noon
In all that time the sympathies of America were with the struggling Cubans ; and from every State of the Union demands for intervention in their behalf , even to the extent of going to war with Spain , had grown louder and more insistent , until it was evident that they must be heeded . With the destruction of the _ Maine _ affairs reached such a crisis that the people , through their representatives in Congress , demanded to have the Spanish flag swept forever from the Western hemisphere . In vain did President McKinley strive for a peaceful solution of the problem ; but with both nations bent on war , he could not stem the tide of popular feeling . So , on the 20th of April he was obliged to demand from Spain that she should , before noon of the 23d , relinquish forever her authority over Cuba , at the same time withdrawing her land and naval forces from that island . The Spanish Cortes treated this proposition with contempt , and answered it by handing his passports to the American Minister at Madrid , thereby declaring war against the great American republic . At this time Spain believed her navy to be more than a match for that of the United States , and that , with nearly two hundred thousand veteran , acclimated troops on the island of Cuba , she was in a position to resist successfully what she termed the `` insolent demands of the Yankee pigs . '' On this side of the Atlantic , Congress had appropriated fifty millions of dollars for national defence , the navy was being strengthened by the purchase of additional ships at home and abroad , fortifications were being erected along the entire coast , harbors were mined , and a powerful fleet of warships was gathered at Key West , the point of American territory lying nearest the island of Cuba .