Teller Amendment

It wins the Spanish-American War and certainly could have annexed Cuba after that war if it had wanted to.

But President William McKinley is prevented from annexing Cuba, not that he necessarily wanted to, but he was prevented by language in the Declaration of War called the Teller Amendment, which said that if the U.S. wins this war, it cannot annex Cuba afterward.

And there were three main groups supporting the Teller Amendment.

There were anti-imperialists who just wanted to stop this acquisition of territory.

There were racists who didn't want to acquire Spanish-speaking Cubans, especially Afro-Cubans, and bring them into the nation.

This is the era of influence without annexation.

The U.S. doesn't need to take territory to get what it wants out of territory.

And then there was a fascinating story I learned while researching this book about an attempt to find a loophole to this Teller Amendment after the Spanish-American War.