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Article: Cuba, Relations with
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CUBA, RELATIONS WITH
CUBA, RELATIONS WITH.
As early as the late eighteenth century, the United States and Cuba became inextricably tied. When the Spanish Crown opened its empire to trade in 1778, American merchants made Havana and other Cuban ports major places of business and continued doing so until near the end of Spanish rule.
U.S. Acquisition Efforts
In the mid-nineteenth century Americans focused their attention on Cuba. Cuba retained slavery, and its agro-export economy strongly resembled that of the American South. Discontented with Spanish rule, Cuban exiles in New York City, New Orleans, and other cities made speeches, published newspapers, and lobbied Congress for Cuba's ...