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Lesson Number: 028

Aim: How was the U.S.S. Maine exploding in Havana, Cuba, the creation of the "Splendid Little War"?

1. The Maine explodes...

   1. Yellow Journalists blamed the Spanish for attacking the U.S. ship.
   2. The United States public was outraged.
   3. The United States declared war on Spain on April 24, 1898.
   
   

2. The War began in the Pacific

   1. Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt ordered Admiral George Dewey to Hong Kong.
   2. Admiral Dewey's fleet attacked the Spanish warships in the Philippines.
   3. Dewey's fleet destroyed the Spanish fleet and with help from the Filipino Nationalists take control of the Philippines by August 13, 1898.
   
   

3. The War in the Caribbean

   1. The United States attacked Cuba on June 20, 1898.
   2. By July 3, 1898, the Spanish fleet in Cuba is destroyed.
   3. Theodore Roosevelt quit his job in the Navy to create the "Rough Riders" and attacked Spanish controlled Cuba on July 1.
   1. The Rough Riders were a cavalry unit made-up of young American cowboys.
   4. The Spanish surrender on July 17, 1898.
   5. The United States also took control of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and Guam in the Pacific.

Social Studies Performance Standards
Objective Number(s) covered in this lesson - SS1, SS2, SS3

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