Britney+&+Stacy

Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines by: Britney Byun and Staci Shon 3-second summary: http://vimeo.com/14600113[]

Cause: During the Spanish- American War, there were conflicts started in 1898 between Spain and the United States. Americans were paying attention to the Cubans trying to achieve their independence from Spain. Americans arose and wanted to fight when they heard about the fact that Spain had been treating Cubans cruel and the sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana harbor. President McKinley during that time wanted to avoid this war from happening but it was impossible and the people enforced the government to declare the war. Later, on April 23, 1898 Spanish declared a war, after two days the U.S. also had declared the war. As the result of the war, the U.S. showed the international power and gained the power over Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba and the Philippines as a sequence of the Treaty of Paris.

Timeline: *All of the following Stated below were acquired via Treaty if Paris with Spain.* __**1898:**__ __**1899:**__
 * Puerto Rico (1989) Today Puerto Rico is a part of the US commonwealth
 * Guam (1989) Today Guam is a part of the US territory
 * Philippines (1989-1946) Though, the Treaty of Paris was published led to Philippine-American War, today Philippine is independent via Philippine Independence Act (fabricated by Commonwealth, 1935-1946) and Treaty of Manila (1946).
 * Cuba (1899-1902) At first it was under US protection via Treaty if Paris with Spain. Today, Cuba is an independent country (with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base).

Government Struggles and agreement: Spanish were not willing to give up the land but they had no choice according to the Treaty of Paris. Spain was ruling over all the colonies, Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba and the Philippines. Even though Cuba had achieved its independence, the U.S. gave a supporting hand and Cuba got influenced under the U.S. Also, from the loss of the war against the U.S, all the other colonies ruled by Spain were taken over to the U.S.

after effect upon the territories: inhabitants:
 * Cuba: The U.S. helped Cuba to get their independence from Spain. For the reason that Cuba had been under another countries’ rule, they were not capable of governing themselves so the U.S. helped them under a treaty. Therefore, the people of Cuba got independence from the war and started to build own political constitution.
 * Philippines: The Philippines were able to live in a better environment than many other Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. has influenced them with economy, culture, and religion: Christianity. However, the biggest impact on them was that they have learned the language, English, which helped to improve the current international statue and economy a lot.
 * Puerto Rico: The U.S. had been in power but later gave Puerto Rico the right of autonomy. Currently, the U.S. still has the power of military and political authority.
 * Guam: The U.S. has power over the government ruling system in Guam. Unlike Puerto Rico, which the main language is Spanish, English is mainly spoken in Guam

Economy:
 * Puerto Rico: They were not able to handle its own economy situation because they were recently freed from Spanish colonialism, so the U.S. played a great role in developing.
 * Philippines:The Philippines was a station to other Asian countries, China. A hub between the U.S. and China also, when the U.S. needed to open a new market, the Philippines was a connecting bridge between the East and the Western parts of the world.
 * Cuba: The U.S. has helped the Cuba’s economy to be where it is at right now. The U.S. was the one who helped them to build railroads and actually teach them how to become more successful directly and indirectly.
 * Guam: Like the Philippines, they were a bridge connecting the U.S. with China and Japan. The U.S. government intentionally changed this land to be used for the tourist purpose to improve the economy.

Effects per territory: for FMI:

Conclusion:

Overall, the additional pieces of land were a neutral effect upon the US. At the time, the U.S. was in desperate of needing to satisfy its territorial hunger. Cuba in the middle of conflict upon Spain’s dictation, earned sympathy from the Americans soon grew creating a war between Spain and the US. Upon the win of the battle brought all four territories for only $20 million in gold. And during the 1900s American business and military leaders wanted a Port near enough Asia but not in Asia to maintain America's trade in the region, the Philippines particularly Manila were key to America having a base of operations for exploiting trade in Asia. The Panama Canal was only valuable as long as there was a canal and since that was being built yes America wanted to keep control over the region. However, the acquirement of the countries did bring a lot of challenges as the countries refused to become Americanized. Constant conflicts with the four islands brought independence upon US.

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