Question

The Treaty of Paris, which concluded the Spanish-American War in 1898, contained all of the following provisions EXCEPT that_________.
A) Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States.
B) Spain ceded the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.
C) The United States agrees to pay $20 million to Spain for the Philippines.
D) Guam became a U.S. territory.
E) Cuba be granted its independence.

Answer 1

Hint: The Paris Peace Conference was a global meeting carried in Versailles outside Paris in January 1919. The objective of the meeting was to infer the circumstances of peace after World War II.

Complete Answer:
During the Paris Peace Conference, various peace agreements were prepared for various countries contributing to the war. The most crucial treaty occurring from the Paris Peace Conference is the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles ascertained peace with Germany. Other treaties such as the Treaty of Saint-Germain also furnish peace with Austria and Hungary. This conference lingered a little over a year. Among the 32 countries in the Versailles Peace Treaty, the Big Three are mainly active in associations with Germany. At the convention, various civil servants and administrators sought to achieve a peace treaty favourable to everyone, but the leaders of the Big Three often resisted the guidance of their consultants.

Also, the Big Three are not in unity with each other. This made judgment making hard, led to the accumulation of negotiations, and the erosion of connections between the three countries. The Treaty of Paris, which inferred the Spanish-American War in 1898, included all of the following conditions except that Spain cedes the Hawaiian Islands to the United States. The United States attained the Hawaiian Islands in 1898, but this was not related to the Spanish American War and the Treaty of Paris. All the other intentions were significant requirements of the treaty. The other options are wrong because Puerto Rico (A) and Guam (D) are still U.S. possessions. The Philippines (C) fought for its independence from the United States following the Spanish-American War but failed. It was consented independence in 1946, although the United States exerted influence there afterwards.
Cuba consented to its freedom after the Spanish-American War (E) as an outcome of the Teller Amendment to the U.S. proclamation of war.

Thus, option (B) is correct.

Note:
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, American President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister George Clemenceau, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando became the leaders of the meeting. Japan desired and nearly approved that a penalty in the treaty would assert the equivalence of all nations, regardless of their race.