Pros And Cons To Annex The Philippines

A Humiliating Failure for America
The decision to annex the Philippines by the US created widespread unrest on both foreign and domestic fronts. This topic was recognized highly controversial by both the American and Filipino people, as well as the rest of the world, and a foolish move on America 's part. The debates following the annexation made clear distinctions on the reasons why the Philippines was annexed in the first place versus the reasons our actions contradict our motives. The arguments made for annexation are the obvious economic and strategic reasons veiled behind religious other absurd regurgitation justifying a poorly made move toward a goal. These arguments stacked at odds against the clear and concise reasoning of the many …show more content…
Both countries that were highly valued by the Spanish. Both offered the land and raw materials needed to be sold on the market and the human resources to manufacture and harvest them. Not only were the products produced from these countries that were sought after but also their locations offered strategic points for harbors that the country can port their ships for resupply or stock up supplies for wartime. In Senator 's Alfred Beveridge speech at Congress, the Philippines would grant us a base of operations where we can easily trade with China. These places offered income and a convenient place that would secure future operations. In return for this great deal we suffered at the expense of the trust of the Filipino people and the humiliating rebuttals against annexation. The cons came in the form of insurrection in the Philippines and dissension in the US. The conflicts in the islands would delay progress for colonization and would cost a great amount of money to end. Emilio Aguinaldo 's criticism over the annexation mentions the cost of actions of the US. He reasons that the amount of American lives that will be taken by the climate alone and then to war is unnecessary. The …show more content…
He is about to wash the baby into the water with the text civilization wrapped along the ripples . The water represents as stated by the text and the baby represents the people of the Philippines as a new nation. A spear is in the hand of the baby and is clearly represented as the resistance and unwanted control the people have to endure. This displays the struggle of the Filipinos and the fight for freedom from the US. As the background is depicted in the distance in the top right of the picture is the US capitol that is covered vastly by a jungle like environment. This depiction hints at the Philippines current circumstances as a savage nation of people still living in the wild. The capitol reveals the future for the Filipino people to be a civilized nation of an American standard. In the top left side of the picture are Filipino men dressing into US colored schemed clothing. This symbolizes the Filipinos who have grown and matured to accept the rule and assimilation of the US. The baby is dressed in inaccurate stereotypical tribal attire, which represents the perception of how the US looks at when they see the Filipino people. The baby’s skin tone and attire are also a combination of the two minority groups in America that are looked down upon, the African American and Native American. From Emilio Aguinaldo’s comments on how the US views the people of the Philippines