THIS: “The United States did not want to be involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it because of yellow journalism, it wanted control of the seas, and it wanted complete control over Cuba". For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the President of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the Queen of Spain, nor his ministers wanted war. It happened even though they did their best to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculations and stupidity; and it happened thanks to kindness, wit and resourcefulness. This also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the wretched of the world and others were not (O'Toole 17). By winning the war, the United States proved to the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power has been concentrated in European countries. Nations such as Britain, France, Germany and Spain have had the greatest influence in global affairs. But as the United States matured, a shift in power was gradually taking place. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely and many people believed it would become a great world power (Bachrach, 11). Spain was one of many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain mainly controlled a few islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish were ruling and abusing the people of these islands. Indeed, Spain overtaxed and mistreated the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Therefore, the American people felt solidarity with the Cuban independence movement. Furthermore, Spain had often interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Although the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the 17th century, Spain at times sought to completely cut off trade with Cuba. In Spain, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States strongly disagreed with Spain's right to interfere with these trade relations. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trade and commerce interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States were to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.