John
“An Event Leading Up to the Spanish American War. Enrique Dupuy de Lôme”
Most people think that the United States and Spain went to war because of the sinking of the U.S. battleship, USS Maine. A letter by Dupuy de Lome about President William Mckinley was an underlying reason. Dupuy De Lome was a Spanish minister to the United States starting at the time of 1892. The letter basically stated Dupuy’s negative opinion of President McKinley. It stated that McKinley was indecisive and irresolute, and that further negations with the Cuban Insurgents were pointless.The letter reached Cuban Rebels and by Feb 8, 1898 Secretary Day had a copy of the letter. Dupuy admitted authorship and resigned.
The New York Journal got a hold of the letter and printed an English version. This was a great example of Yellow Journalism which was a technique of journalism emerging during this time. The article and translated letter was headlined "The Worst Insult to the United States in Its History." The New York Journal was owned by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. It was a very popular paper and by the next day the whole United States was aware of what the Spanish Minister said. This was very embarrassing for President McKinley and hurt tensions between the United States and Spain. Coincidently the USS Maine was blown up a few days later on Feb 16.Ann-Marie
The Philippine American War was a war based on American imperialist ideals. The United States purchase the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam from Spain. In the process, the Philippine nationalists in hopes of gaining their independence like Cuba waged war against the United States. And to protect their investment in the Philippines the U.S. sent over copious amounts of troops. The Philippine American War affected many aspects of culture in the United States. Its effects can be seen in plays, music, and overall society. A lot of plays at the time were based in the Philippines, based on the lives of soldiers, and also based on the effects of the was on Americans. Like the plays, many songs were written that shadow what happened during the Philippine American War. These songs also were songs of nationalistic pride. There were many military songs that were created in order to conjure up national pride. Mi Filipino Babe was a song written not about military pride, but of a story of a soldier who has fallen in love with a dark Filipino woman. I also found it very interesting that Yankee Doodle Dandy was written during the time of the Philippine-American War. Using songs and plays to rally support behind the war was smart. It was accessible way in which to reach people and gain their support. It also gave glimpses of what was happening over seas.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/ma_filipino_babe.html
http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/csmp?000544Frank
The Philippine Revolution (1896—1898)
- The Revolution began in 1896 and was the first national effort by Filipinos to end 350 years of Spanish colonialism.
- Through the revolution, nationalist aspirations were developed and spread throughout the country, the Spanish were driven from the islands, and an independent Philippine Republic was established (Emilio Aguinaldo became its president).
- The event is considered significant in world history because it was the first republic formed in Asia through an anti-colonial revolution.
The Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
- As the Philippine Republic was established, U.S. military forces controlled Manila and its immediate suburbs (n.b.: Filipinos controlled the rest of the country).
- February 4, 1899: the Philippine-American War began as the US tried to exert control beyond Manila.
- December 1913: The "undeclared war" officially comes to an end.
- The war is described by historians as being the most divisive overseas conflict in U.S. history and would hold that status until the Vietnam War.
"The White-Mans Burden" - By Rudyard Kipling
- An Essay was written by Winslow Homer regarding the poem. It was first published as a letter to the Boston Evening Transcript (Feb. 18, 1899), and reprinted as a pamphlet by the Anti-Imperialist League, Boston, from which this is taken.
- It is just one of many documents that came from community organizations from both the U.S and Philippines used to examine the history of U.S.-Philippine interactions and their continuing cultural and political impacts on U.S.-Philippines relations and race relations within the United States.
Take up the white man's burden,
Send forth the best ye breed;
Go, bind your sons in exile,
To serve your captives' need.
* * * * *
Take up the white man's burden,
The savage wars of peace.
* * * * *
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread;
Go, make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.
* * * * *
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
Highlights of Winslow's Essay (regarding "The White Man's Burden"):
- The poem is described as (if taken as a timely warning) to be forceful and happy, but many have accepted it as an invocation to what is called duty - "the words and spirit are simply brutal."
- The words came to Americans with fearful import when the armies of the free republic were engaged in slaughtering men, women and children in the Philippines, while burning, ravaging buildings and so forth.
- In 1775, Trevelyan remarked that: "[Americans] were willing to owe everything to England, but they did not recognize her claim to measure out their portion of liberty." in more homely words, Speaker Reed alludes to our carrying "canned liberty to heathen."
"Worse even than this is the perversion of humanity and civilization as a pretense to cover our greed and selfishness. We say this has been thrust upon us as a "duty." Never was there a more palpable case of a nation's blindly assuming as a right and duty something which had no foundation but in our own lust for domain and power."
