Ostend Manifesto - Historical Context

Historical Context

Located 90 miles (140 km) off the coast of Florida, Cuba had been a subject for annexation in several presidential administrations. Presidents John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson expressed great interest in Cuba, with Adams observing during his time as Secretary of State that it had "become an object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union". He would later describe Cuba and Puerto Rico as "natural appendages to the North American continent" – the former's annexation was "indispensable to the continuance and integrity of the Union itself." As the Spanish Empire had lost much of its power, a no-transfer policy began with Jefferson whereby the U.S. respected Spanish sovereignty, considering the island's eventual absorption inevitable, so long as control did not pass to a stronger power such as Britain or France.

Cuba was of special importance to Southern Democrats, whose economic and political interests would be best served by the admission of another slave state to the Union. The existence of slavery in Cuba, the island's agrarian economy, and its geographical location predisposed it to Southern influence; its admission would greatly strengthen the position of Southern slaveholders, whose way of life was under fire from Northern abolitionists. Whereas immigration to Northern industrial centers had resulted in Northern control of the population-based House of Representatives, Southern politicians sought to maintain the fragile balance of power in the Senate, where each state received equal representation. As slavery-free Western states were admitted, Southern politicians increasingly looked to Cuba for the next slave state. If Cuba were admitted to the Union as a single state, the island would have sent two Senators and nine representatives to Washington.

In the Democratic Party, the debate over the continued expansion of the United States centered on how quickly, rather than whether, to expand. Radical expansionists and the Young America movement were quickly gaining traction by 1848, and a debate about whether to annex the Yucatán portion of Mexico that year included significant discussion of Cuba. Even John C. Calhoun, described as a reluctant expansionist who strongly disagreed with intervention on the basis of the Monroe Doctrine, concurred that "it is indispensable to the safety of the United States that this island should not be in certain hands," likely referring to Britain. In light of a Cuban uprising, President James K. Polk refused solicitations from filibuster backer John L. O'Sullivan and stated his belief that any acquisition of the island must be an "amicable purchase." Under orders from Polk, Secretary of State James Buchanan prepared an offer of $100 million, but "sooner than see transferred to any power, would prefer seeing it sunk into the ocean." The Whig administrations of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore did not pursue the matter and took an even harsher stand against filibusters, with federal troops intercepting several expeditions bound for Cuba. When Franklin Pierce took office in 1853, however, he was committed to Cuba's annexation.