On April 19, 1898, the United States Congress passed a joint resolution that amounted to a declaration of war against Spain. This resolution:

1) proclaimed Cuba to be free

2) demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba

3) directed the President to use armed force to insure these demands

4) disclaimed any intention by the United States to annex Cuba

This action stemmed from more than a decade of American concern over the chaos and cruelty of Spain's administration of its Cuban colony. In 1897, and 1898, American outrage at the ruthlessness of Spanish military rule in Cuba was further provoked by exaggerated newspaper reports of Spanish atrocities. In the spring of 1898, a mysterious explosion which sunk the United States battleship Maine in Havana harbor and claimed the lives of over 250 people on board, brought American indignation to a boiling point.

The American public and Congress pressured President William McKinley to go to war with Spain. Politicians and journalists alike, claimed that the United States must go to war in order to achieve humanitarian goals, not to acquire more territory. Once war was officially declared, the public's attention was turned to the Caribbean. The first major military encounter with Spain however, occurred in the distant Philippines. Thanks to the strategic foresight of Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, the Asiatic Squandrom of the American Navy had been ordered to keep an eye on the segment of the Spanish fleet anchored in Manila harbor. When war was declared the American squadron, under the command of Admiral George Dewey, sailed immediately for the Philippines, where it surprised and destroyed the Spanish fleet. Americans virtually burst with pride at this "glorious victory" at a distant and unexpected site. McKinley, himself, confessed later, "When we received the cable from Admiral Dewey telling of the taking of the Philippines I looked up their location on the globe. I could not have told where those darned islands were within 2000 miles!"

Those "darned islands" created a dilemma for American leaders and the public. The Congressional declaration had stated that the United States did not intend to annex Cuba, but what about other Spanish territories acquired during the war?

At the turn of the century, debate about the future of the Philippines divided Senators and Presidential candidates. Should the United States allow the Philippines to pursue self - rule, or should the government annex the Philippines, and under what conditions?

Although the nation experienced growth and expansion during much of the nineteenth-century, it pursued the foreign policy President Washington advocated in his farewell address.

As you read the following documents, answer the following questions:

1) What arguments were made for and against maintaining control of the Philippines?

2) How did the issues of race, humanitarianism, and economic opportunity fit into the pro and con arguments?

President George Washington's "Farewell Address to the People of the United States" first published in a Philadelphia newspaper on September 19, 1796. Washington encouraged the nation to avoid "entangling alliances" with foreign countries. Why did Washington believe involvement with foreign nations would be harmful to the new nation?

...As avenues of foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise (sic) the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Concils!...

...The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

...It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Judge Peter S. Grossup, United States District Court, in Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1898. According to Grossup, why should the United States retain possession of the Philippines? What advantages would it give the U. S. and why would the U. S. be justified in retaining possession of the islands?

...The Latin race, tho still preeminent in many fields, is a diminishing race; the Anglo-Saxon, preeminent in all the arts and ambitions that make this age powerful, is an increasing race. It is the only race that has, since the beginning of time, correctly conceived the individual rights of men, and is, on that account, more than anything else, surviving, by fitness, the other races.

...This war has shown that we need a home port in Asiatic waters. The strategy of war has compelled us to obtain a temporary foothold in the Philippines. I believe we will find a way to make it permanent (and), having no policy looking to colonial settlement, we will find such a way without offending any great power....

Senator William Jennings Bryan and Democratic Party Presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900, speech at Omaha, Nebraska, June 14, 1898. Why is Bryan against annexing the Philippines?

...If , however, a contest undertaken for the sake of humanity degenerates into a war of conquest, we shall find it difficult to meet the charge of having added hypocrisy to greed. Is our national character so weak that we cannot withstand the temptation to appropriate the first piece of land that comes within our reach?

...Our guns destroyed a Spanish fleet, but can they destroy that self-evident truth, that governments derive their just powers, not from superior force, but from the consent of the governed?...

Senator Justin S. Morrill, speech in U. S. Senate, June 20, 1898. According to Morrill, why would the U. S. be unjustified in annexing the Philippines?

We can not afford to denounce and forbid all acquisitions of territory in the Western hemisphere by European governments, even at the peril of war, and forthwith embark in a thus-bedamned enterprise ourselves....

This historical policy of the republic of the United States for the hundred years just passed, based, as it has been, upon the sound doctrine promulgated by Washington in his farewell address with words of perennial wisdom against foreign entangling alliance, has taken root in the hearts of the American people, where it is treasured up as their political Bible and can not now be mocked at as merely an ancient tradition. Its acceptance has made the nation great, made it respected.

Henry Watterson, editor of Louisville Courier - Journal, from an interview in the New York Herald, June 22, 1898. Why did Watterson believe it was time for the United States to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy?

To surrender territory acquired by the outlay of so much blood and treasure would be a wanton and cowardly abandonment of obligations and opportunities literally heaven-sent, for they were not originally contemplated by anybody....

The traditional stay-at-home and mind-your-own-business policy laid down by Washington was wise for a weak and struggling nation.... But each of the centuries has its own tale of progress to tell.... We must adapt ourselves to the changed order. We must make a new map.... The United States from now on is destined to be a world power. Henceforth its foreign policy will need to be completely reconstructed. The man who would cling to the traditions of Washington is as one who would reject the railway and travel by the stage-coach, or, disdaining the highway, would strike through the woods...

Reverend A. B. Leonard, "Prospective Mission Fields," Gospel in All Lands (Methodist publication), August 1898. Why did Leonard believe annexing the Philippines would be advantageous?

