What was Spain's response to U.S. interest in buying Cuba?
1 Answer
Spain turned both efforts of the US to purchase Cuban from Spain.
Explanation:
In 1854 the Ostend Manifest offered to purchase Cuba from Spain for 130 million dollars. The Spanish turned the offer down. The offer also sparked outrage in the United States when the intent became know that the idea was to turn Cuba into another slave state.
In 1897 William McKindley offered to purchase Cuba from Spain for 300 million. A rebellion of the Cubans against Spanish rule was going on. The United States wanted Europe out of the Western Hemisphere and supported the independence movement in Cuba.
The offer was an effort to end the war between Spain and the Cuban revolutionaries, resulting in an independent Cuba.
Spain rejected the offer. A year later the explosion of the battleship Maine in the Havana harbor was used as an excuse for the US to intervene in the war for Cuban independence. The Spanish American war was the result.
