(A) ** Exaggerated news reports of events (yellow journalism)
(B) The U.S. is close neighbors with Cuba
(C) ** Rising tensions between Spain and the United States as a result of the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor
(D) ** Protection of American business interests in Cuba
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.
Concept note-2: -Closely tied with becoming a world naval power, the Spanish American War resulted in the U.S. becoming worldwide economic power, able to extend its commercial reach while under naval protection. This was very closely tied to item#1, above. Prior to the war, the U.S. had no commercial fleet of which to speak.
Concept note-3: -The reasons for war were many, but there were two immediate ones: America’s support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor.
Concept note-4: -United States. U.S. interest in purchasing Cuba had begun long before 1898. Following the Ten Years War, American sugar interests bought up large tracts of land in Cuba. Alterations in the U.S. sugar tariff favoring home-grown beet sugar helped foment the rekindling of revolutionary fervor in 1895.