...an overruling Providence has thrust us out to the "uttermost parts of the earth," there to break the power of Spanish despotism.... These marvelous events are now history, but no moral ken can foretell their far-reaching influences. But we do know that great opportunities are suddenly open before the Christian Church for advancing among long-oppressed peoples the kingdom of God.... The Christian Church must follow the army and occupy the territory conquered by the war power of the nation.

Charles Denby, "Shall We Keep the Philippines?" Forum (September 1898). Denby was United States Minister to China from 1885 to July 1898. Why did Denby believe it was time for the United States to alter the course of its foreign policy by maintaining control of the Philippines?

...I recognize the existence of a national sentiment, in accordance with the supposed teaching of Washington's Farewell Address, which is against the acquisition of foreign territory; but the world has moved and circumstances are changed. We have become a great people. We have great commerce to take care of. We have to compete with commercial nationals of the world in far-distant markets. Commerce, not politics is king....

There is no reason whatever why we cannot administer the Philippines in a manner satisfactory to their people as well as to ourselves....

If we give up the Philippines, we throw away the splendid opportunity to assert our influence in the Far East.... The Philippines are a foothold for us in the Far East. The possession gives us standing and influence. It gives us also valuable trade both in exports and imports....

Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, Speech given in December 1898. What problems did Gomper believe annexation of the Philippines would bring about?

If the Philippines are annexed what is to prevent the Chinese, the Negritos and the Malays [from] coming to our country. How can we prevent the Chinese coolies from going to the Philippines and from there swarm into the United States and engulf our people and our civilization? If these new islands are to become ours, it will be either under the form of Territories or States. Can we hope to close the flood-gates of immigration from the hordes of Chinese and the semi-savage races coming from what will be part of our own country?

Carl Shurz, U. S. Senator from Missouri (R), speech at University of Chicago, January 4, 1899. According to Shurz, how were the Philippines different from other territory already acquired by the United States?

Only look with an unclouded eye, and you will soon discover differences enough warning you to beware. There are five of decisive importance.

1). All the former acquisitions were on this continent and, excepting Alaska, contiguous to our borders.

2). They were situated, not in tropical, but in the temperate zone, where democratic institutions thrive and where our people could migrate in mass.

3). They were but very thinly peopled - in fact, without any population that would have been in the way of new settlements.

4). They could be organized as territories in the usual manner, with the expectation that they would presently come into the Union as self - governing States with populations substantially homogeneous to our own.

5). They did not require material increase of our Army and Navy, either for their subjection to our rule or for their defense against any probable foreign attack provoked by their being in our possession.

Senator George F. Hoar (R - Massachusetts) and Senator Orville H. Platt (R - Connecticut) Speeches in the U. S. Senate, January 9, 1899. U. S. Congressional Record 55th Congress, Third Session, p. 501. What pro - and con - arguments did the Senators present with regard to annexing the Philippines?

Senator Platt: ...I believe that back of it all was the hand of Providence.... I believe the hand of Providence brought about the conditions which we must either accept or be recreant to duty. I believe that those conditions were a part of the great development of the great force of Christian civilization on earth. I believe the same force was behind ... our ships in Manila Bay that was behind the landing of Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. I believe that we have been chosen to carry forward this great work of uplifting humanity on earth. From the time of the landing on Plymouth Rock in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, in the spirit of the Constitution, believing that all men are equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, believing that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, we have spread that civilization across the continent until it stood at the Pacific Ocean looking ever westward....

Senator Hoar: ...You have not right at the cannon's mouth to impose on an unwilling people your Declaration of Independence and your Constitution and your notions of freedom and notions of what is good.... The Senator [Platt] says, "Oh, we governed the Indians against their will when we first came here," long before the Declaration of Independence. I do not think so. I am speaking of other people. Now the people of the Philippine Islands are clearly a nation -- a people three and one-third times as numerous as our fathers were when they set up this nation. If gentlemen say that because we did what we did on finding a great many million square miles of forest and a few hundred of thousands of men roaming over it without any national life, without the germ of national life, without the capacity for self-government, without desiring self-government, was a violation of your principle, I answer if it was a violation of our principle it was wrong....

But read the account of what is going on in (the Philippines). The people there have got a government, with courts and judges better than those of the people of Cuba, who it was said, had a right to self-government ... and it is proposed to turn your guns on them and say, "We think that our notion of government is better than the notion you have got yourselves."

Theodore Roosevelt, Governor of New York, "Expansion and Peace," The Independent, December 21, 1899. According to Roosevelt, why would the United States be justified in annexing the Philippines?

...Nations that expand and nations that do not expand may both ultimately go down, but the one leaves heirs and a glorious memory, and the other leaves neither. The Roman expanded, and he has left a memory which has profoundly influenced the history of mankind.... Similarly, today it is the great expanding people which bequeath to future ages the great memories and materials results of their achievements, and the nations which shall have sprung from their loins, England standing as the archetype and best exemplar of all such mighty nations. But the peoples that do not expand leave, and can leave, nothing behind them...

William Jennings Bryan, "New Peoples Must be Raised," New York Journal, February 11, 1900. According to Bryan, what would be the only acceptable manner for annexing the Philippines?

When this nation incorporates new peoples within its limits, the new peoples must be raised to the level of our own people. The line between citizen and subject is the line between republic and empire....

This republic can have no higher destiny than to be a light unto the oppressed in every land.