Spanish American War:
National Identity and Imperialism
by
Michael Esser
Picture taken from: http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~mmyers3/matt/htmlassignment.htm
In the late 19th century, U.S. citizens dramatically changed the way that they conceived the national identity of the United States. During the early and mid 19th century the United States concentrated on expanding its borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. In 1890, Frederick Jackson Turner made a statement that in which he said that the western frontier existed only in memories, which began a campaign of US imperialism. The United States citizens viewed the first attempts of expansion as a way to play big brother to the smaller counties, but as time when on, the national identity changed from a feeling that the United States was partaking in a noble cause to that of an evil imperialist nation.
In 1845, a New York journalist by the name of L. O’Sullivan pawned the name Manifest Destiny. The United States government decided to put manifest destiny to work, starting with Texas. Once Texas was annexed, the United States government changed manifest destiny to include the land north of Mexico, south of Canada, and between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When the frontier was declared outdated, Manifest Destiny was once again changed; this time it included any non-Anglo Saxon. US citizens looked at Manifest Destiny as though a divine force created it; it was a god given right of the United States to expand.
At first the United States wanted to expand to remain competitive with the strong European markets. United States farmers were one of the largest groups of people to demand that the United States expand. In The People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn writes about the demand for expansion:
There were demands for expansion by large commercial farmers, including some of the Populist leaders, as William Apppleman Williams has shown in The Roots of the Modern American Empire. Populist Congressman Jerry Simpson of Kansas told Congress in 1892 that with a huge agricultural surplus, farmers ‘must of necessity seek a foreign market.’ True, he was not calling for aggression or conquest- but once foreign markets were seen as important to prosperity, expansionist policies, even war, might have wide appeal. 1
The US government looked at three areas for possible expansion: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. The US government deemed these three areas as being vital to the US Navy, because they are islands which would provide a quicker military response time to anywhere in the world. The question that posed the most problems for the US was how they would go about gaining the naval stations without appearing that they were trying to enter the imperialism game. One of the answers came from Cuba.
The United States wanted to put an end to European imperialism in the western hemisphere. In essence, the United States wanted to play big brother to the smaller countries, which were being oppressed by the European empires. In 1898, Cubans were involved in a war for independence against Spain. The general-public of the United States was in favor of going to war against Spain because of the sinking of the USS Maine, while drifting off the coast of Cuba. The United States viewed the Cuban struggle for independence as a reflection of the war that they had faced with Great Brittan just over one hundred years prior.
The United States felt compelled to help Cuba because the situation was similar to the one that they faced with Great Brittan. The webpage, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/spanish_american.htm lists some of the reasons that the Cubans wanted to gain their independence from Spain. “The Cuban elite, i.e., the landowners, were disenchanted with Spain who charged them high taxes and attempted to ban slavery which they needed to raise their crops. This elite class saw annexation by the United States as a way to maintain slavery. Also, Cuban production of sugar and tobacco could be increased to serve the United States.” 2
Once the Spaniards were driven out of a newly liberated Cuba, and the United States had a navy base, the United States followed Spain to the Philippines. The United States was feeling extremely vigorous; they had succeeded in becoming a big brother for Cuba. Spain was imposing the same kind of reign in the Philippines as they were in Cuba. When the United States prevailed over Spain, the US government began questioning what should happen with the newly acquired territory. This began the period of United States imperialism. The United States felt that instead of playing the role of big brother, they should instead be playing the role of the overprotective parent. Instead of giving independence to the Philippines as it had done with Cuba, the United States felt that the Filipinos were a group of savages who needed to be protected from themselves.
Most of the general-public began to look at US foreign policy as a policy that was extremely ironic. The United States moved into the Philippines to remove the Spaniards who were claiming the Philippines as a part of their empire, but as soon as the mission was complete, the United States started their own empire. Eric Foner used an article in his book that listed some of the objections that the press had during the Philippines campaign. “Let American mother take notice: They are to raise boys to kill and be killed. Why do we mince such little matters? We are to be a great military nation! Our industry is to foot the bills. If you object, you are no patriot.” 3
Some Americans expressed their fears that any kind of an imperialist move on behalf of the United States government or the United States military would upset any nation in which they came in contact with. In his article, Joseph Smith wrote about the possibility of offending a nation that was involved with US imperialism. “Finally, instead of promoting friendship with the people of Cuba and the Philippines, the military intervention of the United States provoked charges of American imperialism and resulted in a legacy of anti-Americanism which has persisted up to the present day.” 4
It was difficult for the people of the United States to view their nation as an emerging imperialist world power, because before the Spanish American War, the United States military was almost non-existent. Those who were serving in the military were just as confused about what was expected of them, as were the people who were not in the military. In his article, Joseph Smith wrote about the confusion that the US military had before the Spanish American War:
An army had to be created virtually from scratch. Moreover, the prosecution of the war effort was hampered by frequent inter-service disagreement and rivalry… In the unlikely event of war, army officers presumed that their principal mission would be to defend the United States from external attack rather than engage in an overseas military campaign. In fact, the War Department was not encouraged to prepare for possible war against Spain because Presidents Cleveland and McKinley both sought a diplomatic solution to the Cuban crisis and avoided military preparations which might serve to provoke the Spanish Government. 5
During the 19th century, the United States citizens’ sense of national identity changed greatly. First, the United States wanted to show the rest of the world that they could survive on their own with out being a part of the Great Brittan Empire. Once the United States felt that it would be able to survive as a nation, and the newly formed states became too crowded, the need to expand became evident. Manifest Destiny was an idea that justified to citizens of the United States the expansion. When the United States first started expanding, it did so to remain competitive with European markets. Gradually however, the expansion became less about competition and more about imperialism, as was the case with the Philippines. In order for the United States to succeed at becoming an imperialist nation, they had to develop a military almost from scratch. Those people, who voiced any objection to the expansion of the United States, were painted as un-patriotic by the government who was trying to win support for its foreign policy.
2 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/spanish_american.htm
3 Foner, Eric, Voices of Freedom A Documentary History, page 61, Volume 2
4Smith, Joseph, The ‘Splendid Little War’ of 1898: A reappraisal History; Feb95, Vol. 80 Issue 258, p24