McKinley’s Diplomatic Approach

• McKinley wanted to avoid war and take a diplomatic approach• Successful at first but doesn’t last long• Spain recalled Weyler • Modified concentration policy and offered limited self-

government

• De Lôme Letter- February 1898

• Private letter written by Spanish Minister to the U.S. Enrique Dupuy de Lôme• Called and criticized McKinley for being weak and a “bidder for admiration of

the crowd”• Americans angered by insult

U.S.S. Maine Explodes!

U.S.S. Maine Explodes cont.

• U.S.S. Maine blew up on February 15, 1898• Sent to bring home American citizens in danger• No one really knew why or how it exploded but journalists

exaggerated the reports• April 20, 1898- Congress agreed and declared war against Spain

• War in the Caribbean • Naval blockade of Cuba

• Admiral William T. Sampson sealed the harbors

• 125,000 Americans volunteered to fight• Rough Riders

• 1st United States Volunteer Calvary led by Theodore Roosevelt

Defeating the Spanish (CUBA)

• San Juan Hill• Most famous land battle- very strategic hill• Rough Riders played a minor role• Roosevelt declared hero

• Spanish fleet destroyed while trying to escape Cuba

• U.S. invaded Puerto Rico on July 25, 1898

Spanish-American War in the Philippines

• Spanish-American War began in the Philippines before it struck in Cuba

• April 30, 1898- George Dewey steamed the navy into Manila harbor and opened fire on the fleet• Dewey gathered support from Filipinos who wanted

independence• 11,000 Americans joined rebel forces led by Emilio

Aguinaldo• Spanish troops surrendered by August

Treaty of Paris

• Spain sold the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million

• Spain freed Cuba• Imperialism- McKinley faces the decision of what

to do with the Philippines.• Civilize and Christianize them

• Filipinos had been Christian for years

• Should the Philippines be annexed?• The treaty decided that the U.S. now included

Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines