When the United Sates foreign policy finally moved away from its isolationist stance and pursued a more aggressive political outlook, the Spanish-American war offered a springboard for its giant leap towards expansionism. Strategically located in the Far East, the Philippines happened to be at the right place at the right time because it dovetailed with the American geopolitical strategy necessary in achieving the status of a New World power. The Philippines, gateway to the rich markets of China was conveniently, a colony of the Old World empire that was Spain. Philippine independence was doomed when the McKinley administration decided to occupy the Philippines. General Jaudenes’ demand served only to solidify this decision. Dewey was ordered by the Department of the Navy to distance himself from General Aguinaldo to avoid any commitments. He later said that he never considered Aguinaldo an ally. To keep the Filipino forces from attacking the city was, in his own words, his greatest concern while waiting for the arrival of the Eight Army Corps reinforcements. He referred to Filipinos as "the Indians" and promised Washington, D.C. that he would "enter the city and keep the Indians out." This example of racist opinion of the Filipinos played a major role in the conduct of the American war with the Philippines. With few exceptions, American officers and soldiers came with a mantle of white supremacy on their shoulders; not surprisingly because many generals were veterans of the Indian wars. With a flawed view of the on-going war, the army also recruited wild game hunters and cowboys. The American press, equally in the dark about the Philippines relied mainly on the dispatches of the U.S. War department and U.S. propaganda which downgraded the Philippine-American war into an insurrection, branding Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo a rebel and his belligerent generals, brigands or bandits. General Otis would later censor letters from U.S. soldiers and first hand accounts of reporters. He would also prevent the International Red Cross, invited into the country by Aguinaldo to observe the war. Although Malolos congress president Pedro Paterno issued a proclamation of war on June 2, 1899, none was issued by the U.S. government. Granted that the U.S. forces, ruse and treachery notwithstanding, had something to prove in capturing Manila, the Spanish jurists and peace commissioners were technically correct in asserting that it was invalid because it happened after the armistice. And, although cession of the Philippines was won in the succeeding Treaty of Paris, the actuations of President McKinley, in his rush to annex the Philippines raised legal issues. He issued his proclamation, “Benevolent Assimilation” on December 21, 1898, declaring sovereignty over the archipelago, even before the treaty was ratified by U.S. congress. By international law, because the treaty was not yet ratified, the right or authority to its implementation did not yet exist. To occupy the country and enforce submission with the use of force was an act of aggression. Technically, President McKinley declared war with the Philippines without congressional approval and even before the first shot was heard in Santa Mesa. Accordingly, this indiscretion placed him in a terrible pressure to have the Treaty of Paris ratified at all costs. While U.S. Congress was scheduled to vote on it on February 6, oppositionists threatened to block its passage or at least force a tie. Amazingly, on February 4, fighting erupted in Manila; immediately followed the next day by an all-out attack by U.S. troops. Buencamino’s report to Aguinaldo and the actions taken by both Generals Arthur Mac Arthur and Elwell Otis were too discomforting to dispel the suspicion that the events were not merely coincidental. The U.S. had about 20,000 men in the Philippines when the war started. This figure ballooned to about 74,000 by 1900 and to more than 126,000 by war’s end. Accounts of U.S. casualties vary but the wounded were reported to be about 2,000 and deaths about 4,234—4,390 soldiers and officers, including Colonel John M. Stotsenberg and General Henry W. Lawton. (Lawton was the legendary Indian war fighter who captured the equally fabled Indian chief Geronimo but who, by a strange twist of fate, was killed in action in an encounter with Filipino General [Licerio] Geronimo in San Mateo in 1899.) The war was declared over by President Theodore Roosevelt after three years on July 4, 1902, but would actually drag on for more than a decade of guerrilla warfare. The financial cost to the U.S. was about 600 million dollars— a vast fortune compared to the 20 million dollars paid for the cession of the Philippines. The damage done to the Philippines was irreparable. More than an estimated 250,000 Filipino lives were lost, about 20,000 of them soldiers. Many were shot instead of being taken as prisoners of war; hundreds of suspected and genuine guerilla fighters were labeled common bandits; hunted, tortured and hanged without the benefit of a trial especially, during the so called “pacification campaign”. Houses were looted for war bounties; women raped. Civilians were forcibly displaced; and died of diseases, starvation and overcrowding in concentration camps. Thousands also died as a result of immediate retribution over the loss of American lives; most infamous of which was the incident in Samar where an American officer, General Jacob “Hellfire Jake” Smith ordered the wanton burning of villages and massacre of men over the age of ten. A U.S. General, William Shafter, who was not even in the Philippines remarked that it might even be necessary to kill half the Filipino population before “perfect justice” could be granted to the other half. And, on May 30, 1902, it was reported that U.S. President Roosevelt, speaking before the Memorial Day crowd gathered at Arlington Cemetery, defended his army from the charges of atrocities by saying that the Philippine-American conflict was being fought between the forces of “civilization” and “savagery”; adding the racist remark that the Filipinos were “Chinese half-breeds” and insisting that the war was the most “glorious” in their nation’s history. The most irreparable damage was in the self-respect, values, traditions, cultural heritage and aspirations of a people who, after celebrating the birth of their nation under a lawfully constituted republic suffered the tragedy of its death and found themselves paying obeisance to a foreign master once again.
coursehero.com "AND, AFTER ALL, THE PHILIPPINES ARE ONLY THE STEPPING-STONE TO CHINA,”
Author of the "Monroe Doctrine" James Monroe, fifth president of the United States
James K. Polk, eleventh president of the United States. His aggressive foreign policy based on the principles of the Monroe Doctrine gave birth to the term "Manifest Destiny".
The New York World reports the defeat of the Spanish armada in the battle of Manila Bay. By this victory, Commodore George Dewey, was promoted to Rear Admiral by mid May. In March 1899, U.S. Congress appointed him Admiral.
U.S. Consul to Singapore E. Spencer Pratt and Consul to Hongkong Rounsevelle Wildman "The eyes of the world are upon him."
General Arthur Mac Arthur ordered the American troops to advance against the Filipino lines on February 5, a day after the fatal shooting of a Filipino corporal by an American sentry. This triggered the all-out Philippine-American war.
Signing of the Peace Protocol
American Flags adorn the Ayuntamiento, seat of Spanish colonial government in Manila.
1899 Political cartoon by Joseph Morewood Staniforth. Uncle Sam (Jonathan) carries a whip and rebukes a man (the Philippines) who carries a sack marked “American Sovereignty”. CHANGING THE LOAD
Major General Elwell Otis
The sudden all-out attack by the Americans on February 5, 1899 surprised Filipino soldiers who died in their trenches. Aside from torture and re-concentration of entire barrios, the occupation forces also employed public execution by gallows in their so-called "pacification campaign".
"ONLY SOLUTION IN SAMAR"
"KILL EVERY ONE OVER TEN" |