As soon as the treaty of Paris was signed by the US on December 10, 1898, many Filipinos expected their freedom be given back to them by the very same people who promised to give them back, the Americans. For 20 million dollars, this promise was broken due to the American’s imperialistic and self centered views that they bought the archipelago from the Spaniards and kept it as their new colony. This wasn’t the case for the Cubans though, after they fought side by side with them and Cuba got its independence the US established the Plat amendment which let the US interfere with Cuba’s government. Hunger for imperialistic expansion drove the Unites States to break its promise to the Filipinos who waited for their freedom.
Ever since the start of the 20th century and towards the end of the 19t, h our country has had a great interest in acquiring the country of Cuba. Even America’s fore fathers have expressed their suggestion of the benefits of annexing the country. Thomas Jefferson said:
“The control which, with Florida Point, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.” However, Spain could rule the island until “our people is sufficiently advanced to take those territories from the Spanish, bit by bit”” (“History of US interest in Cuba”- Havana Journal)
Another famous diplomat who also expressed he’s opinion of the country was John Quincy Adams who had this to say:
“An object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union” that was to fall in the hands of the United States at all costs. This object was the Cuban island, which was already the priority of the United States government of the time.” (“History of US interest in Cuba”- Havana Journal)
The quotes exemplifies the Unites State’s hunger to take over the Latin American country because it can open doors even more countries in Latin America Adams also refers to the country’s great interest in Cuba’s commercial and political side. This highlights the fact that Cuba served as this important colony that would bring the US a lot of money. They did this by first giving what the Cubans wanted, their freedom and to control their economy the US established the Plat amendment that would maneuver Cuba’s resource revenue to the United States’ pockets. According to statistics;
Before the 1959 U.S. companies owned 80% of services, mines, ranches and oil refineries, 40% of the sugar industry and 50% of railways. (“History of US interest in Cuba”- Havana Journal)
Technically Cubans never did get their independence till after the Cuban revolution, they still had a colonizer that appeared as their “business partners” but secretly stole money from their very own company by intervening with their own economy and resources.
The Cuban islands gave the Unites States money, with their rich sources in mines, oil and sugar industry, while the Philippines on the other hand couldn’t live up to Cuba’s high standards money generating economy. The “White man’s burden” then ensued among the talks of Americans, like what Republican president William Mckinley said in an interview published in 1903;
“…4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them (the Filipinos) 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.”
Some are also thinking that the annexation would open doors to other Asian countries. These hateful topics were brought up in the debate before the Treaty of Paris was made official and after the Platt Amendment was imposed. The Philippines no longer served a useful purpose to the Americans but still they had to keep them because Americans still had thier Imperialistic views of wanting to expand to more Asian countries and using the Filipinos as a stepping stone, and also believing in the White Man’s burden belief.
“. . . [J]ust beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. . . China is our natural customer. . . [England, Germany and Russia] have moved nearer to China by securing permanent bases on her borders. The Philippines gives us a base at the door of all the East. . . They [the Filipinos] are a barbarous race, modified by three centuries of contact with a decadent race [the Spanish]. . . It is barely possible that 1,000 men in all the archipelago are capable of self-government in the Anglo-Saxon sense. . .”(Beveridge- “In support of an American Empire” 1990)
The
passage provided serves as a prime example of how the Philippines were viewed
by Americans at that time, just a stepping stone for Imperialistic motives and an
unsteady country according to them not fit to be its own, the Philippine
economy couldn’t compare to Cuba’s but its annexation served a great deal of
purpose in expanding America’s still growing and still hungry empire.