- "We bought and paid for their country, had it ceded to the United States, refused them any hope of freedom, and meanwhile boasted of the extension of our world power, showed how our commerce might profit by stealing other people's property, and how civilization would be extended by missionary work with powder and shot accompaniment."
- "If we substitute for the word "American" the word "Filipino," and for "Englishman" the word "American," what has Massachusetts to say? Does she recall the flaming words for liberty and independence, for self-government, and no taxation without representation, of Otis and the Adamses? Has she forgotten how her Sumner and Andrew and Whittier and Lowell stood for freedom; how they and Phillips and Garrison took up "the white man's burden?" Thank God, the senior Senator from Massachusetts has spoken with the love of liberty becoming his race, and his words are such as Massachusetts has been used to hear."Matt
White Man's Burden
Imperialism, Kipling argued, benefitted the "half-savage" races colonized rather than the imperial power; that's why he felt that the United States should join England in taking up "The White Man's Burden." Kipling believed that imperialism brought "civilization" to "new-caught sullen peoples." He also believed that favored nations and races had the moral obligation and responsiblity to "take up the White Man's burden." Kipling wrote the poem to urge the United States to take over the Philippines. It was time for the United States to take its proper place as an imperial power.
Some people took the poem as a racist view proposing that white <dhtmled0://wiki/White> people consequently have an obligation to rule over people from other ethnic <dhtmled0://wiki/Ethnic> and cultural <dhtmled0://wiki/Culture> backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by fully adopting Western <dhtmled0://wiki/Western_culture> ways.Emily
“In 1899 Rudyard Kipling was nearing the peak of his literary career. In 1907 he would win the Nobel Prize. Only thirty-four years old in 1899, he had already published best-selling children's books, collections of stories, and volumes of poetry. Many of his tales were set in India where he had been born and raised. India was, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli told Queen Victoria, the "jewel in the crown," the most important possession of the British Empire. Kipling considered himself a product of that empire, and he became a staunch advocate of western imperialism. It brought "civilization" to "new-caught sullen peoples." It was, in fact, a moral obligation. Favored nations and races had the responsibility to "take up the White Man's burden." Kipling wrote the poem to urge the United States to take over the Philippines. It was time for the United States to take its proper place as an imperial power.”
“The Republican platform for 1900 claimed: "Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the Government to maintain its authority, to put down armed insurrection and to confer the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued peoples." This language clearly echoed that of Rudyard Kipling. To speak of "rescuing" the Filipinos, to describe their struggle for independence as "armed insurrection," and to promise to bring "the blessings of liberty" to them at gunpoint struck Mark Twain as monumental hypocrisy. It was, he maintained, something even worse. It was an abandonment of America's own best traditions. Twain wrote a number of stinging critiques. The most influential was "To the Person Sitting in Darkness," published in February of 1901. “
“Extending the Blessings of Civilization to our Brother who Sits in Darkness has been a good trade and has paid well, on the whole; and there is money in it yet, if carefully worked -- but not enough, in my judgement, to make any considerable risk advisable. The People that Sit in Darkness are getting to be too scarce -- too scarce and too shy. And such darkness as is now left is really of but an indifferent quality, and not dark enough for the game. The most of those People that Sit in Darkness have been furnished with more light than was good for them or profitable for us. We have been injudicious”Kerri
“Kipling considered himself a product of that empire, and he became a staunch advocate of western imperialism. It brought "civilization" to "new-caught sullen peoples." It was, in fact, a moral obligation. Favored nations and races had the responsibility to "take up the White Man's burden." Kipling wrote the poem to urge the United States to take over the Philippines. It was time for the United States to take its proper place as an imperial power.”
Take up the White Man's burden!
Have done with childish days--
The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.
“This poem, unique, and in some places too deep for me, is a prophecy. I do not imagine that in the history of human events any poet has ever felt inspired so clearly to portray our danger and our duty. It is called "The White Man's Burden." With the permission of Senators I will read a stanza, and I beg Senators to listen to it, for it is well worth their attention. This man has lived in the Indies. In fact, he is a citizen of the world, and has been all over it, and knows whereof he speaks.”
Senator Benjamin ("Pitchfork Ben") Tillman of South CarolinaLuke
The White Man’s Burden
Imperialism was argued over with author Rudyard Kipling believing that it benefited the “half-savage races” with Mark Twain reacting about how imperialism was “the old “Blessings of the Civilization” fraud”(www.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/His130/P-H/burden/default.html). Kipling became the main spokesperson advocating for imperialism. He was born and raised in India considering himself a product of the British Empire. Taking up India that he used to strengthen his argument on advocating for imperialism. One of his most notable works was the poem “The White Man’s Burden” (www.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/His130/P-H/burden/WhiteMansBurden.html) published in McClure’s Magazine in 1899 to encourage the U.S. to take up the Philippines.
