Annexed the Philippines

Briley Garcia
The Philippines Annexed

The United States has had a negative history of greedy and powerful actions towards others. Taking away land and freedom. Ripping the culture and the souls of other races, that did not match the pale pigment of a commanding nation. The day the US stepped on Philippine soil, they realised the commercial advantage and opportunity they could have by making the island their own. “ Co ncern that the Filipinos were incapable of self­rule.” (Office of the Historian, 1)
They also feared that other powerful nations could at some point take over the island and use it to their advantage if they did not do so at that point. Though there was some American opposition that thought annexing the Philippines was wrong in many ways. Others who feared that non­white Filipinos could one day have a role in the American government. The US went for the chance of making the island theirs with war. The United States should not have annexed the
Philippines and call owned land their own.
Reasons by the United States to take over the Philippines were not very good ones. First off taking over a land for commercial opportunity with an already established culture, language, currency, and government is a very unfair move. “
The people that were for annexing the islands argued that there were business interests in thoughts of new markets and fields of investments,”
(
Word Press “The Philippines”) They took advantage of the fact that they were very weak.
Unprepared for a fight and to give up a place their lives started on. It was a waste of money and resources, they took very cruel action towards them just like the Spanish did when they fought

the natives, and it went against all governmental beliefs and what the U.S. stood for. It is unnecessary to have to own people in order to trade with them.
Another reason not to have annexed the Philippines was our approach to do so. “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent. When the white man governs himself, that is self­government but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self­government­ that is despotism.” (Abraham Lincoln). Referring to the white man’s tendency to treat people with a different skin pigment in a discriminating and unequal way. The Filipinos were for sure treated like they did not deserve to be human. “would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, human, civilizing government of this republic to the savage, bloody rule… from which we have saved them?” (Albert J. Beveridge, 1) A helpless nation with a weak force and not so fortunate ways of living. The United States of America made the same mistake they did with the Native Americans. They figured the best way was the shedding of innocent blood to get what they wanted. It would have better to leave the Philippines as a separate nation.
The United States of America annexing the Philippines was a huge and terrible mistake that just made us look very bad in the long run. It was a waste of money, time, and in the end
America ended up shedding innocent blood and disturbing an already established culture.
Annexation was meant for the best, but never should have occurred. The vision the US had never became a reality but more of a nightmare. As if the slaughtering of the Native Americans had not taught them the meaning of independence. All the men, women, and children killed for no reason other than the fact that they were just there. Helpless and harmless living their lives on the island they had been on since birth. Trying to take control of another nation never ends well for either

side. One would think by now some countries have learned their lesson, But those who don’t learn from history are most likely to do the same mistake. Works Cited https://unitedstatesimperialism.wordpress.com/the­philippines/

http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/all/article/181672/Annexation­of­the­Philippines/

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899­1913/war

Cited: https://unitedstatesimperialism.wordpress.com/the­philippines/      http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/all/article/181672/Annexation­of­the­Philippines/      https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899­1913/war