The Birth of American Empire; Spain, the Philippines, and the Debates over Expansion.

Introduction

The whirlwind of activity that occurred in American foreign policy at the end of the

nineteenth century is largely forgotten about. Situated between the Civil War and the First World

War, this era is often overlooked in terms of importance to American history. It was, however, a

major formative time in the history of the United States. During these years, the United States

committed to actions outside of its borders that would have major ramifications on the future

course of the country. These events were the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American

War, both fought in the period from 1898 to about 1902, and they were new types of wars that the

United States had never fought in before. The first was a large scale humanitarian effort, while

the second was a brutal colonial conflict in a faraway territory. These wars came at a time of

change in American political thought, when the ideas of imperialism and empire building overseas

began to prominently become a part of the American mindset. Although these feelings of

expansion and national glory would become more mainstream during this time, they were met with

a fierce backlash by many who opposed the new direction of the United States, raising new

political questions and debates throughout the country. The wars and their outcomes would

produce battlegrounds abroad and spark political battles at home.

This study explores the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, and the

profound impact they had on the United States. It will illustrate how each war came about, and

the sharp contrast between how each war was fought, and how each was viewed in the United

States. This study will explore the rise of expansionist feelings in the United States and the

beginning of imperialist ambitions since the end of the Civil War, and their evolution before the

Spanish-American War, and how this set up the war fever that would involve the United States

with Spain and the Philippines. I will then look at the war with Spain, how it began and the forces

that were driving the “war fever” that swept through the United States, and the counter anti-

imperialist movement that arose as a response. Finally, it will explore the war in the Philippines,

and show how it was different from the Spanish-American War, although the two were fought

only a few months apart, which shows that the Philippine-American War was a pure colonial

conflict, just like the ones waged by Europeans. Primary sources such as newspaper headlines and

political cartoons will be used to show the opposing sides of these heated debates.

Those involved in the imperialist faction in the United States went by and were called many

names, including imperialists, expansionists, and the colorful term “jingoes.” Jingo is a term

adopted by Americans who supported expansion from Great Britain, where it was also a term for

expansionists. The term was used both by the Americans who supported the movement, and by

those who did not. Supporters saw it as a term of endearment, while their detractors used to as a

synonym for being a war hawk, which was often the case as well. Both the expansionists and their

opponents battled in out during this period in political debates and by using mass media to try to

persuade public opinion. They did this because they thought they were battling over the future

direction and spirit of the United States of America.

These events were an important part of American history, but they were also part of

something bigger as they show how the United States became of part of the larger history of

imperialism taking place around the world at this time. These events help show that the United

States was more involved in global affairs and in the affairs of other nations before the event that

was seen as the first “major” American intervention, the First World War. These events help

people today understand expansionist and anti-expansion feeling at home, while also contributing

to the worldwide rush for empire and glory that took place at the end of the nineteenth century.

This connection helps shed more light and understanding on these important historical moments

that cannot be overlooked, and that is what this thesis is attempting to do.

Chapter 1: Creation of a New America

This chapter will explain the factors that led up to American involvement in the Spanish-

American War, and it will explore the cultural factors that helped push the United States towards

this new era. This chapter also looks at the rise of the two main forces that were present in this

era, jingoism and anti-imperialism. It will highlight some of the early American ventures into

“interventionist” policies, and will focus greatly on the American involvement in Hawai’i during

the 1890’s, an event that was the major precursor to later American actions worldwide. My

argument will focus on the importance of these early events, and how they started to shift the

United States closer to imperialism.

Hawai’i: the beginning

The origins of American overseas imperialism can be traced to a small chain of islands in

the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered by British sailors in the 1770s, the Hawaiian Islands

are an archipelago of eight islands in the so called “Sandwich” island chain, named after the British

Lord Sandwich.

At the time of discovery all the islands were ruled by Kings as separate

kingdoms. In 1795 one king, King Kamehameha, soon to be called the “Great King of Hawai’i,”

brought the islands under one leader as a single unified kingdom.

This was how the island was

ruled for almost the next one hundred years. During this time, the islands began to attract attention

from powers across the world. Both the United States and Canada were trying to establish deeper

connection with Hawai’i, mainly for the strategic position that the islands occupied in the middle

of the Pacific Ocean and the valuable trade that both parties saw coming from the islands which,

Alden March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines and Our Other Island Possessions, (New York: Arno

Press & The New York Times, 1970) p.261-262.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.264.

at this time, was mainly sugar with some rice.

The first major American treaty with Hawai’i was

signed in 1876, which allowed for rice and “lower grades of sugar,” to enter the United States duty

free.

This treaty immediately showed economic results in the United States, with the rate of sugar

entering the United States from Hawai’i increasing exponentially. Before the treaty, no more than

20 million pounds of sugar from Hawai’i had ever entered American markets, but after the treaty

was signed, sugar began to pour into the country, reaching 100 million pounds in 1882. Only five

years later that amount had doubled to about 200 million pounds of sugar.

All of this growth was taking place at a very important time in American history. Starting

with the American Civil War, the country had gone through a long period of terrible warfare and

then experienced rough times during the Reconstruction period of the late 1860s and most of the

1870s. The war had hurt the United States not only morally but also economically. The rest of

the nineteenth century was spent trying to increase American businesses and production.

American capital was looking for any ways it could increase production and profits. Hawai’i

offered a magnificent opening to American businesses looking to expand.

The trade treaty with Hawai’i did more than just increase her monetary and trade

connections with the United States. Seeing an opportunity to expand, American businesses and

American citizens began to move to the islands.

This movement of men and capital had a greater

impact than simply strengthening the economic ties between these two countries. Americans had

been in contact with Hawai’i for a long time by the late nineteenth century, having sent whalers

Ibid., p.265.

Scott Nearing and Joseph Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy: A Study in American Imperialism, (New York: Arno Press

& The New York Times, 1970) p.74-75.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.265.

and many missionaries to the islands in years past.

This connection was only strengthened as

time went on, and the development of a stronger economic bond helped bring more attention to

the islands in American minds. With the increased sugar trade and production on the islands,

American “sugar barons,” along with more American settlers began to travel to the islands and

settle down.

This increased American presence on the islands began to change the layout of

Hawaiian cities. Hawaiian towns now began to resemble American towns, with similar “clapboard

storefronts and hitching posts,” reminiscent of a “Western boomtown.”

The many transplants on

the islands also celebrated the strictly American holidays of the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving

with as much joy and energy as those on the “mainland.”

The American “transplants,” on the

islands were becoming more and more a part of the islands, and they changed the islands to fit

them into the American mode of life. Soon these foreign elements in Hawai’i would begin to flex

their growing power.

In the 1880s, the foreigners in Hawai’i made their first moves to undermine the authority

of the Kings. The King that ruled the islands in the late 1880s was seen as corrupt by these foreign

elements, and as person who was “a great seeker of personal power.”

During his time in power,

the King exponentially increased the national debt of Hawai’i from almost $400,000 in 1880 to a

staggering over $1.9 million by 1887.

This King only worsened his position on the islands by

then taking bribes and making deals with the two rival opium dealers.

At this point the foreign

elements, mainly American, on the islands decided to take action against the King. The foreigners

Scott Miller, The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century,

(New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2011) p.67.

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.67.

Ibid., p.67.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.266.

Ibid., p.266.

organized a united movement against the King of Hawai’i, and after “an uprising of such

magnitude that it took the King’s breath,” the King agreed to several reforms that were laid out by

the foreigners. These reforms included concessions but the main reform pushed was stripping

much of the King’s power and handing it over to a Legislature that would rule under a new

Constitution.

This helped establish a new Hawaiian government that was much more

sympathetic to the American planters that had so much invested on the islands. The reasons for

the lack of resistance from the Native Hawaiians was not clear.

Shortly after the first uprising that had given the planters more power on Hawai’i, another

revolt took place in 1889. This time it was led by, Robert W. Wilcox a native Hawaiian born to

an American father and a Hawaiian mother. He launched a revolution against two major flaws

that he saw in the new Hawaiian government, what he perceived as the “King’s extravagance,”

and, more importantly what he saw a too much power being left in the hands of businessmen from

other countries, including the United States.

Wilcox’s revolution was a failure, however, and

power remained tightly held by the Hawaiian Legislature and the American and other foreign

planters. This showed, however, that Hawaiians did not just sit back and take this imposed

Constitution, though they would have to wait a few years until the next major challenge to the

planter class would come along.

This next challenge would come in the form of Queen Liliuokalani, who ascended to the

throne of Hawai’i after the death of her brother Kalakaua, who was the King that had been forced

to accept the new Constitution by the planters on the islands.

However, the new Queen soon

showed that she would not operate as the old King had done. She eventually made a move and in

Ibid., p.266-267.

Ibid., p.267.

“The Revolution in Hawaii,” The New York Times, January 29, 1893.

1892 and pushed for the right to remove her brother’s old Cabinet in order to appoint her own.

She wanted to undo some of the harm that had been done to the national government during the

planter uprising in the 1880’s. She also wanted to push through a new Constitution that would

give her more power and “disenfranchise a class of citizens who paid a large proportion of the

taxes to the Government,” although she was met with very strong resistance from her own

government officials.

As the Queen began to ponder what actions to take next, other elements

on the islands were moving into action.

The American planters on the island were deeply worried about the actions being taken by

the new Queen. They saw her moves a power grab to make her an “absolute monarch,” and as an

attempt to take away their rights, which they had taken during her brother’s rule.

