WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Representatives of Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on December 10, 1898, which established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.

Detailed explanation-2: -Spain also agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for the sum of $20 million. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899, by a margin of only one vote. The McKinley Administration also used the war as a pretext to annex the independent state of Hawaii.

Detailed explanation-3: -According to American author Christopher Averill, the U.S. wanted to claim the Philippines to expand its capitalism in Asia. As they already positioned their supremacy in the western hemisphere by securing Puerto Rico and acted as the “Big Brother” of Latin America and the Caribbean nations.

Detailed explanation-4: -The final terms were set on December 10 with the negotiation and signing of the Treaty of Paris. Cuba was to gain its independence, while Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were to belong to the United States. The U.S. paid nothing for Puerto Rico and Guam, but it gave Spain $20 million for the Philippines.

Detailed explanation-5: -When the Spanish-American War ended in December 1898, Spain sold the entire Philippine archipelago to the United States for $20 million. The Philippines had acquired a new colonial ruler. The United States had acquired a colony the size of Arizona, located more than 4, 000 miles away across the Pacific.