To summarize the salient ideas, events, and people in the readings, a time period must be established. After the cession of Southwest North America to the US in 1848, and Spain�s loss of almost all its colonies to their own independence, there existed tensions between Cuba, Spain, and the United States near the end of the 19th century. The United States had its eye on acquiring Cuba. Since it had already gleaned a large portion of a newly independent Mexico in the US-Mexican War, the United States� concept of Manifest Destiny began to include expansion of the US �empire� abroad. The issues surrounding Cuba�s freedom from Spain and the role of the United States in Cuba�s fight are all discussed in the readings.

In Henry C. Lea�s �The Decadence of Spain,� Lea discusses the reasons why Spain lost her hold on all of her colonies (excluding Cuba and the Philippines before 1898). Lea asserts that �it�[is] no wonder that Spanish colonial policy has been a failure�(227) because the �causes of [Spain�s] decadence were internal�(220). First, Lea discusses Spain�s �blind and impenetrable pride [that bore] the spirit of conservatism which rejected all innovation in a world of incessant change�a world in which modern industrialism was rapidly superseding the obsolescent militarism of Spain�(220). Lea suggests that Spain�s rejection of the industrial age, taking root in the United States among other countries, caused Spain to fall behind economically. The reason for Spain�s rejection of �all innovation� comes from Lea�s second point: clericalism resulted in isolation. Lea points out what is probably the best example of Spain�s clericalism: �clericalism�developed�the ferocious spirit of intolerance�and surrendered the nation to the Inquisition, paralyzing all intellectual movement, crippling trade, and keeping the people�in leading strings�(221). Lea goes on to say that the Inquisition "organized a strict censorship to guard against the intrusion of foreign ideas or the evolution of innovations at home� in the hopes that anything not Catholic did not enter Spain. This isolation led to a corrupt government that spent the nation�s wealth (without replacing that wealth), and also to the revolt in Cuba. Cuba�s main motive for revolting against Spain, according to an essay by Jos� Mart� named �Our America,� was Spain�s ineffective government. The difference between Spain�s government and the type of government needed in Cuba was perhaps what led to the Cuban revolt. �America�still suffers, from the tiresome task of reconciling�the imported methods and ideas [from Spain] which have been retarding logical government because they are lacking in local realities�(824), realities which include the presence of an industrial age.

Before discussing Jos� Mart�s role in the political issues surrounding Cuba, Jos� Mart�s background and career as a writer is important to mention. Mart� was born in Cuba and held an allegiance to his mother country. When he spoke out against Spanish colonialism by the age of 16, he was arrested, never to recover his health after several years in prison. He never gave up on his cause to fight for Cuban independence and spent the rest of his life writing articles, essays, speeches, and poetry to inform the public, whether it was Cubans or Americans, of the plight of Cubans. Mart� used his poetry, for instance, as propaganda for Cuba�s independence from Spain. He wanted the reader to understand the plight of Cuba by showing them the situation through �sight and sound�because [he] love[s] simplicity, and believe[s] in the necessity of putting feelings in plain and sincere forms�(15). So he used poetry to help his readers understand what he was propagating because poetry, to Mart�, involved more than just words; poetry involved all the senses and had more feeling in it.

To Mart�, Cuba�s young men should take up the cause for Cuban independence from Spain. By distinguishing between men and women in his poetry, Mart� entreated his male readers to fight for Cuba. He characterizes men as �brave�frank, fierce, faithful, without stain�(37). These characterizations show men as warriors and/or those capable of change. He characterizes women as �lovely�(95), �beautiful�(95), �foolish�(65), and �so proud and so pale�(47). He never refers to their intellect because to him, women were incapable of recognizing the predicament in which Cuba finds itself. He speaks of them endearingly, but not in a sense that describes them as anything that would help Cuba. One of Mart�s shorter poems reflects both these characterizations: men see the injustices and women do not, thus men should fight for Cuba. The poem tells of a boy executed by a king: �And the king�s own volunteers/With his guns sealed the boy�s fate�(87). In the second and last stanza, the boy�s sister, perhaps knowingly or by force, sings the praise of her king, even though that king executed her brother: �It�s the law to celebrate/The sainted namesakes of kings,/And there the boy�s sister sings/In front of the royal portrait�(87)! So the sister either does not recognize the injustice (the execution of her brother) or is incapable of doing anything, but the fact remains boy did observe an injustice because he was most likely executed for doing so.

