INQUIRY: Was American expansion abroad justified? AIM: Should the United States go to war with Spain in 1898? Name Spanish-American War Debate Directions: With your partner, read and annotate the documents. Use the documents to generate arguments both for and against war with Spain. You should generate two arguments per document. Documents against war with Spain Document 1: Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League, 1899 - Following the Spanish American War, the United States occupied Cuba for many years & annexed the Philippines from Spain (formerly Spanish territory).the American Anti-Imperialist league was founded by a group of protesters who were against the Spanish - American War & the American occupation of Cuba & the Philippines. Below is their league s platform. We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends to result in military conflict - as is evidenced in the case of Cuba, and an evil from which it has been our glory to be free. We regret that it has become necessary in the land of Washington and Lincoln to reaffirm that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We maintain that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.we protest against the extension of American power or authority by Spanish methods. We demand the immediate end of the war against liberty, begun by Spain. We hold, with Abraham Lincoln, that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other s consent. When the white man governs himself, that is self-government, but when governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government - that is a king. 1. According to the American Anti-Imperialist league,...imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends to result in military conflict. What does this mean? What are the members of this league fearful of? 2. What does...governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed mean? How could that idea be used to argue against the war with Spain for Cuba s independence? 3. The American Anti-Imperialist league was morally opposed to the invasion of Cuba. Why do you think that was based on this platform?
Document 2: U.S. Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism, 1895 1898 Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. During the late 19th century it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the gaining of overseas territory by the United States. The term originated in the competition over the New York City newspaper market between major newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Yellow journalism was very important in the start of the Spanish-American war. Cuba had long been a Spanish colony but the Cubans wanted to declare their independence. Many in the United States called upon Spain to withdraw from the island, and some even gave material support to the Cuban revolutionaries. Newspapers used yellow journalism to exaggerate the harshness of Spanish rule, even printing stories that were false. The peak of yellow journalism came in early 1898, when a U.S. battleship, the Maine, sunk in Havana harbor. On the night of February 15, an explosion tore through the ship s hull, and the Maine went down. Observers and an initial report by the colonial government of Cuba concluded that the explosion had occurred on board, but Hearst and Pulitzer, who had for several years been selling papers by exaggerating anti-spanish public opinion in the United States, published rumors of plots to sink the ship. When a U.S. naval investigation later stated that the explosion had come from a mine in the harbor, the proponents of yellow journalism seized upon it and called for war. By early May, the Spanish-American War had begun. 1. How did yellow journalism impact the start of the Spanish-American War? 2. According to this excerpt, was popular opinion and support for the war based on factual knowledge or shaped by a biased opinion? How do you know?
Document 3: Yellow Kid - Cartoon - the below cartoon was published in June of 1898 by Leon Barritt. It depicts two yellow kids - Joseph Pulitzer on the left the William Randolph Hearst on the right. Each man is pushing back on a set of blocks that spell war. The letters are large to reference the notion that the headlines both newspapers used to sensationalize an anti-spanish feeling & encourage war were getting bigger and bigger, until the front pages of their respective newspapers were simply three or four word headlines. Pulitzer and Hearst were two major newspaper owners in the 1890 s and are popularly known to have encouraged the brand of journalism known as yellow journalism - sensationalizing and exaggerating the news to sell papers. On the left Putlizer s yellow kid costume reads Say young feller, vatch de tome. I m de tome. You can t but it. I m a goot ting put don t push me. See! Putlizer s odd accent here is mimicked to say Say young feller - watch the tome. I m the tome. You can t buy it. I m a good thing but don t push me. See! The word tome here means a book or scholarly work. Essentially, Pulitzer here is claiming that Hearst should watch his words & that Pulitzer is the good thing - or a scholarly newspaper that is providing people with knowledge. Implying that he is ethically, accurately and morally reporting on the tensions in Cuba & the potential Spanish - American War. But if he is pushed, he will do unethical things. Hearst s yellow smock reads Say. This is my war - I bought and paid for it. And if you don t stop bothering me about it, I ll have you put off the earth - see! This suggests that Hearst is threatening Pulitzer - he wants Pulitzer to stop reporting on the war because Hearst bought and paid for it - so he sees himself as the owner of the war & the news reporting on the war. The cartoonist here is mocking these two men, criticizing the American government for allowing the media to create a war, and informing citizens that the news reports they are reading, which urge strongly for war, are heavily biased. 1. How could this depiction of Yellow Journalism be used to argue against the US invasion of Cuba?
Documents for war with Spain Document 1: The Monroe Doctrine by James Monroe 1823 The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers... The citizens of the United States come in friendly terms, in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow men on that side of the Atlantic. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries, or make preparation for our defense. With the latest movements by Europe in this hemisphere, we are, of necessity, more immediately connected... We owe it, therefore, to consider any attempt by Europe to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence, we consider attempts by any European power to end that independence as a direct threat to the United States herself 1. In the first paragraph, what does Monroe declare about the people and nations on the American continent? What does this mean? 2. In third paragraph, Monroe suggests that there is only one instance in which the United States would get involved with European powers. What is that instance? 3. How could this document be used in support of an argument for the US declaring war on Spain? Document 2: Senator Redfield Proctor, speech on Spanish atrocities in Cuba delivered in the United States Senate, March 17, 1898, after a visit to Cuba. His testimony helped sway politicians and business leaders toward war. I went to Cuba with a strong idea that the picture had been overdrawn. I could not believe that out of a population of one million six hundred thousand people, two hundred thousand had died within these Spanish Reconcentration camps...my inquiries were entirely outside of sensational sources...what I saw I cannot tell so that others can see it. It must be seen with one's own eyes to be realized...to me the strongest appeal is not the barbarity practiced by Spain, nor the loss of the Maine...but the spectacle of a million and a half people, the entire native population of Cuba, struggling for freedom and deliverance from the worst misgovernment of which I ever had knowledge... 1. What was Senator Proctor s experience when visiting Cuba?
Document 3: Excerpt from Albert J. Beveridge s Senate campaign speech - March of the Flag, September 16, 1898 Fellow citizens, it is a noble land that God has given us; a land that can feed and clothe the world... It is a mighty people that he has planted on this soil... It is a glorious history our God has bestowed upon his chosen people;... a history of soldiers who carried the flag across the blazing deserts and through the ranks of hostile mountains, even to the gates of sunset; a history of a multiplying people who overran a continent in half a century... The Opposition tells us that we ought not to govern a people without their consent. I answer, the rule of liberty that all just government derives its authority from the consent of the governed, applies only to those who are capable of self-government. I answer, we govern the Indians without their consent, we govern our territories without their consent, we govern our children without their consent... They ask us how we will govern these new possessions. I answer:... If England can govern foreign lands, so can America. If Germany can govern foreign lands, so can America. If they can supervise protectorates, so can America What does all this mean for every one of us? It means opportunity for all the glorious young manhood of the republic the most virile, ambitious, impatient, militant manhood the world has ever seen. It means that the resources and the commerce of these immensely rich dominions will be increased... In Cuba, alone, there are 15,000,000 acres of forest unacquainted with the axe. There are exhaustless mines of iron... There are millions of acres yet unexplored. It means new employment and better wages for every laboring man in the Union... Ah! As our commerce spreads, the flag of liberty will circle the globe... And, as their thunders salute the flag, peoples will know that the voice of Liberty is speaking, at last, for them; that civilization is dawning, at last, for them Liberty and Civilization, those children of Christ's gospel... Fellow Americans, we are God's chosen people... 1. What does Beveridge think about consent of the governed? 2. What gains can the US make from taking over Cuba?