Spanish-American War Causes

Causes of the Spanish-American War

• Cubans wanted to remove Spain or involve the US
• Spain sent 100,000 troops to stop the revolt which caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths
• Sensational journalism with bold headlines of crime, disaster, and scandal
• False accounts of Spanish atrocities in Cuba were printed
• Americans urged Congress and the president to intervene in Cuba for humanitarian reasons
• A Spanish diplomat's letter was leaked criticizing President McKinley
• The USS Maine exploded in Havana, Cuba, killing 260 Americans
• The Yellow Press blamed Spain for the sinking of the Maine
• McKinley listed 4 reasons why the US should support the Cuban Revolt:
  • End the barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries in Cuba
  • Protect the lives and property of US citizens in Cuba
  • End the serious injury to commerce, trade, and business
  • End the constant menace to peace arising from disorder in Cuba
• The Teller Amendment declared that the US had no intention of taking political control of Cuba

Election of 1896

• William McKinley (Republican) defeated William Jennings Bryan (Democrat-Populist)
• McKinley won the North (271 electoral votes) whereas the South and West were devastated (mostly farmers, inflation was bad)
• The popular vote was very close between McKinley (7.1 million) and Jennings-Bryan (6.5 million)
• The central issue was the country's money supply, during an economic depression that began in 1893
• There was a split between those who favored the gold standard and free silver
• Neither party took strong positions on issues due to the closeness of the 1876 and 1892 elections
• Modern-day campaigning tactics were present like buttons, flags, bands, oratory, etc.
• Jennings-Bryan traveled while McKinley stayed in Ohio
• Both parties were strongly organized: Republicans at the state level and Democrats in cities
• 80% of eligible voters participated, showing strong party identification, regional loyalty, and ethical voters

Election of 1912

• Candidates were Taft (Republican), Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive Republican), Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), and Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)
• The Election came down between Roosevelt and Wilson
• Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" included government regulation of business and unions and social welfare programs, and women's suffrage
• Wilson's "New Freedom" sought to limit big business and government, bring about reform by ending corruption, and revive competition by supporting small businesses
• Wilson won, but with less than a majority of the popular vote, but as the Republicans split he won a lot of electoral votes
• Democrats were in control of Congress.

Postwar (WWI) Problems

• The 1918 Pandemic was an influenza outbreak that infected about 500 million people and killed 50 million
• Due to Demobilization not all returning soldiers could find jobs right away
• Soldiers took jobs from women and African Americans
• During the war wartime business boomed, but factory orders for military products fell off afterwards
• European farm products came back on the market, affecting US farmers
• Consumers went on buying sprees, leading to inflation and a recession
• The Red Scare was anti-Communist hysteria
• It fueled xenophobia that resulted in restrictions on immigration
• Palmer Raids saw Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer establish a special office to gather information on radicals due to unexplained bombings
• Mass arrests of anarchists, socialists, and labor agitators were ordered
• During the war, unions made important gains.
• Afterwards, a series of strikes and fear of revolution turned public opinion against unions
• Strikes of 1919 included shipyard workers in Seattle striking for higher pay, police in Boston striking to protest the firing of a few officers who tried to unionize and US Steel Corporation workers striking
• Racial violence between Jim Crow oppression in the South, rapid growth of the KKK and the Great Migration to northern cities
• Racial tensions led to violence in many cities
• Confederate monuments honored Jefferson Davis and top Confederate generals throughout the South
• They defended white supremacy and slavery
• WWI drained the last of the Progressive idealism and people wanted to return to normalcy

Technological Innovation of the Gilded Age

• Communications innovations included the telegraph (Samuel F.B. Morse) and the transatlantic cable (could send messages across the seas in minutes)
• Innovations include the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell), cash register, and calculating machine
• Transportation innovations include subways and the Brooklyn Bridge
• Basic industries innovation included steel as Henry Bessemer and William Kelley discovered that blasting air through molten iron produced high-quality steel
• Electric power innovations included Thomas Edison's electric light (revolutionized society)
• George Westinghouse invented the railroad air brake, producing high-voltage alternating current (AC)
• Urban growth innovations include skyscrapers, large department stores, mail-order companies (Sears, Roebuck), packaged food, canning, and advertising

