The US acquire control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam as a result of the Spanish-American War.
The Radical Republicans were the driving force behind several legal changes that allowed African-Americans to gain more rights in American society. This made life for white farmers in the south much more difficult. Here are two examples:
1) 14th amendment- This stated that all individuals born on American soil were citizens. This granted all the rights that white citizens had to African-American citizens.
2) 15th amendment- This gave former slaves and all black men the right to vote. This negatively affected the white south, as the newly freed slave population now had significant political power.
The abundance of natural resources
