What might explain why the Philippines were annexed?

Answer 1

The main factor was Imperialism no matter how it is looked at. Some in the U.S wanted to take the Philippines as a colony or a continuation of Manifest Destiny. However if the U.S did not take control of it some other European power such as Germany would have.

Answer 2

In 1898, the United States defeated Spain during the Spanish-American war.

When Spain surrendered and agreed to pay the United States reparations for the war 'damages', the Philippines was included in the agreement to be handed over to the United States.

The Philippines annexation was the first step of the U.S foreign policy drive towards exerting regional influence in the Asia-pacific region, and really marked the first step in the U.S Imperialism drive.

Answer 3

The US annexed the Philippines for several reasons. For one the US was trying to become more of a world power and player in the pacific area. It was scrambling to add colonies to its empire, as the European powers already had many, and trying to extend into the Pacific. So one reason was political to show its power to the rest of the world. Second was a military reason. During this time ships were powered by coal. Coal burns quickly and therefore ships need a lot of it. However they can’t carry all the coal they need to sail around the world and ammunition, food and sailors. So they needed coaling ports in strategic areas of the world. For the US one of those stations was the Philippines. It allowed the US to extend its power into the pacific and have a coaling port forward enough for US ships to strike out anywhere. Third was economics, it provided an area from which US interests could extend into China, Southeast Asia and Japan. Which they did. After time the need for coal in ships declined and the importance of the Philippines as a colony declined. The US granted the Philippines independence shortly after WW2.

Answer 4

Racism cloaked as Paternalism. The US of A truly believed that by virtue of their brown skins and black hair and Asian features and their Catholic Religion the Filipinos were 'simple savages' who could not take care of themselves.
They truly didn't see how they could 'protect' the Philippines from Japan and Germany without Annexsation. And No one in US government at the time could find any middle groud between with 'giving up the Philippines' to Germany & Japan or taking it under their wing. To their credit the Americans did suggest a 'timeline' for Filipino independence and oddly enough that plan envision an end date between 1945 and 1950.

Joy -------------------------