History: Cuban Independence

       In the 1820s, when the rest of the Spanish Empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal. Cuba depended on Spain for trade, protection from pirates, and control over slaves. Cuba feared the United State's rising power more than they disliked Spanish rule. However, in 1868 Carlos Manuel de Cespedes led the Cubans in a rebellion for independence from Spain. This rebellion resulted in what was called the Ten Years' War, but the U.S. refused to recognize the new Cuban government. Spain agreed to give Cuba a little more autonomy but remained in power.
       Then in 1895 a few Cubans tried again to achieve their independence. However, the Spaniards came over and suppressed the people. Many Cubans died of starvation and disease while in concentration camps. The United States, wanting to bring protection for its American people who had settled in Cuba, sent the U.S.S. Maine over with supplies. One night the Maine suspiciously blew up, and President McKinley declared war on Spain shortly after the incident.
     When the war was finally over, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million. Spain also gave up its power over Cuba. Cuba gained formal independence in 1902 from the United States as the Republic of Cuba. Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in any Cuban affairs and to supervise its finance and foreign relations.