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What Caused The Spanish American War

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One reason that Yellow Journalism had such a large effect of the public was the article was organized and presented to readers. A substantial characteristic of yellow journalism was having scare headlines in large print. The papers would put an event that would easily grab the attention of the readers, and would word the headline to make the readers want to the full article. The general public had no idea that what they were reading was untrue, so Americans grew angry and started clamoring to go to war with Spain. An example of the newspapers using this tactic was when the New York Journal posted a paper which headlines read: “CRISIS AT HAND Cabinet In Session, Growing Belief In SPANISH TREACHERY.” 14 The paper specifically put parts of the sentence in capitals so that someone who was just scanning the paper would get two lines, “CRISIS AT HAND” and “SPANISH TREACHERY.” This strategy played a large part in causing the Spanish-American war because of the effect that it had on the public. Besides the title and front page format, newspapers were able to affect the …show more content…

The conflict and its aftermath contributed to long-running tensions between Latin America and the United States, that lasted throughout the 1900’s and into the 2000’s. In addition, the war marked the first time that U.S. troops from the North and South fought side-by-side after the American Civil War. African American and white troops fought together at times. The Spanish-American War also established the press as a powerful force in American politics. Newspapers urged the nation to war, and the reporting style that became known as yellow journalism, that is, sensational and sometimes inaccurate reporting, emerged. The war also introduced a popular new leader, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, to the American political scene. The Spanish American War marked the emergence of the United States of America as a world power.

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