![]() As a result, the US ended up with an odd quasi-imperial policy toward Cuba: The US would not seize it outright as a colony (something it did with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines) but would take over Guantanamo Bay, control Cuba's external affairs, and reserve the right to intervene on the island.Īmerica's imperial era in Cuba lasted only about 30 years. And partly it was because there had been an earlier debate, in the 1850s, over whether to seize Cuba as a new US slave state.īy the time the war ended, both sides of the American debate had passed legislation in Congress meant to codify their preferred outcome. Partly this was because Cuba, so near to the US, inspired especially strong feelings in many Americans. It was also over the Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean the island of Guam in the Pacific and, largest of all, the Philippines, a series of large islands in Southeast Asia.īut debate in the US focused especially on Cuba. ![]() The Spanish-American War wasn't just about Cuba. Cuba was a Spanish colony then independence activists there rose up in 1895, and in 1898 the US declared war on Spain to help them.īut as the war progressed, American politicians argued: Should the US seize Cuba as its own colony, or should it stick to its word and support Cuban independence? This debate played out in the US just as the once-great Spanish Empire was crumbling. ![]() Americans don't talk about this chapter in our history much today, but around the turn of the 19th century the country's politics were divided over a question of national identity: Would the United States become an explicitly imperial power, joining the great powers of Europe in dividing up the world? Or would it champion its founding ideals of democracy by supporting independence movements around the globe? ![]()
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