Senator Benjamin Tillman was impressed by the poem addressing how the U.S. will face a great burden dealing with the Filipino race when we have struggled with slavery. He also believes that the people are not suited for our institutions, are unable to understand the concept of liberty and do not desire it. Tillman interpreted Kipling’s poem as turning away from imperialism finding a different meaning to the poem. Writer Mark Twain was also against the decision to annex the Philippines and wrote a letter titled To The Person Sitting in Darkness a pun on how western civilization was being “enlightened”. One line in his essay that is really intriguing is how he explains that imperialism has an outside cover gay and pretty and attractive … while the inside is bought with blood and tears and land and liberty” (www.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/His130/P-H/burden/default.html). It shows how we can benefit from it, as a country but there is a lot of dirt and gore when people are actually over there fighting for imperialism.Jen
Theodore Roosevelt, "The Strenuous Life"
April, 1899“Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln, and bore sword or rifle in the armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves equal to the mighty days, let us, the children of the men who carried the great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected; that the suffering and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair, were unflinchingly faced, and the years of strife endured; for in the end the slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations”
“Some stronger, manlier power would have to step in and do the work, and we would have shown ourselves weaklings, unable to carry to successful completion the labors that great and high-spirited nations are eager to undertake.”
“The Philippines offer a yet graver problem. Their population includes half-caste and native Christians, warlike Moslems, and wild pagans. Many of their people are utterly unfit for self-government, and show no signs of becoming fit. Others may in time become fit but at present can only take part in self-government under a wise supervision, at once firm and beneficent. We have driven Spanish tyranny from the islands. If we now let it be replaced by savage anarchy, our work has been for harm and not for good. I have scant patience with those who fear to undertake the task of governing the Philippines, and who openly avow that they do fear to undertake it, or that they shrink from it because of the expense and trouble; but I have even scanter patience with those who make a pretense of humanitarianism to hide and cover their timidity and who cant about "liberty" and the "consent of the governed," in order to excuse themselves for their unwillingness to play the part of men. Their doctrines, if carried out, would make it incumbent upon us to leave the Apaches of Arizona to work out their own salvation, and to decline to interfere in a single Indian reservation. Their doctrines condemn your forefathers and mine for ever having settled in these United States.”.
“So, if we do our duty aright in the Philippines, we will add to that national renown which is the highest and finest part of national life, will greatly benefit the people of the Philippine Islands, and, above all, we will play our part well in the great work of uplifting mankind. But to do this work, keep ever in mind that we must show in a very high degree the qualities of courage, of honesty, and of good judgment. Resistance must be stamped out.”
“When once we have put down armed resistance, when once our rule is acknowledged, then an even more difficult task will begin, for then we must see to it that the islands are administered with absolute honesty and with good judgment. If we let the public service of the islands be turned into the prey of the spoils politician, we shall have begun to tread the path which Spain trod to her own destruction. We must send out there only good and able men, chosen for their fitness, and not because of their partisan service, and those men must not only administer impartial justice to the natives and serve their own government with honesty and fidelity, but must show the utmost tact and firmness, remembering that, with such people as those with whom we are to deal, weakness is the greatest of crimes, and that next to weakness comes lack of consideration for their principles and prejudices.”
Michael
In the later part of the 19th century one is able to see that the United States was becoming a world power, so much so the United States believed it was its duty to help all other oppressed nations. In the 1890's the United States finds themselves intervening in two conflicts, the Spanish American War and the Phillipine American, both having to do with the Spanish Empire.
Between the years of 1895 and 1898 both Cubans and Filipinos were revolting against Spanish rule. The Americans, notably President Mckinley, was able to pressure Spain to end the ongoing bloodshed in Cuba. "In February two events crystallized U.S. opinion in favor of Cuban independence. First, the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy de Lóme, wrote a letter critical of President McKinley that fell into the hands of the Cuban junta in New York. Its publication caused a sensation, but Sagasta quickly recalled Dupuy de Lóme. A few days later, however, the battleship Maine, which had been sent to Havana to provide a naval presence there, exploded and sank, causing the death of 266 sailors. McKinley, strongly opposed to military intervention, ordered an investigation of the sinking as did Spain. The Spanish inquiry decided that an internal explosion had destroyed the vessel, but the American investigation claimed an external source."
