The Annexation of the Philippines

Group Did they Support Why or why not?

Annexation?
Military commanders

Christian missionaries

Organized labor

African-Americans

Southern Senators

Republican Senators

Newspaper publishers

Farmers

Social Darwinists
 George Washington's Farewell Address
“...The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our
commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far
as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Here let us stop.”

Platform of the Anti-Imperialist League

“The United States have always protested against the doctrine of international law
which permits the subjugation of the weak by the strong. A self-governing state
cannot accept sovereignty over an unwilling people. The United States cannot act
upon the ancient heresy that might makes right.”

The White Man's Burden

“Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.”

The Lust for Empire

“But the question with which we now have to deal is whether Congress may conquer
and may govern, without their consent and against their will, a foreign nation, a
separate, distinct, and numerous people, a territory not hereafter to be populated by
Americans, to be formed into American states and to take its part in fulfilling and
executing the purposes for which the Constitution was framed...We have no more right
to acquire land or hold it, or to dispose of it for an unconstitutional purpose, than we
have a right to fit out a fleet or to buy a pack of artillery for an unconstitutional
purpose.”

In Support of an American Empire

“The Philippines are ours forever, 'territory belonging to the United States', as the
Constitution calls them. And just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable
markets. We will not retreat from either...We will not renounce our part in the
mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world.”
 Speech by Benjamin Tillman
“[In terms of the Philippines] the question which addresses itself to every American
who loves his flag and loves his great country and loves the great principle which that
flag rests and that country is founded is this: Are we to take the place of Spain as
their taskmasters and oppressors? Do 'governments derive their powers from the
consent of the governed...'”?

Speech by Henry Cabot Lodge

“We should give [the Filipinos] honest administration, and prompt efficient courts.
We should see to it that there is entire protection to persons and property, in order to
encourage the development of the islands by the assurance of safety to investors of
capital. All men should be protected in the free exercise of their religion, and the
doors thrown open to missionaries of all Christian sects.”

Gospel in All Lands

“An overruling Providence has thrust us out to the "uttermost parts of the earth," there
to break the power of Spanish despotism.... These marvelous events are now history,
but no moral ken can foretell their far-reaching influences. But we do know that great
opportunities are suddenly open before the Christian Church for advancing among
long-oppressed peoples the kingdom of God.... The Christian Church must follow the
army and occupy the territory conquered by the war power of the nation.”

Speech by Samuel Gompers

“If the Philippines are annexed what is to prevent the Chinese, the Negritos and the
Malays [from] coming to our country. How can we prevent the Chinese coolies from
going to the Philippines and from there swarm into the United States and engulf our
people and our civilization? If these new islands are to become ours, it will be either
under the form of Territories or States. Can we hope to close the flood-gates of
immigration from the hordes of Chinese and the semi-savage races coming from what
will be part of our own country?”

Expansion and Peace

“Nations that expand and nations that do not expand may both ultimately go down, but
the one leaves heirs and a glorious memory, and the other leaves neither. The Roman
expanded, and he has left a memory which has profoundly influenced the history of
mankind.... Similarly, today it is the great expanding people which bequeath to future
ages the great memories and materials results of their achievements, and the nations
which shall have sprung from their loins, England standing as the archetype and best
exemplar of all such mighty nations. But the peoples that do not expand leave, and can
leave, nothing behind them...”
 Should We Keep the Philippines?
Vital Stats
Population: 9,000,000
Geography: Comprised of 7,100 islands, only one-half of which
are larger than 2.5 square kilometers; located vitally
close to Asian markets for American goods
Natural Resources: Fertile lands, nickel, fish, timber, gold, salt, copper
Cost of War: Most Filipino soldiers use guerrilla war tactics,
striking at American forces and then retreating
Atrocities by Americans: “Water Treatment” and Mass Slaughter

Lieutenant Grover Flint:

"A man is thrown down on his back and three or four men sit or stand on his arms and legs and
hold him down; and either a gun barrel or a rifle barrel or a carbine barrel or a stick as big as a
belaying pin, -- that is, with an inch circumference, -- is simply thrust into his jaws and his jaws are
thrust back, and, if possible, a wooden log or stone is put under his head or neck, so he can be
held more firmly. In the case of very old men I have seen their teeth fall out, -- I mean when it was
done a little roughly. He is simply held down and then water is poured onto his face down his
throat and nose from a jar; and that is kept up until the man gives some sign or becomes
unconscious. And, when he becomes unconscious, he is simply rolled aside and he is allowed to
come to. In almost every case the men have been a little roughly handled. They were rolled aside
rudely, so that water was expelled. A man suffers tremendously, there is no doubt about it. His
sufferings must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown. ..."

Reporter for the New York Post:

A reporter for the New York Evening Post (April 8, 1902) gave some harrowing details. The
native, he said, is thrown on the ground, his arms and legs pinned down, and head partially
raised "so as to make pouring in the water an easier matter". If the prisoner tries to keep his mouth
closed, his nose is pinched to cut off the air and force him to open his mouth, or a bamboo stick is
put in the opening. In this way water is steadily poured in, one, two, three, four, five gallons, until
the body becomes "an object frightful to contemplate". In this condition, of course, speech is
impossibly, so the water is squeezed out of the victim, sometimes naturally, and sometimes - as a
young soldier with a smile told the correspondent - "we jump on them to get it out quick." One or
two such treatments and the prisoner either talks or dies.

Reporter for Philadelphia Ledger:

"The present war is no bloodless, opera bouffe engagement; our men have been relentless, have
killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and
suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better
than a dog...."
Caption: "Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the
Philippines"
Filipino Atrocities: Castration, death by “fire ant”, Leprosy

Military Report:
"A detachment, marching through Leyte, found an American who had disappeared
a short time before crucified, head down. His abdominal wall had been carefully
opened so that his intestines might hang down in his face.
Another American prisoner, found on the same trip, had been buried in the ground
with only his head projecting. His mouth had been propped open with a stick, a trail
of sugar laid to it through the forest, and a handful thrown into it.
Millions of ants had done the rest."

American General Otis:

“American troops have been tortured in 'fiendish' fashion...Others were castrated,
had the removed parts stuffed into their mouths, and were then left to suffocate or
bleed to death. It was also stated that some prisoners were deliberately infected with
leprosy before being released to spread the disease among their comrades.”

Sergeant Hallock:
“[Regarding] the murder of Private O'Herne of Company I...he had been not only
killed, but roasted and otherwise tortured before death ensued.”

Teodro Agoncillo:
“Kicking, slapping, and spitting at faces were common. In some cases, ears and
noses were cut off and salt applied to the wounds. In other cases, captives were
buried alive. Some captives were infected with leprosy and allowed to return to
American camp, infecting others.”
[Name of
newspaper]

[Headline]

[Summary of the debate...what are 2 arguments from each side]

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[Editorial: Do you think the United States should be involved in imperialistic conquests? Give 3 reasons why or why not]

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