LAD#22 McKinley's War Message

Summary of McKinley's War Message

President McKinley addressed Congress in 1898 as a result of the ongoing war between Cuba and Spain. The war was causing damage to America as trade was affected and the public was becoming worried. In his address, McKinley urged Congress to find a way to stop the war then he followed that with some ideas to create peace. The first was to use a neutral intervention to create a compromise between the two nations. The second was to pick one side to support. McKinley believed that neutral intervention would be the best option even though it would be harder to accomplish. He stressed the relevance of the conflict and its damaging affects to the United States mentioning the rights to protection and property. McKinley listed various political, economic, and social issues that the U.S. was dealing with as a result of the conflict as a way to emphasize the importance of getting involved. He also brought up the sinking of the Maine which was a very severe outcome of the fighting that directly affected the U.S. McKinley finished his address by telling Congress that after discussion, Spain agreed to a suspension of hostilities recently. He informed Congress that he did not have the ability to end the war by himself and he was leaving the issue to Congress.