Trace the causes and debates that led to the Spanish-American War, including “yellow journalism” press coverage, President McKinley’s declaration of war, and sentiments about imperialism. In this interactive lesson from WGBH, students develop a written argument in response to the question “Was the U.S. justified in going to war with Spain in 1898?” They gather evidence from videos featuring historian Ben Weber and from primary source documents, images, and cartoons. This resource was originally developed for the Writing in U.S. History collection, the Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History.