Now we can be like European countries!!
Imperialism: a period of time when strong
countries take over weak countries
• Some Americans want colonies - Imperialism
• There is no place to expand in America
• We should take island colonies for Navy refueling and
repairs
• Eventually, America gets a military base in Hawaii
• We trade in the Caribbean
• The United States trades
with Cuba
• Spain controls Cuba
• Cuba wants
independence from
Spain
• America promises to
support Cuba’s
independence in order to
protect our business
• 1898- President
McKinley is hoping to
avoid war
• Extreme journalists call
for war (yellow
journalism)
– Joseph Pulitzer
– William Randolph Hearst
• McKinley sends the USS
Maine- a ship- to Cuba
•
•
•
•
•
On Feb 15, 1898- the USS Maine blew up!
No one knows what caused the explosion
Yellow Journalists blamed Spain
They called for war!
On April 20, 1898 the US declared war on Spain
• War lasts from April to August
1898
• Only 460 Americans die in
battle
• 5,200 Americans die of disease
• Assistant Secretary of the
Navy Theodore Roosevelt has
the Navy battle Spanish ships
in the Philippines and destroy
Spanish fleet in the Pacific
• Roosevelt volunteers as a
Rough Rider
• The Rough Riders battle
Spain in Puerto Rico
• Theodore Roosevelt
becomes a national hero.
• The US Army defeats
Spain at the Battle of San
Juan Hill in Puerto Rico
• The United States wins
the war in less than 5
months
• Cuba gains their
independence
• United States becomes a
world power
• Territories (US controls
all 3):
– Puerto Rico
– Guam
– The Philippines
• After the Spanish
American War, America
was a world power
• We held territories in
Puerto Rico, the
Philippines and Guam
• After McKinley is shot
in 1901, Roosevelt
becomes president