The end of the Civil War in 1865 heralded a period of peace that extended for nearly three decades. Emerging from under the shadow of predecessors who owed their political success to their status as war veterans, this peace posed a problem for the future of American identity. In the years following the Civil War, politicians proclaimed themselves to be qualified leaders and, given that politics was exclusively a white man's world, qualified men solely based on their military history; hence the concepts of masculinity, manhood, citizenship, martial prowess, and self-government were inextricably linked together. By the 1890s, the number of veterans who had personally lived through and served in the Civil War was diminishing, and the political sphere was being filled by younger men who possessed fewer memories of the war, if any.
With the combined lack of military conflict and experience in the upcoming generations, there was a fear that this was directly resulting in a lack of capable male leaders and the country's degeneration. Even more frightening was the prospect of bringing dishonor onto the nation, for national honor was synonymous with militaristic manhood.1 Thus, when relations deteriorated between the United States and Spanish-held Cuba and the possibility of military intervention against Spain arose, imperialist jingoes jumped at the opportunity; they viewed the potential conflict not only as a chance for the growing American empire to expand overseas. More importantly, their ideology saw it as the antidote to national degeneration and the opening to restore honor and "bring back manly men."
Purpose
As it so happened, President William McKinely strongly opposed waging war against Spain and utilized arbitration strategies instead to deescalate tensions between the two nations. As a result, the purpose of the propaganda in favor of war was to persuade Americans that war was the necessary course of action for the country's future and mobilize men to enlist for the war. Jingoes and jingoist politicians hoped to accomplish this by painting those who opposed war, such as the President and his suporters of arbitration, as cowards shirking from their manly duties.2 In this way, jingoes raised questions of the character of arbitration supporters, asking whether such men were honorably fit to lead. The struggle of Cuban revolutionaries was additionally dramatized through gendered lenses, appealing to the standards of male chivalry and femininity in an attempt to stir up pro-war, anti-Spanish sentiment.