How did the spanish american war change the views of the u. s?

It is usually viewed as the turning point when the US became a world power in the common sense of the term; its economy had already brought it there but having formal colonies made it one of the big boys on the world stage. It’s earlier colonies were not thought of as colonies per se, so having its population move into the western US could be thought of as colonization (certainly from the view of the locals) but the Spanish-American war established it clearly since there was nothing natural about the US expanding into the far Pacific as an occupier.

I hope this helps.