Gilded Age Responses to Immigration

• There were several overlaps in reasons to support anti-immigration efforts
• Labor union members had economic concerns because immigrants could depress wages and break strikes
• Immigrants benefitted from competition, and feared radical reform movements
• Business owners blamed immigrants for strikes and the labor movement
• Nativists believed immigrants would weaken Anglo culture and protested against Catholics (see API)
• Social Darwinists were for biological inferiority (English/German are superior) and were supported by biologists
• Restrictions to immigrants include the Chinese Exclusion Act (banned Chinese immigrants)
• The Contract Labor Law of 1885 limited temporary workers to protect American workforce
• There was a push for literacy tests at Ellis Island, vetoed by Clevland, but passed in 1917

Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal

• Roosevelt favored neither business nor labor, but insisted on a Square Deal to promote social justice, economic fairness, and government accountability
• His principle was first articulated in a 1904 campaign speech and started with the PA coal miners strike which resulted in a 10% wage increase and 9-hour workday
• He enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) to break up monopolies, and took action against Standard Oil Co. and Northern Securities Company
• Roosevelt convinced Congress to establish the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
• The Elkins Act gave the ICC greater authority to stop railroads from granting rebates (suing favoritism)
• The Hepburn Act allowed the commission to fix just and reasonable rates (fair price)
• During the Consumer Protection era Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" exposed Chicago stockyard and meat packing industry conditions prompting the need for the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act
• The Pure Food and Drug Act forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs
• The Meat Inspection Act provided federal inspectors visit meatpacking plants to ensure that they met minimum standards of sanitation
• Roosevelt loved the wilderness and outdoor life as he championed conservation
• He used the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, set aside 150 million acres of federal land as nation reserves so it couldn't be sold to private interests
• The Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902 funded irrigation projects arid lands out West, promoted agricultural development
• He Hosted a White House Conference to promote coordinated conservation planning by federal and state governments and established the National Conservation Commission and Gifford Pinchot of PA, first director of U.S. Forest Service

Fourteen Points Plan

• Wilson presented to Congress a detailed list of war aims designed to address the causes of WW1 and prevent another world war
• Germany had to return regions of Alsace and Lorraine to France and evacuate Belgium, Romania, and Serbia
• Recognition of the freedom of the seas and end of secret treaties, reduced national armaments (military strength), and impartial adjustment of all colonial claims
• Decisions about territories should be based solely on which nation had the most military power or historical claim to the land, rather the needs and desires of the people living there
• Self-determination for various nationalities (that people have a right to choose their own government and political status)
• Removal of trade barriers Creation of a League of Nations to ensure guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity “to great and small states alike" (most important to Wilson)

Treaty of Paris (1898)

• The Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War
• Included three main points:
  • Recognition of Cuban independence
  • U.S. acquisition of Puerto Rico and Guam
  • U.S. control of the Philippines in return for a $20 million payment to Spain
• Many supported freeing cubans, but others opposed taking over the Philippines, also known as "the Philippine question"
• The Treaty of Paris (1898) - Treaty of annexation of the Philippines, sparked an intense debate between imperialists and anti-imperialists
  • Anti-imperialists argued that annexation violated the Declaration of Independence and could entangle U.S. in Asian political conflicts
• Filipino nationalists, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, rebelled against U.S. control
  • This led to the 3 year war
  • Resulted in 5,000 American deaths and several hundred Filipino deaths (mostly disease)
• Imperialism remained a divisive issue in the U.S. w/ groups like the American Anti-Imperialists League (William Jennings Bryan) often opposed further expansion

Other Results of the War

• Insular Cases: SCOTUS ruled that constitutional rights did not automatically apply to U.S. territorial possessions like Philippines and Puerto Rico and the Court decided that Congress had power to determine what rights would be granted to people in U.S. territories
• Cuba and the Platt Amendment (1901)
  • Teller Amendment was meant to promise U.S. respect for Cuban sovereignty and U.S. troops remained in Cuba for 10 years
  • The Platt Amendment outlined conditions for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Cuba
  • Avoid treaties w/ foreign powers that could compromise its independence, permit U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs to preserve independence and maintain order and to lease naval based to the U.S., including the establishment of Guantanamo Bay
• Election of 1900: The Republican Party was William McKinley w/ Theodore Roosevelt and William Jenning Bryan from the Democratic Party
• *Bryan was for free silver and opposed American imperialism
• The electorate favored the gold standard, recent territorial acquisitions, and economic recovery so McKinley won
• Recognition of U.S. Power- Swift and decisive victory in the Spanish-American War upgraded national pride and fostered a renewed sense of unity (specifically in Southern states)
• European powers acknowledged U.S. as emerging first-class power equipped with a formidable navy + newfound readiness to engage in international affairs

Municipal Reforms (City-level Reforms)

• Fought political corruption by targeting corrupt city bosses and alliances w/ local businesses
• Progressive Mayors like Samuel "Golden Rule” Jones introduced free kindergartens, night schools, and public playgrounds
• Tom L. Johnson focused on tax reform and affordable trolley fares, but failed to achieve public ownership of utilities
• Controlling Public Utilities 1915 - 2/3rds of cities had taken ownership of water systems, and many also controlled gas, electricity, and urban transportation.
• Commissions and City Managers
  • Commission Plan (Galveston, Texas, 1900)- Voters elected heads of city departments (fire, police, sanitation)., Manager-Council Plan (Dayton, Ohio, 1913) – City councils hired professional managers to run government operations and over 300 cities adopted this system by 1923.