Although the

Queen’s first attempt at this “power grab” was unsuccessful, the planters knew that she would

eventually find a way to push the legislation she wanted.

However, these American planters also

had plans of their own they wanted to put into action.

The United States had a military and strategic interest in Hawai’i since the 1880s. Its

position in the Pacific Ocean would provide the growing United States with a greater position to

expand economically into Asia, with the ultimate goal being to easily reach the markets in China.

The American economy at this time was producing a decent amount of goods, and many wanted

the United States to become more involved in the massive markets that existed in China.

Hawai’i

was only the first stop on the longer American ride to mainland Asia, so it was important that

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.267.

Ibid., p.267-268.

Ibid., p.267.

Ibid., p.268.

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.71.

Ibid., p.71-72.

Americans retained a foothold on the island. Americans had already tried this once in 1889, when

they offered the King of Hawai’i a treaty that would give the United States a permanent naval base

at Pearl Harbor, while also creating total free trade between Hawai’i and the United States, giving

Hawai’i “full participation in any bounties to be given to American producers of sugar.”

In all

but the official words, this treaty would have made Hawai’i a protectorate of the United States,

where it would “enjoy all the privileges of one of the United States,” so long as she did not enter

into treaties with other powers.

This treaty was eventually rejected by the King, however, and

Hawai’i remained effectively an independent country, albeit with very close relations to the United

States and American citizens.

However, Americans had not given up on this idea of a protectorate or the annexation of

Hawai’i. In early 1892, the Minister to Hawai’i, John L. Stevens, was in communication with the

American planters on the islands about a possible “overthrow” of the current monarchy and a push

for annexation by the new “Provisional Government.”

With the push by the Queen Liliuokalani

to consolidate power back in the hands of herself and her government, the American planters

decided that now was the time for action. A Committee of Public Safety was formed by the

American planters and citizens on the islands in January of 1893, which soon began to call for a

new “Provisional Government.

The Committee of Public Safety assembled an Executive

Council made up of prominent American planters and businessmen who would head this new

government that they wanted to set up.

These actions showed where the true interests of the

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.266.

Ibid., p.266.

“Had Plotted a Long Time: Scheme to Annex Hawaii at least a Year in preparation,” The New York Times,

December 1, 1893.

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.76.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.269.

Committee lied, with the American planters and their interests. Finally, in January of 1893, the

Americans in Hawai’i made their move.

On January 16, 1893, Stevens called on a U.S. Navy ship, the U.S.S. Boston, to land

Marines on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu.

This action was followed by a proclamation by

the Committee of Public Safety calling for a new government of Hawai’i, and citing Queen

Liliuokalani for all of her “broken promises” and the “wrongs” that she had inflicted on the people

of Hawai’i.

There was no going back for the Americans at this point. The Committee on Public

safety even sent out a call for volunteers, and was able to bring with it 500 armed men to help

overthrow the Queen.

They would not be alone though. In support of the Americans in Hawai’i,

the United States Marines that had been deployed by the U.S.S. Boston escorted the armed men to

the government buildings, where, on January 17, 1893, the committee of Public Safety took control

of the Hawaiian government and declared themselves the official “Provisional Government” of

Hawai’i.

The coup was bloodless, with the help of the Marines, and the now deposed Queen was

allowed to retire to her private residence, which was now guarded by the new government

volunteers that had taken over for the old government guards in guarding the government buildings

and military installations.

The planters had achieved success.

The coup was not the end of the American planters’ plan, however. As soon as the

Provisional Government had established control over the islands, the first things they did were to

send emissaries to various foreign governments to gain recognition for the new government and

to send other representatives to the United States to immediately negotiate a treaty of annexation

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.76.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.270.

Ibid., p.270.

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.76.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.270.

of Hawai’i.

The representatives reached the United States and through a series of quick

negotiations had an annexation treaty prepared, signed, and placed before the United States Senate

on February 15, 1893, only a month after the initial revolt in Hawai’i.

Both the Americans in

Hawai’i and those on the mainland United States who supported Hawaiian annexation were soon

confronted with another major roadblock to their plan. Unfortunately for the Provisional

Government, the Senate was unable to ratify the treaty before they adjourned.

This is where the

treaty ran into even bigger issues.

President Benjamin Harrison was the President when the representatives first arrived in the

United States, but he was soon replaced by Grover Cleveland in March 1893. Harrison supported

the annexation of the islands and tried to pass through the treaty, but his successor Cleveland had

a very different stance on the Hawai’i question.

He was very skeptical of the forces that had

brought the Provisional Government into power, and so when he took office, he launched an

investigation into what had really happened and to investigate specifically if there was a conspiracy

between the American Minister, the captain of the U.S.S. Boston and the Provisional Government

to overthrow the Queen.

Cleveland sent a representative to the islands, who soon thereafter sent

back a report to the President. The report stated that the revolution had been the result of a

conspiracy, and that the Queen of Hawai’i should be returned to her positon.

However, President

Cleveland ran into problems trying to restore the Queen to power. Cleveland requested as a

condition of her return that she not punish the members of the Provisional Government, which she

refused, and then he asked the Provisional Government if they would “vacate” Hawai’i so she

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.270, & Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.76.

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.76.

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.271-272.

Ibid., p.272.

could return to power, and then they refused.

Having reached a stalemate, Cleveland decided to

drop the matter, and would take no more action on Hawai’i during his administration, since he was

opposed to annexation. This would leave Hawai’i in a strange limbo for the next four years.

The Provisional Government was now left in an unforeseen circumstance. They had

revolted against the Queen so they could become a part of the United States, but the current

President of the United States wanted nothing to do with them. As result of this, they began to set

up and actual government for the islands, writing a Constitution and declaring themselves the

Republic of Hawai’i on July 4th, 1894.

This was how the island was run until 1897, when the

debate about annexation was brought up again in the United States government when William

McKinley took office. McKinley was much more receptive to the idea of adding Hawai’i to the

United States. He saw the island as an important stepping stone for American commerce towards

China in the Pacific and as a strategic base.

He also wanted to annex Hawai’i into the United

States to keep it from the growing American rival in the Pacific, the Japanese Empire.

McKinley

sent a new annexation treaty into the Senate, where fierce debates would take place over the

Hawai’i question.

In the Senate, a fierce expansionist anti-expansionist debate took place throughout 1897

and into 1898.

Many Senators saw the annexation of Hawai’i as a “bad proposition,” and were

willing to debate “all summer” in order to make sure that the treaty did not pass. McKinley tried

to add his support to the treaty, stating the United States and Hawai’i already had a “special

Ibid., p.272-273.

Ibid., p.273.

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.73.

Ibid., p.73.

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.77.

relationship” dating back all the way to the early 1800s.

However, this did little to persuade the

Senate, and the debates over annexation continued throughout the summer of 1897. The debate

was set to continue into the following years, but something got in the way of this debate, the long

build up to the Spanish-American War took over the headlines and government business for most

of 1898, with the Hawai’i annexation question being pushed back until that summer.

However,

the war also provided some needed push behind these talks. By the time Hawai’i was again

brought into the conversation, the war was drawing to a close, and the United States was preparing

to enter a new chapter in its history, one in which it was seen as an imperial power. McKinley and

Congress saw this change in the public perception toward annexation, and now the need for a vital

strategic base in the Pacific Ocean was more pressing than ever.

With this swell of popular

feeling towards Hawai’i, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the annexation

bill, although the vote was much closer in the Senate.

The long process begun by the Committee

of Public Safety and Minister Stevens all those years ago had finally been fulfilled. In 1898, the

Republic of Hawai’i ceased to exist, and Hawai’i officially become one of the new territories of

the United States.

The long experiment with Hawai’i was the United States’ first real adventure into the realm

of imperialism. Before Hawai’i, the United States had been an expansionist nation, but it had

mainly been a land based expansion, more accustomed to battling Native Americans for western

lands. The only exception to this was the territory of Alaska, which had been bought from the

Russians years earlier. Either way the American mode of expansion had always been contained

“Treaty with Hawaii: Signed and sent to the Senate with a Message from the President Urging Favorable Action,”

The New York Times, June 17, 1893.

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.196.

Ibid., p.196.

Ibid., p.196-197.

to the continent of North America. The experience in Hawai’i was completely different from this.

In Hawai’i, an American backed revolt had been allowed and the new government was allowed to

be eventually brought into the American fold all in the name of protecting American interests in

Hawai’i and more broadly in Asia as a whole.

This was something new for Americans. What had happened was more similar to the

European excursions into Africa and Asia, such as the British in Egypt, more so that it was the

traditional American expansion.

This first experience would prove to very important to the

United States over the next few decades. It showed it gave them experience in this new type of

imperialism they had never been involved with before. It also helped give rise to the two political

forces that would face off over the next decade over imperialism. While the annexation of the

islands had been in question for a long time, the Spanish-American War had also helped to turn

public opinion and push the “jingo” ideology forward. Hawai’i was the blueprint that would help

navigate the new waters of this imperialist age and the two major wars that followed it.

The Time since the Civil War

By the time that many Americans were beginning to pay attention to the broader world

affairs of the 1890s, it had been more than three decades since the end of America’s Civil War.

The war was, and still is, the deadliest war ever fought by the United States, and its legacy of

bloodshed has left a very long shadow over American history. However, at this time, while the

massive body count from the war was still fresh in the minds of many Americans and many of the

veterans of the war were still around in large numbers at this time, the horrible legacy of the war

began to shift. The Civil War was transformed during the years before the Spanish-American War

Nearing and Freeman, Dollar Diplomacy, p.77.

