Answer:
The Spanish-American War showed the United States could exert influence vis-a-vis the European Powers and that it could protect its sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Spanish-American War made the United States more clearly an imperial power that could rival European imperial powers like Spain. The role that the United States played in helping Cuba to gain independence and taking possession of the Philippines and Puerto Rico were seen as an extension of America's “Manifest Destiny,” the idea that the United States almost had a moral obligation to continue expansion and to bring our economic system and political orientation towards freedoms to the world. There were however others who resisted this idea of American expansion like Andrew Carnegie, the head of an important steel corporation. Theodore Roosevelt was a war hero in the Spanish-American War and he would later become one of the most groundbreaking of American presidents who challenged long-standing conventions like the Monroe doctrine and the power of large corporate trusts.