perry at Manila Bay in the Philippines, and the Spanish army in Cuba was forced to surrender. America had won the war. The ensuing Treaty of Paris of 1898 saw the spoils to the victors. Cuba was granted independence, the U.S. was given the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, and the U.S. paid 20 million do...
