The Spanish Treaty Claims Commission was established by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 for the purpose of carrying out one of the terms of the treaty ending the war. The Commission was created by an Act of Congress

Act of Congress

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

 approved March 2, 1901. Working from 1901 to 1910, the Commission resolved nearly $65 million in claims, and awarded less than $1.5 million.

The United States' indemnification of Spain

Under Article VII of the 1898 Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1898)

The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....

, the United States assumed responsibility for the payment of all claims of her own citizens for which Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 would have been liable under principles of international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

. Thus, in proceedings before the Commission, the United States government was effectively required to stand in the shoes of its defeated adversary, Spain, and to defend against the claims of its own citizens by defending the actions or omissions of Spain.

Commissioners

President William McKinley

William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

 appointed the original members of the Commission in 1901. The original Commissioners were recently-defeated U.S. Senator William E. Chandler

William E. Chandler

William Eaton Chandler was a lawyer who served as United States Secretary of the Navy and as a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire.-Early life:...

 of New Hampshire (who was chosen as president), Gerrit J. Diekema

Gerrit J. Diekema

Gerrit John Diekema was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.-Biography:Diekema was born in Holland, Michigan where he attended the common schools and graduated from Hope College in 1881...

 of Michigan, James P. Wood of Ohio, William Arden Maury of the District of Columbia, and William L. Chambers of Alabama. Diekema resigned in 1907 upon his election to Congress, and was replaced by Harry K. Daugherty of Pennsylvania. When Chandler resigned in 1907, Wood took his place as chairman while former Congressman Roswell P. Bishop

Roswell P. Bishop

Roswell Peter Bishop was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.-Biography:Bishop was born in Sidney, New York, and attended Unadilla Academy, Cooperstown Seminary and Walton Academy, all in Upstate New York, after which he taught school for several years.During the American Civil War, he...

 was added to the Commission.

McKinley also named former Congressman William E. Fuller

William E. Fuller

William Elijah Fuller , was an attorney, and a two-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district in northeastern Iowa during the 1880s....

 of Iowa as Assistant Attorney General to defend against the claims. Fuller served from 1901 until 1907, when he resigned and was succeeded by former auditor and Congressman William Wallace Brown

William Wallace Brown

William Wallace Brown was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.-Biography:...

 of Pennsylvania. From 1902 to 1904, Fuller was assisted by future federal judge Charles B. Witmer

Charles B. Witmer

Charles B. Witmer was a United States federal judge.Born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Witmer received an A.B. from Central College, Pennsylvania in 1883 and read law to enter the bar in 1887. He was a County solicitor, Northumberland County from 1888 to 1891 and from 1894 to 1900...

.

Claims and payments

U.S. citizens were given six months to submit their claims to the Commission, although timely claims were sometimes amended after that deadline. Adjudicating the claims was often difficult because of logistical challenges. In the main, the witnesses were not in the United States where the Commission worked, but were in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 or Spain. Officials in Spain were initially noncooperative. For some claims, the need for claimants to hold U.S. citizenship gave rise to disputes regarding their nationality. The Commission also faced important legal questions, including the validity of claims arising from damages incurred during battles between Cuban insurgents and Spanish forces.

Twenty-one claims, totalling $279,750, were paid for personal injuries suffered by U.S. citizens at the hands of Spanish military authorities, usually when detained on suspicion of aiding the insurrection and in violation of the 1795 Pinckney's Treaty

Pinckney's Treaty

Pinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish...

 between the two nations.

The majority of the claims paid by the Commission arose out of appropriations of land, livestock and other property by Spain. Where the Commission concluded that damages were the result of destruction that was justifiable under the rules and usages of war, the claims were denied.

The largest specific item of destruction for which claims were filed was the loss of sugar cane fields burned by insurgents or Spanish forces. All but one such claim was denied.

Over 150 claims, totalling $2,825,200, arose from the destruction of the USS Maine

USS Maine (ACR-1)

USS Maine was the United States Navy's second commissioned pre-dreadnought battleship, although she was originally classified as an armored cruiser. She is best known for her catastrophic loss in Havana harbor. Maine had been sent to Havana, Cuba to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt...

 in the harbor of Havana, Cuba on February 15, 1898. Those claims, made by naval officers, seamen or their survivors, were all dismissed. The Commission reasoned that international law would not hold another country liable to American military officers, because such claims are national rather than personal, to be pursued only on behalf of the United States.

The Commission's awards totalled $1,387,845.74.