CONGRESS DECLARES WAR ON APRIL 13 by a joint resolution of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of both houses, which was adopted, after a
conference of the two committees, April 18, in the following form:
Whereas, the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than
three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have
shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been
a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating as they have in the
destruction of a United States battle ship, with 266 of its officers
and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and
cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of
the United States in his message to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon
which the action of Congress was invited: therefore,
_Resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled--
First, that the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought
to be, free and independent.
Second, that it is the duty of the United States to demand, and
the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the
government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in
the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba
and Cuban waters.
Third, that the President of the United States be, and he hereby is,
directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of
the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United
States the militia of the several states to such extent as may be
necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.
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