Question

In 2 paragraphs. What was the most important cause of the U.S engaging in a war with Spain?

Answer 1

Starting in 1492, Spain was the first European nation to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean, exploring and colonizing Western Hemisphere Amerindian nations. The empire that resulted from this exploration extended to its greatest extent from Virginia on the east coast of the southern United States to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America excluding Brazil and westward to California and Alaska.

It encompassed the Philippines and other groups of islands across the Pacific. By 1825 much of this empire had fallen into other hands and that year, Spain recognized the independence of its possessions in the present-day United States (then under Mexican control) and south to the tip of South America. The only remaining remnants of the Western Hemisphere empire were Cuba and Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands across the Pacific, and the Carolina, Marshall, and Mariana Islands (including Guam) in Micronesia.

The United States declared war on Spain on 21 April 1898. This would be the first U.S .- fought overseas conflict. It involved major campaigns in both Cuba and the Philippine Islands. There were many reasons for the war, but there were two immediate ones: America's support for the ongoing fight by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the U.S. Maine battleship at Havana Harbor.

Half a world away, and only 11 days after the beginning of the war, the US defeated the Spanish Pacific fleet in Manila Bay. Navy made by Commodore George Dewey in swift strike. Unconscious of Dewey's swift success, President McKinley ordered troops to mount a campaign against Manila's capital.
The San Francisco Presidio was the military base best suited to stage this campaign. Before the long sea voyage to the Philippines, volunteer soldiers from all over the United States gathered and trained at the Presidio.