ill be perceived therefrom that the Government of Spain, having
cognizance of the joint resolution of the United States Congress,
and in view of the things which the President is thereby required and
authorized to do, responds by treating the reasonable demands of this
Government as measures of hostility, following with that instant and
complete severance of relations by its action which by the usage of
nations accompanies an existent state of war between sovereign powers.

The position of Spain being thus made known and the demands of the
United States being denied, with a complete rupture of intercourse,
by the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in exercise of the power
and authority conferred upon me by the joint resolution aforesaid, to
proclaim, under date of April 22, 1898,[8] a blockade of certain ports
of the north coast of Cuba lying between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and
of the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast of Cuba, and further in
exercise of my constitutional powers and using the authority conferred
upon me by the act of Congress approved April 22, 1898, to issue my
proclamation dated April 23, 1898,[9] calling forth volunteers in order
to carry into effect the said resolution of April 20, 1898. Copies of
these proclamations are hereto appended.

In view of the measures so taken, and with a view to the adoption of
such other measures as may be necessary to enable me to carry out the
expressed will of the Congress of the United States in the premises, I
now recommend to your honorable body the adoption of a joint resolution
declaring that a state of war exists between the United States of
America and the Kingdom of Spain, and I urge speedy action thereon, to
the end that the definition of the international status of the United
States as a belligerent power may be made known and the assertion of all
its rights and the maintenance of all its duties in the conduct of a
public war may be assured.[10]

WILLIAM McKINLEY.

[Footnote 7: See p. 155.]

[Footnote 8: See pp. 202-203.]

[Footnote 9: See pp. 203-204.]

[Footnote 10: See p. 201.]

JOINT RESOLUTION for the recognition of the independence of the people
of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority
and government in the island of Cuba and to withdraw its land and naval
forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the
United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to
car