William Dean Howells Editha Character Analysis

Nevertheless, the United States declared war on Spain, thinking that the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine was caused by Spain. Although President McKinley used this incident as a reason for intervening in the conflict between Spain and its colonies, many Congressmen felt the United States had a more important reason for invading. Senator Henry Teller stated that he believed the United States should go to war with the Spanish to assist in Cuba’s revolution from Spain.2 The Monroe Doctrine clearly stated that the United States, as part of its policy for isolationism, would not interfere with any European colonies already established,3 and since the United States was interfering with Cuba, one of Spain’s colonies, the United States was breaking the Monroe Doctrine. It could be argued that since Congressmen assumed that the Spanish had already attacked the United States first,4 the war was justifiable.

Latter President Ulysses S. Grant was another American in opposition to the war with Mexico. In his personal memoirs he wrote “To this day, I regard the Mexican War as one of the most unjust wars ever waged by a stronger nation against a weaker nation . . . in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.” (Document 3) On the other hand, there were publications like The New-York Daily Tribune would called the war “piratical” and the invasion was a “flagrant outrage” and it was also called “immoral and unwise”.

People may believe that they were not justified because the US had already stolen Texas from Mexico. “From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” (Document C) Clearly, America was not justified in declaring war against Mexico because they had already robbed them, and was not right to declare war after they were just robbed of their land. However, America was justified because Mexico would lose their land eventually anyways, and while Mexico was weak, seized the opportunity to gain more land. Thus, America was justified to fight against

Spain’s main motivation to assist the American colonists in their revolution was a strong desire to regain the land it had lost to Britain during the French and Indian War and impede British success in other parts of the world. In April 1779, John Jay officially convinced Spain to join forces with the American people (Buescher). Rather than directly providing troops to fight alongside the Americans, Spain financed large loans and direct monetary contributions. Economically, this helped to start the Americans’ currency, the Continental, and allowed America to bring in expert foreign military officers to guide their inexperienced soldiers. Additionally, in 1779, Spain declared a war of their own against the British in Florida and Louisiana.

One way America was able to have power in other countries was through military means. A major example on this was the Spanish-American War itself. As noted in the summary notes, “The Spanish-American was fought over influence- It was about imperialist and expansionist drives.” The United States went into war because it wanted to have more influence and power over the Caribbean. The United States did not go to war with Spain with the sole purpose of helping Cuba gain independence. The oppressive treatment of the Spaniards to the Cubans was only used to justify going into war.

Spain grew angry with the United States and sided with France in the war between France and Britain. Both countries continued their attacks on American shipping. Overall, this issue strengthened America as a nation for several reasons. Because Madison had claimed the territory the British could not use it as a military base if the United States decided to join the war in the future. It also strengthened the nation and allowed for further expansion of the country.

Because of the great amount of power Britain possessed, the colonists were under oppression, ultimately taking action to defend themselves. Namely, according to document 5, the author states, “what is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited power?”. As the taxes began to mound on top of one over the other, the colonists began to feel overwhelmed. In response, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and three others, created the Declaration of Independence as a call to war, to offset British rule. Like the Stamp Act, the colonists answered with violence, and the violence only increased as the British made sure to oppress the

In the late 19th century the U.S. got possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines and the Anti-imperialist league were people who disagreed with U.S. 's colonial expansion and how it was becoming an imperial power. Both Moorfield Storey and Carl Schurz were Anti-imperialist. Storey believed that a country 's worth should not be measured by its might or size rather it should be measured by its moral standing. Carl Schurz believed that fake patriots always call for war but are unwilling to fight it, they do it just so they can be called brave and patriots. The War prayer was the antiwar piece that was written by mark twain.

He suddenly regretted hurting innocent people, he took action and started composing records describing how cruel Spanish were. The purpose of his writings was to present to the Spanish authorities those problems concerning the way conquistadors forced American Indians to labor and religion. Bartolome believed that somehow, the authorities could adjust the procedure when operating in Indian American tribes. Spanish, they all had one goal in America: to be powerful and rich, or at least that is what they thought. Certainly on the eyes of the Spanish conquerors, De La Casas was an egocentric man because his intentions interfered with the goals they determined.

Louis XIV valued power more than anything, and he wanted to increase his control over his subjects. He knew it would be more difficult to control people with religious differences, and he hoped that revoking the Edict of Nantes would end these divisions. The Great Elector valued economic prosperity--he welcomed the refugees because he knew they were a skilled and highly-educated group who would help increase the overall wealth of Prussia. Both Louis XIV and Peter the Great viewed war as extremely important--Peter the Great even mentions Louis XIV in his letter, describing his love of war, “glorious exploits” and what he considered great success. Their goals for war, as indicated in their two documents, appear to be different.