<P> Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the architect of Spain's Restoration constitution and the prime minister at the time, ordered General Arsenio Martínez - Campos, a distinguished veteran of the war against the previous uprising in Cuba, to quell the revolt . Campos's reluctance to accept his new assignment and his method of containing the revolt to the province of Oriente earned him criticism in the Spanish press . </P> <P> The mounting pressure forced Cánovas to replace General Campos with General Valeriano Weyler, a soldier who had experience in quelling rebellions in overseas provinces and the Spanish metropole . Weyler deprived the insurgency of weaponry, supplies, and assistance by ordering the residents of some Cuban districts to move to reconcentration areas near the military headquarters . This strategy was effective in slowing the spread of rebellion . In the United States, this fueled the fire of anti-Spanish propaganda . In a political speech President William McKinley used this to ram Spanish actions against armed rebels . He even said this "was not civilized warfare" but "extermination". </P> <P> The Spanish Government regarded Cuba as a province of Spain rather than a colony, and depended on it for prestige and trade, and as a training ground for the army . Prime minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo announced that "the Spanish nation is disposed to sacrifice to the last peseta of its treasure and to the last drop of blood of the last Spaniard before consenting that anyone snatch from it even one piece of its territory ." He had long dominated and stabilized Spanish politics . He was assassinated in 1897 by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo, leaving a Spanish political system that was not stable and could not risk a blow to its prestige . </P> <P> The eruption of the Cuban revolt, Weyler's measures, and the popular fury these events whipped up proved to be a boon to the newspaper industry in New York City, where Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal recognized the potential for great headlines and stories that would sell copies . Both papers denounced Spain, but had little influence outside New York . American opinion generally saw Spain as a hopelessly backward power that was unable to deal fairly with Cuba . American Catholics were divided before the war began, but supported it enthusiastically once it started . </P>

Who was president at the start of the spanish american war