Ibid., p.74.

from a horrible tragedy that had consumed the United States to more of an idealized and “model”

time period for the new generation of Americans.

The Civil War and its veterans became a

symbol during this time for what true American valor and honor should look like. These ideas

were deeply ingrained in the minds of many of the prominent men during this period, and this

would have a major effect on American polices during this time.

By the 1890s, the generation of the Civil War was growing old and beginning to die off.

These people were being replaced by the post-Civil War generation, filled with men and women

who had never seen the bloody battlefields or endured the full hardships of the war.

In the time

period after the war, the fighting and the veterans themselves took on a sort of symbolic meaning

and reverence in the United States.

The veterans and their actions entered into an almost mythical

status among the American people. This group came to dominate the American political scene,

with every President until Theodore Roosevelt, only excluding Grover Cleveland, being a

Northern veteran of the Civil War.

The mythology surrounding the events and the people would

have a major effect on the new generation of politicians in the 1890s.

Two of the most prominent examples of this group were Theodore Roosevelt and Henry

Cabot Lodge. Both men were young boys at the outbreak of the Civil War, and some of their most

striking moments came during that time. Lodge remembers the proud feelings he felt about his

father when the elder Lodge hoped to “raise himself” a Calvary regiment to lead, only to be

thwarted by old age.

Lodge also witnessed the all black 54th Massachusetts Regiment leaving

Kristin L. Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and

Philippine-American Wars, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998) p.24.

Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood, p.1.

Ibid., p.24-25.

Evan Thomas, The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898, (New York: Little,

Brown and Company, 2010) p.19.

for war in 1863, a moment the young Lodge “never forgot.”

Roosevelt, although younger, was

also deeply affected by what he had seen during the war years, including when he witnessed the

procession of Lincoln’s funeral parade in New York City in 1865. As a young child Roosevelt

liked to dress as a wounded soldier when he was suffering an asthma attack, showing his early

fascination with the military and soldiers.

The war left a lasting effect on the two men, who

bought into the mystique of the war and its combatants. Even Roosevelt’s father, who got out of

the fighting by using substitutes, was greatly haunted by his decision, and was plagued by a

“troubled conscience.”

It was as though he had passed up a great opportunity that he would

never get back.

From this it can be seen how deeply these feelings ran into American society after the war.

The war and its veterans were placed on a pedestal in the minds of many Americans. These

feelings would help shift the collective consciousness of Americans on the concept of war. During

the Civil war and in the immediate aftermath, the country was shocked by the amount of suffering

that took place during this time. However, as time went on the American peoples’ feelings on war

began to shift. Even the feelings of old veterans of the war began to shift during this time. Oliver

Wendell Holmes, who was wounded in the war and was driven to the edge of insanity by the

fighting, began to shift his tone as time went on.

Holmes began to express regret over resigning

from the Union Army before the end of the war, and took an active part in the numerous veterans

and memorial celebrations in the years after the war.

In a speech at one event, he even spoke

against the soft and easy life while praising war as “divine.”

This was coming from the same

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.19-20.

Ibid., p.20-22.

Ibid., p.22-23.

Ibid., p.63.

Ibid., p.63-64.

Ibid., p.64.

man who nearly driven insane by the slaughter and terrors of the war, but was praising the glory

of war and battle only thirty years after his horrific experiences.

These ideals of war and glory were not only restricted to the aging veterans of the war

itself. The post-Civil War generation had grown up around the stories of bravery and battlefield

glory for their entire lives, and these had become deeply seeded ideas to them. They began to

equate veterans and war service as a “manly” quality that was important to life, and this message

was cultivated by many, including William McKinley to help his presidential campaigns.

Roosevelt and Lodge were also deeply affected by this “manliness” drive about war. When, in the

mid-1890s, there was a war scare with Great Britain over a border dispute in South America,

Roosevelt and Lodge were “excited and gratified by it all.”

Lodge was seen to be “bubbling with

delight,” over the prospect of a war, while Roosevelt was doing everything in his power to make

sure that he would have some sort of military role to play in the conflict.

These men saw a war

as the greatest thing that could possibly happen to them.

The reactions of men like Roosevelt and Lodge to the prospect for war, and the change of

heart for battle veterans like Oliver Wendell Holmes, shows how the idea of war changed in

American during the span of thirty years since the end of the Civil War. As time went on and

began to separate people from the actual horrors of the war, the war itself began to change in the

minds of the American people. No longer was it the perfect example of horrific slaughter and

suffering on a large scale, it was now seen as having helped “develop the mettle,” of a generation

of Americans.

This was something the post-Civil War generation looked up to and idolized

Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood, p.96.

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.68-69.

Ibid., p.69.

Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood, p.24.

greatly, but it was also something they saw as lacking in their generation. Roosevelt even wrote

during the war scare with Great Britain, “Let the fight come if it must; I don’t care whether our

sea coast cities are bombarded or not.”

Time and distance from the Civil War had totally

morphed the average American’s views on warfare. It was no longer a solemn, terrible act, but

rather a grand opportunity and adventure. As the nineteenth century drew closer to its end, this

idea shift would have a major and long lasting effect on American policy, and it would lead to a

major shift in American policies worldwide.

American Foreign Policy: Before the Wars

During the time since the American Civil War, the United States had changed a great deal.

Through the devastation of that war, the United States had tried to rebuild itself and move towards

the future. The main preoccupation after the Civil War was transforming the United States into

and industrial powerhouse with the expansion of factories and railroads all across the country.

However, as time went on and the country began to heal, new ambitions began to rise up. Nearing

the end of the nineteenth century, American industry had matured, and it now had the capacity to

produce a navy and other weapons that would be needed for these imperial efforts.

However, it

would be a long process before the United States and her citizens were thinking out expanding

overseas.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the United States had a very different role as

a world power than the one it would adopt at the end of the century. Although the United States

did have a presence worldwide in the form of a navy and trade fleets, it was nowhere near as

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.69.

Robert H. Ferrell, America as a World Power: 1872-1945, (University of South Carolina Press: Columbia, SC,

1971) p.1.

Ferrell, America as a World Power, p.1.

powerful as the leading world powers at the time, mainly Great Britain. Also, despite the fact that

some Americans wished to expand American territory at this time, they were in the minority, with

most figures simply wanting to enforce American trade and “rights” abroad.

Max Boot refers to

this policy as “butcher and bolt,” a term used by the British in India to describe military expeditions

to punish a group, or punitive expeditions.

This practice was used widely by the United States

during this time, particularly in Asia. However, it was no until much later that Americans began

to seriously consider staying on foreign soil.

The reason for this long delay in American expansion overseas can be attributed to the

geography of the United States. From where the originally boundaries of the United States began

on the East Coast, a vast frontier stretched all the way to the Pacific Ocean for Americans to expand

into. It was this expansion that most Americans focused on the in nineteenth century, and it filled

the need for expansion felt by Americans at this time.

However, towards the end of the century,

this began to change. In 1893, Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote an essay describing the importance

of the western frontier. Turner described the frontier as a vast, open landscape where European

immigrants were “modified” and where American life “developed.”

Turner recognized the

importance of the frontier, not only to American manhood, as discussed earlier, but also to the

American spirit more broadly. Since the United States was a nation of immigrants, the old western

frontier allowed these new immigrants to become a part of the “American” national identity.

Turner, and many other Americans, the West had always been seen as a great source of unity. It

was something that, in theory, belonged to all Americans and was available to them. Especially

Max Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, (New York: Basic Books,

2002) p.38-39.

Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace, p.38.

Ibid., p.38.

Fredrick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, 1893, p.2, 4.

Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, p.5.

after the end of the dividing factor of slavery mid-century, the frontier could really support the

growth of a unified American nationalism.

However, by the 1890’s, the “frontier had gone, and

with its going has closed the first period of American history.”

To many Americans, this was an

epoch defining moment. With no more western frontier, American ideals of unity through

expansion were in serious trouble. These conditions prompted many to begin looking elsewhere

for expansion, such as places overseas.

With the end of one era in American history, people began to try to understand how to open

a new era and a “new” frontier. In the years leading towards the new century, several opportunities

would allow the United States to test itself in world politics. Captain Mahan’s book, The Influence

of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783, published in 1890 on the influence of naval power

influenced many people working in the United States military and government, including

Theodore Roosevelt.

One of the first areas that became a target for this new idea was the island

of Samoa. The United States did have contact with the Samoan islands earlier than the last decade

of the nineteenth century, as President Grant had worked to acquire a naval station at the port of

Pago Pago on the island.

This type of deal with the natives fit right into the type of strategy that

Captain Mahan would later advocate for in his book. However, control over Samoa would not

come easily to the Americans. Despite the American deal with the natives, the British and

Germans were playing an old school imperial game with the island. The British agreed to allow

German influence in the South Seas and equatorial Africa after Germany had recognized British

control over Egypt in the 1880s.

This led to a confrontation in 1886, with both the Americans

Ibid., p.5.

Ibid., p.9.

Theodore Roosevelt, “The Need for Sea Power,” The Atlantic Monthly, LXVI, (October 1890), p.563-567.

Ferrell, America as a World Power, p.26.

Ibid., p.26.

and the Germans claiming protectorate status over the island.

