REASONS FOR WAR (1898) Anonymous
We have had a Cuban question for more than ninety years. At times it has disappeared from our politics, but it has always reappeared. Once we thought it wise to prevent the island from winning its independence from Spain, and thereby, perhaps, we entered into moral bonds to make sure that Spain governed it decently. Whether we definitely contracted such an obligation or not, the Cuban question has never ceased to annoy us. The controversies about it make a long series of chapters in one continuous story of diplomatic trouble…
The American public was in this mood when the battleship Maine was blown up in the harbor of Havana. The masses think in events, and not in syllogisms, and this was an event. This event provoked suspicions in the public mind. The thought of the whole nation was instantly directed to Cuba. The fate of the sailors on the Virginius, twenty-five years ago, was recalled. The public curiosity about everything Cuban and Spanish became intense. The Weyler method of warfare became more generally known. The story of our long diplomatic trouble with Spain was recalled. . . .
There is no need to discuss minor and accidental causes that hastened the rush of events; but such causes were not lacking either in number or in influence. . . . But all these together could not have driven us to war if we had not been willing to be driven, - if the conviction had not become firm in the minds of the people that Spanish rule in Cuba was a blot on civilization that had now begun to bring reproach to us; and when the President, who favored peace, declared it "intolerable," the people were ready to accept his judgment. . . .
Not only is there in the United States an unmistakable popular approval of war as the only effective means of restoring civilization in Cuba, but the judgment of the English people promptly approved it, — giving evidence of an instinctive race and institutional sympathy. If Anglo-Saxon institutions and methods stand for anything, the institutions and methods of Spanish rule in Cuba are an abomination and a reproach. . . .
Use the excerpt to answer the question.
Which of the following BEST describes the author’s view of the chain of events that led to war with Spain?
A.
The destruction of the Maine forced the United States to rethink its long friendship with Spain, which was then compounded by the loss of the Virginius sailors.
B.
The long diplomatic struggle with Spain over Cuba resulted in Weyler’s brutal tactics, which were popularized in the American press and triggered a conflict over Cuba.
C.
The destruction of the Maine renewed public attention to Cuba, which popularized Weyler’s tactics and reminded Americans of the long diplomatic trouble with Spain.
D.
The loss of the Virginius sailors renewed public anger over the loss of the Maine, which popularized Weyler’s tactics and emboldened Americans concerned with civilization.