A Brief History of the United States

by John Bach McMaster

SUMMARY

1. Our foreign relations since 1898 have been most important. In 1898 there was a short war with Spain.

2. The chief events of the war were the battle of Manila Bay, the sinking of the Merrimac, the battles near Santiago, the destruction of Cervera's fleet, the invasion of Porto Rico, and the capture of Manila.

3. Peace brought us the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Guam, and forced Spain to withdraw from Cuba.

4. Cuba for awhile remained under our flag; but in 1902 we withdrew, and Cuba became a republic. Later events forced us to intervene in 1906.

5. In 1900 events forced us into a short war in China.

6. In 1898 Hawaii was annexed, and in 1900 was organized as a territory; in 1903 our dispute with Great Britain over the Alaskan boundary was settled; and in 1904 a treaty with Panama gave us the right to dig the Panama Canal.

7. Prominent among domestic affairs since 1898, are the assassination of President McKinley (1901); the Irrigation Act of 1902; the pure food and meat inspection laws of 1906; and the admission of the state of Oklahoma.