State Level Reforms

• Charles Evans Hughes (New York) fought fraudulent insurance companies
• Hiram Johnson (California) opposed Southern Pacific Railroad's political and economic power
• Robert La Follette (Wisconsin Idea) introduced direct primaries, tax reform and state regulations on railroads, utilities and insurance.
• Temperance and Prohibition
  • Urban Progressives were indifferent due to the connection between saloons and political machines
• Rural reformers supported prohibition to improve morals and politics By 1915, two-thirds of states had banned alcohol sales
• Social Welfare: Settlement house workers and activists (e.g., Jane Addams, Florence Kelley) lobbied for:
  • Better schools, juvenile courts, housing safety regulations, parole systems and juvenile reformatories
• Child and Women Labor
  • National Child Labor Committee influenced state laws by 1907 and compulsory school attendance laws helped remove children from factories
  • Muller v. Oregon (1908) upheld restrictions on women's working hours for health reasons
  • Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911): Led to stronger workplace safety laws, however laws protecting women restricted them from higher-paying industrial jobs
• Later, laws were advocated for workplace equality

Opposition to Immigration in the Gilded Age

• Several groups supported efforts in restricting immigrants
  • Labor Union members (economic concerns) resented employers who used immigrants to depress wages + break strikes
  • Employers benefitted from competition, but feared immigrants would advocate for radical reforms
  • Business owners blamed strikes + labor movement on immigrants
  • Nativists- alarmed that immigrants would take jobs, but also weaken Anglo culture
  • Protestant nativists against Roman Catholics from API which was the largest anti-Catholic organization
  • Social Darwinists believed southern and eastern Europeans and non-Europeans were biologically inferior to English and German people
  • Supported idea by many leading biologists (who were later discredited)
• Restrictions on Chinese and Other Immigrants
  • Hostility was primarily from western states, especially mining towns
  • California's miner tax was $20 per month tax on foreign-born miners
  • The Chinese Exclusion Act banned all new immigration from China and wasn't fully lifted until 1965
  • Immigration Act of 1882 restricted undesirable persons (paupers, criminals, convicts, mentally ill)
  • Contract Labor Law limited temporary workers to protect American jobs
• There was a literacy test required medical exams and an entry tax for new immigrants at Ellis Island

Impact of Restrictions

• The Quota Acts severely restricted immigration, nearly closing the U.S. to many newcomers

Awakening Reform in the Gilded Age

• Books of Social Criticism
  • Henry George published "Progress and Poverty" which expressed wealth inequality caused by industrialization and proposed a single tax on land to address poverty
  • Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward, 2000-1887" imagined a future cooperative society that eliminated poverty, greed and crime
  • Both considered to be utopian thinkers, faced criticism, and inspired reform movements in order to shift from laissez-faire economics so greater government regulation, which were sometimes labeled as socialists
• Religion and Society
  • Religions adapted to the challenges of modern urban life
  • Roman Catholicism grew due to immigration from ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe
  • Cardinal James Gibbon supported labor movements, gaining immigrant support
  • Dwight Moody founded the Moody Bible Institute to help urban evangelists adapt Christianity to city life
  • The Salvation Army provided aid to the homeless and poor while spreading Christian teachings
• The Social Gospel Movement
  • promoted applying Christian principles to social issues like housing, wages, and public health; believing social justice would lead to salvation
  • Led by Walter Rauschenbusch -linked Christianity with Progressive reforms and inspired middle class protestants to address urban problems
• Social Workers
  • Emerged from settlement house volunteers Example: Jane Addams of Hull House
  • Advocated for child labor laws, housing reforms, and women's rights

Families in the Urban Society

• There was an increased stress due to isolation from extended family and traditional village support
• Divorce rates rose (1 in 12) and divorce laws expanded to include cruelty and desertion
• Family size decreased becuase children became economical assets on farm, financially burden in city

