Annexation Of Philippines Essay

America 's annexation of the Philippines was not a necessary decision. Supporters of the annexation believed it would benefit America economically. However, Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan stated in a speech, "It is not necessary to own people in order to trade with them" (Document D). Trade with the Philippines could have been accomplished without occupying them. In addition, pro-imperialists exhibited a patronizing attitude toward the Filipinos; for instance, Albert J. Beveridge described the Philippines as "ours to save" (Document B). Many

Now, we’re involved in a possible conflict with Spain.  It is possible that we might engage in an epic naval battle with the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. Hawaiian Islands provide us with the perfect coal station for our Navy and supply ships on the way to the Philippines. It is in America’s best interest to annex Hawaii as soon as possible.  If we do not act quickly, the British might annex Hawaii.  There’s no time to waste. The Filipinos have been fighting against the Spanish rule for some time now. Are we going to help them achieve their independence from Spanish rule?  If we deem that they’d be better of being independent, we will assist them.  But, if we deem that they’d benefit from being annexed, we might go ahead and add the Philippines to our oversea possessions. Like with the Hawaiians, the Filipinos will benefit from the Christianization of their islands. With the influx of American values, cultures, and language, we will be doing any country annexed a favor by allowing them into our nations cultural and economic prosperity.

The American Anti-Imperialist league has a platform I fully agree with. “We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods…” (Doc A, American Anti-Imperialist League). In trying to conquest other nations, the US being identical to the enemy, Spain. What is the point in helping the Filipinos gain their independence if we are about to trap them back into the exact same situation? Some of you may think that our only choice is to annex them.

I believe the Philippines should’ve been annexed by the United by many reasons. One of them being that the Philippines had a weak government, they weren’t capable of maintaining a country. They were not ready to be alone as a country. However, if the U.S. did not annex the Philippines, then other countries including Japan and Germany could’ve taken the country away. If the United States would’ve annexed the Philippians they were going to educate their people because everyone should have the right to get an education. The United States wanted to give the Philippines an opportunity to be independent and to be self-government. The United States would’ve had many trading goods and the markets

According to the United States, democracy and Christianity were principal elements of a successful society. During the end of the eighteen-hundreds and throughout the beginning of the nineteen-hundreds, America tried to colonize and reform less fortunate nations. Following a social-Darwinist point of view, Americans took their “God-given” superiority to those who were incapable of establishing their own self-government (Doc. H). After much debate, American foreign policy towards the Philippines and Cuba was that it is our duty to rule them until they could rule themselves. We pledged to save the indigenous people from their savage, bloody, and corrupt ways of life. President McKinley’s foreign policy towards the Philippines stated that “they would soon have anarchy and misrule…there was nothing left to do but take them all, educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize them” (Doc. A).

First, if the United States does not annex the Philippines then it could be a disaster for them. Without annexing the Philippines the country can fall apart even more than it already has. Plus, all of the independence that they gained from Spain would be something that the country would regret, not to mention that it would be all for nothing if their country failed. The Philippines are simply not ready. Even President Mckinley agrees

were advocates against the annexation, many believed it was the right decision. Many individuals believed that taking the Philippines would help and better the country. For example, in Document C, William McKinley states that allowing the country to be independent would be wrong because the Philippines is unfit to self-govern and it could lead them anarchy like Spain. McKinley also states that there is no where else for the Philippines to go, he says that America cannot give them back to Spain because it would be shameful and that the country cannot be given to France or Germany because it would disgraceful. Therefore, America has no other choice but annex the Philippine Islands and save it from ruin. The individuals who fought for the annexation depended their arguments on what they perceived as the right thing to

unlawfully gained Hawaii as a territory due to one major contributing factor, the Spanish-American War. High tensions and treaties failing, the U.S. sought to use Hawaii as a strategic gain on Spanish, by creating a strong military base in the Pacific. “Advocates argued that Hawaii was needed to support American soldiers in the Philippines“(Moss 18). It is required for the people of the native land to consent to being annexed into a country by Joint Resolution, but nevertheless, the appropriate procedures were ignored. These procedures were not met because of the potential economic, strategic, and imperial gain. After illegally annexing Hawaii by Joint Resolution and violating the U.S. Constitution, Hawaii ultimately became a controlled point in the U.S.’s stride for imperialism

Another victory through the Treaty of Paris was the possession of the Philippines. Though the Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo had aided in the defeat of Spain in 1898, USA refused independence to the Islands and a vicious three year war ensued. A civil government was created after the capture of Aguinaldo under William Taft and this showed a drastic change in American foreign policy. They could no longer justify interference with the excuse of the islands being within its sphere of influence but McKinley argued that America had the role to “uplift and civilize and christianize [Filipinos] as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died." McKinley was either unaware or simply chose not to inform the people that, except for some Muslim tribesmen in the south, the Filipinos were Roman Catholics, and, therefore, already Christians. In reality, the annexation of the Philippines was the centerpiece of the "large policy" pushed by the imperialist cabal to enlist the United States in the ranks of the great powers.

