<P> The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1860 put a temporary end to the expansionist attempts, but as the Civil War faded into history, the term Manifest Destiny experienced a brief revival . In the 1892 U.S. presidential election, the Republican Party platform proclaimed: "We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe doctrine and believe in the achievement of the manifest destiny of the Republic in its broadest sense ." After the Republicans recaptured the White House in 1896 and for the next 16 years they held on to it, Manifest Destiny was cited to promote overseas expansion . </P> <P> The situation prior to the Spanish--American War was particularly tense . Several members of the media, such as William Randolph Hearst, and of the military were calling for intervention by the United States to help the revolutionaries in Cuba . American opinion was overwhelmingly swayed and hostility towards Spain began to build . American newspapers ran stories of a sensationalist nature depicting fabricated atrocities committed by the Spanish . These stories often reflected on how thousands of Cubans had been displaced to the country side in concentration camps . Many stories used depictions of gruesome murders, rapes, and slaughter . During this time there was a riot in Havana by those sympathetic to the Spanish . The printing presses of newspapers that had criticized the actions of the Spanish Army were destroyed . </P> <P> Before the sinking of the USS Maine, one American media correspondent stationed in Cuba was quoted as saying that the American people were being greatly deceived by reporters sent to cover the revolution . According to him an overwhelming majority of the stories were obtained through third hand information often relayed by their Cuban interpreters and informants . These people were often sympathetic to the revolution and would distort the facts to shed a positive light on the revolution . Routinely small skirmishes would become large battles . Cuban oppression was depicted through inhumane treatment, torture, rape, and mass pillaging by the Spanish forces . These stories revealed heaps of dead men, women, and children left on the side of the road . Correspondents rarely bothered to confirm facts; they simply passed the stories on to their editors in the states, where they would be put into publication after further editing and misrepresentation . This type of journalism became known as yellow journalism . Yellow journalism swept the nation and its propaganda helped to precipitate military action by the United States . The United States sent troops to Cuba as well as several other Spanish colonies throughout the world . </P> <P> The two newspaper owners credited with developing the journalistic style of yellow journalism were William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer . These two were fighting a circulation battle in New York City . Pulitzer owned the New York World, and Hearst the New York Journal . Through their disregard for responsible journalism, the two men are commonly credited with leading America into the Spanish--American War . Their stories swayed US public opinion to believe that the Cuban people were being unjustly persecuted by the Spanish, and that the only way for them to gain their independence was through American intervention . Hearst and Pulitzer made their stories credible by self - assertion and providing false names, dates, and locations of skirmishes and atrocities committed by the Spanish . Papers also claimed that their facts could be substantiated by the government . </P>

Which new technique for selling newspaper contributed to the outbreak of the spanish american war