At the same time, American
commercial interests were searching for new markets and were
making increasing investments in these very areas. The merchants
were looking for new markets to exploit, but the idealist
rhetoric talked only in terms of benevolent paternalism.
These trends came to a head in the Spanish-American War.
Conflicts had been increasing in Cuba between the Spanish
authorities in control and the local citizens. Americans became
interested in several abortive uprisings which occurred on the
island. The brutal way in which the Spanish had suppressed them
incensed the Americans. The violence in Cuba also endangered
American life and property--the result of increasing American
investments. The public favored intervention, proposing that
their Caribbean neighbors should also share in the benefits of
democracy. They viewed the Spaniards as an antidemocratic element
from the Old World blocking the road to progress in the western
hemisphere.
The battleship Maine was sent to the Havana harbor ostensibly on
a courtesy visit. Its real object was to protect American
interests.
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