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When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it--it lasted only six months and drew Americans together, especially the Southerners whose patriotism had been in doubt since the Civil War a generation earlier. The Spanish American War represented a significant turning point in America's position in the world. Besides acquiring Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific, territorial possessions that created new defensive responsibilities, the United States demonstrated that it had built up its naval capacity sufficiently to defeat an established European power.  

When the war came –"a splendid little war," one official called it--it lasted only six months and drew Americans together, especially the Southerners whose patriotism had been in doubt since the Civil War a generation earlier. The Spanish American War represented a significant turning point in America's position in the world. Besides acquiring Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific, territorial possessions that created new defensive responsibilities, the United States demonstrated that it had built up its naval capacity sufficiently to defeat an established European power.  

==Bibliography==  

==Bibliography==  

* Allen, Thomas B. “What Really Sank the Maine?.” Naval History, April 1998 [http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/articles98/nhallen.htm online]

* Allen, Thomas B. "What Really Sank the Maine?." ''Naval History'', April 1998 [http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/articles98/nhallen.htm online]

* May, Ernest R. ''Imperial Democracy: The Emergence of America as a Great Power.'' (1973).  

* May, Ernest R. ''Imperial Democracy: The Emergence of America as a Great Power.'' (1973).  

* Offner, John L. "McKinley and the Spanish-American War." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' (2004) 34:1, 50-61.  

* Offner, John L. "McKinley and the Spanish-American War." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' (2004) 34:1, 50-61.  

* Perez, Jr., Louis A. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and

* Perez, Jr., Louis A. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and Historiography of the Spanish-American War." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1989), 58:3, 293-322.  

Historiography of the Spanish-American War." ''Pacific Historical Review'' (1989), 58:3, 293-322.  

* Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels.  ''Remembering the Maine.'' (1995)

* Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels.  ''Remembering the Maine.'' (1995)

[[Category:Wars]]

[[Category:Wars]]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category:United States History]]