In 1898, the United States of America was in the midst of a complete remolding of the nation's reputation. Just having recently ended the Civil War among the states in the United States and once again forging war with the Spanish-American War, the United States was after a more masculine image and reputation. Due to the nature of the country at that moment in time, the American government wanted to prove their superiority among other emerging nations and in doing so chose to colonize and annex nations such as the Philippines. Primary resources indicated that the annexation of the Philippines was indeed motivated by the lack of masculinity that was felt by the American government at the time (Hollitz, 2010). Gender roles in the United States were at a point where their stereotypical reputations were changing and women were gaining more social power. This was unlike any comparable country at the time, and the United States was taking this transition negatively as their reputation as the most powerful nation in the world was at stake. This allowed for gender to play a dominate role in the debate over the Philippines.

A second theater of the Spanish-American War was the Philippines. Although the United States initially had ambivalent feelings toward the Pacific island nation, the nation ultimately moved to incorporate the territory for economic reasons. Acting under the facade of protecting the native people from atrocities committed by Spanish colonists, the United States government annexed

The bald red, white, and blue eagle of American Democracy is coming for you Phillipines, run while you can! Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was so infatuated with the idea of democracy, and he wanted every country to have a little taste of American freedom! After America's victory in the Spanish American War, George Dewey and his 11,000 American troops marched into manila and were unsure whether to liberate or occupy the filipino people. Thinking the they were here to help, the Filipino rebels trusted the Americans, but were soon betrayed as Dewey decided to occupy the land. The United States had three choices to determine what they wanted to do with the Philippines: Give it back to Spain, Give the filipino people their freedom, or to annex the whole country itself. With much debate ranging from artists, influential citizens, and government officials, the US ultimately decided it would annex! The United States should not have annexed the Philippines but rather should have given them their independence. While others may think the annexation of the Philippines would have benefited them, what the Philippines really needed was

In a passage from Our Country, Josiah states, “let us hope, of the largest liberty, the purest Christianity, the highest civilization -- having developed peculiarly aggressive traits calculated to impress its institutions upon mankind, will spread itself over the earth” (674). This applies to the issues with the Philippines because it supports McKinley's reasoning for sending troops and “missionaries” over to convert the people but ultimately ended up wreaking havoc. “Aguinaldo’s Case against the United States” written by Emilio Aguinaldo explained why he opposed American imperialism. Emilio led the Filipino armed against Spain for Independence. He was against imperialism because he believed the Filipino’s were being treated unfairly, America thinking that they were “ignorant savages”. The point he made was that America was treating the Philippines like how the colonials were treated before they escaped England. Emilio asked for America to “give us the chance; treat us exactly as you demanded to be treated at the hands of England when you rebelled against her autocratic methods”. By America treating the Filipino’s this way, it tossed all their morals about liberty and out the door putting the Filipino’s in the position that Americans were in trying trying to escape from England’s

During the early 1900’s the United States was already familiar with sending their troops overseas to claim new territory. America has never been afraid to show authority and invade land, it's a tactic the United States government has perfected over the past 120 years. When the U.S. sees other nations becoming empires they want to join in on the action. Any government that takes overseas possession has an obligation to the people but it doesn’t always go as planned. When a country gains power and becomes a world superpower no one can stop them from conquering territory.

During the early 20th century, the mainstream media pushed the narrative that it was America’s duty to go to war against the Spanish to liberate the Philippines. Due to the continuous media campaign to paint the Spanish as brutal killers, the American populous’ opinion about empire was swayed in favor of imperial rule over the Philippines. Thus, the former belief that America should remain neutral and respect state sovereignty was replaced by the belief that America’s role was to be the world’s policeman. Thus, due to public’s belief that Empire is necessary, America colonized and took over the states of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The Philippines. In America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan, Bulosan explains how the militaristic and political dominance of the American empire caused many Filipinos to immigrate to America in hopes of achieving the American Dream; however, because of the increased immigration, anti-Filipino racism spiked, causing many Filipinos to feel disillusioned about the American Dream.