What did the united states gain as a result of the spanish-american war apex?

It gained the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines

These were all territories that were under Spanish colonial rule before the war and the US freed those territories. Although the United States helped those territories, they didn't get them to become a part of the United States and just served as protectors of those states to prevent exploitation of people or anything similar.

It might be the second one