This crisis grew hotter until the

situation finally had to be handled. German Chancellor Bismarck called a Conference about Samoa

in 1889, where the British, Americans, and Germans were given condominium over the islands,

which were finally divided between the Americans and Germans ten years later, right at the time

the United States was dealing with the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.

Even as early

as the 1880s, the United States was beginning to spread it wings to new areas of the world. This

would be its first taste of imperial power.

In addition to its early expansion in the Pacific, with the Samoan islands and the eventual

control over the Hawaiian Islands, the United States also began to test the waters of intervention.

Although the Monroe Doctrine had been issued during the 1820s, the United States had not made

it a habit of intervening in the affairs of its Latin American neighbors. However, like many things,

this also began to change in the 1890s. Besides the ever present distraction of Cuba, in the early

1890s the United States’ focus was on another South American country, Chile. In Chile, the United

States had supported a government that had fallen to a revolution, and the new government was

very hostile towards the Americans.

This tense situation finally spilled over into violence in

1891. American sailors that were on shore in the town of Valparaiso were attacked by a mob of

Chileans, which result in one sailor being killed by police fire.

Several other sailors were beaten

and stabbed during the riot.

The American government was greatly upset by the incident.

President Harrison issued a statement denouncing the “cruel and disastrous” attack on American

sailors, and threatened to terminate diplomatic relations with Chile unless an apology was issued

Ibid., p.26.

Ibid., p.31.

Ibid., p.38-39.

“A Sailor’s Log: Recollections of Forty Years of Naval Life,” America as a World Power: 1872-1945, (University

of South Carolina Press: Columbia, SC, 1971) p.39.

“A Sailor’s Log,” America as a World Power, p.39-40.

and damages paid.

Faced with these harsh words and threatening tone from the American

President, the Chileans backed down quickly.

This was another major moment for the United

States, as it was able to force another country to bend to its pressure, all while acting on the “just”

side of the incident. It was its first taste of “intervention” in another major state, and the United

States did not even have to fire a shot. These incidents, along with the Venezuelan Crisis a few

years later, helped build the foreign policy confidence of the United States headed towards the

Spanish-American War. It would help shape one of the most influential political and cultural

movements in American history, the jingoist or expansion movement.

Rise of the Jingoes

Even before the war with Spain broke out, American eyes had already begun to look at

factors that were taking place outside of American borders. This was the high point of global

empires, with Europe expanding and flexing its muscle across nearly every continent. As empires

spread, lands and resources were taken over, causing some Americans to begin to wonder how the

United States would play a role in this new imperial world. Some saw the United States as taking

a spot with the other powers, while other saw America as more of a force for good and aid in the

world. These ideas existed and combated each other long before America became involved in a

conflict with Spain.

In addition to interests in Hawai’i, the United States become involved in a number of issues

around the world. One of the major events before the war with Spain that started to rouse the spirit

of jingoism in the U.S. was the dispute in South America with the British Empire. In late 1895,

Great Britain was in a dispute with Venezuela over the border of the British colony of Guyana and

James D. Richardson ed., “Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789-1897,” America as a World Power, p.43-

44.

Ferrell, America as a World Power, p.45.

Venezuela.

This dispute began to escalate when America became involved in the dispute

between the two countries. President Cleveland invoked the Monroe doctrine and America’s right

to intervene on behalf of Venezuela.

Strictly speaking on political and military terms, while in

the past the United States was not in a position to actively enforce the Monroe Doctrine, at this

point in time the American nation had “grown in power and resources,” and, “had demonstrated

its power on land and sea.”

So from a political perspective, the United States had finally reached

a level where it could formally challenge the old European Empires.

However, there was also another factor that was pushing forward this confrontation over

Venezuela. The United States made it clear to Great Britain that the “honor and interests,” of the

United States were wrapped up in this confrontation and that these could no longer be treated with

“indifference,” by the European powers.

This brought the issue to a higher level of thought for

Americans. Not only did they now have the power to act on the Monroe Doctrine, according to

their government they had a right to do so. This was a dual right. It included not only protecting

American honor by defending a hemispheric ally, but also it was willing now to go out and protect

its own rights abroad. This showed a changed American state from only a few years previous.

The actions of President Cleveland against Great Britain during the Venezuelan Crisis

stirred up a fervor among the hard-core jingoes in the United States. Jingoes such as Roosevelt

and Cabot Lodge were excited by the possibility of a war and Roosevelt hoped that there would

“not be any backing down among our people.”

They and the other expansionists were eager for

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.67-68.

Richard Olney, “On American Jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere,” Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs,

1895, https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/olney.htm .

Olney, “On American Jurisdiction.”

Ibid.

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.69.

a military confrontation with Great Britain, or anyone really, and the New York Times even ran

an article claiming that the “Country was Aroused,” and “Want[s] to fight England.”

Although

the crisis was eventually revolved peacefully between the powers, the confrontation showed the

growth of this faction in America. The jingo spirit that was sweeping through the United States

showed itself during the Venezuela Crisis, and would continue to play a part in the evolving

American forging policy of the 1890s.

The jingoes were greatly influenced by the time that had passed since the end of the Civil

War. They were part of the cultural element in American Society that held an idealized vision of

the American Civil War and its veterans.

They saw the American Civil War as having united

American men who had served in the war with the experience of combat, even between the

Northern and Southern soldiers.

To the jingoes, the bonds that were formed between the men

represented a “fraternity” that only they belonged to, and it represented a form of “social solidarity”

that could only be achieved through wartime experiences.

To the jingoes warfare brought men

together and helped form powerful social bonds that could not exist without war. Warfare and

expansion was not only helping the state become more powerful but it was also helping its men

become more connected in the “fraternal” bonds of soldiery. Men such as Roosevelt believed that

the United States was “incalculably richer” from its experiences during the Civil War, and that as

a whole it had helped American men and the American state.

Some jingoes also saw more tangible goals for possible American expansions. They

believed that expansion and warfare could help unify people and bring them to look past or ignore

Ibid., p.68.

Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood, p.36-37.

Ibid., p.38.

Ibid., p.38-39.

the political and social divisions in the United States in service of a “higher” cause.

In addition

to this, another tangible asset for the jingoes were the economic benefits that came with acquiring

new territories around the world. As seen with Hawai’i, American businesses had interests all

around the world at this point in time, especially reaching into the various Pacific regions of Asia

and the Caribbean. The coup attempt in Hawai’i was made by American businessmen and planters

with American interest in mind, and it success proved that American expansion could also be very

profitable to the United States.

Finally, the jingoes also were concerned with the level of American prestige and power

worldwide. At this time Americans were looking out into a world with massive European Empires.

The United States needed a way to enter the world stage, and Alfred Thayer Mahan provided a

guide to do just that. A Naval Captain, Mahan believed that the United States needed to become

imperialist to compete in the world because at the time imperialism was the “dominate note in the

world politics today.”

This shows another side of the jingo argument, namely that the United

States did not have to expand because it wanted to, it needed to expand to play any role in world

politics; it was a necessity. Expansion was an important topic in America at this time. American

professor Fredrick Jackson Turner published in essay in 1893 which talked about the role of

expansion to Americans. The western frontier allowed Americans to spread west, grow

economically, and grow their civilization over time.

However, Turner had also declared that by

1893, “the frontier was gone.”

With such an important aspect of American culture now gone,

Ibid., p.39.

Stephan Kinzer, The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire, (New York:

Henry Holt and Company, 2017) p.23-24.

Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, p.2, 4.

Ibid., p.9.

people began to look for alternatives to westward expansion. This caused people, including

jingoes to begin to look overseas.

During the 1890s there were sparks of hope for the jingoes as more Americans were taking

on their world view. In a series of incidents over this decade, the new policies of the United States

were taking shape. In 1891, after a violent incident involving American sailors in Chile, the U.S.

threatened military retaliation until it was payed $75,000 for damages.

Later in 1894, the U.S.

intervened in Brazil by sending a fleet to break a blockade of Rio de Janeiro during civil war.

Including the Venezuela Crisis that occurred the next year, the United States was starting to show

a interventionalist pattern. This was all building up to a crisis and wars that would help define this

new America. However, the expansionist movement was not growing unopposed. Their rapid

rise and aggressive politics sparked a faction of opposition that would attempt to keep them in

check for the next decade.

The Anti-Imperialist Opposition

Despite the growing feelings of jingoism during this time, they were not the only ideology

battling for America’s future. Some Americans wanted the United States to become more involved

oversees, but for very different reasons. Some wanted the United States to take more actions in

protecting the rights of others. These ideas stemmed from both religious and humanitarian

positions. There were also people and groups in the United States who wanted the U.S. to move

away from foreign actions all together.

Before the war with Spain broke out, there were still some major world affairs that were

able to draw the attention of the anti-imperialists. One was the relief expeditions that were sent to

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.25.

Ibid., p.25.

help the Armenians who were suffering in the Ottoman Empire. In 1895, the conditions faced by

the Armenian minority in the Ottoman Empire were terrible, and missionaries operating in the

region reached out to the American Red Cross to provide aid to these people.

100

Some in the

United States also saw that America should “support Humanity” and look to help their fellow

Christians who were suffering in Armenia.

101

The people who supported these actions were very

different from the jingoes that were trying to shift American foreign policy. While these people

and organizations did advocate for more American actions overseas, their rationale and purposes

were entirely different. While the jingoes wished to expand American power and influence around

the world these humanitarians only wanted to use American resources to help others, in this case

in Armenia. These particular groups, along with others who wished to spread humanity and liberty

through the world, would find themselves in a very complex position in the aftermath of the

coming war with Spain.

