The Teller Amendment: U.S. Pledges Not to Annex Cuba (1898)

In April 1898, the U.S. Congress passed the Teller Amendment to the joint resolution for war with Spain. It declared that the United States would not annex Cuba after defeating Spanish forces.

True to the pledge, the U.S. ended its military occupation in 1902, and Cuba became an independent republic—though the subsequent Platt Amendment (1901) granted the U.S. significant intervention rights and a naval base at Guantánamo Bay.