Philippines
The war that ensued between the United States and the Philippines at the birth of the twentieth century was an ill-conceived attempt at American colonialism that contradicted American notions of national self-determination and republican democracy. Despite the intention of Filipino revolutionaries to base their new republic on the same standards as the U.S. constitution, the U.S. chose to refuse their national sovereignty on accounts of race, history, and U.S. commercial interests. The pro-expansionist opinions of prominent statesmen Albert Beveridge and Theodore Roosevelt helped define America's position on this issue of American sovereignty by employing justifications such as the proliferation of commercialism, democracy, and Christianity. Critics of American imperialism such as Carl Schurz and the Anti-imperialist League arose during this time period to voice dissent over the subjugation of an entire population. The arguments that critics of imperialism present greatly undermine the proposition that the war with the Philippines was a gesture to advance mankind. The Filipino leaders who fought for independence from Spain originally believed that the United States would support their cause. They believed in this because the A
The position that Beveridge offered differed slightly from other pro-expansionists such as Theodore Roosevelt in both ideological terms and in terms of scale. In Roosevelt's "Message on the Caribbean" (1905) Roosevelt states that the U.S. should have no desire towards taking territory of any Latin or South American countries. Roosevelt's position on annexing large populations of foreign people is more critical than Beveridge's. Concerning the Caribbean, Roosevelt condones economic transactions between American states "provided that action does not take the shape of interference with their form of government or of the despoilment of their territory under any disguise." Roosevelt's interpretation of expansionism doesn't involve commitment to governing the people their, but rather just being sure that their nations are stable and using police powers to protect American investments. While Beveridge seemed to care about the welfare of the Filipinos and Roosevelt seemed not to care about the citizens of the Caribbean, it is ironic that Beveridge supported a campaign that ultimately caused the deaths of 200,000 Filipinos. merican Revolution had inspired their own revolution. They thus hoped that the U.S. would support them because they intended to model their constitution after the U.S.'s constitution. However, the U.S. was unwilling to support a revolution modeled after its own because Americans viewed the Philippines as savage and incapable of self-government. An example of this viewpoint is found in Josia Strong's Expansion (1900). Here, he differentiates between the concepts of independence and freedom: real freedom, he argues, is only possible under law, and Anglo-Saxon freedom required intervening upon national independence movements of less capable peoples and imposing Anglo-Saxon governance. Because the Filipino independence movement was conducted by an inferior race of people
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1275
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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