Imperialism Philippines

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States began to prosper because of the second Industrial Revolution. Looking to embark on expansion overseas, foreign policy became an important debate amid Americans. This lead to the concept of Imperialism. Imperialism transpires when the people of a strong nation exercise dominating control over a weaker nation, therefore denying the people of the weak nation the littlest of freedom to make their own decisions. The tendency of expansionism to become the dominant policy created negative views of Imperialism.

After the Civil War, the United States was able to thrive in success, creating an unnecessary urge to expand overseas spread amongst most Americans. Because of the second Industrial

Revolution, the domestic economic prosperity gave the United States the needless desire and compulsion to push for aggressive foreign policy. Since manufacturers spent more money building more advanced, productive factories, they often produced more products than they could sell. This lead to dependence of overseas sales, to keep their business going. For Imperialistic advocates, economics was a big factor to overseas expansion, but was undoubtedly avoidable. Militarily, the United States was convinced they needed naval ports in the Pacific because they found competition with the merchants of France and Great Britain, and protecting their shipping lanes became a greater priority. The idea of the U.S. becoming international police was absurd and opposers stuck to the ideas of George Washington’s Farewell Address where he says, “...avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty”. This quote supports the anti-Imperialists’ argument that militarily, expanding is not conductive to success and is unpromising. In addition to the redundant influences of expansion, Americans naively felt superior to people in foreign land because they surmised that their Christian religion made them morally superior. This gave them the nerve to go to other countries to edify the foreigners into the Christian religion.
During the expansion of the late nineteenth century, there was much more resistance towards American expansion by anti-imperialists.

Politicians such as William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt argued the idea to expand overseas while many others like William Jennings Bryan and Mark Twain condemned Imperialism. The advocates for the Spanish-American war believed the new nations could prosper from American help. The quite aggressive imperialist, Theodore Roosevelt, criticized those who opposed the annexation of the Philippines. In a speech given by Roosevelt called The Strenuous Life, he obnoxiously says “ I have scant patience with those who fear to undertake the task of governing the Philippines, and who openly avow that they do fear to undertake it, or that they shrink from it because of the expense and trouble”. This quote clearly suggests he has a strong, distasteful opinion towards non-advocates. According to a statement attributed to William McKinley, describing to a church delegation the decision to acquire the Philippines, he believed the Filipinos needed the Americans to help them become civilized and that they could not govern themselves. However, Filipino leaders became angry at the U.S. because the Americans refused to allow the leaders to form their own government, after they were promised independence within a peace treaty. William Graham Sumner implied in The Conquest of the United States by Spain that the United States was following in Spain’s footsteps and that the U.S. would eventually lose these territories in the same way Spain did. He and many others believed that if the United States were prospering, then it should prosper at home, not get involved in foreign

affairs.
Imperialistic domination was crudely used when dealing with another country that has a weaker economy and a weaker military. American people live in a denial when it comes to the imperialism taking place, such as the war and occupation in the Philippines. In consequence to the aggressive actions performed by the U.S. when dealing with foreign people, the Americans formed bad relationships with them. Anti-Imperialists also felt imperialism violated the basic democratic principles of self-government. While violating the freedom of their own country and foreign countries, the U.S. also violated the foreigners’ health. Expanding overseas meant spreading diseases and illnesses to people who were vulnerable. Essentially, the greatest consequence brought on by U.S. Imperialism was World War II because of the amount of world power they possessed.
In conclusion, the tendency of expansionism to become the dominant policy reflected negative views of Imperialism and a negative impact on foreign countries that the United States took control of. Although economically, militarily, and morally U.S. Imperialism was important in solving national issues for America, the issues could have been avoidable if the U.S. was not blinded with power. If the United States is prospering, then they should prosper at home, not involving themselves in foreign affairs.