From Indio to Filipino

Taft recommended that there be a civil government created within the Philippines, comprised of an elected legislative assembly. Under his administration, Taft was able to negotiate with congress to pass a bill that included a governor, an independent judiciary, and the legislative assembly.

The commonwealth status of Puerto Rico between the 1950-1952 was with limited autonomy since the Island was still under the Sovereignty of the United States (Francesco, C. & Eugene, 1999). The United States annexed Puerto Rico following the end of the Spanish-American War. For almost a century Puerto Rico has been under the influence of the United States. The constitutional convention of 1952 gave Puerto Rico the right to form a republican government.

The Spanish-American War in 1898 was a point where American’s demonstrated their power and true colors. America wanted to free the Cubans from Spain, but it was not purely out of the interest of the Cubans. America was in it for the Philippines. Spain had control of the Philippines, and the Philippines were located in close proximity to China. The issue here was that the Philippines was not interested in having the U.S. around and rebelled against the American forces (47) .The U.S. wanted to capitalize on the economic struggles in China and the Philippines was

The Spanish-American War began as a humanitarian effort to free Cuba from Spain’s colonial grasp and ended with the United States itself acquiring territory overseas and fighting a dirty guerrilla war with Filipino nationalists who, like the Cubans, sought independence. Behind the contradiction stood the twin pillars of American foreign policy: The Monroe Doctrine made Spain’s presence in Cuba unacceptable, and U.S. determination to keep open the door to Asia made the Philippines attractive as a stepping-stone to China.

America's short war with Spain in 1898 was the nation's first step on the pathway to becoming a world power. The U.S. victory brought with it the unintended possession of the Philippines and a vested interest in the politics of the Pacific region that would ultimately lead to conflict with Japan. As an immediate outcome of the war, America found itself embroiled in an insurgency in the Philippines that closely mimicked the conflict in Vietnam over 60 years later.

I do not think that the United States were the good guys in the Philippine- American war. The only right that we had to be in the Philippines was the right taken from Spain. In many ways the imperialism idea that the U.S. had were undemocratic. The United States at the time was developing and did not have adequate resources to keep military in foreign places. I think that we should have focused on own land. We have a large chunk of land full of growth possibilities. The war was not only brutal on both sides, but it also increased tensions about race. Overall the war did not accomplish much besides hurt both sides. The United States should have stopped their efforts after they met resistance.

1899 marked the year when America set its sites from the Spanish to the First Philippine Republic plunging American into yet another war ending with the temporary annexation of the Philippine Islands spreading American imperialism to the Far East. Within one year of winning their independence from

10, 1898), Spain renounced all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.” Cuba also became an United States protectorate. The treaty ended up causing a heated debate in the U.S. However, there were Philippine insurgents who fought the Spanish rule in the war who quickly turned against the new residents. Almost 10 times more American lives were lost subduing the insurgents than in beating the Spanish. “Nevertheless, President McKinley's expansionist policies were supported by the American public, who seemed more than willing to accept the blessings and curses of their new expanding empire.”

“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort." 1899, from his book, The Strenuous Life. On December 10,1899 in the treaty of paris the US buys the Philippines for $20 million. Then on July 4th of 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declares victory in the Philippines. The United States should have annexed the Philippines because the U.S. educated, civilized the Filipinos, the Philippine land brought recourses and economic gain, and the U.S. led the Philippines to a self-government.

In 1898 the United States defeated Spain, and the Philippine Islands were suddenly free of Spain’s tyranny. The Filipinos had been fighting for their freedom from Spain for several years. When the United States arrived to conquer Spain they landed in the Philippines, and the Filipinos thinking that the United States was there to set them free, sided with them. But instead of the independence the wanted, the Filipino people found themselves in the position of exchanging one colonial power for another. The United States gained a foothold in the Pacific, and “The United States had suddenly become a major world power” (Background Essay).

On May 15, Theodore Roosevelt began training the famous Rough Riders for battles in Cuba, which brought him the fame that made him vice president in 1901 and then president on September 13 . In Washington, President McKinley received the news of the great battle. However, the battle of Manila did not end the war. 100 miles off the US coast is where Spanish held Cuba, by a substantial army, and hostile to American interests there. No naval force could impose on Cuba, and in order to force the Spanish out, a full scale invasion would have to be mounted.

There have been sporadic movement of Filipinos stepping foot onto American soil. During 1907 up until about 1930, they were forced to become hired help assigned to the sugar plantations in Hawaii, underpaid and living in poor conditions. There were brief periods in which Filipinos were not allowed to step foot into America, but after acquiring independence from the United States in 1946, there was an increase of migration to the states. Ever since then, the Filipino race has been steadily growing here.

On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of

Originating from dates all the way back to 500A.D. these people ran the land and cultivated

This thus shows the violence of the Colonial masters while the colonized nation was fighting for independence. Moreover, the colonial master’s use of force to control and exert power further adds to the violence in the struggle for independence during the process of decolonization. Finally, during the Spanish-American war of 1898, the US obtained Aguinaldo’s cooperation in the battle again the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in return for Philippines’ independence. However, one the conflict ended and Spain was defeated, the US annexed Philippines in the Treaty of Paris and this was met with much unhappiness in the Philippines as the Philippines did not want to be colonized yet again and wanted independence. As such, a war between the revolutionaries and the Americans ensued, with the revolutionaries crushed by the US forces and Aguinaldo arrested, asserting American authority and power over the Philippines. As such, it may be seen that the colonial powers used violence to assert and reinforce their power, thus making the entire process of decolonization extremely violent due to the colonialists’ unwillingness to pull out of their colonies.