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