In 1895, Cuba, finally, was fed-up with Spain. In the years between 1895 and 1897, there became a geurilla warfare between the rebels of Cuba and the Spanish Army. Everyone knew Cuba could not handle everything alone, so American thought they should help. However, just as they were about to do so, Spain tried compromising with Cuba. Although, then the bettleship Maine Blew up in the Havana Harbor. The United States knew they had to enter this war. In 1898, they did so. Whethere the Maine had blown up or not, the United States would have gotten involved in another way. The DeLome letter never made it to its rightful sender, it was lost and was sent to William R. Hearst, a yellow journalist, who then read the letter and published it as saying "President McKinnley is a very weak president." There were two opinions in the United States during this war.
90mi to Cuba marker at the so called southernmost ...
English: First company of native Puerto Ricans enl...
English: Ad for Hearst papers 1920s William Randol...Imeperialists were those who wanted to annex Cuba or take it as a territory belonging to America. THe Non-Imperialists were those who just wanted to finish the war and help Cuba gain its own independence from Spain. So, by the end of this war, would you consider the United States to be an imperial power? With regards to Cuba, no. But also during the war, the United States did gain Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Phillippines. Those nations did not become states in America, but territories controlled by the United States. The United States gained Imperial Power from the western hemisphere to the easter, and America was the starting leaders of the twentieth century, before it even began.