THE DEBATE OVER THE PHILIPPINES
In the 19th century, the tension between the Philippine and United States start to rise when the United States refused to acknowledge Philippine as an independent nation. Conflict between the two nations was inevitable; which led to the Philippines – American War took place from 1899 to 1902 that caused thousands of casualties from both sides. This was all happened because of American imperialism’s intent to expand outside of the North American continent during the 19th century and their desires to square off with other European empires. Even though the war was won by the American after three years of fighting, the aftermath of Philippine – American …show more content…
For him, the act of the United States followed the European empires and tried to seek imperialism in his country was an act of abandonment to the heritage of the American Revolution. He criticizes how the Americans tried to secure their sovereignty with wrong method, deceived by the European empires to pursuit imperialism and to have the impression of Philippine inhabitants to all be “ignorant savages”. Because of American’s imperialism, they did not want the declare of independence from Emilio Aguinaldo to get in the way. Therefore, that perception of “ignorant savage” in the beginning from the Americans heavily influenced their policy and action against the Philippine later on. The American thought that …show more content…
He could return Philippine to Spain, but he refused to do so because it is considered to be “cowardly and dishonorable” (The Christian Advocate). He scared that others European empires like Germany or France will try to seize Philippine if they leave Philippine alone and it would be “bad business and discreditable” (The Christian Advocate). Philippine could have had their independence if only President McKinley didn’t lead the strong imperialism convinced him to take the Philippine in as U.S territory. To him, by putting Philippine on the map of the United States and “Americanized” Filipinos, he thinks that it would actually help the Philippine much