The Spanish-American War Historical Essay Example

The Spanish-American War in 1898 was a turning point for America from being an isolationist country to a world power by acquiring assets to better improve economy and trade. Yellow Journalism played a massive role in the United States during the 20th century because it built up to the Spanish-American War, set imperialist and non-imperialist views within the country and spread propaganda into the general public.  It also aided America in becoming a world power due to the impact America had in the impacts with dealings in foreign nations.

The Spanish-American War was fought in 1898 with America declaring war on Spain with allegations of the Spanish with the sabotaging/sinking of the USS Maine, published DeLome letter to the public, and America supporting the rebellion that the Cubans, Phillipinos, and Puerto Ricans had for independence from Spain. As stated from Document 4, the DeLome letter states that President William Mckinley was “weak and a bidder for the administration of the crowd besides being a would-be politician who tries to leave a door open behind himself while keeping on good terms with the jingoes of the party” (doc 4). When the Yellow Journalists like Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst got hold of the letter, they published the letter out to the public with added exaggeration which invigorated US citizens and urged that the U.S. declare war against the Spanish. With Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst being the “builders” going into the Spanish-American War, they competed against each other to raise attention towards their newspapers, like in document 2, where they are competing with one another for the “building blocks” for war. Yellow Journalists were a key component in the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898.

 As the United States started to acquire territories and expand their sphere of influence into other countries, the citizens within the U.S also were getting information and siding on the side of imperialism or non-imperialism. With Mark Twain’s “American Eagle” explanation from document 5, his intended audience is the general public… focusing on how it’s good to spread our influence into other countries, but quickly grows to become non-imperialist because the United States wasn’t setting the people free and instead to conquer the territory stating “And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other country” (doc 5). The Philippines is a prime example of this, with the Filipino people thinking that they would be saved from the Spanish and granted independence from the United States. Instead, it was a stomping ground for the U.S in order to have a gateway into the lucrative chinese trade, conversion of catholics to christian, and acquire many valuable resources. On the other hand, there were other journalists who supported the idea of imperialism and expansion into other countries like Rudyard Kipling who was a British novelist who wrote a poem titled “The White Man’s Burden”. Explained in doc 3, Kipling’s purpose was to urge the government and the US citizens to take on the “burden” of an empire, like how the British and Spanish have done way back then. Imperialism and non-imperialistic ideas within the United States were created from Yellow Journalists and their views on the topic.

Yellow Journalists and other writers were one of the only ways news and information were able to get into the general public, specifically in the form of newspapers. People like Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst were some of the most well-known yellow journalists that put the “building blocks” up to the Spanish-American war, as illustrated in document 2. With the purpose of the of the illustration from the document to show them vying to put the blocks up that spell at WAR, they’d create propaganda against the Spanish and exaggerate some of the points of emphasis to try and blame the Spanish for the wrong-doings of the DeLome Letter and the sinking of USS Maine in Cuba. The illustration from document 1 stemmed the historical context of the overall picture of how the U.S. gaining several territories and having almost free reign within each one, like how Uncle Sam (Person to the left, sitting on the table) and President William Mckinley (Person on the Right side of the the table) were choosing their next “meal” (country) to “feast” (deal with) on. Yellow Journalists were a heavy contributor to what type and kind of information got into the public’s hands, which led to public conscience to urge the American government to go to war with Spain in the Spanish-American War.