Comparative Analysis Fighting in the Philippines Documents 20.2 and 20.3

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Fighting in the Philippines

After defeating Spain, the United States annexed the Philippines. Despite considerable U.S. opposition to annexation, President William McKinley declared it his duty to uplift an “uncivilized” people (Document 20.2). However, Filipino rebels rejected U.S. occupation and continued their struggle for independence. As the fighting wore on, many Americans turned against the war. In the cartoon, penned by William Carson of the Saturday Globe (Utica, New York), in Document 20.3, Uncle Sam is saying to a Filipino insurgent: “Behave, You Fool! Durn Me, If I Ain’t Most Sorry I Undertook to Rescue You.”

Document 20.2

President McKinley Defends His Decision

When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. . . . And one night late it came to me this way . . . 1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; 2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; 3) that we [could] not leave them to themselves—they are unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s wars; and 4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.

Source: General James Rusling, “Interview with President William McKinley,” Christian Advocate, January 22, 1903, 17.

Document 20.3

William Carson | “A Bigger Job Than He Thought For,” 1899

image
Granger, NYC

Interpret the Evidence

  1. How does McKinley justify annexation of the Philippines?

  2. Represented by this cartoon, why did Americans turn against the Philippines War? Did they think any differently about Filipinos?

Put It in Context

What role did annexation of the Philippines play in U.S. imperialism?