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What are the pros and cons of the US annexing the Philippines?
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The annexation of the Philippines by the US had several pros and cons. For the US, advantages included expanding military bases, enhancing global trade, and strategic positioning in the Pacific. However, it also faced resistance from Filipinos desiring independence, leading to costly conflicts. For the Philippines, US intervention ended Spanish rule and provided military protection and economic opportunities. Conversely, it resulted in loss of sovereignty and cultural interference. Thus, annexation had mixed impacts for both nations.
The United States wanted to become a world power around 1900. After the Spanish-American War, we gained possession of some of Spain’s colonies. These included Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. There was some debate about controlling the Philippines.
There were advantages to controlling the Philippines. We needed military bases around the world if we wanted to be a world power. We had few possessions in the western Pacific, so controlling the Philippines would help our military. We needed bases where our ships could resupply and refuel. This would allow our military to protect our world trade and to be used as a military base in case of war.
We also could trade with the Philippines. We were looking to expand our trade, and controlling the Philippines would allow us to do this. We wanted markets where we could sell our products, and we wanted to get resources cheaply from any...
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colony we controlled.
Disadvantages to controlling the Philippines were seen very quickly. The people of the Philippines wanted to be independent. Thus, we had to fight them for several years. This proved to be costly in terms of life and dollars. Even without a war, the cost of running a colony was significant. There were people who felt we shouldn’t undertake this expense. Other people felt it was wrong for us to control a group of people that wanted to be independent. They felt it went against the ideals of our revolution.
There were positive and negative reasons for annexing the Philippines.
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Since the pros and cons for the US have already been addressed, I take this opportunity to address the pros and cons for Philippines with regards to the annexation.
There are numerous benefits the Philippines would have enjoyed due to the US intervention, among the notable benefits include:
The freedom from the Spanish: The US was opposed to the Spanish form of governance. The Spanish were brutal and this forced the US to intervene. The victory by the US over Spain at Manila bay ensured freedom for the Philippines.
Protection from other empires similar to Spain: After Spain was defeated other nations such as Japan and Germany were interested in annexing Philippines. The style of governance by these countries would have taken Philippines back to where it was with Spain. Apart from protection, the Philippines would also benefit from military training and equipment to improve their defense.
Employment opportunities: Philippines would benefit from the establishment of a trade hub by the US. This trade hub would have provided numerous employment opportunities and economic development.
There are negative implications of US annexation of Philippines and these include:
Loss of sovereignty: The Philippines wanted to earn their independence in order to plan and make decisions for their future without external interference. Achievement of this objective would be hindered due to the annexation.
Culture interference and distortion: Some of the cultures and traditions of the Philippines were opposed by the US. This eventually would lead to the loss of cultural memory in Philippines.
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What were the pros and cons of the U.S. acquiring the Philippines?
In this answer, I will look at the pros and cons of taking the Philippines from the point of view of a person in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I will be looking at what people would have thought about taking the Philippines when that was actually taking place.
There were three main advantages that people thought we would gain from taking the Philippines. First, we would gain prestige in the world. All major European countries at that time had overseas empires. By taking the Philippines, the US would have its first large possession far from its own territory. This would help make us look like an important world power. Second, we would gain military power. By taking the Philippines, we would gain a place where we could have naval bases. Ships based in the Philippines could easily project American power in Asia. Finally, there would be economic benefits to taking the Philippines. We would gain privileged access to Filipino markets, meaning we would be more able to get their resources for good prices and sell them our products as well.
People at that time would have seen two major bad points to taking the Philippines. First, at least some Americans thought that taking the Philippines was immoral. The Filipinos, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, had been trying to gain independence from Spain. It seemed wrong (and un-American) to take away the Filipinos’ chance to be free. People felt that it was wrong for us, a country founded on the principle of freedom from colonial rule, to impose our own colonial rule on others. The other argument against taking the Philippines was that it would be bad for us in racial terms. Many Americans at this time were openly racist. They believed that Filipinos were racially inferior and they did not want to make a large number of non-white people part of America. They feared that taking the Philippines as a colony would eventually force us to allow the Filipinos to be part of our polity and society.
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