The Spanish had colonized Cuba and Hispaniola in the Caribbean before there even was a United States of America. But the expansionist spirit of the U.S. and the Monroe Doctrine brought the two countries into increasingly tense relations. Of particular concern were Spain’s atrocities in quelling a rebellion in Cuba. The “Butcher” Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau sent thousands of Cubans into concentration camps, stirring outrage Stateside. President William McKinley was still reluctant to go to war over a territory that America had no claim to, but after a mysterious explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, his hand was forced.

On this day, April 11, in 1898, the Treaty of Paris ratifications went into force. The Spanish ceded the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, as well as claims over Cuba.

Because the “Teller Amendment” to President McKinley’s declaration of war said the United States could not annex Cuba, the island was granted independence. The Philippine Islands, on the other hand, had no such restriction. Determined to hang on to the archipelago, the U.S. offered a token sum for them. Spain reluctantly agreed, with the Queen formally replying “[Spain] resigns itself to the painful task of submitting to the law of the victor, however harsh it may be, and as Spain lacks the material means to defend the rights she believes hers, having recorded them, she accepts the only terms the United States offers her for the concluding of the treaty of peace.”