treaty of paris 1898
Armistice negotiations conducted in Washington, D.C., ended with the signing of a protocol on Aug. 12, 1898, which, besides ending hostilities, provided that a peace conference be held in Paris by October, that Spain relinquish Cuba and cede Puerto Rico and one of the Mariana Islands to the United States, and that the United States hold Manila until the disposition of the Philippines had been determined.
By the time that the conference opened on October 1, U.S. President William McKinley had finally decided that the United States must take possession of the Philippines. The demand was ultimately accepted with great reluctance by Spain, with the stipulation that the United States should pay Spain $20 million nominally for public buildings and public works in the Philippines. The final treaty also forced Spain to cede all claim to Cuba and to agree to assume the liability for the Cuban debt, estimated at $400 million. As indemnity, Spain ceded Puerto Rico and Guam (in the Marianas) to the United States. (An attempt by the U.S. commissioners to secure Kosrae in the Caroline Islands was successfully blocked by Germany, which had already initiated purchase of the islands.)
The treaty was vigorously opposed in the U.S. Senate as inaugurating a policy of “imperialism” in the Philippines and was approved on Feb. 6, 1899, by only a single vote. Two days earlier, hostilities had begun at Manila between U.S. troops and insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo. For more than three years the Filipinos carried on guerrilla warfare against U.S. rule.
By the time that the conference opened on October 1, U.S. President William McKinley had finally decided that the United States must take possession of the Philippines. The demand was ultimately accepted with great reluctance by Spain, with the stipulation that the United States should pay Spain $20 million nominally for public buildings and public works in the Philippines. The final treaty also forced Spain to cede all claim to Cuba and to agree to assume the liability for the Cuban debt, estimated at $400 million. As indemnity, Spain ceded Puerto Rico and Guam (in the Marianas) to the United States. (An attempt by the U.S. commissioners to secure Kosrae in the Caroline Islands was successfully blocked by Germany, which had already initiated purchase of the islands.)
The treaty was vigorously opposed in the U.S. Senate as inaugurating a policy of “imperialism” in the Philippines and was approved on Feb. 6, 1899, by only a single vote. Two days earlier, hostilities had begun at Manila between U.S. troops and insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo. For more than three years the Filipinos carried on guerrilla warfare against U.S. rule.
Spanish American war
The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.
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