## Learning Outcomes

- Explain the long-term and short-term causes of the Spanish-American War
- Identify how yellow journalism shaped public opinion in the United States
- Recall the significance of the Cuban revolt, Weyler’s reconcentration policy, the De Lôme Letter, and the USS Maine
- Distinguish between immediate triggerss and deeper economic, political, and strategic causes
- Evaluate the extent to which yellow journalism caused the war
- Use specific evidence in SAQ, DBQ, and LEQ responses on causation in Period 7

## AP United States History Syllabus

For the AP United States History, you are expected to understand the causes of the Spanish-American War, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the war began in **1898** after rising tensions over **Cuba**
- Identify the role of **yellow journalism**, especially newspapers associated with **William Randolph Hearst** and **Joseph Pulitzer**
- Explain how the **Cuban revolt for independence** and Spanish repression increased U.S. sympathy for intervention
- Understand the importance of **Valeriano Weyler’s reconcentration policy** as a humanitarian issue
- Recall that the **USS Maine** exploded in **Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898**
- Explain why the **De Lôme Letter** increased anti-Spanish feeling
- Distinguish between long-term causes, such as economic and strategic interests, and immediate triggerss, such as the Maine explosion
- Know that **William McKinley** initially acted cautiously before asking Congress for intervention in **April 1898**

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. Why was Cuba important to the United States in the 1890s?
2. How did yellow journalism increase pressure for war with Spain?
3. What happened to the USS Maine, and why did it matter politically?
4. What was the De Lôme Letter, and how did it affect American opinion?
5. To what extent did humanitarian concern, rather than expansionism, cause the war?

## Introduction

The Spanish-American War is one of the clearest APUSH examples of **causation**. Students often remember one dramatic phrase—“Remember the Maine!”—but the exam rewards a wider explanation. The war did not begin because of one newspaper headline or one explosion alone. It grew out of rebellion in Cuba, Spanish repression, U.S. business interests, expansionist thinking, and a wave of public anger intensified by the press.

This topic sits firmly in **Period 7 (1890–1945)** and connects to the AP theme of **America in the World**. It also links to earlier ideas such as **Manifest Destiny** and the **Monroe Doctrine**, showing how older expansionist habits could shift from continental growth to overseas intervention.

> **Key Term: Spanish-American War**
> The 1898 war between the United States and Spain, fought mainly over Cuba, that marked the emergence of the United States as an overseas imperial power.

### The long-term causes: Cuba, expansionism, and U.S. interests

The most basic cause of the war was instability in **Cuba**, a Spanish colony only about 90 miles from Florida. Cuba mattered to the United States for three main reasons.

First, there were strong **economic ties**. American investors had major interests in Cuban sugar and other trade. When unrest spread across the island, U.S. business interests were threatened. Damage to plantations, disruption to trade, and general uncertainty all made American leaders pay close attention.

Second, there were **strategic concerns**. Cuba’s location in the Caribbean made it important for U.S. security and trade routes. American policymakers had long believed that events in the Western Hemisphere were not just foreign affairs but matters affecting the United States directly. This thinking drew on earlier traditions.

> **Key Term: Monroe Doctrine**
> An 1823 U.S. foreign policy statement opposing new European interference in the Americas and asserting special U.S. interest in the Western Hemisphere.

Third, there was a broader mood of **expansionism** in the 1890s. By this time, the western frontier was widely seen as closed. That did not erase the old American habit of expansion. Instead, some politicians, business leaders, and writers turned outward. Naval strategist **Alfred T. Mahan** argued that a modern great power needed a strong navy and access to overseas ports. That argument did not directly cause the war, but it made overseas intervention seem more acceptable and useful.

This is why a strong APUSH answer should not describe the war as a sudden emotional reaction. The explosion of the Maine mattered because it landed in a setting already full of tension.

> **Key Term: expansionism**
> A policy favoring the growth of a nation’s influence, territory, or markets beyond its existing borders.

### The Cuban revolt and Spanish repression

The immediate background to war was the **Cuban revolt for independence**, which began in **1895**. Cuban rebels fought to end Spanish rule, and Spain responded harshly. The key figure here was **General Valeriano Weyler**, sent by Spain to crush the rebellion.

