3/7/14
Period: 4
Should the United States have Annexed the Philippines?
When America first acquired new Islands from Spain they weren't sure what to do with them. Cuba was granted semi-independence, but the Philippines was annexed because giving the Philipines back to Spain, or giving the Phillipines independence was out of the question. The annexation of the Philipines caused tenison in America being some 7,000 miles away. However, the United States should not have annexed the Philipines because Filipinos did not want to be governed by America, and back home Americans were just as unhappy with this. Annexing the Philipines was a bad idea because Filipinos did not want to be governed by America. This appeared unethical to the Philipines since they thought America was there to liberate them. William Jennings Bryan stated, "We had full knowledge that they were fighting for their own independence". (Document D) Even when troops were sent to the Philipines they refused annexation, and were forced which caused more violence. The best thing to do would have been to avoid conflict and leave the Philipines alone. In the United States the annexation of the Philipines was not favored by all Americans. These Anti-imperialist feared that taking the Philipines was a step towards creating an American Empire. Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League wrote, "We hold with Abraham Lincoln, that "no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." (Document A) The Anti-imperialist thought it was unjust to try and govern people who did not want to be governed by the party. If people started to fear the idea of America becoming a Tyrant than they should not have continued the Annexation. In the end, the annexation of the Philipines caused unhappiness in the both the Philipines and in the United States. Filipinos wanted idependence and Anti-Imperialist didn't want to take this from them. The United States should not have annexed the Philipines because Filipinos did not want to be governed by America, and back home Americans strongly opposed as well. America and the Philipines wouldn't have had tension years after if they would have let them be independent.
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