Frederick Funston and Empire

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Frederick Funston and Empire

In San Francisco between 12th and 14th Avenue is Funston Street. By the Presidio, the former US Army base, is an old set of military structures collectively called Fort Funston. To most people these are just names to identify various locations in the city. But behind the name is a person who is a historical figure that is significant, not just for San Francisco, but for the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines. Frederick Funston was to many a hero of his times but to others he was also a symbol of his times and not a good one.

1898 saw the United States change from a nation taming a wild frontier to a nation building an empire. The Spanish-American war was initially seen as a war to liberate an oppressed people from a European empire. Cuba was freed from the government of Spain but in doing this the US acquired many of Spain’s overseas’ possessions and became and empire, in all but name, overnight.

One of these overseas’ possessions were the Philippine Islands. Part of Spain since the 16th century these islands were also going through it’s own independence movement. Various uprisings against the Spanish government occurred during the latter half of the 19th century. Like Cuba, the Philippines sought independence from a far away empire.

In February of 1898 the USS Maine, a U.S. battleship, was sunk in Havana Harbor. The Spanish government vehemently denied any connection with its sinking. The US government, led by President McKinley, demanded that Spain withdraw it forces from Cuba. Spain refused. In April a state of war existed between Spain and the United States of America. The major focus of the war was the inva...

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...was going to occupy another country, he was there, doing his duty. There is nothing inherently wrong with these beliefs. The debate should always be if this is the right course of action for the country, at the time.

Internet Sources

- General Funston Museum http://skyways.lib.ks.us/museums/funston/reschar.html

- Presidio of San Francisco, US National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/prsf/history/bios/funston/htm

- www.boondocsknet.com

Articles

- “Funston is a Lion” Williamsburg Star, March 21 1902

- “Defence of General Funston” by Mark Twain, North American Review, May 1902

- . "Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League." Text from Carl Schurz, The Policy of Imperialism, Liberty Tract No. 4 (Chicago: American Anti-Imperialist League, 1899)

- “Chronology of the War with Spain” 1907

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