Unlike the Spanish American, the Phillipine American War was against the people of Phillipines and not so much against the influence of Spain. However Spain found themselves in Wars against both the U.S. in Cuba, and the Phillipines with American help. In 1896 a Phillipino revolution began to rid their country of Spanish rule. From revolution nationalist aspirations were developed and spread throughout the country. . . . Americans were interested in purchasing the Phillipines for military reason even though the United States already had control of Manila and its immediate suburbs. "On February 4, 1899, the Philippine-American War began as the United States tried to exert its control beyond Manila." Exerting its control past Manila displeased the Phillipinos.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/keep_em.html
Within this political cartoon we see how the United States viewed other smaller countries. The U.S. believed because its superiority on the World Stage they needed to intervine in global issue to help free oppressed people. However it does not seem as though the United States wanted to free the oppressed; it seems as though there were other reason for entering conflicts with the Spanish. From the Spanish American war, the United States were able to successfully intervene to help free Cuba from Spanish rule and it is interesting to see how they purchased the Phillipines also. It is almost as if the United States were trying to show up Spain. Not so much interested in freeing oppressed peoples but rather for military interest. As for Cuba, to keep possible enemies as far away from American soil as possible, and as for the Phillipines to have military strength in the Pacific for any possible future needs.Cristi
The Philippine American War began in 1896. It was monumental due to the fact that previously the Philippines were ruled by Spain for the past three hundred and fifty years. “Through it, nationalist aspirations were developed and spread throughout the country, the Spanish were driven from the islands, and an independent Philippine Republic was established with Emilio Aguinaldo as its president. It is significant in world history as the first republic formed in Asia through an anti-colonial revolution.”
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html <http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html>
“I first came upon these problems while researching Mark Twain's writings on the war <http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/twain/index.html> . He wrote the satirical story "The War Prayer <http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/twain/war_prayer.html> " in 1905, and in March of 1906 he wrote a scathing indictment of the U.S. troops who massacred 900 Muslim Filipinos -- men, women and children -- at Bud Dajo. The Filipinos were trapped in the volcanic crater and fired upon for four days from the heights above until all were reported killed (one young girl survived). Twain continued to comment on the war and U.S. imperialism until at least 1908, but the events of those years that inspired his writings were not covered in any history of the war I could find.” http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/zwick99a.html <http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/zwick99a.html>
“Although the war was never declared in the first place, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt declared it over <http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/roosevelt020704.html> on July 4, 1902. The date was not only symbolic but politically expedient. Less than a week before the U.S. senate had concluded embarrassing hearings that delved into U.S. Army atrocities during the war. The hearings included testimony by soldiers about use of the "water cure" torture and Gen. Jacob Smith's order to "kill and burn" and turn Samar into a "howling wilderness." Roosevelt was faced with growing <http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/minister.html> domestic <http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/ailpet02.html> opposition <http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ailtexts/adler02.html> to the already unpopular war. If it was over, the revelations of atrocities would no longer be politically relevant.” http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/zwick99a.html <http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/zwick99a.html>Kevin
- Following its declaration of war against Spain issued on April 25, 1898, the United States added the Teller Amendment asserting that it would not attempt to exercise hegemony over Cuba.
- Fighting began in the Phillipine islands at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1 where Commodore George Dewey reportedly exclaimed, "You may fire when ready, Gridley," destroyed the Spanish fleet under Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo.
- He did not have enough manpower to capture Manila and so Aguinaldo's guerrillas maintained their operations until 15,000 U.S. troops arrived at the end of July.
- On the way, the cruiser Charleston stopped at Guam and accepted its surrender from its Spanish governor who was unaware his nation was at war.
- Although a peace protocol was signed by the two on August 12, Commodore Dewey and Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, leader of the army troops, assaulted Manila the very next day, unaware that peace had broken out.
- War actually began for the U.S. in Cuba in June when the Marines captured Guantanamo Bay and 17,000 troops landed at Siboney and Daiquiri east of Santiago de Cuba.
- Spanish troops stationed on the island included 150,000 regulars and 40,000 irregulars and volunteers while rebels inside Cuba numbered as many as 50,000.
- Total U.S. army strength at the time totalled 26,000, requiring the passage of the Mobilization Act of April 22 that allowed for an army of at first 125,000 volunteers (later increased to 200,000) and a regular army of 65,000.
- U.S. troops attacked the San Juan heights on July 1, 1898. Dismounted troopers, including the African-American Ninth and Tenth cavalries and the Rough Riders commanded by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt went up against Kettle Hill while the forces led by Brigadier General Jacob Kent charged up San Juan Hill and pushed Spanish troops further inland while inflicting 1,700 casualties.
- While U.S. commanders were deciding on a further course of action, Admiral Cervera left port only to be defeated by Schley. On July 16, the Spaniards agreed to the unconditional surrender of the 23,500 troops around the city.
- Representatives of Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on December 10, 1898 established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million. The war had cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, of whom 90% had perished from infectious diseases.