Weyler used a **reconcentration policy**. Rural civilians were forced into guarded towns or camps so that rebels would lose local support. In military terms, the policy aimed to separate insurgents from the population. In human terms, it was disastrous. Crowded conditions, poor sanitation, hunger, and disease led to major civilian suffering.

> **Key Term: reconcentration policy**
> Spain’s policy in Cuba under General Valeriano Weyler of forcing rural civilians into camps or towns to cut support for rebels.

This matters for APUSH because it gave Americans a **humanitarian argument** for intervention. Newspapers, politicians, and activists could point to real suffering in Cuba. That did not mean all supporters of war were motivated mainly by compassion. Many had mixed motives. But the suffering was not invented. It was one of the strongest reasons war could be justified publicly.

A common student mistake is to treat humanitarian concern and imperial ambition as opposites. On the exam, it is usually stronger to argue that both operated at once. A politician could sincerely condemn Spanish brutality while also seeing economic or strategic advantage in intervention.

Another useful distinction is between **sympathy for Cuban independence** and a simple desire to conquer Cuba. In public, many Americans framed intervention as support for liberation. That language later appeared in the **Teller Amendment**, which promised that the United States would not annex Cuba. Even before war began, this shows how policymakers knew anti-colonial language mattered politically.

> **Test Tip:** In an LEQ, do not write “the U.S. went to war because Spain was cruel” and stop there. Build a chain: Cuban revolt led to Spanish repression, repression created humanitarian outrage, the press spread that outrage, and public pressure made intervention more likely.

### Yellow journalism and the making of war fever

No cause of the war is more famous than **yellow journalism**, but it is also the one students most often oversimplify.

> **Key Term: yellow journalism**
> Sensationalized, exaggerated, and sometimes misleading newspaper reporting used to attract readers and stir public emotion.

In the 1890s, intense newspaper competition pushed publishers to dramatize events. The two names you need to know are **William Randolph Hearst** of the _New York Journal_ and **Joseph Pulitzer** of the _New York World_. Their papers used emotional stories, dramatic illustrations, and striking headlines to increase circulation.

In coverage of Cuba, this meant Spanish cruelty was often reported in vivid and highly emotional ways. Stories highlighted suffering, destruction, and scandal. The effect was not to invent the Cuban crisis from nothing, but to make it impossible for readers to ignore.

This is where **jingoism** comes in.

> **Key Term: jingoism**
> Aggressive nationalism that favors a forceful or warlike foreign policy.

Yellow journalism helped create a more jingoistic public mood. Readers who were already sympathetic to Cubans became angrier. Readers with little prior interest could be drawn in by dramatic reporting. Politicians then faced more public pressure to act.

Still, yellow journalism was not all-powerful. President **William McKinley** did not rush immediately into war because of newspaper excitement. He was more cautious than many newspaper editors and many members of the public. This difference matters a lot in APUSH writing. Public opinion and policy are related, but not identical.

An excellent argument would say:

- yellow journalism increased war fever
- it magnified outrage over real events
- but it did not by itself force war
- war came from the interaction of media pressure with events in Cuba, diplomatic crises, and strategic interests

### The De Lôme Letter and the USS Maine

In early **1898**, two short-term crises pushed U.S.-Spanish tensions sharply upward.

The first was the **De Lôme Letter**. This was a private letter written by **Enrique Dupuy de Lôme**, the Spanish minister to the United States. When it became public, Americans were outraged because it insulted President McKinley, portraying him as weak. The letter did not start the war, but it damaged diplomacy and made Spain look contemptuous.

> **Key Term: De Lôme Letter**
> A leaked 1898 letter by the Spanish minister to the United States insulting President McKinley and worsening anti-Spanish feeling.

The second, much more important event was the destruction of the **USS Maine** in **Havana Harbor** on **February 15, 1898**.

> **Key Term: USS Maine**
> A U.S. battleship that exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, becoming the immediate symbol of the push for war with Spain.

