America's Hunger for World Dominance
Introduction |
The Philippine-American war was a battle in which the Philippines had attempted to rise against the annexation of their land to America in hopes for their own independence. Aside from the numerous number of casualties resulting from the war, did the Philippines benefit in any way either economically, politically, educationally, or culturally? But how exactly did the war come to be? The Philippine-American war not only emerged from the United States’ insatiable hunger for imperialist dominance in the Pacific, but also because of the many contributing factors leading up to the event such as: the ongoing tension between Cuba under the Spanish rule, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff, the even greater tensions between the United States and Spain, and the strong belief in the fulfillment of manifest destiny.
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The U.S.S. Maine
With the United States’ concern with the brutality occurring in Cuba, Charles D, Sigsbee, sent the U.S.S Maine to Cuba in order to observe what was going on. “At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace. Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified.”[1] This explosion, as seen in the eyes of the Americans, believed to be caused by Spain. The caused pre-war tension, between Spain and the Unites States. After the “mysterious explosion” the United States finally goes to war with Spain in 1898 under the presidency of Mckinley. In order to keep lessen tensions with Cuba, the Unites States congress passed the Teller Amendment in May 1898 to give Cuba it’s right to be an independent state. After, “Commodore George Dewey, the officer in control of the US Asiatic Squadron then docked at Hong Kong harbor, with orders that if the US and Spain went to go to war, Dewey was to immediately attack the Spanish fleet at Manila, the capital of the Philippines.”2 After that, Dewey was attacked at Manila Bay by the Spanish, but overall, prevailed victoriously.
[1] Dyal, Donald H., and G. J. A O'Toole. "February 16, 1898: Battleship U.S.S. Maines." PBS. 1999. Accessed October 1, 2015.
[1] Dyal, Donald H., and G. J. A O'Toole. "February 16, 1898: Battleship U.S.S. Maines." PBS. 1999. Accessed October 1, 2015.
San Juan Hill
In Cuba during 1898, at San Juan Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s Riders and Spain fought and the US came out victoriously. “Many Cubans, Filipinos, and Puerto Ricans had welcomes American intervention as a way of breaking Spain’s long hold on these colonies. Nationalists and labor leaders admired America’s democratic ideals and believed that American involvement in the political reform would deplete the Spanish ruling.”[1] Aside from this belief, America had not given up on the strive for manifest destiny. The Philippines had been in war with Spain since 1896 and when the US troops arrived in the Philippines, they allied with the Filipino guerillas to fight against the Spanish led by Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipino nationalist who the Spanish had exiled, and who Dewey brought back to help unify the people against their Spanish overlords.2 Then in April, 1898, the US troops fighting with the guerilla fighters, were able to take over manila.
[1] Foner, Eric. "Freedom's Boundaires, At Home and Abroad." In Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 672, 673. Seagull 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2014.
[1] Foner, Eric. "Freedom's Boundaires, At Home and Abroad." In Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 672, 673. Seagull 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2014.