remember the maine
109 years ago today the wheels were set in motion for the United States' first imperialist war outside the North American continent. (I'd argue the first imperialist war of the U.S. was the Mexican-American War). The questionable explosion of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor was the impetus for the Spanish-American War of 1898.
Funny how wars always seem to have dubious beginnings (The Maine, Gulf of Tonkin, WMD, etc.)
The 1890 U.S. census declared the closing of the frontier. Unable to move further west for "new" land, the United States went abroad to satisfy her imperial ambitions. The US defeated Spain quickly, gaining the Spanish colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as spoils of war. The Philippines refused to acquiesce easily to their new Anglophone masters. Cuba was also declared independent from Spanish rule but remained under the direct influence of the United States until Tio Fidel's revolution in 1959.
Me thinks this nation has been an empire much longer than it's been a republic.
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