Political Cartoon, 1899
Topics on the Page
Event Summary
American Tactics
Personal Accounts from Both Sides
Filipino Movements for Independence
Anti-War Sentiment and the Anti-Imperialist League
African American Troops
Other U.S. Involvements: Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam
Cross-Links:
The Building of the Panama Canal
Here is an interactive timeline of the relationship between the US and Philippines
When the U.S. declared war on Spain, rebel armies were already fighting for independence from Spanish rule in both Cuba and the Philippines.
Summary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scho0YzzPu8
- also covers the diplomatic debate annexation v. liberation of Philippines after the war. (also really important)
" The Philippines are ours forever.... and just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. The Pacific Ocean is our Ocean."
Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana, 1990
- The American troops used brutality to suppress the Filippino rebellion, such as concentration camps.
- An article by Professor Welch Jr. of Lafayette College addressing American atrocities in the conflict.
- An article about the use of concentration camps in the war.
- Some American citizens bought into the Imperialist idea that the U.S. was bringing culture and civility to a previously violent people. Of course, the Philippines was full of culture prior to the arrival of United States troops--but to those American citizens who would like to think themselves superior, the idea of "helping" a dark-skinned populace through brutal acquisition was too alluring of an idea.
This was a fundamentally racist perspective, as demonstrated by the 1899 publication below.
[This racist publication / political cartoon was published in the Boston Sunday Globe on March 5, 1899
and echoed sentiments that were popular among those who supported the war.]
The Brutality of US Tactics: shows the brutality of American tactics while also demonstrating how American film clips were used as propaganda by the United States during the war effort.
American Soldiers in the Philippines Write Home about the War
U.S. Army soldiers during a lull, October 2, 1899
Personal accounts and photos of Philippine insurgents.
Classroom activity: Students are tasked in producing political cartoons that will further their understandings of U.S. imperialism, anti-imperialist resistance, cultural/national superiority, and commercialism.
For a critical perspective on American foreign policy toward the Philippines, see an online review of the book Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999.
"Emilio Aguinaldo was born from a local elite family in Cavite. His father was mayor of Kawit, Cavite, a post he himself held.
-- Notes from the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa
The Filipino perspective - a digital archive dedicated to providing the Filipino history of the conflict
For background on American involvement in the Philippines, see Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream. Gregg Jones, New American Library, 2012.
Crash Course History - Imperialism - a video series dedicated to the US history curriculum detailing US imperialism in the early 20th century
A video on Resistance to American Imperialism in the Philippine Islands.
Race and US involvement - a review of Paul Kramer's The Blood of Government, which argues that the US involvement in the Philippines was part of a larger issue of race and American society
Connecting to our modern society - sensational media and its role in the war
Arguments for US action - Albert Beveridge, Indiana senator at the time, arguing for American imperialism to secure economic power in the Pacific - "In Support of an American Empire"
Click here for a learning plan on the Philippine-American War called The Matter of the Philippines.
Treaty of Paris 1898: this peace treaty ended the Spanish-American War, where Spain ceded many territories including Cuba and the Philippines to the United States
Another great resource about the debate and treaty: https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Paris-1898
Tydings-McDuffie Act 1946: The Philippines finally gained independence as President Harry Truman acknowledged their independence.
Women and the Anti-Imperialist movement - Erin Murphy's article analyzing how women participated in the anti-imperialist movement of the war and how they were purposefully excluded
Source: Includes WOMEN and MEN ANTI-IMPERIALISM
https://apjjf.org/-Erin-Murphy/3182/article.html
The Anti-Imperialist League, 1898-1902 from American Peace Movements
The U.S. Black community was split by the war effort, like many others. Some African American troops felt as though they had to put on a good showing in the Philippines to gain favor for their community and cause in the United States. Others saw the explicit non-white subjugation as a continuation of the treatment that the Black community had lived through, and thus supported the Filipino cause for independence. Explore more in the resource above.
Material Submitted by Kate Milliken (October 2020)
Cuba
Hernandez, José M. “Cuba in 1898.” Cuba in 1898 - The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War (Hispanic Division, Library of Congress). Library of Congress. Accessed October 5, 2020. http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/hernandez.html.
Puerto Rico
Little, Becky. “Puerto Rico's Complicated History with the United States.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, September 22, 2017. https://www.history.com/news/puerto-ricos-complicated-history-with-the-united-states.
Alternative Source Citation: Gonzalez-Cruz, Michael. “The U.S. Invasion of Puerto Rico: Occupational and Resistance to the Colonial State, 1898 to the Present.” Deerfield, September 1998. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21109686/GPS?u=mlin_w_frontier&sid=GPS&xid=00edb580.
Article is likely too long to support planned activity.
Guam
Little, Becky. “How the United States Ended Up With Guam.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, August 9, 2017. http://www.history.com/news/how-the-united-states-ended-up-with-guam.