The Legacy Of Conquest: The Unbroken Past Of The American West

Often in American history, the nation’s faults are not fully realized until decades afterwards. There have been multiple instances where Americans believed they were acting under noble ideals, that are later regretted. Historian Patricia Limerick used the term ‘Empire of Innocence’ in her 2006 book The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, to reference how American settlers moving West ignored the atrocities they were committing on the natives, and instead how settler’s perceived “innocence of intention placed the course of events in a positive light” . But this concept of ‘Empire of Innocence’ is not merely limited to the settlement of the West, as this ideology is found throughout the nation’s history, even today. America

Many opposed the United States from getting involved in the Philippines, including the Anti-Imperialist League, who argued that the annexation of the Philippines would be against American ideals, as imperialism would violate Filipino citizens’ right to self-govern . Proponents of imperialism attempted to rationalize their beliefs by, once again, claiming noble intentions. Albert Beveridge, the Republican Senator of Indiana at the time, gave a speech in 1898 titled “March of The Flag” where he defended that the United States should annex the Philippines and adopt an imperialist policy. Within this speech Beveridge asks if “the people of the Philippines prefer the just, humane, civilizing government of [the United States] to the savage, bloody rule of pillage and extortion from which [they] rescued them [from]” . Essentially Beveridge argues that the United States is saving the Filipinos from the oppressive rule of Spain, and under their control they will benefit from their humane ideals and civilized culture. Again, America marks themselves as the saviors and heroes of the conflict, in an attempt to overlook the real economic reasoning behind adopting