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Annexation of the philippines dbq
Philippine independence
Us history philippines annexation argumentative paper
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Blood has been spilled all over the ground of the Philippines. The United States fought a small war with Spain in 1898. The United States ended up getting Cuba and the Philippine Islands as a war prize. Cuba got their independence, but the United States decided to keep the Philippine Islands by annexing them (Background Essay). Should the United States have annexed the Philippines? Annexed means to join or combine a smaller country with a bigger country. The United States should have annexed the Philippine Islands because they needed guidance to become a better country, couldn't give the Philippine Islands to other countries, and there was nothing else the United States could do with them. The Philippines was annexed because they needed guidance in leading their new nation. Owning our children is like the United States annexing the Philippines. The Philippine Islands our like children who are small and weak, but with the United States is like the parents that help the children grow and prosper into strong people. “That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellowmen for whom christ also died” (Doc C). The …show more content…
United States just wanted to uplift the Filipinos or give them a start in a new glorious life. After a war that the Filipinos just fought with Spain, they were very low in military force. In the war with Spain the U.S. was mainly the military power that pushed back the Spanish. In the 1898 cartoon, the eagle is shown as the mother bird protecting her young from the dangers around (Hook Exercise). “We can not retreat from any soil where Providence has unfurled our banner; it is ours to save… for liberty and civilization” (Doc B). The anti-imperialist may have said the Philippine Islands would have been fine on their own, but consider that the Philippines had just got out of a war and had no allies. In the beginning of being a new country, they may have been taken over by European powers since they were small and weak. The Philippines was annexed because giving them to a European power or to Spain would be cowardly. “Would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, human, civilizing government of this Republic to the savage, bloody Spanish rule… from which we have rescued them?” (Doc B). After all the lives and supplies spent in the Spanish-American War, it would be pointless to give them back to Spain. Weren't the Filipinos trying to get freedom from Spain? That means if we gave them back to Spain it would be a continuous cycle of chaos in the Philippines. Now giving them to another country like Germany or France would be pointless and bad for business. “That we could not turn them over to France and Germany - our commercial rivals in the Orient - that would be bad business and discreditable” (Doc C). If France or Germany ever got the Philippines, it would be an opportunity of great wealth that the United States lost out on. The United States would be out of their mind to give up such an advantage in war, trade, and the on going idea of becoming a world power. Giving the Philippine Islands away may have took the blame off the U.S. for taking away its freedom, but then the other world powers would have seen us as sensitive and easy to take over. Knowing that a enemy with feelings of pity toward things can be easily manipulated and conquered. The Philippine Islands were annexed because the United States wanted the rest of the world to get a fear of the U.S. The United States wanted other countries like Russia, Germany, and France to get a sense of fear or feeling less than the U.S. Annexing the Philippine Islands, was one way they could make themselves feel superior or larger in size. “A war of conquest is as unwise as it is unrighteous …. It is not necessary to own people in order to trade with them …. ” (Doc D). The U.S. has a right to own the Philippines because it was God’s plan to give us the Philippines. Adopting the Manifest Destiny, also gave the United States more of a reason to be able to have the Philippines. Some of the Anti-Imperialists may have said how the Americans weren't even preaching the word in the Philippines. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, has no gatling gun attachment ….” (Doc D). The only thing is America hadn't even had the Philippines that long to even start sending people out to preach the word. “Aguinaldo and his men now turned their guns on the Americans” (Background Essay). The Philippines was very furious about the annexation, so sending people over isn't such a good idea. Anti-Imperialists may say that the United States had no initiative to preaching the gospel, but the Americans were pointed at with a gun. Who is gonna win that? In conclusion, the United States was caught in a tough spot and the best thing to do was to annex the Philippines.
Giving away the Philippines would have been bad business and kept the same issue continue. The Philippines needed some help in government, so we took them in to guide them down a good path. During the Filipino Revolution, they wanted to get away from Spanish rule. The United States helped them defeat Spain and annexed them to help them out, but they are still mad. This doesn’t make any sense since we just helped them. Who is really making a big deal out of things? Although the Filipinos could have been fine on their own, they still needed guidance in the right direction like away from
communism.
Dear fellow senators: Yesterday, February 6, 1899 was a big day in United States history; we decided as a nation to annex the Philippines. The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia, and was independent until 1565 when the Spanish colonized the islands. I have one question for you, my fellow senators, should the U.S. have annexed the Philippines? The United States should have annexed the Philippines for three reasons: our duty to spread the values of democracy overseas, the Filipinos natural inability to govern themselves, and saving the Philippines from the tyranny of Spain or other European countries. The first reason the United States should have annexed the Philippines is because it is our duty as a country to spread the values of democracy overseas.
In 1900, delivering a speech in Indiana, Bryan defended his approval of the Treaty of Paris, which had annexed the Philippines (as well as Guam and Puerto Rico) from Spanish rule; stating that he “thought it safer to trust the American people to give independence to the Filipinos than to trust the accomplishment of that purpose to diplomacy with an unfriendly nation.” (Bryan, “Imperialism”) Essentially, his view was that the Ph...
United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades. Americans wanted to project their power to the entire hemisphere and the only way to exercise it is by acquiring republics. Citizens of three countries did not fully acquire the independence they thought they were entitled. Cuba got nominal independence because of Platt Amendment, Puerto Rico became a territory but was not called as citizens of America, and instead they were called Puerto Ricans, while Philippines were denied in statehood. They only had fundamental rights, but United States could govern the country as long as they wanted to. Furthermore, holding the countries from self-government prevent these countries to get the chance to apply what they have learned and adopted from American rule and exercise it for their country’s prosperity.
