Covers the final years of the nineteenth century, focusing on the annexation of Hawaii as well as the annexation of the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, all as a result of American victory in the Spanish-American War.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 3: Reconstruction and Urbanization
Part 10: The Beginnings of Imperialism

2. HAWAIIAN
INDEPENDENCE
• Before Grover Cleveland
returned to the Presidency, a
group of American sugar
planters overthrew the ruling
monarchy of Hawaii.
• They set up a provisional
government under the
leadership of Sanford B. Dole
and appealed to Benjamin
Harrison to annex Hawaii and
transform it into a state.
• When Cleveland took office in
1893, he withdrew the treaty of
annexation and ordered an
investigation of popular
attitudes towards annexation.

3. HAWAIIAN
INDEPENDENCE
• Cleveland’s investigation
revealed that most Hawaiians
were unhappy with the idea of
joining the United States.
• Cleveland referred the matter to
the Congress, which conducted
its own investigation and found
that most Hawaiians were in
fact happy with annexation.
• In response, Cleveland stopped
recognizing the legitimacy of
the Hawaiian royalty and began
to recognize the legitimacy of
Dole’s republican government.

4. THE ELECTION
OF 1896
• The Presidential election of
1896 pitted Republican
candidate William McKinley
against Democratic candidate
William Jennings Bryan.
• The main disagreement
between the two candidates
was over the issue of whether
or not to adopt bimetallism as
part of United States monetary
policy. This would allow both
silver and gold to be used as
the standard currency, rather
than simply gold alone.
• McKinley, a supporter of the
gold standard, won the election.

5. THE ELECTION
OF 1896
• McKinley ran a famously
humble Presidential campaign.
While Bryan spent millions of
dollars campaigning across the
country, McKinley stayed at his
home in Ohio and ran a ‘front
porch campaign’ — literally
inviting members of the public
to visit him on his front porch
every day except Sunday.
• With McKinley as the pro-
business candidate and Bryan
as the pro-labor candidate, this
election marked the end of the
Third Party System and the
beginning of the Fourth.

6. McKINLEY’S
INAUGURATION
McKinley’s humility carried over
into his first inaugural address.
The United States “want[s] no wars
of conquest,” he declared. “We
must avoid the temptation of
territorial aggression.” But his
hopes would not be met...

7. THE SPANISH-
AMERICAN WAR
• In 1895, Cuban rebels began
fighting a war of independence
against Spain.
• Because the Spanish used
particularly authoritarian and
brutal tactics against the
Cubans, including housing
them in internment camps,
American public opinion
favored the rebels and favored
Cuban independence — and
so did William McKinley.
• In 1897, McKinley began
negotiating with the Spanish for
an end to the war.

8. THE SPANISH-
AMERICAN WAR
• It soon became clear that
neither side in the conflict would
compromise and, in January
1898, riots broke out in Havana.
• To protect American interests
in Havana, McKinley sent the
battleship USS Maine to
Havana harbor.
• On February 15, the Maine
exploded and sank. More than
250 men were killed.
• On March 20, an investigation
into the explosion found that it
had been caused by an
underwater Spanish mine.

9. THE SPANISH-
AMERICAN WAR
• On April 20, the Congress
declared war against Spain.
• The war was over very quickly
and involved the United States
targeting Spanish colonies
around the world.
• In May 1898, the United States
navy conquered the Philippines
without the loss of any vessels.
• In June, McKinley began the
establishment of a new
provisional government there.

10. ATTITUDES
TOWARDS THE WAR
• Many people opposed
America’s involvement in
Spanish affairs. Prime among
the war’s opponents was the
American Anti-Imperialist
League, whose members
included William Jennings
Bryan and Grover Cleveland.
• The League saw the annexation
of the Philippines as an example
of American imperialism and a
violation of the political principle
that a republican government
“derives its just powers from the
consent of the governed.”

11. ATTITUDES
TOWARDS THE WAR
• Very much profiting from the
war were the newspaper
moguls William Randolph
Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.
• Hearst and Pulitzer were
engaged in a battle for
dominance of national
newspaper circulation. This led
them to transform events during
the war into sensational stories
in order to attract new readers.
They published what came to
be known as yellow journalism:
journalism designed to entertain
or terrify readers rather than
informing them.

12. THE SPANISH-
AMERICAN WAR
• In July 1898, the United States
Army conquered Cuba after a
victory in the decisive Battle of
San Juan Hill.
• The victors of the battle were
the men of the First United
States Volunteer Cavalry,
popularly known as the Rough
Riders. Their commander was
the historian and Assistant
Secretary of the Navy,
Theodore Roosevelt.
• Later in July, the United States
Army conquered Puerto Rico.

13. UNITED STATES TERRITORIAL
ACQUISITIONS IN 1898
The Philippines
Guam
Hawaii
Puerto Rico
Cuba

14. AMERICA EXPANDS
• In December 1898, the signing
of the Treaty of Paris officially
brought the Spanish-American
War to an end.
• The United States acquired the
territories of Puerto Rico, the
Philippines, and Guam, but also
paid Spain $20 million.
• Cuba technically gained its
independence from Spain,
although American troops did
not leave the island.

15. AMERICA EXPANDS
• At the same time, McKinley
acted to annex Hawaii.
• He achieved the annexation not
by way of a treaty, however, but
by persuading both houses of
Congress to pass a resolution
of annexation.
• “We need Hawaii... a good deal
more than we did California,”
he is reported to have said. “It
is Manifest Destiny.”
• And so the United States ended
the nineteenth century as the
emerging power of the world.

16. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 3: Reconstruction and Urbanization
Part 10: The Beginnings of Imperialism