![]() ![]() "It is Manifest Destiny." McKinley was referring to a concept that dates from America's earliest days but a term coined in 1845 - that American settlers and their descendants had a divine right to spread across North America and, some contended, beyond the continent, dominating ever larger parts of the world. "We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California," President William McKinley said then. In the same burst of expansionist sentiment, the United States also annexed Hawaii, an independent country, shortly before the war ended. America extended its territorial dominance overseas and joined imperialist European nations fast acquiring colonies in Africa and Asia. In it, the United States destroyed Spanish forces and took possession of major parts of Spain's 400-year-old empire, including Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. When the fighting ended, an enthusiastic Hay said to Roosevelt, who had led a special cavalry unit, the "Rough Riders," in the war: "It has been a splendid little war, begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelligence and spirit, favored by that fortune which loves the brave." The conflict was the Spanish-American War, fought from April to August 1898. As a result, the country began establishing itself as a formidable world power. forces won a swift and decisive victory after suffering relatively few deaths and claimed a host of new territories overseas. ![]() ambassador to Britain and a good friend of Theodore Roosevelt, characterized a conflict with Spain 100 years ago. It's difficult to imagine a "splendid" war.
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