There was also another group of more traditional anti-imperialists who wanted to United

States to stay out of other countries and territories all together. These individuals and groups still

held humanitarian ideals, but they were very worried about the potential outcomes of the possible

wars in regard to territories.

102

They valued humanitarian ideals, but they feared that if the United

States were to enter the world stage as an imperial power, it would simply become “one more bully

among bullies.”

103

They were worried about the future of the United States, just like the jingoes,

but from the polar opposite perspective.

100

Clara Barton, America’s Relief Expedition to Asia Minor under the Red Cross,

http://armenianhouse.org/barton/red-cross/clara-barton.html (May need better info for this section)

101

Rev. Edwin Munsell Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities, (Edgewood Publishing Company, 1896) p.551.

http://armenianhouse.org/bliss/turkey/29-america-turkey.html

102

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.6.

103

Ibid., p.6.

Before the debates over war with the Spanish, the main imperial question that confronted

the United States was the Hawai’i question. Since 1893, Hawai’i had been ruled by a provisional

government run by American businessmen and officials who had come to power through a coup

against the rightful Queen of Hawai’i. The President at the time, Grover Cleveland, angered by

the coup and the role of the American Navy in helping it succeed, refused to even consider bring

the islands into the Union.

104

This angered both the Provisional Government and the jingoes at

home, with the islands being left in limbo for nearly four years. Another opponent to the

annexation of Hawai’i was a surprising one, Republican Speaker of the House John Reed. Known

as the “Czar” because of his political power in government, Reed saw the possible annexation as

“unwise [and] absurd.”

105

Reed was a major opponent against the rising tide of jingo feelings in

the Republican party, using past ideals of American democracy from Washington to Lincoln to

argue against the jingoes.

106

Reed also felt that there were more important things for the American

people to worry about than simply Cuba and war. He believed that economic issues, such as the

recent Depression and civil rights violations such as lynching’s were more important to the

American people that possible overseas adventures.

107

Others shared Reed’s views and saw the

responsibility of the United State government to first “cure the evils in our own country,” instead

of worrying about other territories.

108

Many also agreed that by acquiring or conquering foreign

peoples, it went against the very ideals of American liberty that had been established, while the

jingoes saw imperialism and war as helping bring Americans closer together.

109

These debates

over Hawai’i showed the growing ant-imperialist sentiments in the United States. The jingoes

104

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.67-68

105

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.7.

106

Ibid., p.7-8.

107

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.191.

108

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.16.

109

Ibid., p.13.

were not the only faction on the rise during this period. Both ideas would be debated and argued

for before the Spanish-American War broke out, but it was during and after the war that they really

began to battle. They were battling over the future of the United States, and neither side was going

to back down easily or gently.

Chapter 2: The War with Spain

This chapter will look at the Spanish-American War, how it started and what the outcomes

of the outcomes of the war were. It will explore how tensions build up between the United States

and Spain in the years prior to the war, how these helped create the “yellow journalism” in

America, and focus on how the war was portrayed in the United States. It will look at how the war

started and the narrative of the war, will highlight the growing animosity between the jingoes and

the anti-imperialists, and will set up the major confrontation over the spoils of this war. My main

argument for this chapter focuses on how the expansionist faction in America was pushing for this

war, and that victory in this conflict helped give confidence to this movement.

Lead up to the War

The flash points for the Spanish-American War can be centered around one major starting

point, the island of Cuba. The United States had a long economic relationship with Spanish Cuba

before hostilities broke out. The islands had been a major source of American sugar, tobacco, and

cigar shipments, and the island had been very import to American trade and American consumers

for many years.

110

However, beginning in the 1890s the situation on the island began to change

dramatically for all parties. In 1895, the Cubans began an uprising against the Spanish rulers of

the island, the second uprising to occur since the 1870s.

111

The Spanish immediately sent more

troops to the island to put down this rebellion, and the Spanish troops and commanders became

more brutal in their treatment of the rebels as the war dragged on.

112

Unlike previous colonial

wars, this war in Cuba would reach Americans at an unprecedented level through the mass media.

110

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.308-309.

111

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.85-86.

112

Ibid., p.86.

While the Cuban uprising did have a severe impact on the amount and value of sugar

shipped to the United States and was a visibly brutal war, the actual fighting had a very minimal

impact on the lives of most Americans.

113

This was the era of colonial conflicts around the world,

from Africa to Asia and now in the Caribbean. Europeans powers were operating in this manner

in nearly every corner of the globe. It was not the actual war that got Americans interested in the

fighting, but how it was covered. At this time the United States, newspapers, were the main source

of information gathering for the average American, and at this time two papers reigned supreme,

the New York Morning Journal and The New York World which were run by William Randolph

Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, respectively.

114

Both of them were rich executives who were looking

for good stories to sell their papers. The Rebellion in Cuba provided just the headline they were

looking for. Through a little embellishment, the two newspapers began to print headline grabbing

stories on the war in Cuba, pulling in more readers with each headline.

115

This type of news, with

eye catching headlines that often contained embellishments, was known as yellow journalism. It

would play a very important role in the coming war.

The actions by the newspapers of Hearst and Pulitzer only helped increase the amount of

already high American interest in the growing Cuban conflict.

116

Although the war had little actual

impact on American and their ways of life, Cuba itself was something special to the United States.

Just like with the Hawaiian Islands, Cuba had been looked on as a place for American expansion

since at least the 1820s.

117

Former President Thomas Jefferson had commented on this draw in

the 1820s, and President John Quincy Adams called the annexation of Cuba “scarcely possible to

113

Ibid., p.86-87.

114

Ibid., p.87-88.

115

Ibid., p.88-89.

116

Ibid., p.89.

117

Ibid., p.89.

resist,” and the island itself “indispensable to the continuance and integrity of the Union itself.”

118

The United States had even attempted to buy Cuban from Spain in 1848 under President Polk for

$100 million, a very large amount at the time, which the Spanish minster quickly rejected stating

he “would rather see the island sink” than belong to the United States.

119

These comments show

what Cuba was in the American mindset at this time. Cuba sits so close to the United States so it

was only a matter of time before Americans began to look towards it for expansion, as they were

halfway across the world in the Pacific with the Hawaiian Islands.

However, the feelings for Cuba ran much deeper. The proximity played a role in this, as

did the previous failed American attempts to acquire the island. Americans had seen a “special”

relationship develop with Cuba, based partially on its proximity to the continental United States

and also based off of political reasons.

120

In the American mindset, not matter what class or

political party, the Monroe Doctrine was a hallmark of American foreign policy. It laid out very

clear terms on the position of the United States on foreign powers operating in the Western

Hemisphere. The Spanish occupation of Cuba was something that many Americans saw as a direct

violation of the Monroe Doctrine and something that the Doctrine should prevent.

121

During the

years after the Civil War, repeated revolts in Cuba kept this subject firmly in American minds. In

these early years, the first signs of the jingo, martial spirit began to appear with one letter from a

Kentuckian to the administration of President Grant urging him to take action because “times were

dull,” and “a war with Spain would be very popular in this state.”

122

This was during the Ten

118

Ibid., p.89-90.

119

Ibid., p.89-90.

120

H. Wayne Morgan, America’s Road to Empire: The War with Spain and Overseas Expansion, (New York: John

Wiley and Sons Inc., 1966) p.4.

121

Morgan, America’s Road to Empire, p.4.

122

Ibid., p.4.

Years War, which was a Cuban revolt that lasted from 1868 to 1878.

123

Although Grant and many

others wished to intervene, a moderate faction in American politics was able to cool the war fever.

Instead, American policy towards Cuba became one of constant and firm pressure on the Spanish

to accept American arbitration and move towards a free Cuba.

124

Although Spain rejected this

proposal, this remained the main focus of American policy towards Cuba and was carried on by

the administrations that followed Grant, although there were no major revolts or actions in Cuba

again until the 1890s.

125

Despite this lull in major action, the American focus on Cuba never

wavered, although it did become quiet. So, it was with expecting eyes that Americans began to

pay more attention to the situation in Cuba during the 1890s.

Much like in the 1860s and 1870s, it was a major war that again focused American interest

so firmly on the island of Cuba. In 1895, another major revolt broke out in Cuba against Spanish

rule. Much like before, Spain immediately sent thousands of men and tons of material to maintain

its control over its island possession. Just as in the United States, Cuba occupied a very special

cultural and political spot in the Spanish imperial system. Besides being a major economic

component of the Spanish Empire, the “Ever Faithful Isle,” kept alive the rich past of the now

fading Spanish Empire, giving the poor and divided Spanish people a source of national pride.

126

Although many in the Spanish government and military saw the Cuban War as fruitless and

ultimately a lost cause, they had no choice but to commit to the war because of public opinion.

127

Just as in the United States at the time, the Spanish public were pushing the political opinions and

123

Ibid., p.4.

124

Ibid., p.5.

125

Ibid., p.5.

126

Ibid., p.5.

127

Ibid., p.5-6.

actions of their country in a specific direction, which was one of direct collision with the United

States.

Documents at this time show how deeply the American government took its role as

“protector” of the Western Hemisphere from outside powers. As shown in the Venezuela Crisis

that took place the same year, the American government saw its duty as “protecting” its neighbors

in Latin America.

