The Annexation Of USAnexing The Philippines

U.S. Annexing The Philippines At this moment in history, the arguments for annexing the Philippines were the U.S. being able to civilize and help the Philippines, and the U.S. would also be able to expand their territory and values, while the arguments against were violations of U.S. values and norms and the deaths of people involved in the war and civilians. The annexation between the U.S. and the Philippines represented the tension between imperialism and anti-imperialism. By annexing the Philippines, the U.S. would reveal its power over smaller and weaker countries. In the views of Americans and imperialists, this was good and showed their strengths, and they were able to help the Philippines become a better self-governed country. To anti-imperialists

believed that if they could annex the Philippines, they would benefit both countries' economies. They would be helping the Philippines by setting up a government and showing them American ways. The U.S. believed that they were superior and more educated than the Filipinos. They thought that by annexation they would be able to educate and civilize them. According to President William McKinley during an interview in November of 1899, the U.S. needed to educate the Filipinos so that they could be civilized and Christianized. The U.S. did not believe that the Filipinos would be able to govern themselves because they are uneducated and apparently needed Americans to help them become successful. President McKinley also believed that the Philippines were unfit for self-government and soon would become an anarchy that would misrule, according to his interview. Americans thought that the Filipinos wanted this help and that they wouldn't turn down aid from a more developed country. As stated by Senator Albert J. Beveridge in his excerpt from the “Indiana Senate Campaign Speech, “Would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, human, civilizing government of this Republic to the savage, bloody Spanish rule?” Beverage expands on the idea that the U.S. has more to offer than other

should not let the Filipinos read the Declaration of Independence because they would mock us for our inconsistency. The constitution opposes the actions of the Americans while they are “helping” the Filipinos. To add on, “The National Park Services” states in their article “The American Anti-Imperialist League at Faneuil Hall” that “the United States had been founded upon and needed to extend to foreign policy as well" (NPS). The United States betrays the people that they were supposed to help and has lost the majority of their trust in their relationships with other countries. It can be noted that the U.S. should not annex the Philippines because it would go against their values and norms. The United States should refrain from annexing the Philippines because of the significant violence and death associated with annexation. The battles in this war were very deadly, resulting in 200,000 Filipino deaths and 4,200 Americans. There were groups and individuals that realized the danger of this continuous war. The Anti-Imperialist League—a political organization that opposed the expansion of the U.S. government—is an example of a group that wants to keep peace and refrain from killing more innocent