In 1898 America declared war on Spain, claiming they would free the Philippines, but when the war was over, they turned around and annexed them instead. At this time in history, the two biggest arguments for annexing the Philippines were, the US was doing them a favor as we were civilizing them because they were not capable nor ready to govern themselves. Secondly, not annexing the Philippines would give America's opponents an opportunity to take over them, which they didn't want. The biggest arguments made against annexing the Philippines were, they had fought Spain to free them not to steal them, and there would be a lot of unnecessary violence on both sides. Many leaders and government officials were in favor of annexing the Philippines, they believed that annexation was for the Filipenoes own good. …show more content…
China was close to the Philippines, and annexing them would provide the US with business opportunities that other countries sought to have. Protesters of annexation of the Philippines argued that, the US had broken their promise of freedom towards the Filipinos, and the US should act on the morals by which the country had been built upon. William Jennings Bryan criticized the US’ decision to annex the Philippines by saying “lest they learn to read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and mock us for our inconsistency.” (William Jennings Bryan DNC nomination speech) He claims that the Filipino people would criticize the US for going against our own morals and annexing them after America's history with freedom. The Anti-Imperialist League said that America is “[extinguishing] the spirit of 1776 in those islands” (Anti-Imperialist Leagues Platform). The argument here is that what the US was doing was
Economic self-interest was more effective in driving American foreign policy because the U.S wanted to protect their property. As described in War and other Essays The U.S needed to choose not to be rulers and to let Filipinos and Spanish Americans live their own lives without ...
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.
senator. In Beveridge’s speech “The March of the Flag” (1898) he argued that the Philippines should be Annexed into the United States in order to better the lives of the indigenous people and establish new markets of trade. During this era, West Indians and Pacific Islanders were looked down upon and considered “savages.” Therefore, Beveridge believed that Pacific Islanders, specifically Filipinos, could not govern themselves, and it was America’s Anglo-Saxon duty to colonize and save the people of the Philippines. Beveridge supports his argument by referencing Thomas Jefferson, who he called, “the first Imperialist of the Republic,” highlighting the Louisiana Purchase and how the great expansion West ward, is no different from the expansion overseas. Beveridge’s ability to state his argument, and compare his argument with historical events solidifies his
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 United States of America accompanied the Philippines to fight for the independence from Spain. Spain colonized the Philippines for 333 years. Without the assistance of the United States of America the Philippines will still be under Spain without freedom. Even though United States of America aided the Philippines, the United States shouldn’t have annexed the Philippines.
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...
During the Spanish American war, many people were divided over the topic of imperialism. Ultimately, many benefits came with the US territory expanding. Not only did the US get bigger, but many aspects of our nation improved significantly. American expansion abroad was justified because it helped the military and economy advance greatly.
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.
... Americans built roads, schools, bridges, and sewers. Filipino self- rule had gradually increased and finally declared their independence on July 4, 1946. However, compared to Cuba and Puerto Rico, American rule has a lesser impact on the Philippine economy. The United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades.
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.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Imperialism was a popular trend among the large, powerful countries. Imperialism is defined as “The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations”. Imperialism cannot be said as either good or bad, but as a general rule: If you live in an annexed country, imperialism is not good, if your country annexes smaller ones to gain profit, land, and respect, then imperialism is good. The United States was not much of an imperialistic country until we won the Spanish-American war. As a result of this war, we annexed Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
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
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.
Imagine your head being stuck in the toilet every time in PE, being shoved in your locker ,and kids smacking your food out of your hands. Bullying can happen all around the world. In fact bullying is becoming a huge problem, but bullies can’t be deeply punished. They are kids not criminals they are not responsible for their own actions. The evidence indicates that bullies should not be held criminally responsible for their actions because they don’t what their doing.
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.