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The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. Cuba's annexation had long been a goal of U.S. slaveholding expansionists. At the national level, American leaders had been satisfied to have the island remain in weak Spanish hands so long as it did not pass to a stronger power such as Britain or France. The Ostend Manifesto proposed a shift in foreign policy, justifying the use of force to seize Cuba in the name of national security. It resulted from debates over slavery in the United States, Manifest Destiny, and the Monroe Doctrine, as slaveholders sought new territory for slavery's expansion. During the administration of President Franklin Pierce, a pro-Southern Democrat, Southern expansionists called for acquiring Cuba as a slave state, but the breakout of violence following the Kansas–Nebraska Act left the administration unsure of how to proceed. At the suggestion of Secretary of State William L. Marcy, American ministers in Europe — Pierre Soulé for Spain, James Buchanan for Great Britain, and John Y. Mason for France — met to discuss strategy related to an acquisition of Cuba. They met secretly at Ostend, Belgium, and drafted a dispatch at Aix-la-Chapelle. The document was sent to Washington in October 1854, outlining why a purchase of Cuba would be beneficial to each of the nations and declaring that the U.S. would be "justified in wresting" the island from Spanish hands if Spain refused to sell. To Marcy's chagrin, Soulé made no secret of the meetings, causing unwanted publicity in both Europe and the U.S. The administration was finally forced to publish the contents of the dispatch, which caused it irreparable damage. The dispatch was published as demanded by the House of Representatives. Dubbed the "Ostend Manifesto", it was immediately denounced in both the Northern states and Europe. The Pierce administration suffered a significant setback, and the manifesto became a rallying cry for anti-slavery Northerners. The question of Cuba's annexation was effectively set aside until the late 19th century, when support grew for Cuban independence from Spain. ==Historical context== Located off the coast of Florida, Cuba had been discussed as 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 Secretary of State tenure that it had "become an object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union".〔Hershey (1896), p. 75.〕 He later described Cuba and Puerto Rico as "natural appendages to the North American continent"〔Schoultz (1998), p. 48.〕 – the former's annexation was "indispensable to the continuance and integrity of the Union itself."〔Schoultz (1998), p. 58.〕 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. The U.S. simply wanted to ensure that control did not pass to a stronger power such as Britain or France.〔May (1973), pp. 17–19.〕 Cuba was of special importance to Southern Democrats, who believed their 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 plantation economy based on sugar, and its geographical location predisposed it to Southern influence;〔May (1972), pp. 46–60.〕 its admission would greatly strengthen the position of Southern slaveholders, whose way of life was under fire from Northern abolitionists.〔Henderson (1939), p. 373.〕 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 as the next slave state.〔May (1973), pp. 10–12.〕〔Schoultz (1998), pp. 49–51, 56.〕 If Cuba were admitted to the Union as a single state, the island would have sent two senators and nine representatives to Washington.〔Cuba's population in 1850 was 651,223 white and free colored persons and 322,519 slaves (). With slaves counting as three-fifths of a person, the population would have been considered 844,734 for determining Congressional apportionment. After the 1850 census, the ratio of congressman-to-constituent was 1:93,425, which would have yielded nine representatives for Cuba.〕 In the Democratic Party, the debate over the continued expansion of the United States centered on how quickly, rather than whether, to expand.〔Schoultz (1998), pp. 40–41.〕 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.〔May (1973), p. 17.〕 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."〔Brown (1980), pp. 21–28.〕 Under orders from Polk, Secretary of State James Buchanan prepared an offer of $100 million, but "sooner than see () transferred to any power, (officials ) would prefer seeing it sunk into the ocean."〔Bemis (1965), p. 314.〕 The Whig administrations of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore did not pursue the matter and took a harsher stand against filibusters, with federal troops intercepting several expeditions bound for Cuba.〔Bemis (1965), pp. 303, 313–314.〕 When Franklin Pierce took office in 1853, however, he was committed to Cuba's annexation.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ostend Manifesto」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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