Download William McKinley and the Philippines

US History/Napp
William McKinley and the Philippines
Name: _________________
Historical Context: The Spanish American War
“The war that erupted in 1898 between the United States and Spain was preceded by three
years of fighting by Cuban revolutionaries to gain independence from Spanish colonial
rule. From 1895–1898, the violent conflict in Cuba captured the attention of Americans
because of the economic and political instability that it produced in a region within such
close geographical proximity to the United States. The long-held U.S. interest in ridding the
Western Hemisphere of European colonial powers and American public outrage over
brutal Spanish tactics created much sympathy for the Cuban revolutionaries. By early
1898, tensions between the United States and Spain had been mounting for months. After
the U.S. battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor under mysterious
circumstances on February 15, 1898, U.S. military intervention in Cuba became likely.
On April 11, 1898, President William McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end
the fighting in Cuba between the rebels and Spanish forces, and to establish a ‘stable
government’ that would ‘maintain order’ and ensure the ‘peace and tranquility and the
security’ of Cuban and U.S. citizens on the island. On April 20, the U.S. Congress passed a
joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence, demanded that the Spanish
government give up control of the island, foreswore any intention on the part of the United
States to annex Cuba, and authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures he
deemed necessary to guarantee Cuba’s independence.
The Spanish government rejected the U.S. ultimatum and immediately severed diplomatic
relations with the United States. McKinley responded by implementing a naval blockade of
Cuba on April 22 and issued a call for 125,000 military volunteers the following day. That
same day, Spain declared war on the United States, and the U.S. Congress voted to go to
war against Spain on April 25.
…The war officially ended four months later, when the U.S. and Spanish governments
signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Apart from guaranteeing the
independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the
United States. Spain also agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for the sum of
$20 million. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899, by a margin of only
one vote.
The McKinley Administration also used the war as a pretext to annex the independent
state of Hawaii. In 1893, American residents of the Hawaiian Islands had led a coup against
native Queen Liliuokalani and established a new government. They promptly sought
annexation by the United States, but President Grover Cleveland rejected their requests. In
1898, however, President McKinley and the American public were more favorably
disposed toward acquiring the islands. Supporters of annexation argued that Hawaii was
vital to the U.S. economy, that it would serve as a strategic base that could help protect U.S.
interests in Asia…” ~ state.gov
Questions:
1- What preceded the Spanish American War?
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2- Why were Americans sympathetic towards Cuban revolutionaries in the late 1800s?
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3- What was the “Maine” and how did events surrounded it lead to war?
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4- What did President William McKinley ask on April 11, 1898?
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5- What resolution did Congress pass on April 20, 1898?
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6- What was the Spanish government’s response to the U.S. ultimatum?
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7- What was McKinley’s response to Spain’s reaction to the U.S. ultimatum?
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8- What did the U.S. Congress vote on April 25, 1898?
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9- What was the outcome of the Treaty of Paris?
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10- What territories did the U.S. acquire after the Spanish American War?
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11- Define imperialism [Previous Knowledge].
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12- Identify two causes of imperialism [Previous Knowledge].
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13- What had American residents of the Hawaii Islands done in 1898?
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14- What had these Americans residents of the Hawaiian Islands asked of the U.S.
government?
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15- Describe the U.S. response to this request.
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Background to a Primary Source:
“In 1899 Americans were divided sharply over whether to annex the Philippines.
Annexationists and anti-annexationists, despite their differences, generally agreed that the
U.S. needed opportunities for commercial expansion but disagreed over how to achieve that
goal. Few believed that the Philippines themselves offered a crucial commercial advantage
to the U.S., but many saw them as a crucial way station to Asia. ‘Had we no interests in
China,’ noted one advocate of annexation, ‘the possession of the Philippines would be
meaningless.’ ~ gmu.edu
The Primary Source: President McKinley
Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a
word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the
Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they
came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish
War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture
or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on
that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific
and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet,
and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.
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 – I don’t know how
it was, but it came: (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 were unfit for self-government – and they would
soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; 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. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and
slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department
(our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States
(pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will
stay while I am President!
Source: General James Rusling, “Interview with President William McKinley,” The
Christian Advocate 22 January 1903, 17. Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen
Rosskamm Shalom, eds., The Philippines Reader (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 22–23.
Questions:
1- Despite their differences, what did annexationists and anti-annexationists generally
agree upon?
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2- Why did many Americans believe that the Philippine Islands were important for
American interests?
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3- According to the primary source, what did President McKinley originally think
about the Philippines?
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4- According to the primary source, why had President McKinley sent Admiral Dewey
to Manila?
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5- According to the primary source, what did President McKinley think when the
“Philippines had dropped into our laps”?
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6- According to the primary source, why could President McKinley not give the
Philippines back to Spain?
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7- According to the primary source, why could President McKinley not turn the
islands over to France and Germany?
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8- According to the primary source, why could President McKinley not allow selfgovernment in the Philippines?
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9- According to the primary source, what did President McKinley conclude about the
Philippines?
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Mark Twain on Imperialism:
“I left these shores, at Vancouver, a red-hot imperialist. I wanted the American eagle to go
screaming into the Pacific. It seemed tiresome and tame for it to content itself with the
Rockies. Why not spread its wings over the Phillippines, I asked myself? And I thought it
would be a real good thing to do.
I said to myself, here are a people who have suffered for three centuries. We can make
them as free as ourselves, give them a government and country of their own, put a
miniature of the American constitution afloat in the Pacific, start a brand new republic to
take its place among the free nations of the world. It seemed to me a great task to which
had addressed ourselves.
But I have thought some more, since then, and I have read carefully the treaty of Paris,
and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the
Phillippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. . .
It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them
deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I
am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”
Why did Mark Twain oppose imperialism?
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Explain the meaning of the political cartoon.
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Explain the meaning of the political cartoon. _______________________________________
1. Involvement in the SpanishAmerican War, acquisition of
Hawaii, and introduction of the Open
Door policy in China were actions
taken by the United States
Government to
(A) establish military alliances with other
nations
(B) gain overseas markets and sources of
raw materials
(C) begin the policy of manifest destiny
(D) support isolationist forces in
Congress
2. United States annexation of the
Philippines (1898) and military
involvement in Vietnam (1960’s and
1970’s) are similar because in each
event the United States
(A) achieved its long-range foreign policy
objectives
(B) put the domino theory into action
(C) demonstrated the strength and
success of its military power
(D) provoked domestic debate about its
involvement in the internal affairs of
other nations
3. Which argument was used to support
United States acquisition of overseas
possessions in the late 1800’s?
(A) The United States needed to obtain
raw materials and new markets.
(B) The spread of Marxist ideas had to
be stopped because they threatened
world peace.
(C) The United States should be the first
world power to build a colonial
empire.
(D) The doctrine of Manifest Destiny had
become obsolete.
4. Which United States foreign policy
was most directly related to the rise
of big business in the late 1800s?
(A) containment
(B) imperialism
(C) détente
(D) neutrality
5. Which United States policy is most
closely associated with the
annexation of Hawaii and the
Philippines?
(A) neutrality
(B) isolationism
(C) imperialism
(D) international cooperation
6. During the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, United States intervention
in Latin America was motivated by
the United States desire to
(A) protect its growing investments in
Latin America
(B) encourage Latin American trade
with Europe
(C) end Latin American independence
movements
(D) reduce the influence of communism
in Latin America
7. In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was
established mainly because the
United States wanted to
(A) keep control of Alaska and Hawaii
(B) establish more colonies in Latin
America
(C) support England’s attempt to keep
its empire in Central America
(D) warn Europe against any further
colonization in Latin America