Cuba Company

As victors in the Spanish-American War the United States in January 1899 took over the administration of Cuba and established a U.S. military government which ran the island's affairs until 1902. Cuba had been devastated by the war. Almost 300,000 people had been killed, one-tenth of the population, and there was much famine and ruin. The stated purpose of the U.S. military government was to prepare the Cubans for republican self-government, restore order and organization to the island affairs, and promote recovery from the war. In December 1898, President McKinley stated the military government would remain in Cuba until there [was] complete tranquility in the island and a stable government inaugurated .

Yet there was little consensus among Americans about the future of Cuba or the United States' proper role in the island's affairs. Some believed that America should pursue an expansionist policy represented by men such as Theodore Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst, while others opposed actions that might be construed as empire building.

...