At the end of the 19th century tensions had been high between the United States and Spain, the point of friction being Spanish colonial rule specifically in Cuba. When the USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana harbour, it pushed the American President McKinley into war with Spain. Ostensibly the war was to support rebels fighting Spanish colonialism. As the Americans blockaded Cuba, in the Pacific the US Asiatic Fleet attacked the Spanish navy station in the Philippines. At the Battle of Manila Bay the Spanish fleet proved vastly inferior to the US Navy. The victory by Commodore George Dewey essentially liberated the Philippines from the Spanish. But while the anti-Spanish rebel leader Aguinaldo had returned to his native Philippines to fight with the Americans, the United States was not inclined to support any declaration of Philippine independence.
This was written by Mike Haran.