Annexation Of Philippines Essay

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The Issue of the Annexation of the Philippines
The aftermath of the Spanish-American war was very complicated and filled with issues that needed to be resolved. After Spain lost the Spanish-American war, Spain gave up its colony in the Philippines to the U.S. This brought up the issue of whether the United States of America should annex the Philippines. War between America and Spain was a war that decided something. The U.S should have annexed the Philippines because the Philippines was unable to self-govern, another country would annex the Philippines if the U.S. didn’t, and the fact that the U.S. could provide things that would, in America’s eyes, benefit the Philippines, like education and religion.

The first reason the Philippines should have annexed it is the Philippines’ inability to govern themselves. William McKinley was the President of the United States of America during this event. In an interview during a reception for a group …show more content…

is the fact that if the U.S. didn’t annex them, another country would. In an interview, former President McKinley stated “that we could not turn them over to France or Germany-our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable”. This shows two thing. First, America’s interest in Philippines was partially self-serving. By annexing the Philippines, the U.S. would make sure that they will have access to good business and trading would be easier. The annexation would give the U.S. a lot of commercial opportunities in Asia. Second, this statement shows that if the U.S. decided not to annex the Philippines, that would mean leaving it to a country like France or Germany. If they had left it to one of those countries, it would be considered bad for business, because they would be giving up the Philippines to business rivals. However, the trading wouldn’t help America only, it would also help the Philippines economically and

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