The Spaniards, we are told, are to go by December 1, or soon after. Then is to come an American “army of occupation,” some saying that it is to be 50,000 strong. It is but natural that we should ask, “Why is this great army sent to Cuba? When the Spaniards are gone, who is it going to fight?”

CUBAN ARMY GENERAL BARTOLOMÉ MASÓ,
NOVEMBER 1898

History does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.

JAMES BALDWIN, THE FIRE NEXT TIME

Here, take this gift,

I was reserving it for some hero, speaker, or General,

One who should serve the good old cause, the great Idea, the progress and freedom of the race;

Some brave confronter of despots—some daring rebel;—

But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much as to any.

WALT WHITMAN, TO A CERTAIN CANTATRICE