To say that the history of Cuba is a wild one would be an understatement. For the sake of this essay however I will simply be focusing on its revolutionary period immediately prior to the Spanish American war. The first of the two key phases begin in 1868 with the beginning of the Ten Year’s War and ends with the conclusion of the Cuban War of Independence in 1898 due to the beginning of the Spanish-American War. These phases are key contributors to the state the state of Cuba following the way, the mindset of the Cuban peoples and the state of Cuba in general. The first phase of this revolutionary period was led by a man named Carlos manuel de Cespedes who was a wealthy plantation owner displeased with the lack of local autonomy and the high taxes enforced by the Spanish. He began the revolution on…show more content… By the end of its first year the revolution had expanded to 10,000 revolutionaries most of whom were emancipated slaves. On many topics Cespedes did not hold the opinion of his people however. He prefered a gradual emancipation of slaves as opposed to an immediate one, threatened the death penalty to any rebel fighter who attacked the sugar estates or someone's slave property. In addition to this he favored independence from Spain simply as a first step to being annexed into the United States which was unfavorable to many Cuban nationalists. Regardless of this he assisted in setting up a provisional government accompanied by a Congress where he is elected president. Despite the refusal of the United States to recognize the rebels, the government received support from American John Patterson in 1870 with the purchase of the Virginius which supplies the revolutionaries with with weapons and