Cuban "Independence."

The Teller Amendment, attached to the 1898 declaration of war against Spain, declared that the United States was going to war to gain Cuban independence, not to colonize Cuba. (In contrast, the United States seized Puerto Rico from Spain and made the island a U.S. territory.) As part of the agreement for the withdrawal of American troops at the end of the military occupation in 1902, an independent Cuba was induced to sign a series of provisions, known collectively as the Platt Amendment. Named for its sponsor, Sen. Orville Platt of Connecticut, the amendment declared that Cuba could not make any treaty impairing its sovereignty without consent from the United States, and it allowed the United States to intervene to maintain the independence or political and social stability of Cuba. The amendment also stated that Cuba could not incur any...