Was the Philippine-American War an early example of American Imperialism?

Question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_War

You Americans are really in denial of your own history? Why is that?

Answer 1

Yes.

The US killed or contributed to the killing of 1 million Filipinos, and then later proped up the cleptocrat Ferdinando Marcos (anything in the name of fighting Communism).

As for the guy saying the US is not an empire, can you pleas ask the US then to give back to Mexico all the territory they stole in the 19th century?

Answer 2

Yes.

Arguably, it was not such an early example. You could also count the acquisition of states such as Texas and Louisiana and the expansion into the Indian territories of the Mid West as Imperialism.

Even the American Civil War can be seen as imperialism by the Northern states against the Southern. Remember the basic issue in this war was the right ot individual states to leave the Union, not slavery.

Answer 3

It isnt an early example,it is a prime example, it was the age of imperialism, and well we were somewhat of an Imperialist nation under Mckinley, Roosevelt, and Taft(not as much), our foriegn policy after and under Wilson took a complete turn, America was probably the least Imperialist power in the world at the time, today the Iraq war cannot be considered Imperialistic, though depending on how you look at it, at worst it could be considered slightly militaristic, so get your terms right.


To say we ignore our constitution is to be completly ignorant of the United States and our politics.

Also to the idiot below me, he isnt refering to fighting communism, he is referring to the Philippine-American War of 1898-1902, which happened right after the Spanish-American War.

Answer 4

No, it was anything but that. Imperialism can be defined as the forced economic exploitation of one country by another for the supposed betterment of the instigating country, by making the other a "vassal" state; sort-of mass slavery. I am assuming that you are referring to the United States' involvement in the 1898 Spanish-American War. My understanding is that in 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine one night mysteriously exploded in Havana harbor, killing lots of sailors and officers, a combination of failed communications between countries and lack of readily-available information, along with the pre-existing tension at the time between the U.S. and Spain, prompted Congress to declare war on Spain. The Philippines (along with several other territories, including Puerto Rico), had belonged to Spain, as a colony, in the Philippines' case for three hundred thirty-three years, since Ferdinand Magellan had claimed them as Spain's possession. Coming out victorious against the Spanish navy in the battle of Manila harbor in May, 1898, the U.S. annexed the Philippines as a "spoils" of war. A bit of a nationalistic spirit existed in the Philippines at the time, which had never in history been a single organized country, and some notable early well-meaning Philippine patriots organized an unsuccessful uprising against the U.S. takeover. Rather than an example of an imperialistic effort (a better classic example of which would be Japan's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" of the early 20th century), the 1898 involvement of the United States in the Philippines was aimed at, and ultimately did succeed in, granting the Philippines a massive infusion of technology, ideology, social structure and leadership, to enable her to take her rightful place among the free and independent representative-republican nations of the world, which she did on July 04, 1946. The Philippines has, despite 109 separate dialects of nine different Malayo-Polynesian languages, faithfully maintained that status to the present day (the actual name is Republika ng Pilipinas; translated "Republic Of The Philippines."

Answer 5

? If America engaged in "imperialistic" behavior, we would be at the center of an empire right now, wouldn't we?

Imperial armies conquer neighboring countries and absorb them, claiming the people and natural resources as their own.

Russia did this--They invaded and took over countries like Poland...

Other "imperial" behavior if the "colonization" of other parts of the world...England, France, Spain, pretty much every European country did this historically...

America has fought wars, but has asked the local people to govern themselves and historically has left them alone once a stable democracy formed (Japan after WWII).

You can disagree with policy and disagree with any war you can name, but labelling the US as an "imperialist" nation is not only wrong, but is ridiculous.

Answer 6

How about how the US was involved in the Congo and other parts of Africa?