What Were The Consequences Of The Spanish American War?

The United States of the 19th century and the United States of the 20th century differ a great deal. In most of the 19th century, the US was isolationist and did not get involved much in the affairs of the world. However, by the start of the 20th century, the US began to get involved a greater amount in world affairs. The Spanish-American War (1898) established the United States as a world power and caused the US to follow the path of imperialism.The Treaty of Paris in 1898, involving Spain and the United States, granted Cuba its freedom and also gave the US the territory-islands of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea and Guam in the Pacific Ocean. The US, as promised in the Teller Amendment, allowed Cuba to ...view middle of the document...

During the Spanish-American War, the US navy, led by General Dewey, captured the strategically located and sugar-rich Philippine islands in the Pacific. President McKinley, after much difficult deliberation, decided that the United States would keep these islands as territories, despite his claims of not being an imperialist. The United States now began its process of "Americanization" on the brown people of the Philippines. This started a whole new chapter for the United States as an imperialistic nation. It now had a stronghold in the Far East, which caused much more involvement in trade and politics with China, Russia, and Japan. It also supplied new markets and provided excellent sugar crop.While the Spanish-American War may sound beneficial, it was, in fact, highly consequential because it set the stage for the Roosevelt Corollary, which caused a great deal of US involvement with South American affairs causing bad feelings between the two. It also led the United States into European and world affairs, which later would drag the United States into World War 1. All these events were things that George Washington sternly warned the United States about getting involved in. Also, the acquisition of Philippines caused a great number of issues for the United States. First of all, it caused the United States to treat the Filipinos in a similar manner to which Britain treated its colonies in the late 1770s, which led to a great amount of dissention in the US with organizations such as the Anti-Imperialist League. The Philippines also were an "Achilles heel" because it was so near to Japan. This would be made much more apparent during World War II.