128

The United States saw the Monroe Doctrine as giving it the total authority to

act in these regions on behalf of its neighbors.

The U.S.S. Maine Incident

By the beginning of the 1898, the tensions between the United States and the Spanish

Empire had nearly reached their boiling point. The Cuban Revolt had gained the attention of the

American government along with the American public, and both had turned on Spain.

129

The crisis

between the United States and Spain had died a little during the end of 1897, with a more liberal

government taking power in Spain and trying to both make peace with the Cubans and to keep the

United States from becoming directly involved with the island.

130

However, despite these reforms

in Spanish policy, American attention on Cuba did not end. The stories of atrocities and hardships

that flowed from Cuba into American newspapers, whether real or imagined, kept American

interest in the growing conflict.

131

In fact it would be one of these stories that helped increase

tensions between the United States and Spain and lead up to the incident that would eventually

propel the countries into war.

128

Olney, “On American Jurisdiction.”

129

March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.311.

130

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.191.

131

Morgan, America’s Road to Empire, p.13.

In January 1898, the New York Journal ran an article that claimed that American citizens

in the Cuban capital of Havana were being attacked and beaten by mobs of people.

132

The paper

then ran headlines that called for immediate war with Spain “within forty-eight hours.”

133

Despite

all the sensation that surrounded this supposed “attack” in Havana, the story was false on two

counts. One, no Americans had been attacked by any large mobs in Havana, and secondly, the

United States was nowhere near ready for an immediate war with Spain.

134

In spite of the

falsehood of these accusations, tensions again began to rise between the two countries. In January

1898, the American ambassador to Cuba sent a message to Washington D.C. asking for the U.S.S.

Maine, which was anchored at Key West, to sail to Havana, on a “friendly visit,” to show that

formal relations with Spain had been restored.

135

However, this move was much more politically

driven. In addition to the disagreements with Spain over Cuba, President McKinley, was

beginning to worry about another imperial power. Rumors began to swirl around Washington that

Spain might make a secret deal with Germany over Cuba.

136

This simply added another layer of

distrust and paranoia over what was going on in Cuba. With the tense backdrop, the Maine set sail

for Cuba. There the United States would be set on its path towards destiny with Spain.

The Maine finally arrived in Havana on January 25, 1898, just as tensions between the

United States and Spain were beginning to heat up again. Only a few days later on February 9,

the New York Journal published a paper that was headlined with a letter written by the Spanish

ambassador to the United States that mocked President McKinley and called him “weak.”

137

This

was used by the Journal as a sensational headline. Around the same time, they had also published

132

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.197.

133

“Next to War with Spain” New York Journal in Thomas, The War Lovers, p.197.

134

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.197.

135

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.197, 200, & March, The History and Conquest of the Philippines, p.312.

136

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.200.

137

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.116.

an editorial that had called for all Cuban ports to be occupied by the American Navy as soon as

possible.

138

This was the powder keg that the Maine was sitting on in Havana. It would not last

for long. On the night of February 15, 1898, as the Maine was sitting quietly in Havana harbor, a

violent explosion tore through the ship.

139

Survivors were gathered out of the water and were

evacuated from the ship, but over 250 men out of a crew of 355 on the Maine were lost.

140

news reached the United States, this became a tragedy on an epic scale, and would set into motion

the war that so many Americans had longed for so long.

Despite the fact that the destruction of the Maine had occurred in a Spanish harbor, many

Americans recommended caution when looking into the incident. The captain of the Maine

himself, in his report to Washington after the explosion, had urged that “public opinion should be

suspended until further report,” on what had actually destroyed the Maine.

141

This advice was not

even considered by the many newspapers in the United States. This was the beginning of the age

of mass media in the United States. As mentioned above, newspapers were the way most

Americans received their daily news. As a result of the headline worthy events of the previous

few months, the newspapers had become very outrageous in their headlines and were almost

begging for war with Spain. When William Randolph Hearts learned of the explosion of the U.S.S.

Maine in Cuba, he told his editor that “There is not any other big news. This means war.”

142

This

was only the beginning.

Overnight the Maine had become the biggest story in the United States. The newspapers

across the country jumped on this incident as the largest story in the country. The magnitude of

138

“Our Flag in Havana at Last,” New York Journal in Thomas, The War Lovers, p.204.

139

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.206-207.

140

Ibid., p.207.

141

Ibid., p.208.

142

Ibid., p.208.

the explosion of the Maine was shocking to the American public. It was most costly military

disaster that the United States had suffered since the Civil War over thirty years earlier.

143

With

nearly 300 men lost in one night, the public immediately began looking for the villain in the

situation. Most of their eyes fell squarely on the Spanish. The New York Journal, the lead among

these yellow journalists, immediately began running loud and eye-catching headlines claiming that

“Destruction of the War Ship Maine was a work of the Enemy,” and even offering a $50,000

reward to the person who convicted the “Criminals” behind the Maine disaster.

144

This was not

the first taste of this for the New York Journal. Long before the Maine incident, the Journal had

been running stories about the Spanish in Cuba and what it, or Hearst, thought the United States

should do about it. This had even included at one point running stories about a Cuban girl martyr

who was being held by the Spanish, with Hearst demanding she be released by the Spanish.

145

The

Maine incident was different from before, however. Now the newspapers and jingoes had a real,

major tragedy and military incident on their hands. Their calls for war were now justified, in their

minds.

Not every American was as eager for war as the jingoes. These included many people in

government, including the President himself McKinley. Having served in the American Civil War

and having seen the violence and bloodshed of that conflict, McKinley said of the prospect of war,

“I have been through one war, I have seen the dead piled up, and I do not want to see another.”

146

However, after the Maine, McKinley was part of the minority in America. One of the most active

jingoes at this time was Theodore Roosevelt, who by this time was the Assistant Secretary of the

Navy. Seizing on an opportunity when he was alone in the Naval office, Roosevelt, along with

143

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.118.

144

“Destruction of the Maine the work of the Enemy,” New York Journal in Kinzer, The True Flag, p.33.

145

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.181.

146

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.34.

Lodge, sent order out to all naval squadrons to fill up on coal and ammunition, to prepare for

action, and he even ordered Admiral Dewey, head of the Asiatic Squadron in Hong Kong, to

prepare to move and attack the Philippines if war was declared.

147

Roosevelts actions represented

a powerful sway that was taking hold of the government. With the public firmly behind the

prospect of war after the destruction of the Maine, Congressmen and other officials, like Roosevelt,

began pushing McKinley for a declaration of war. Many Americans saw it as the “just” thing to

do to help the Cubans and avenge the Maine. In Congress, despite the best efforts by Speaker of

the House Harry Reed, hawkish Congressmen kept trying to bring about conversations about Cuba,

with fights even breaking out in the halls.

148

The newspapers at the time even took to attacking

Reed for his stance on the Maine disaster. One newspaper showed Reed as a man sitting on a

wooden box labeled “The House” that was smoking with the caption, “Cuba feels Reed’s heavy

hand again.”

149

The paper is trying to display Reed as holding back the intensions of the House,

and by extension the people, to move forward to help Cuba. It also showed it becoming more

difficult for Reed to handle, which showed that the Journal is hopeful that soon the House could

get past Reed on this issue.

The anti-expansionist Congressmen did gain a victory in these early hours, however. In

order to show the just nature of the American cause in Cuba, they pushed through the Teller

Amendment in Congress, claiming the United States had no territorial objectives in Cuba accept

the “pacification thereof,” and wished to “leave the government and control of the Island to its

people.”

150

With this last obstacle taken away by the Congressmen who opposed annexation of

Cuba, the Amendment passed, and was signed by McKinley. This was the beginning of the end

147

Ibid., p.35.

148

Ibid., p.37-38.

149

“Cuba feels Reed’s heavy hand again,” New York Journal in Thomas, The War Lovers, p.243.

150

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.38.

for those who wanted to avoid war. In early April 1898, Spain quickly rejected the Teller

Amendment’s proposal for an independent Cuba, just like it had so many times before, but this

time their rejection was met by an American blockade of Havana.

151

Finally the point of no return

had been reached by the Americans and the Spanish. Between April 24 and 25 the two countries

declared war on each other.

152

This was the beginning of a new American path, one that would

take the United States a long way from home.

Before the war with Spain even broke out, the newspapers in the United States had been

working hard to turn public opinion against the Spanish. This form of yellow journalism was

carried out to great effect using political cartoons. Many of these cartoons were used to stir up

feelings against the Spanish, and help create a greater call for war. One image shows a woman,

representing Cuba, being cooked over the fires of “anarchy” that the Spanish have created over

Cuba.

153

This image was trying to show the suffering of “helpless” Cuban people, and create a

call for their rescue by the Americans. The Journal often used this image of a woman in trouble

to create these feelings. An image from the Journal shows a woman being “strip searched” by

three Spanish men, again showing the helplessness of the oppressed and the vulgar behavior of the

Spanish.

154

Other images used the memory of the men lost on the Maine in addition to the suffering

of the Cubans to elicit a react from individuals.

155

These images helped shape American public

opinion toward Spain, and helped push the country towards war.

151

Ibid., p.38-39.

152

Ibid., p.39.

153

See Figure 1 in Appendix.

154

New York Journal in Thomas, The War Lovers, p.152, and Figure 2 in the Appendix.

155

See Figure 3 in Appendix.

