First Paragraph

The two major diplomatic decisions America were faced with in the late nineteenth century were fighting a war with Spain to free other countries, and whether or not to become an empire. When the Cubans rebelled against Spain, the Americans took it upon themselves to help Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to have independce. The Americans decided to go ahead and fight the Spanish in what we now call the Spanish-American war. It went on for weeks and we ended up winning. America signed a treaty with Spain, and they had then owned Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. After gaining so much more land, America had decided to be an empire, which went against their so-called strong values of freedom and democracy.