LAD #22: McKinley's War Declaration

This message to Congress led to the Spanish-American War of 1898. The treaty that ended the war is shown being signed above.

The Cubans had been fighting a revolution against Spain from 1895 to 1898. The United States then sent a message to Spain demanding that they agree to an armistice with the revolutionaries. Although they agreed to this, the public was already moved to war against Spain and Congress quickly passed a resolution leading to war.

In his address to Congress, McKinley states that the war in Cuba was another revolution against Spain, and that similar wars had been happening throughout that half of the century. He also said that the war there was making it harder for the U.S. to keep up its neutrality laws, and it was a disturbance to the citizens and evoked their sympathies for the rebels. He comments that the war doesn't seem like it would end soon, and the longer it dragged on, the more American trade and business interests would get hurt in the process. As a solution to this problem, he suggests that the United States either intervene on one side as an ally or try to resolve the conflict between Spain and Cuba from a neutral position. He justifies entering the war by stating four points: one, that it is the country's responsibility to stop the atrocities of war from happening at its doorstep; two, to protect the American citizens in Cuba; three, the hurt caused by the war on American trade and business has to be ended; and four, that it's a danger to have a war going on and ships being seized at such a close proximity to the country. McKinley then brings up the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana's harbor as cites it as further evidence of the dangerous situation happening in Cuba because of Spain.  He states that the war in Cuba must stop, and does briefly mention that Spain agreed to an armistice with Cuba, though at this point the opinions of the majority of people in Congress are already swayed towards war.