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DBQ: Spanish American War Robin Rawlins 11th grade American History Directions: Examine the following documents A-H. Answer the guided questions for each document. Using your background knowledge of the Spanish American War and your analysis of the following documents answer the essay question. Essay question: What were the intentions of the United States when it declared war on Spain in Cuba?Document A: British reaction to the Cuban Insurrection of 1868-1878
...Both Britain and the United States claimed that Spain had no right to interfere with their ships outside the territorial waters of Cuba...The situation became critical on March 29, 1968 when the captain general of Cuba, General Dulce, issued a decree declaring that all vessels captured in Spanish waters or on the high seas,and carrying mend and arms to aid the Cuban rebels, would be treated as pirates and that their crews would be liable to execution. Lord Clarendon, the British foreign secretary, protested angrily against this “glaring violation” of the law of nations. The gravity of the situation was underlined by the approval of orders to British warships to recapture any British vessel thus seized, even if it hadbeen convoyed into Spanish waters. The Foreign Office approved such orders with the utmost reluctance, but excused them by the need to meet extremes with extremes.

1. The British had warned Spain that they would lose British support if slavery did not end in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain feared that Cuban rebels were receiving ammunition and support from the US and Britain and thus issued thedecree to take these ships and deem them pirates. How do the British feel about Spain taking vessels in the “high seas” outside of Spanish waters? 2. To what extremes are the British willing to go to get these vessels back? Document B: Poem by Jose Marti, Cuban revolutionary
I Cultivate a White Rose By Jose Marti I Cultivate a White Rose In July as in January For the sincere friend Who gives me hishand frankly. And for the cruel person who tears out The heart with which I live, I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns: I cultivate a white rose.

1. How does Marti view a friend that would give him his hand frankly?

2. What attitude does he express towards his enemy? Document C: Weyler’s Reconcentration Policy and its Horrors, by Trumbull White
“As the country was stripped of itspopulation by the order of concentration, it is easy to believe that 400,000 persons were gathered behind the forts without being given food, medicine, or means of any kind to earn a living, except where in the larger cities some few could find employment in menial offices. Judging by the orphans I was shown in Jacoba, Aidecoa and elsewhere, and from all I saw and heard, I believe that half of the400,000 have died as the result of starvation. I know from the official register of the city of Santa Clara, which ordinarily has a population of about 14,000 that the deaths for November were over 1,000 and the number of deaths for December was over 900, and showed an increase, considering the loss of the former 1,000 from its total population. The exact figures for December are 971. At that city thegovernment was distributing 500 single rations per day out of a total appropriation for the purpose of $15,000. This was not relief, but a mere prolongation of the sufferings of a small part of the reconcetrados of the city. “

1. What does White blame for the death of the people in the camps? 2. How does he describe the attempt of relief by the Spanish Government for those people in the camp?Document D: Cuba

What Senator Proctor Saw in

1. How does Senator Proctor portray the treatment of Cuban Children? 2. Why do you think he portrays them in such a manner?

Document E: Sinking of the USS Maine
The USS Maine, a second class battleship built between 1888 and 1895, was sent to Havana, Cuba in January 1898 to protect American interests during the long-standing revolt of the...