anted to better the inhabitants of these islands on the islands themselves. Many people were strongly opposed to colonizing the inhabitants in respect to their diversified racial mixtures. The issue was predominantly concerned with Cuba. Americans argued that by colonizing Cuba, the U.S. would bring inferior races into the country. This would only add to the already heated racial tensions that were ongoing in the United States. As a result, the U.S. passed the Platt Amendment, which allowed it to refrain from annexing Cuba into the union while still increasing control over Cuban affairs; the amendment was also used to help later presidents develop treaties in the Panama Canal region. The United States also passed the Foraker Act that helped to do much of the same in Puerto Rico. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States developed into an economic powerhouse. Through gaining territories from the war, the United States presence began to enter into the global atmosphere.World War I had something of a different beginning for the United States. Unlike the Spanish-American War, the initial causes had very little, if anything, to do with the United States. There were three main causes that initiated the upheaval of World War I. The first and most heated was the escalating tensions amongst ethnic groups in the Austria-Hungary and Balkan nations. The groups were in constant competition for influence over the region and when the assassination of the archduke of Austria occurred, the Austro-Hungarian government blamed the Serbian government and declared war. As a result, other nations were directly brought into the war through agreements and treaties. Other reasons for World War I included the French and German dispute regarding Alsace-Lorraine, and naval expansion disputes between Britain and Germany. Initially there was little concern that whatever happened in Europe would affect the United States. If European co...