Puerto Rico spent most of its history under the control of Spain. In the year 1898, the islanders wanted their freedom and welcomed the U.S. invaders as their last hope of liberation from Spanish control. The United States brought the promise of democracy to Puerto Rico, but its true intentions did not include letting go of the island. Although the United States claimed that its intentions were to civilize Puerto Rico and help it become a democratic society, its hypocritical manner of dealing with the island had a great impact on Puerto Rican development. The early years of U.S. colonization affected many aspects of Puerto Rico, including economics, politics, and social relations.
In conclusion, the Philippines never should have been annexed. The United States believed they were better the Philippines when in reality they were dictating over them just as the Spanish had done before. Also, it was a complete waste of money and resources. Philippines finally received their independence in 1946, for which the United States received no compensation for the 20 million dollars they spent to purchase the land in the first place. Resources for the military, and schooling, and government also went to waste because the Philippines didn't accept the American lifestyle or civilization, therefore the funding for those institutions were useless. Hopefully the United States learned that controlling other countries against their will is unethical, and will choose to learn from the mistake, and not be doomed to repeat the past.
...icies from past Presidents. Furthermore, it was strongly detrimental to Latin America, for the reason that it eliminated the possibility of increasing Latin American exports to the United States, thereby destroying the hopes of Latin American countries focused upon President Nixon’s policy of “trade rather than aid.” During this time, the government justified itself by proclaiming that the United States needed to focus on avoiding involvement and learning from the mistakes made in Vietnam. All in all, over the course of the presidencies of Monroe, Roosevelt, FDR, and Nixon, the U.S. intervened in Latin America numerous times. Now, was it the right thing to do? At those specific points in time, the government thought so. Various arguments can be forged over the suitability of the actions of the U.S. during these times; however that is a discussion for another time.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
... own. The purchase of the territory also caused riffs between the United States and Spain because France promised Spain that they would never sell the territory to a third party. The United States tried to justify the purchase to the Spanish, but it didn’t work.
The Filipino American War began because the Americans did not want to give them back to Spain nor did they want to hand them over to their rivals, France and Germany.They also came to the conclusion that they were too weak to govern themselves. And to please the people, they told them that they were going to be Christianized and civilized. Proof of this can be found when President Mckinley said, “That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them” (313). However, America 's true motive for war was to gain a profit out of the Philippines since, “No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains and valleys of Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco. The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come” (314). William James was somebody who opposed the war, he wanted to, “ educate the American public about the horrors of the Philippine war and the evils of imperialism” (314). And in response, many innocent Filipino civilians would be killed. The Philadelphia Ledger reported, “our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog”
In 1897, Theodore Roosevelt and President McKinley discussed taking over the Pacific colony in the event of a war with Spain. When Congress declared war on Spain 5,000 American troops were sent to the Philippines. After the War, McKinley refused to sign the armistice unless Spain gave the United States all of the Pacific islands. Once Spain agreed, he drew up plans for colonial administration. He pleaded to educate the Filipinos and convert them to Christianity. At first, the Filipinos welcomed the American troops but eventually turned on their former alliance and attacked their base. American soldiers described them as gugus and repeatedly insulted and physically abused them. They beat civilians, raped the women and tortured them. They treated them so poorly because they were a group of darker skin than
Although it was never intended to be, the acquisition of Puerto Rico resulted in Puerto Rico becoming a colony of the United States, vis-a-vis the laws Congress passed and the nature in which the United States tried to "Americanize" the island. Puerto Rico was a colonial government in the hands of Spain, and although the Puerto Ricans hoped that with American invasion, more freedom would be granted. Unfortunately that did not change when the United States assumed control of the island. The social, economic, and political atmosphere greatly changed as well, and those changes were not necessarily for the better or better than what the Puerto Ricans had while under the control of Spain.
In 1898, in an effort to free Cuba from the oppression of its Spanish colonizers, America captured the Philippines. This brought about questions of what America should do with the Philippines. Soon, controversy ensued both in the American political arena as well as among its citizens. Throughout its history, America had always been expansionistic, but it had always limited itself to the North American continent. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, there emerged a drive to expand outside of the continent. When America expanded to the Philippines, the policy it followed was a stark break from past forms of expansionism. Despite much controversy, America followed the example of the imperialistic nations in Europe and sought to conquer the Philippines as an imperialist colony that they would rule either directly or indirectly.
The first inhabitants of the Philippines arrived from the land bridge from Asia over 150,000 years ago. Throughout the years, migrants from Indonesia, Malaysia, and other parts of Asia made their way to the islands of this country. In the fourteenth century, the Arabs arrived and soon began a long tradition of Islam. Many Muslims are still living in the Philippines today.
I don’t believe the Philippine War was justified. There are more ways than war to solve the annexation of the Philippines. I agree on some of the policies, but not all of the policies, that were in place during that time period.
The Philippines were first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It then became a colony of Spain from the late 1500's until the end of the19th century when the United States came intervened. The colonial rule of the Spanish ended in December 1898 after the United States intervened due to a popular rebellion that had broken out two years earlier. Under the United States colonial rule, democratic institutions were introduced, and the Filipinos took over all the political and bureaucratic positions. In 1934 the Philippines became an internally self governing commonwealth, with full independence from the United States scheduled for July 4, 1946. The independent republic mainta...