Opposition To The Spanish-American War

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Opposition to the War Although Spanish-American War ended with American victory, the conflict was not necessarily an easy win. The war faced numerous oppositions from the population of the involved nations and their territories that wanted to avoid the conflict. However, none of these group were able to influence the government and public interest enough to prevent the war or annexation. Groups that opposed the Spanish-American War included american businesses, the Spanish population and the Anti-Imperialists. Surprisingly, President McKinley announced that he was against the war with Spain. McKinley had close ties with american businesses in Wall Street who were strongly against going to war. The business leaders feared that the war with …show more content…
The anti-imperialists, led by Senator Henry M. Teller, were a group of liberal and democrat nationalist individuals who opposed the American acquisition of Cuba and Philippines. The group members strongly supported free trade, a gold standard, and limited government. Famous members of the Anti-Imperialist League included Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, William James, David Starr Jordan, and Samuel Gompers League. These individuals believed that the America’s imperial conquest violated the fundamental principle of the republican government and American ideals. They argued that the expansion went against the beliefs of the founding fathers who established the United States on self-government and non-intervention. The attempts and efforts of anti-imperialists were in vain as they were not able to prevent the war and the annexation of the Philippine islands, however, they were influential enough to prevent the annexation of Cuba. In 1898, the United States Congress passed the Teller Amendment, a joint resolution that applied condition of prohibiting the annexation of Cuba when helping the Cuban rebels. The American Anti-Imperialist League was the most organized opposition towards the Spanish-American War, however, they were only able to change the situation to a minimal

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