(A) France sold Cuba to the United States
(B) The construction of the Panama Canal began.
(C) The United States issued a boycott of trade with Spain
(D) ** The Spanish American War began.
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -Photographic History of the Spanish American War, p. 36. On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898.
Concept note-2: -President McKinley attempted to prevent war and endeavored to persuade the Spanish government to adopt a conciliatory policy with the Cuban insurrectionists. The Spanish government yielded too late to restrain the popular demand in the United States for intervention.
Concept note-3: -President McKinley found it impossible to resist the mounting public and political pressure for war against Spain. In requesting a declaration of war from the Senate on April 11, 1898, he listed several concerns but stressed the nation’s humanitarian sympathy for the Cuban independence movement.
Concept note-4: -But after pro-Spanish demonstrators rioted in Havana in January 1898 to protest Spain’s more conciliatory policies, McKinley ordered the U.S. battleship Maine to Havana harbor, both to protect American citizens and property and to demonstrate that the United States still valued Spain’s friendship.