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The acquisition of the Philippines by the United States
American Political Ideologies
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Justifying the Philippines
William McKinley in 1899 gave a speech regarding why the United States decided to keep the Philippines, when they were "dropped into our laps". Before giving the speech McKinley was burdened by what would be in the best interest of both countries. He gave four very strong points, with reasoning on why "keeping" the Philippines is the best plan of action for the United States to take.
McKinleys first reason on why it was necessary to keep the Philippines was that giving them back to Spain would make us look "cowardly and dishonorable". At a time when the Unites States was trying to establish itself as a world power and trying to get other countries to imitate the good example of American democracy. Doing anything to make ourselves look cowardly or dishonorable was out of the question. We were trying also to show that we see ourselves as protectors of the less fortunate and not a bully who was going to leave the less fortunate helpless.
Our second option and McKinleys second point being that we couldn't turn them over to France or Germany not only because that would also be a cowardly action but a bad business decision. Giving a direct connection to the orient to our biggest commercial rivals in the west would be illogical when we were trying to create a world of free trade and American ideas using American products.
The option of leaving them on their own was not an option to McKinley. He figured that soon enough they would have a fall of rule and end up the same way or worse than Spain was at the time. This also allowed us to show other counties how we could be a perfect model to implement government from. If we left them on their own it wouldn't show how we were going to help the less fortunate either. Our views were that if we were able to prove that we care about the little countries, then the little countries would then start the trend for the bigger countries to follow as well.
McKinley realized also that the people of this country were not only uneducated but uncivilized.
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 first reason the United States should have annexed the Philippines is because it is our duty to as a country to spread the values of democracy overseas. For example, as stated here in Albert J. Beveridge’s campaign speech he says, “ Do we owe no duty to the world?… it is ours to save for liberty and civilization (Doc B).” He is saying that it is our duty as a sovereign nation to help an uncivilized nation modernize, industrialize, . another example, is from William Mcki...
In my opinion The United States ordeal with Annexing the Philippines and the idea that we had of going into war with them was great mistake and should have been avoided. The Filipinos and Americans were deadlocked in war with each other. This all became a controversy with the two nations in 1898 when the Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United Stated ceded all seven thousand islands of the Philippine archipelago to the United States, for just a mere twenty-million dollars. Congress had approved the treaty with Spain, by February of 1899. Mckinley was on the verge of calling for the annexation of the Philippines which brought on a bloody two year struggle. In my opinion the United States was the cause of all of this because of three different reasons, for one our government would not...
Between 1895 and 1920, the years in which William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson reigned in the presidents, the United States struggled for not only justice at home but abroad as well. During this period policies such as Roosevelt’s Big Stick diplomacy, William Taft’s Dollar diplomacy, and Woodrow Wilson’s Moral diplomacy were all used in foreign affairs in hopes of benefit for all involved. However, it would be appropriate to say that self-interest was the most important driving factor for American policy and can be exemplified through economic, social, and political relations.
The United States should not annex the Philippine islands, the Philippines, already a country of their own should not be forced to adapt to American culture and civilization. Prior to the annexation of the Philippines, America had major conflict with Spain in order to free Cuba from their brutal tactics for dominance. Tension continued to rise, until President Mckinley decided to take action and go to war against Spanish forces to enable a more stable government as well as provide protection for the citizens of Cuba. After months of fighting, the Spanish admitted defeat and began discussing peace terms of the Treaty of Paris. In this treaty Cuba was guaranteed independence, also the Spanish were forced to give up Guam and Puerto Rico. They Spanish also complied to selling the Philippines to the U.S for 20 million. However, the Filipinos wanted independence, not just a change in who governed them, this desire led many Philippine citizens to break out, beginning the Philippine- American war, which lasted three years, and caused the death of over two hundred thousand American and Filipino citizens.
The treaty did a lot to promote nationalism in the United States. We did give up some land overall to the Spanish, but before the treaty, our country was broken up land wise, and not in a continuous group. The treaty fixed that problem, and made it possible for manifest destiny, or the expansion of our nation to the west as eventually gaining all the land we currently call America.
Lawrence discusses how Abbot Low Moffat, who was the chief of the Division of Philippine and Southeast Asian Affairs for the State Department, believed that Southeast Asia and Indochina was of great importance to the U.S. and that its importance would continue to increase. The area was in a great location strategically for naval bases, and both Roosevelt and Moffat didn’t believe that France would be able to keep such an area stable. Moffat also argued that the French would never agree to follow the directions given by the U.S. that would help keep the area safe.
McKinley was reluctant to go to war at first, but eventually decided it was in the countries best interest and referenced that God guided him into making this decision. The reference of God’s guidance still occurs in today’s society as well, for instance President Bush in 2003 stated, “I believe God wants me to run for president.” The war with Cuba is extremely comparable to that of the modern day war with Iraq, in which our purpose was to disarm mass destruction weapons that haven’t been found, just as there was no evidence of the misconduct that occurred with the destruction of the Maine. Despite our occupancy of Cuba for five years after a treaty was signed with Spain in 1898, Cuba remains not free
The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them.… I sought counsel from all sides— Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way… that we could not give them back to Spain… that we could not leave them to themselves— they were unfit for self-government… [and] 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.” (Thomas G. Paterson and Dennis
... 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.
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.
S- The author of this source is Mark Twain. The subject of this source independance. They created the Anti-Imperial League and wanted to battle the American annexation of the Philippines. The Americans made an alliance with the trusting Filipinos, and then gained Manila land side.
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.
There were several policies in place at the time, some which were put into place before the war, some during the war, and some after. The ratification of the annexation process was long and difficult. There were debates as to how to treat the Filipino people. One suggestion was to treat the Filipinos as dependents, and not citizens, like the Native Americans came to be treated. Many of the imperialists believed that the Filipinos were savages and harsh policies would give America control. The anti-imperialists were not exactly sure whether to treat them as peers or to set them free. I would treat them as equals, as normal people, as they are like everyone else. At the time they might not have been as technologically advanced as we were, and their government may have seemed primitive to ours. I think we should have worked with them to help create a government, rather than occupy and just take over.
The Philippines has long been a country with a struggling economy. Ever since World War II, they have struggled to have a steady government and labor system. Independence did not bring any social changes to the country. The hacienda system still persists in the country, where large estates are farmed by sharecroppers. More the half the population are peasants and 20 percent of the population owns 60 percent of the land. Although the sharecropper is supposed to receive half of the harvest, most of the peasant's actual income goes to paying off debts to the landowner. Poverty and conflict strained the industrial growth of the country with many Presidents trying to fix the problems, but failing to do so. Factors that have faced the country are there is almost 9 percent unemployment, and the country suffers from the consequences of a balance of trade deficit. With the resources that the Philippines have, they are capable of pulling themselves out of the economical hole they are in and being up to par with their successful neighboring countries.