This eventually led Congress to declare war on Spain in April and demand the Spanish relinquish control of Cuba.

To make clear that the United States had no colonial ambitions, Congress approved an amendment proposed by Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller, affirming Cuba's right to independence.

Accordingly, the United States in the amendment commanded that the government of Spain expel its land and naval forces from Cuba and its waters.

[2] In the political atmosphere in the U.S. growing out of the Cuban struggle for independence, and following on the February 15, 1898 the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor President William McKinley, on 11 April 1898, asked the Congress, ... to authorize and empower the President to take measures to secure a full and final termination of hostilities between the government of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to ensure in the island the establishment of a stable government, capable of maintaining order and observing its international obligations, ensuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its citizens as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for these purposes.

[5]The proposed amendment gained support from several forces: ... those who opposed annexing territory containing large numbers of blacks and Catholics, those who sincerely supported Cuban independence, and representatives of the domestic sugar business, including sponsor Senator Henry Teller of Colorado, who feared Cuban competition.

Some historians have questioned Teller's intentions, claiming that the real motive behind the resolution was to protect American beet sugar growers from Cuban competition.