Imperialists Moral Justification Of Imperialism In The United States

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In the years leading up to the Spanish American War, the United States experienced a growth in ethnocentrism, a belief in manifest destiny and Anglo-Saxonism. In the nineteenth century, America pursued a policy of imperialism in the Philippines claiming that they were protecting the world from the oppression of Spanish rule and enriching the native culture with western “civilized” life. It was this combination of views that provided the Imperialists’ moral justification for the United State’s efforts to make the country into an imperial power. This caused much controversy both in the political arena as well as among the citizens shaping American foreign policy for years. There were numerous issues in the debate between imperialism and anti-imperialism …show more content…

Imperialist argued that the United States could not leave the Filipinos to themselves for they were “unfit” for self-rule and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over that would be worse than when Spain occupied the country. Imperialist saw the natives of the Philippines as uncivilized people who needed someone to guide them out of their ways into prosperity. This highly ethnocentric view was not shared by most Anti-Imperialist who saw conquering and controlling a nation to be wrong and immoral. These two opposing views constantly came up in debate when imperialism came into question. The United States also saw the acquisition of the Philippines as a huge economic venture which would help to provide them America with favorable balance of trade, expand foreign markets, obtain more land and resources, and increase exports. Obtaining more land, especially land as profitable and rich in resources as the Philippines provided the United States with much more economic opportunity. They could now have access to tradable goods and they could even set up ports along the cost of the Philippines further connecting them to the Asian market. There were so many economic gains that would result from acquiring the Philippines and …show more content…

Though the territory offered much economic opportunity, Anti-Imperialists saw the acquisition of that land unnecessary, for the United States was already a rich nation with many resources already available to them. Imperialist also attempted to justify their claim of pro-imperialism by saying that they sought to spread Christianity in the acquired territory. This goes back to the ethnocentric view many American had during this time for they had wanted to impose and enforce their own cultures and beliefs on the Filipinos seeing them as unholy and in need of the Salvation that they claimed to bring. Yet, in the case of the Philippines, this attempt to justify their claims with the spread of Christianity almost does not apply because through years of Spanish influence the majority of the Philippines practiced Catholicism which accounted for nearly 90% of the nation though many Americans at the time didn’t see Catholicism as a form a Christianity and wanted to replace their beliefs with Protestantism. Overall, during this period of time, America had a strong sense of nationalism and sought to participate in the Race for Empire that was occurring amongst the world’s super powers. On the other side of the

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