With hostilities between Spain and America reaching their climax with the Spanish-American War, McKinley addressed Congress. The atrocities Spain had committed on the Cubans needed to be stopped as they "shocked the sensibilities and offended the human sympathies of our people." The problems that arose from Spanish mistreatment were not only a detriment to Cuba, but to American interests. Trade and capital investments needed to be protected as the situation escalated and to do this the United States had to intervene neutrally, give Cuba its independence, and settle the dispute. Although a hostile intervention was not off the table, McKinley saw only four grounds in which the United States could do so. Narrowing it down to end "barbarities," protect the rights of Cubans, protect trade, and to protect America itself. The explosion of the Maine, to McKinley, was enough to satisfy this fourth ground and he sent a letter to Congress asking for war. The final straw of a conflict which had caused many American headaches, it was up to McKinley and Congress to establish a stable government and in ending this conflict avenge the destruction of the Maine.
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