INVESTIGATE:

Why did the United States invade Cuba? (Read each source below, then answer the questions in the notebook. Ask your teacher for an inquiry organizer worksheet to help you think about the ways that the sources support and contradict each other.)

SOURCES:

READ: Awake United States!

Head Note: This song was rushed into print between the sinking of the Maine on February 16, 1898 and the declaration of war on April 25, 1898.

Eagle soar on high, and sound the battle cry!

1. How proudly sailed the warship Maine,
a Nation's pride, without a stain!
A wreck she lies, her sailors slain.
By Trecherous butchers, paid by Spain!

Refrain:

Eagle soar on high,
And sound the battle cry
Wave the starry flag!
In mire it shall not drag!

2. Why does the breeze such sad thoughts bring,
Like murmuring seas the echoes sing?
Why do clouds thus backward roll.
Like wave on wave, on rock on shoal!
.....
3. Awake! Thy Stars and Stripes unfurl,
And shot and shell and vengeance hurl!
Though clouds gather, they will go,
and sunlight follow after woe.

Refrain:

Awake! it is no dream;
Dost hear the sailors scream?
Comrades will you go?
Avenge the cruel blow!
.....
And crush their marble heart!
Source: Marie Elizabeth Lamb, Awake United States! (New Orleans, LA: 1898).

USE THE NOTEBOOK (instructions):

Vocabulary

These definitions should help with reading comprehension.

  • mire: mud
  • shoal: sandbank

Awake United States! Sheet Music Cover

This is the cover for the sheet music to the song Awake United States!

Sheet Music

Listin to Historian Mike O'Malley discuss sheet music in American life during the 19th century.

Please log in to use the notebook

Create new account