Imperialism Philippines

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States began to prosper because of the second Industrial Revolution. Looking to embark on expansion overseas, foreign policy became an important debate amid Americans. This lead to the concept of Imperialism. Imperialism transpires when the people of a strong nation exercise dominating control over a weaker nation, therefore denying the people of the weak nation the littlest of freedom to make their own decisions. The tendency of expansionism to become the dominant policy created negative views of Imperialism. After the Civil War, the United States was able to thrive in success, creating an unnecessary urge to expand overseas spread amongst most Americans. Because of the second Industrial …show more content…

Politicians such as William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt argued the idea to expand overseas while many others like William Jennings Bryan and Mark Twain condemned Imperialism. The advocates for the Spanish-American war believed the new nations could prosper from American help. The quite aggressive imperialist, Theodore Roosevelt, criticized those who opposed the annexation of the Philippines. In a speech given by Roosevelt called The Strenuous Life, he obnoxiously says “ I have scant patience with those who fear to undertake the task of governing the Philippines, and who openly avow that they do fear to undertake it, or that they shrink from it because of the expense and trouble”. This quote clearly suggests he has a strong, distasteful opinion towards non-advocates. According to a statement attributed to William McKinley, describing to a church delegation the decision to acquire the Philippines, he believed the Filipinos needed the Americans to help them become civilized and that they could not govern themselves. However, Filipino leaders became angry at the U.S. because the Americans refused to allow the leaders to form their own government, after they were promised independence within a peace treaty. William Graham Sumner implied in The Conquest of the United States by Spain that the United States was following in Spain’s footsteps and that the U.S. would eventually lose these territories in the same way Spain did. He and many others believed that if the United States were prospering, then it should prosper at home, not get involved in foreign

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