Paper Topic:

American History

The American Intervention in the Philippines

If there was one decidedly unique factor that separated the United States from Europe in the 18th and 19th century , it was the fact that the United States avoided the colonizing of nations overseas . With the annexing of the Philippine Islands 1899 in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War , the United States drastically changed their foreign policy regarding imperial colonization

Since the Philippines were under the control of Spain , the United States asserted its authority over the Philippines after defeating the Spanish . The populace of

the Philippines , however , felt that with Spain 's rule abolished it was now a sovereign nation . This was the surface level root of the conflict . Beneath the surface , however , there were other concerns

The United States had completed its westward expansion and could go no further in North America . However , the economy of the United States required far more revenues to sustain itself than what it could gain domestically . This is one of the major reasons Teddy Roosevelt pressured then President McKinley to expand US territories beyond North America Since the US was acquiring the Philippines from Spain at the same time it was doubtful that the Philippines would be given independence without a struggle

While there were those opposed to the annexation of the Philippines their numbers and influence was minor . Socialists and non-interventionists both deplored the idea of annexing the Philippines for different reasons . However , their arguments had little impact on the decision making process . he general...

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