US also selected promising Filipino leaders and sent them to prestigious American universities where they learned American forms of ov government and culture, They would return to the philippines securing positions within government and governed based off American model. It was as it seems, what the Americans had intended to do. Knowingly or not, these Filipinos who were educated through the American system may have supplemented the teachings of the Americans through the way they led and communicated with the Filipinos back home, contributing to the notion that anything that was western, or American, is far better than anything filipino, which in turn may have affected their devaluing in the filipino culture. Colonial mentality can be described as an “attitude that colonized people feel themselves to be inferior to their colonizers based on the fact of colonization.” There are numerous other examples where Filipino/Filipino-Americans can experience colonial mentality. We can see this stemming from results of generational family socialization and the continued americanization that continues to exist, “further endorsing notion of american superiority over filipino ethnicity and culture.” An example of the generational family socialization can be seen throughout the novel of American Son. Ika’s two sons, Gabriel and Tomas are half-filipino and half-white as a result of their father who served in the military and is no longer part of their life. Neither of these children
century, the outcome of the Spanish-American war divided Americans into those for and against the annexation of the Philippines. The masses supporting it saw the islands as a strong foothold for the country in Chinese markets, compared to the minority which believed the United States was founded to escape oppression and should not lead to doing the same upon others. America becoming an imperial power shifted the world stage, and opened opportunity in trade on the other side of the world. Annexing the Philippines changed how other countries saw the United States, but more importantly it changed how Americans feel about their country; citizens rallied around the flag after defeating Spain because surpassing the empire’s navy gave them something positive to think of after all the turmoil over the past hundred years (and still at the time over working/living conditions and inequality between races/genders). It gave the public a reason to be patriotic. If the United States did not annex the Philippines when it did, it would not have had the ability to become the strongest government in the world and increase exports throughout Asia, but at what cost? American leaders decided it would be a good power move, but did
In fact, American troops were so worried about unintentionally sparing their foes that as they advanced through a location, they would use the Scorched Earth Tactic which involved burning everything that could be useful to the enemy to ensure that the other side would be unable to survive without those materials. With America controlling their country, the Filipinos became known as Filipino Nationals who had certain rights that American citizens had in America. Although the American government did build more advanced hospitals, and better schools and roads for the Philippines, American businesses heavily infiltrated the economy and left many Filipinos jobless. Having to survive with a ruined economy and lack of freedom from foreign powers were some of the factors that pushed the Filipinos to come to America. Since they were Filipino Nationals, they were able to travel to and from America
Change in American government was imperative in expanding the nation. It is ludicrous to believe that as other nations were growing, America would just sit back and watch. Governmental involvement made "the Philippines ours forever" (Document 1). The United States' plan was to take the Philippines, educate, uplift, and civilize them (Document 2). Such a "noble deed" seemed to benefit both the filipinos and americans. During this time, as mentioned in document eight, "we had duties to others and duties to ourselves". Government's changing role made these relationships available to the
“...We govern our children without their consent...Would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, human, civilizing government of this Republic…” (Doc B, Albert J. Beveridge). I disagree with this black and white view of the world. The Filipinos are grown people capable of making the best decision for themselves. Children are not (due to their undeveloped frontal lobes). They do not need America to save them. They wanted freedom enough to attempt war with Spain, a global power, so they have earned that
was generous to annex the Philippines because the U.S. lead the Philippines to a self-government. “It takes a few weeks of work like this to make one proud that he is an American”(Doc H). This document tells the story of the Philippine- American War coming to the end with America’s victory. Letter written by William Connor shows how the United States military won the war that lead the US to guiding the Philippines to a stronger government. “it cannot rule over vassal states or subjects peoples without bringing in the elements of death into its own constitution…”(Doc I). Document I explains that annexing the Philippines is unconstitutional, but this is not correct because the Philippines was bought by the U.S. and they were owned by U.S. “We could not leave them to themselves- they were unfit for self government- and they soon would have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was”(Doc C). The United States saw the Philippine as unfitted for self- government and the Philippines needed the United States to be a parent government, and guide them to a more fit
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).
Over 1,000 people dead in the Spanish-American War, and the United States with a victory to brag about, the Philippine Islands are finally freed from Spain. Directly after the United States won the Spanish-American War, the Philippines were up for grabs and desired by many. Spain treated the Philippines badly, and did not give them enough freedoms. After the big win of the war, the “United States suddenly became a major world power” (Should the United States... 141). America did not know what to do with the Philippine Islands. They had two choices; annex or not annex. Should the Philippines have been added to the United States? The United States should annex the Philippines because, if not it would be cowardly,
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
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
Our country is rich in culture; the occupation of the Spanish, the American, and the Japanese gave the Philippines its diverse and unique culture. This exceptional culture we have in our country has produced numerous brilliant individuals, who up to this day are still well recognized. So it is safe to say that part of the reason why they became who they were is because of their culture; because of our culture. (Ong, 2011)
Needless to say, I had drawn a clear distinction between being Filipino and being American, and the main difference centered around values and attitudes. I will leave the Filipino side of the equation for another discussion. My ideas about America was shaped largely by the American media that was available to me when I was growing up in Manila.
While post-colonialism is the political or cultural condition in a former colony. We see both throughout Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and “The Perforated Sheet”. We also see common themes concerning natives and colonizers; including Mimicry and Hybridity. Mimic’s are ethnic members of a native population who demonstrate a double articulation of culture to gain agency. Hybrids are ethnic members of native population born from native population who grow up knowing both cultures intimately.
Every October, we celebrate Filipino American History Month. In honor of this wonderful month long celebration, Hollywood News Source would be doing a string of festive posts for the next four weeks. We will have giveaways, guest posts, discussions, and book recommendations. Our main goal is to feature a variety of Filipino authors and their books and to showcase the excellency of Filipino Americans.
The Philippines was very lucky because our country was rich in natural resources. And that is the reason why many foreign countries had colonized our country.
Postcolonialism is an academic discipline featuring methods of intellectual discourse that analyze, explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism, to the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers for the economic exploitation of the native people and their land.