The War with Spain

With the outbreak of war during the spring of 1898, the United States had been thrown into

a frenzy. Stirred up by the constant attention given to the Cuban crisis and the Spanish by the

yellow newspapers, the American people reacted to the outbreak of war with excitement that could

not be contained. Right as the war was officially declared, President McKinley called for 125,000

volunteers to serve, considering that the Regular United States Army numbered only about 28,000

men at this time.

156

The American people responded enthusiastically; over one million men

“answered the call” for volunteers and enlisted or sought commissions.

157

The government and

Army were overwhelmed by the sheer number of men who wanted to fight in the war. McKinley

and his staff were swamped with requests for commissions and at one point had to create an

assembly line to sign of them because the number was so great.

158

No one wanted to be left out of

the war, from the cities to the countryside me rushed to take part in the fighting.

159

Men all around

the country saw the war as a chance for a great “adventure,” fun and exciting like Buffalo Bill’s

Wild West Show.

160

The country had not seen a major war, outside of scattered Indian conflicts,

since the end of the Civil War, so this war with Spain was seen as something new.

The excitement for the war did not stop with the average American. One of the most

enthusiastic about the prospect of war none other than Theodore Roosevelt. On April 25, right

after war had been declared, Roosevelt went into the office of the Secretary of the Navy and

resigned from his post as Assistant Secretary in order to enlist and fight with the infantry.

161

The

156

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.243.

157

Ibid., p.243.

158

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.173.

159

My own great-great-grandfather, from rural Kentucky, attempted to enlist in the Army by eating 20 pounds of

bananas because he was initially told he was 20 pounds too light. He, however, did not succeed.

160

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.172-173.

161

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.243.

Secretary, and many others, including many of his friends, thought that Roosevelt was crazy for

wanting to go off and fight a war, especially at his age and considering he had a family.

162

Roosevelt was deep believer in the jingoist and manliness ideals that had spread before the war,

so this was his chance to prove what he believed in. Also, he saw himself as “doing [his] duty,”

and redeeming the personal anguish he felt for his father not fighting in the Civil War thirty years

earlier.

163

Whatever the real reasons may have been, Roosevelt and hundreds of thousands of other

men began to train for war during the spring of 1898.

During this time, the yellow journalists continued to run wild in America. In early May,

the New York Herald, the main competitor of Heart’s Journal, ran a story claiming that a

correspondent had seen the Spanish Atlantic Fleet sail past the Cape Verde Islands on its way

towards the East coast of the United States.

164

This obviously set off a massive panic along the

East coast, as well as keeping hooked on the news stories.

165

However, this did get the military

commanders in Washington looking for the Spanish fleet. After searching all across the

Caribbean, the Spanish fleet was finally found to be hiding in Santiago de Cuba, now trapped by

their lack of coal and the Americans.

166

This set the stage for a confrontation in the south of Cuba.

In addition to their wild stories, the journalists also continued to use political cartoons to

help shape the American view of the war. One of the most common ways of doing this was to try

and make the Spanish out as evil and vile, thereby making America’s involvement in this war

“just.” One of these images showed a Spanish soldier, made to look like a gorilla, with a bloody

162

Ibid., p.243-245.

163

Ibid., p.245-246.

164

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.176.

165

Ibid., p.176-177.

166

Ibid., p.177.

knife and hands standing over the grave of the sailors from the Maine.

167

This evil looking figure

attempted to show what the Spanish were and why the United States should be fighting them. It

also contrasted sharply with the wholesome, valiant image of an American soldier going off to

war.

168

However, journalists in the United States were not the only ones using this type of

propaganda. A Spanish cartoon showed Uncle Sam reaching out into the Caribbean attempting to

grab up Cuba.

169

This was Spain’s attempt to discredit the United States as a land hunger power,

and to justify their war effort. This type of journalism was not unique to the United States, although

American newspapers nearly perfected it.

While most American eyes had been squarely fixed on Cuba in the months leading up to

the war, the first real action of the conflict would take place on the other side the world, in a place

that few Americans had paid attention up until this time, the Philippine Islands. In Asia, long

before war seemed imminent, the Asiatic Squadron had been given orders by Roosevelt that if war

broke out to head towards the islands and attack Manila, the Spanish capital. Command of the

Asiatic Squadron was held by a Civil War veteran, Admiral George Dewey.

170

Dewey led his

command towards Manila, and on May 1, 1898, the fighting of the Spanish American War began.

The fighting was intense and confusing, with the American view of the Spanish ships and shore

batteries being hidden by the amount of smoke in the air.

171

Finally, after two hours of fighting,

the Americans ended the firing, after running low on ammunition, but a great victory had already

been won.

172

The American fleet had destroyed nearly the entire Spanish fleet, while killing or

wounding about four hundred Spanish sailors. Only one American had died, and it was from heat

167

See Figure 4 in Appendix.

168

See Figure 5 in Appendix.

169

See Figure 6 in Appendix.

170

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.150-151.

171

Ibid., p.153-155.

172

Ibid., p.153-155.

exhaustion.

173

Overnight, Dewey became the face of the war for the American people, clothes,

streets, food, and even new babies were named in his honor.

174

Dewey’s victory gave the

American people exactly what they had wanted. He delivered them a quick, decisive, and nearly

bloodless victory, and so early in the fighting. In June of that year, another quick victory would

help buoy the American people. On the isolated island of Guam, in the middle of the Pacific,

another American fleet headed out to capture the Spanish island. When the American fleet arrived,

they found no Spanish ships, and hardly any Spanish troops on the island.

175

The few who were

their even thought that the American shells fired at their fort had been a military salute, they had

no idea there was a war going on.

176

The Americans captured Guam easily, and by doing so began to change the face of the war.

While the fighting in Cuba was seen as a humanitarian campaign against the barbarous Spaniards,

the American public had no such outcry over the Philippines or Guam. However, the capture of

Guam and the occupation of Manila Bay by the Navy, who were waiting for the Army, now gave

the United States the possibility of overseas possessions, far beyond what people had before

thought possible.

177

Anti-expansionists in the United States were shocked by the actions abroad,

and soon tried to organize a defense against the coming expansionist wave.

178

Many of these early

activists were also against the war, seeing that the United States needed to fix itself before it should

go out into the world and try to help others.

179

The activists would soon be hit from two fronts,

however. As the war was raging in the summer of 1898, Congress brought up the question of

173

Ibid., p.155.

174

Ibid., p.155-156.

175

Ibid., p.180.

176

Ibid., p.180-181.

177

Ibid., p.156.

178

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.47

179

Ibid., p.47-48.

annexation surrounding Hawai’i that had been in limbo for almost five years.

180

This would set

the stage for fierce political battles after the war. In the meantime, however, the American public

turned to the place where it all began, yet it was still relatively quiet: Cuba.

Theodore Roosevelt was part of the American force that landed in Cuba during the summer

of 1898. Roosevelt had helped form and arm the First United States Volunteer Calvary Regiment,

more commonly remembered as the “Rough Riders.”

181

The Regiment, along with Lieutenant

Colonel Roosevelt, had captured the public imagination about the war and the Americans who

were fighting it.

182

After a layover in Tampa Florida, where the Army tried in vain to organize

and supply itself properly, the invasion force set sail for southern Cuba.

183

Finally the quest to

“liberate” the island from the Spanish was underway. When Cuba was within sight, Roosevelt

was heard to say, “We land tomorrow! Whoopee!” and that night the officers gave a toast, “To the

officers- may they get killed, wounded, or promoted.”

184

These men were basking in the glory of

the conflict they were about to enter. The deep feelings of dread that had affected the soldiers of

the Civil War were long gone from these men. For the jingoes back home, the ultimate test of

their policies and ideas was about to take place on the lands surrounding Santiago de Cuba.

As the American Army began the march towards Santiago, trouble began to arise between

the American forces and the Cuban rebels. American troops saw the Cubans as being “filthy,

indolent, and thievish,” and most were surprised at that color of their skin.

185

Despite these

tensions, the Army began to move against the Spanish. Small battles were fought on the way to

180

Ibid., p.48.

181

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.174.

182

Ibid., p.174.

183

Ibid., p.175-176.

184

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.286.

185

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.192-193.

the city, but the major action of the campaign would be decided in the hills just outside of Santiago.

At San Juan Hill Roosevelt would gain his fame by leading his regiment, and a mix up of other

commands in an attack upon the Spanish fortifications on the ridge.

186

Roosevelt was in his

element during this hard battle. After the American forces had taken the ridge, Roosevelt was at

an extreme high, bragging to an old friend he found on the battlefield that he had “doubled up a

Spanish officer like a jackrabbit,” and that he was basking in the “power of joy in battle.”

187

Even

Hearst, the man who helped enflame American public opinion about the war, was at the scene of

the battle, working on stories for his paper.

188

To them, this was the culmination of all of their

work. These men had achieved not only a great personal thrill and victory, in the case of Roosevelt,

but also a great triumph for the United States.

By the middle of summer, it was all over for the Spanish in Santiago. In early July the

Spanish fleet had tried to break out of the American blockade, but just like in Manila Bay, the

American ships utterly destroyed the Spanish fleet, sealing the fate for the Spanish army left inside

the city.

189

The Spanish finally “capitulated” the city (the word surrender was not used in the

documents) to the American forces on July 17, however the commander of the Cuban forces was

not originally allowed to attend the ceremony, and even after he was allowed he was held up by

American soldiers who were told to “block any Cubans from entering the city.”

