Atlas of Hispanic-American History

EXPLOSION WAS CAUSED BY A

BOMB—SUSPICION OF A TORPE-

DO,” declared the New York World
headline on February 18. The New York
Journal cried, “REMEMBER THE
MAINE! TO HELL WITH SPAIN.”
With Spain denying responsibility for
the explosion, some Americans urged
their countrypeople not to jump to con-
clusions. The New York Sun argued that
there should be “no lynch law for Spain.”
A U.S. court of inquiry determined in
March that a mine had sunk the ship and
held Spain responsible for the breach of
maritime security, but it did not go so far
as to accuse Spain of a deliberate act of
war. Still, most Americans were con-
vinced that Spain had deliberately
destroyed the ship. Theodore Roosevelt
wrote: “The Maine was sunk by an act of
dirty treachery on the part of the
Spaniards I believe.”
In all likelihood, Spain did not delib-
erately sink the Maine. Spain had no
interest in going to war with the more
powerful United States and tried hard to
preserve peace through diplomacy after
the explosion. Some have argued that
Cuban rebels sank the ship to draw the
United States into the war, but in fact the
rebels were close to winning the war, and
many patriots agreed with Martí that
their independence would be at greater

risk with the United States in the war

than out of it. Some have argued that the

United States sank the ship to create a

pretext for war, though there is no evi-

dence for that assertion. The most likely

explanation is that the explosion was

caused when ammunition stored in the

battleship was ignited by spontaneous

combustion. Most Americans ignored

this possibility in the stampede for war.

In March, the U.S. Congress appro-

priated $50 million for war preparations.

On April 19 Congress declared its recog-

nition of Cuban independence and

demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba

or face military action. At the urging of

Senator Henry Teller, a provision known

as the Teller Amendment was included,

asserting that the United States had no

intention of ruling Cuba once peace was

achieved, and that it would “leave the gov-

ernment and control of the island to its

people.” Spain did not withdraw, and on

April 25 Congress declared war.

The war was swift and one-sided in

favor of the Americans. The United

States quickly decided to make Spain

wage a two-front defensive battle by

launching an offensive not only against

Spain’s territories in the Caribbean, but

also against the Philippines. On May 1

the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, led by

Commodore George Dewey, destroyed

A TIME OF TRANSITION 121

The USS Maine explodes in Havana harbor.(Library of Congress)