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February 6, 1899: Treaty of Paris ratifiedHome | Back | Next | Interactive Timeline
Under the treaty's terms, the U.S. gained possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and for $20 million, the Philippines. As for Cuba, the U.S. could neither keep it without reneging on the Teller Amendment, nor release the island without abandoning it to the revolutionary aims of the Cuban insurgency. Despite U.S. support for pro-American candidates, Cubans elected the more radical forces of Cuba Libre, forcing policy-makers in Washington to reinterpret the Teller Amendment. Connecticut Senator Orville Platt insisted that the Teller Amendment's reference to the “pacification” of Cuba meant the establishment of a government approved by the United States and proposed an amendment to the Cuban Constitution to that effect. In June 1901, Cuba succumbed to U.S. pressure and accepted the Platt Amendment, which secured the right of American intervention, restricted Cuba's conduct of foreign affairs, and gave the U.S. a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Bibliography:
Dyal, Donald H.. Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War. Greenwood
Press: Westport, CT, 1996.
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