Answer each question with a paragraph (Plz I need these answers asap and I am reporting fakers) Document A: In 1898, the battleship USS Maine was sent to Havana, Cuba, to protect U. S. interests during a Cuban revolt against Spain. On February 14, the vessel exploded and sank. Many Americans blamed Spain, and the incident helped trigger the Spanish-American War.
The excerpt below is from an official report of a U. S. Naval Court of Inquiry into the sinking of the Maine. The report was released on March 21, 1898.

“… [T]he vertical keel [of the ship] is broken in two and the flat keel is bent at an angle similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plating. This break is now about six feet below the surface of the water, and about thirty feet above its normal position.
. . . . In the opinion of the court, the MAINE was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her [ammunition storage rooms] . . . . The court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the MAINE upon any person or persons.”

Document B: This excerpt appeared as a front-page story on March 6, 1898 in The San Francisco Call.

“The Call correspondent has the best of grounds for saying that Consul General Lee . . . has been quietly conducting an investigation of his own, independently of the Naval Court; that he has employed detectives who have obtained from Havana sailors evidence strongly pointing to a plot to destroy the Maine, and that he filed a report with the State Department expressing the opinion that although the Spanish Government was not in any way responsible for the Maine's destruction, it appears the work was done by Spaniards who were sympathizers of [Spain’s governor in Cuba] Weyler.”

Document C: The following is an excerpt from sworn testimony given before the U. S. Senate by Corporal Richard O’Brien in 1902. O’Brien was called to testify in a Senate investigation of alleged war crimes committed by American soldiers in the Philippine-American War.

“The first thing we saw was a boy … and the first sergeant shot at the boy. Everybody fired at him. That brought the people in the houses out . . . [and] the town was fired on … Two old men came out, hand in hand … they had a white flag, they were shot down. At the other end of the town we heard screams, and there was a woman there; she was burned up, and in her arms was a baby, and on the floor was another child … The fighting was continued until everybody had fled or everybody was killed … There was not a shot fired on the part of the Filipinos.”

Document D: The following is an excerpt from a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Journal by Colonel Frederick Funston on April 22, 1899. Funston, who was a war hero for his extensive service in the Philippine-American War, wrote and spoke often about the Philippine American War in order to increase public support for American involvement in the conflict.

“I am afraid that some people at home will lie awake [at] night worrying about the ethics of this war, thinking that our enemy is fighting for the right to self-government … [The Filipinos] have a certain number of educated leaders – educated, however, about the same way a parrot is. They are, as a rule, an illiterate, semi-savage people who are waging war not against tyranny, but against Anglo-Saxon order and decency . . . I, for one, hope that Uncle Sam will apply the chastening rod good, hard and plenty, and lay it on until they come in to the reservation and promise to be good ‘Injuns.’”

1. Evaluate the extent to which the sinking of the U. S.S. Maine was the primary reason for the Spanish American War.

2. Using Documents A and B, identify how the information in these documents could support a) the position of Pro-Imperialists and b) the position of Anti-Imperialists in the period between 1880-1910.

3. Using Documents C and D, compare the points of view of both sources regarding the Philippine "Insurrection" 1899-1903. Evaluate the validity of each source and identify the elements that support your conclusions.

4. Using Documents A, B,C and D, and your historical knowledge, identify and explain a similar conflict from a previous period of American history.