About **266** American sailors died. At the time, many Americans immediately blamed Spain. Yellow newspapers amplified that suspicion and spread the slogan **“Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”**

But here is the key historical distinction: the explosion became a **trigger**, not proven evidence of Spanish guilt. Later investigations and many historians have concluded that the exact cause remains uncertain and may have been an internal accident, such as a coal bunker fire.

This distinction matters enormously on the AP exam. If you write “Spain blew up the Maine,” you risk stating as fact something historians do not treat as settled. Better phrasing would be:

- many Americans blamed Spain
- the press portrayed the explosion as an attack
- the cause was never definitively proven
- politically, it became the immediate spark for war fever

That is more accurate and more sophisticated.

> **Test Tip:** If an SAQ asks about the Maine, use wording like “the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor intensified demands for war, even though Spanish responsibility was unproven.” That earns subtlety without losing clarity.

### Why McKinley went to war: public pressure and policy choice

President **William McKinley** is important because he shows that war was a **decision**, not an automatic reaction.

McKinley did not immediately seek war when Cuba revolted. He did not immediately seek war after Weyler’s policy, the De Lôme Letter, or even the Maine explosion. He preferred diplomacy and tried to avoid conflict if possible.

So why did he eventually ask Congress for intervention in **April 1898**?

He cited several reasons:

- humanitarian suffering in Cuba
- danger to American lives and property
- economic disruption caused by the conflict
- threat to peace and stability so close to the United States

These reasons show that the war cannot be reduced to “the newspapers made him do it.” McKinley acted after diplomacy seemed to fail and after pressure from the public and Congress became hard to resist.

For APUSH, this is a classic **causation ranking** problem. One strong judgement is that:

- long-term causes made war possible
- the Cuban revolt and reconcentration made war morally urgent
- yellow journalism made war politically popular
- the De Lôme Letter and Maine explosion made war immediate
- McKinley’s request to Congress turned pressure into policy

That gives you a layered answer instead of a one-cause story.

### How to write about causation on the AP exam

This subtopic appears often in **SAQ**, **LEQ**, and sometimes **DBQ contextualization** because it rewards multi-causal reasoning.

A high-scoring thesis might look like this:

The Spanish-American War was caused by a combination of American sympathy for Cuban independence, outrage over Spain’s reconcentration policy, sensational yellow journalism, and short-term crises such as the De Lôme Letter and the USS Maine explosion, with the Maine serving as the immediate spark rather than the sole cause.

Why is that strong?

- It names multiple causes.
- It separates deeper causes from immediate triggers.
- It makes a judgement about relative importance.

You can also organize a paragraph structure clearly:

1. Long-term background: Cuba, trade, expansionism
2. Humanitarian crisis: revolt and reconcentration
3. Media and public opinion: yellow journalism and jingoism
4. Immediate triggerss: De Lôme Letter and USS Maine
5. Conclusion: McKinley’s decision and relative weighing of causes

A weak answer just lists events. A stronger answer explains how each event changed the political situation.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The Spanish-American War began in **1898** after rising tensions over **Cuba**
- The Cuban revolt for independence began in **1895**
- U.S. concern over Cuba involved economic, strategic, and humanitarian factors
- **Weyler’s reconcentration policy** caused severe civilian suffering and increased U.S. sympathy for intervention
- **Yellow journalism** by **Hearst** and **Pulitzer** sensationalized events and increased war fever
- Yellow journalism helped build support for war but did not alone cause it
- The **De Lôme Letter** insulted McKinley and worsened anti-Spanish feeling
- The **USS Maine** exploded in **Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898**
- Many Americans blamed Spain for the Maine, but Spanish guilt was never definitively proven
- “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry for intervention
- **McKinley** initially acted cautiously and asked Congress for intervention only in **April 1898**
- Strong APUSH answers distinguish between long-term causes and immediate triggerss

## Key Terms and Concepts

- Spanish-American War
- Monroe Doctrine
- expansionism
- reconcentration policy
- yellow journalism
- jingoism
- De Lôme Letter
- USS Maine


The Spanish-American War - Causes including yellow journalism and USS Maine