Sold – President McKinley Praises those Who Negotiated the Treaty Ending the Spanish-American War

The combat phase of the Spanish-American War lasted just three months and ended in July 1898, but it took another five months for the peace terms to be agreed upon. There was initially a capitulation and then a protocol of peace, but these were just preliminary understandings. In September the parties each sent representatives to Paris to negotiate an actual peace treaty. U.S. Commissioners were William R. Day (Secretary of State), William P. Frye (President pro tempore of the Senate), Ambassador Whitelaw Reid, Senator George Gray, and Cushman K. Davis (Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee). After a negotiation process that dragged on for well over two months, on December 10, 1898, the Commissioners of the U.S. and Spain signed the Treaty of Peace in Paris. In that document, Spain renounced its rights to Cuba and recognized Cuban independence, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the Americans, gave up its possessions in the West Indies, and sold the Philippine Islands to the victor for $20 million. The U.S. was now a world power, complete with colonies, and President McKinley was delighted with the achievements of the Commissioners.

Typed Letter Signed on Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, February 2, 1899, to Joseph G. Darlington, president of Philadelphia’s Union League. “I find that it will not be possible for me to be present at the dinner in the honor of the Peace Commissioners to be held on the evening of February 4th…Too much honor cannot be paid to the eminent citizens who will be your guests next Saturday evening, for the able and statesmanlike negotiations conducted by them at Paris which resulted in the signing of a treaty of peace honorable to both countries. As I have long enjoyed the personal friendship of all of the Commissioners and been closely associated with them in public life…please convey my good wishes, and belief that the great work the Commissioners have achieved will redound to the good of the Nation and of humanity.”

Under the United States Constitution, no treaty entered into is effective until it has been ratifed by the U.S. Senate. On February 6, 1899, just four days after this letter, the Senate accepted the treaty, thus officially ending the Spanish-American War.