The Censor lists the following topics for debate: whether the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine justifies war with Spain, whether the U.S. would benefit from national plebiscites, and whether geometry is better than algebra. The second topic has been circled, probably indicating that it was chosen as the topic for debate. Transcription included.
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- In April 1898, the United States declared war on the Kingdom of Spain, seizing in six short months the Spanish colonies in the Philippines, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. Ostensibly the U.S. pursued the war for the sake of "human rights," most notably those of Cubans fighting for independence from Spain, but the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, served as the flashpoint for jingoism and American nationalism among the public. The United States Navy inflicted decisive defeats over the Spanish at Manila Harbor (May 1898) and Santiago de Cuba (July 1898), putting an end to a centuries-old colonial empire that at one point was the strongest in the world. In its place sat the United States, a young country flush with victory and seeking new opportunities for economic and territorial expansion. Despite the rhetorical paeans to human rights and self-determination at the start of the war, the U.S. government took control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, while bringing a nominally independent Cuba firmly into its sphere of influence. American hegemony proved much the same as Spanish, and resistance by leaders like Emilio Aguinaldo in the Philippines quickly emerged. Even though a significant number of Americans opposed this new imperialism--often on racist grounds--the U.S. military crushed any rebellions in the colonies. The war with Spain marked the emergence of the United States as an imperial power on the world stage. The Philippines would remain under U.S. occupation until 1946 (not including the period of Japanese occupation during World War II), while Cuba languished as a semi-colony until the Revolution of 1959. Puerto Rico and Guam remain, over 125 years later, de facto colonies of the United States.