Voting Rights for Women

• Women's suffrage began at Seneca Falls (1848) and gained momentum through middle-class activists
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
• Wyoming was the first state to grant full suffrage to women in 1869
• In 1900 some states allowed women to vote in local elections and property rights to married women

Temperance Movement

• Excessive alcohol consumption contributed to poverty in immigrant/working-class families
• The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) (1874) advocated for total abstinence under Frances E. Willard had 500,000 members Carrie A. Nation (Kansas) took extreme measures by raiding saloons and smashing beer barrels with a hatchet

Urban Reforms

• Reformers sought to combat corruption in city government Theodore Roosevelt attempted to reform the NYC PD
• The NYC reform led to his selection as VP nominee in 1896, later president
• Gilded Age reformers didn't see immediate success, efforts laid groundwork for early 20th century national reforms.

World War I Mobilization (Home Front)

• The U.S. Mobilization was a race against time
• Wilson and advisers tried to mobilize its vast economic resources fast enough to make a difference in the war against Germany

Industry and Labor

• The Wilson admin created temporary agencies and commissions staffed by experts from business and government
• Bernard Baruch (Wall Street Broker)- volunteered his extensive contacts to help win war effort through the War Industries Board set to establish production priorities and centralized control over raw materials + prices
• Herbet Hoover- took charge of Food Admin., greatly increased shipment by encouraging Americans to eat less meat and bread
• Harry Garfield- headed fuel admin, leading efforts to close
• Treasury Secretary William McAdoo headed railroad administration, took public control of railroads to coordinate traffic and standardized railroad equipment
• William Howard Taft headed National War Labor Board, helped w/ disputes between workers and employers so labor could win concessions during the war efforts

Finance

• Wilson increased the war budget to $33 billion in 2 years
• Four Liberty Bonds were conducted to encourage Americans to put their money in to federal government
• Congress increased personal income+ corporate taxes,and taxed all new luxury goods

Election of 1986

• One of the most emotional elections in U.S. history the Republicans favored high tariffs and opposed against silver coinage
• Democrats favored lower tariffs and divided on currency issues Bryan, Democrats, and Populists became divided between “Gold” democrats and pro-silver democrats
• William Jennings Bryan- democratic nominee after his “Cross of Gold" Speech, because the Democrats supported unlimited silver coinage (16:1 ratio to gold) with also taking populist issues

####Populist Ideologies

• Bryan won many voters by reluctantly leading to a fusion campaign.
• Gold Bug Democrats opposed Bryan, forming the National Democratic Party or voting Republican

####McKinley Victory

• McKinley Republican nominee- (supported high tariffs + business interests)
• Hanna used wealth to fund an aggressive campaign
• Republicans blamed Democrats for Panic of 1893 and promised economic stability
• Republican platform supported the gold standard and opposed - unlimited silver coinage The Campaign Gold Bug Democrats defection gave Republicans early advantage, by campaigning nationwide, that led McKinely to win over popular vote and electoral votes

American Expansion

• William H seward served as secretary under president johnson and lincoln which prevented great britian and france form supporting the confederacy. In adition, the U.S expanded by the the Annexation of midway pacific, right to build canal, and purchase of alaska
• Congress failed to annex hawaiii and purchase of the danish west indies

Purchase Of Alaska

• Russia saw alaska an as econ burden which led them sell it
• Seward push for purchase however the initial reaction by americans was a “Sewards Folley or Ice Box
• Its economic and strategic value wasnt recognized at first, and this later led to US controlling pearl harbor.
• By 1875 the treat gave US exclusive rights to hawiaan sugar
• The U.S Overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani
• Pushing towards anexation which caused cleaveland to delay this imperialism

Opposition of the US Imperialsim

• Believed that People should self determined, this principles applied everywhere and imperialism morality wrong
• The us rejected imperialists and racist ideologies that the the whites shouldnt dominate over americans
• Americans support isolationism
• Americans opposed the expense of imperialism due its expensive navy fleet

Progressives

• They were divers, protestors, chuch, A. A, Feminists
• They wanted to improve or change the ways in business work, improve social justice system.
• Progressives were middle class and not rural
• They formed national business to address corruption and and corruption
• They were relgious, and they took actions against elites for control
• Leading figures includde Rossevelt, la follete, willim bryan,
• They were influenced by darwin to stop ridid views and use a scientific approoach

Explore the causes of the Spanish-American War, including Cuban desire for independence, Spanish military actions leading to civilian deaths and sensational journalism. Learn about the USS Maine explosion, the De Lome letter, and McKinley's reasons for US intervention.