Mart� also writes about Spain in his poetry, symbolizing it as a city. �In the black and narrow alley/Where I stroll as shadows fall,/I look up and there can see/The corner church standing tall�(93). The �black and narrow alleys� obviously indicate a city. As stated above, the Catholic Church basically controlled Spain at the time, so what makes this city represent Spain is the mention of a church. However, Mart�s description of the country is always more descriptive, poignant and beautiful, indicating a preference for the country, which represents Cuba: �Awestruck, I gaze at the wild/Splendor of the nettled hill:/In my sky-blue soul beguiled/There blooms a pink daffodil�(63)! Mart� also directly speaks of Spain: �Go tell the sightless prelate,/The aged bishop of Spain,/That I his visit await/To my temple on the mountain�(27)! In this stanza, Mart� speaks subtextually of Spain as being governed by the blind Church. This allusion represents his idea of Spain�s government: it is merely stumbling along, controlled by an institution that was aforementioned to be too conservative for real national growth.

Jos� Mart� also had views about the role of the United States in the conflict between Cuba and Spain. Before discussing his view, the United States� motive for intervening in the conflict is important. According to A History of the Monroe Doctrine, the doctrine states that �in the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense�(392). In Laymen�s terms, the foreign policy concerning European powers is merely that the United States will not get involved in their fights, but if those fights in any way injure or may injure the United States, only then will the country enter the war. When the war between Cuba and Spain broke out, the United States entered the fight �under the Monroe Doctrine to protect the independence of Cuba�(416, Pratt), possibly in an effort to protect itself since Cuba was so close to the US�s domain. Once Cuba gained independence from Spain, Senator Orville H. Platt introduced several proposals by Elihu Root, President McKinley�s Secretary of War. These proposals, later called the Platt Amendment to the Army Appropriation bill of March 2, 1901, �authorized the President to terminate the military occupation of Cuba as soon as a Cuban government should have been established under a constitution which�should �define the future relations of the United States and Cuba��(415, Pratt). So the United States Army would leave Cuba as soon as a solid government was started and the �protection of life and property�(414, Pratt) could be left to Cuban officials. However, many people both in the late 19th Century and today believed that, as stated before, the US concept of Manifest Destiny had its eye on acquiring Cuba. The documentary �Remember the Maine: The Roots of the Spanish American War,� reflects this conjecture of an expanding US empire. The documentary claims that though the US did want Cuba for its wealth, it also sought to protect Cuba from the common enemy of the Americas�Europe (Spain specifically). The documentary portrayed the US as a protector (as required by the Monroe Doctrine) rather than as an imperialistic nation fulfilling its imperialistic intentions under the guise of a big brother to Cuba. According to the film, the US needed Cuba�s wealth, and Cuba needed the US�s protection.

Jos� Mart�, however, believed that the US�s ulterior motive in entering the war was cause for serious worry. In his essay, �Our America,� Mart� declares that �the scorn of our formidable neighbor who does not know us is Our America�s greatest danger�(827). Enrique Sacerio-Gar�s introduction to Mart�s essay states that �Mart� identified the United States as �Anglo-Saxon America,� a threat to full Spanish-American independence�His greatest apprehension was to see [the United States�] economic and political dominance [of the previous Spanish colonies] in place before Cuba and Puerto Rico won their independence�(820). Gar� asserts that Mart�s statements concerning the intentions of the United States only cautioned that �America could only be one with understanding and knowledge�and by common consent�(820). So Mart� was not necessarily against friendly relations with the United States, but relations in which Cuba depended on the United States or could not develop its nation�s future without the interference of another country, whether it is �European [or]�Yankee�(825).

Not all of Mart�s poems were necessarily about Cuba. Most were probably about his other life experiences, some of which came from when he lived in the United States. His poetry is quite beautiful, and he puts his feelings into more understandable terms. The role of the United States obviously had its ulterior motives, but that�s almost to be expected. It�s human nature to want more than what you can really get.