190

Around the

world, other American campaigns were also drawing to a close. In a trend that was reminiscent of

the treatment of the Cubans in Santiago, the American ground commander in the Philippines

conspired with the Spanish commander to cut the Filipinos and their commander Emilio Aguinaldo

186

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.321-328.

187

Ibid., p.328-329.

188

Ibid., p.331-334.

189

Ibid., p.342-347.

190

Ibid., p.350-351.

out of the surrender of Manila.

191

In a staged battle, where each side still suffered casualties

because of confusion, the Filipino capital was taken by the Americans.

192

Just as in Cuba, the

Americans had actively worked to cut the natives out of their own victory. This would set up the

post war confrontations between the Americans and the Filipinos. In Cuba, Roosevelt, the Rough

Riders, and the American forces were overwhelmed by sickness as the summer dragged on.

193

Instead of wasting away on the island, Roosevelt longed to continue actually fighting the war,

either moving north to take part in the “great campaign” to capture Havana or move to help take

Puerto Rico, also being attacked at this time.

194

He would not get this chance. In Puerto Rico,

American troops were advancing across the island. However, the American troops would only

have to conquer about half the island, by August 12, 1898, Spain and the United States had agreed

to an armistice, ending the fighting of the Spanish-American War.

195

While the fighting of the war was finally over there was still much to be done before the

war could officially be concluded. A peace conference was called to take place in Paris in October

of 1898 to iron out the terms to end the war.

196

In terms of what the administration and the jingoes

wanted, the war had been a total success. Not only had American forces won nearly every battle

of the war, while taking relatively few casualties, as compared to the Civil War, they also occupied

many foreign territories by the end of the fighting. Just in the initial agreements with the armistice,

the United States already acquired the islands of Puerto Rico and Guam, and were prepared to

discuss the Philippines with the Spanish.

197

Dealings with the Spanish would be the least of the

191

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.214-215.

192

Ibid., p.214-215.

193

Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders: Illustrated Edition, (New York: Fall River Press, 2014) p.216-218.

194

Roosevelt, The Rough Riders, p.220.

195

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.216.

196

Ibid., p.216.

197

Ibid., p.216.

jingoes’ concerns, however. In the United States, sides were being taken on the proposed

expansions into the Pacific and Caribbean. As the outcome of the war and the talking points of

the Peace Conference shook out in the summer of 1898, anti-imperialist committees began to

appear across the United States.

198

While the battle abroad had already been won, the battle lines

at home were just beginning to take shape, and this conflict would last far longer than the one with

Spain.

The Aftermath

Although the fighting of the Spanish-American War ended on August 12, 1898, the actual

war still had a lot to play out. The United States’ swift victory in the actual war, the fighting only

lasted about fifty-five days, had left the nation in control of “five far-flung lands … Guam,

Hawai’i, Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.”

199

The jingoes in the United States, including

Lodge and Roosevelt, were thrilled by the outcome of the conflict, calling it “a wonderful war,”

especially because everything had been achieved “at such a small cost.”

200

Especially for Lodge,

who was finally hoping to implement his “large policy,’ which called for the expansion of the

United States into foreign territories.

201

The United States had come out of the war in a state of

total dominance over the defeated Spanish Empire. The United States had demanded most of what

was left of the Spanish Empire, and the Spanish were in no real position to resist the American

demands. The more important battle for the expansionist would be fought on the home front.

However, though the outlines of the treaty had been established by the Peace conference

after the armistice, the major challenge for the jingo element in the American government was

198

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.68.

199

Ibid., p.66.

200

Ibid., p.67.

201

Ibid., p.67.

getting the treaty ratified. As 1898 drew to a close, both sides of this debate were gearing up to

state their side of the argument. Roosevelt, after being demobilized from the Army, was

immediately swept up in the coming New York gubernatorial race.

202

This quick turn of events

resulted from having been made a national hero by the events of the war in Cuba. Despite the

relatively narrow focus of the Governor of New York, Roosevelt began campaigning and giving

speeches on the expansionist ideas and policies of the jingoes.

203

The jingoes were now making a

shift in their policies. Before they had focused solely on taking the country into a war. Now, they

had achieved this goal and had fought and won a “splendid little war.” This time, however, there

was no grand rallying cry such as the U.S.S. Maine. Now, with the imperial dream so close to

their grasp, they needed to rally people to their cause, and more importantly, win the political

battles over expansion.

Even the President was involved in this public relations push by the jingoes. At first uneasy

about how to approach the subject of the annexation of the Philippines and the other territories,

McKinley went on a speaking tour across the country to “engage the public,” over this issue.

204

McKinley phrased his arguments on very practical lines. One of his major arguments for

annexation was the expansion of “new markets,” for American goods and the benefits this could

bring.

205

A similar point was used to push for the coup and annexation of Hawai’i, so this was an

area of great importance to many Americans. Also, he used the argument of honor, asking “shall

we deny to ourselves what the rest of the world so freely and so justly accords to us?”

206

He was

making the obvious point that the United States had won the Philippines in the war, so by those

202

Ibid., p.73.

203

Ibid., p.76-77.

204

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.236.

205

Ibid., p.236.

206

Ibid., p.236.

rights it was ours. Although the “freely” and “justly” comments would be subject to much debate.

Being religious, McKinley also claimed that, as the victors, it was the duty of the American people

“to educate the Filipinos, and uplift them … civilize and Christianize them.”

207

McKinley’s

arguments appealed to many of his followers, who cheered him at rallies and who McKinley

actually “feared” if he went against annexation.

208

McKinley and Roosevelt, among many others

worked hard to promote the annexation point of view to the American people over the latter months

of 1898. However, they were not the only ones at work.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the anti-imperialists were working just as hard

to prepare and fight this proposed annexation of these far-flung territories. Anti-imperialists in

government had already lost the debate over Hawai’i, but another even more important debate was

just upon them. Although the United States occupied the Philippines and the other Spanish

possessions militarily, they were still not formal territories of the United States, despite what the

expansionists wanted. As the Peace Conference in Paris drew on at the end of 1898, it became

clear to many that in the proposed treaty, most of the won territories, except Cuba, would be given

to the United States. From the center of the anti-imperialist movement in the northeast, George

Boutwell worked to organize the anti-imperialist movement, and brought thousands to their

cause.

209

In November of that year, the movement finally came together formally to create the

Anti-Imperialist League, which included former President Grover Cleveland and capitalist giant

Andrew Carnegie.

210

Finally, the movement had united to form one voice to confront the jingoes

and their expansionist policies. Despite the united front, however, the Anti-Imperialist League

faced tough opposition from the entrenched expansionist politicians, and their public backing.

207

Ibid., p.237.

208

Ibid., p.236.

209

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.88-89.

210

Ibid., p.90.

While the conflict between the United States and Spain had defined the Spanish-American War,

the conflict between the jingoes and the Anti-Imperialist League would define the next war.

Chapter 3: The War in the Philippines

This chapter will explore the war that followed the end of the Spanish-American War, the

Philippine-American War. It will show the origins of this war, and how the fighting and the

purpose of the war were so different than America’s past wars. The growing conflict between the

jingoes and the Anti-Imperialist League and each sides’ goals will also be explored. Also, the war

in the Philippine islands will be examined, including the controversies that plagued the war from

the beginning. This chapter will also show the differences between this war and its predecessor,

showing how the United States changed so much in such a short amount of time. The argument I

am making in this chapter centers around what the Philippine-American War actually was. It was

a war against a colonial rebellion, and the methods used during the fighting helped shape American

foreign policy going forward.

Beginning of the Conflict

The Senate debate over whether or not to annex the Philippines and other Spanish

possessions was one of the most heated. The anti-imperialists made strong push in the debates

about annexation in 1898, with several leaders of the anti-expansion movement having made

speeches both in and out of the Senate arguing against the treaty on the grounds of it going against

the ideas of American democracy and tradition.

211

This hard offensive was wearing down the

supporters of the treaty in the Senate. Lodge himself, one of most forceful proponents of the treaty

told Roosevelt that the debates and resistance to the treaty were “disheartening.”

212

The anti-

imperialists were also buoyed by the events occurring in the Philippines. While American soldiers

were still occupying the islands, the Filipinos had been at work setting up what they thought would

211

Ibid., p.110-112.

212

Ibid., p.110.

be their own republic. They had set up and elected a Congress, which had named Aguinaldo as

the “President of the Supreme Government,” and had written a Constitution that was based off

many western constitutions, such as France’s.

213

The Senators who were against the treaty in the

Senate though this gave them some extra moral ground in their arguments. They thought that the

United States should allow the Filipinos to be free, something that “any honest American,” would

allow.

214

These developments made the debates even more frantic for those in the Senate who

supported the treaty. They tried to use the independence argument for their own use as well, they

argued that independence for the islands would come in time, but that to turn over the islands to

the Filipinos at this point would be “the highest cruelty,” and that it was the American “duty [to]

extend Christian Civilization,” to the islands, despite the fact that many were already Christian.

215

Both sides were entrenched in their opposition. Even President McKinley, was “puzzled” by the

delay of ratification in the Senate.

216

As one person described it, it came down to a debate, “which

shall American be: Nation or Empire?”

217

A final vote on the treaty was finally scheduled for

February 6, 1899,

218

and the history of the United States was shaped by these decisions for decades

to come.

While the Senate was debating whether or not to ratify the Treaty of Paris, events in the

Philippines were beginning to spiral out of control. Aguinaldo and other Filipinos had not found

out about the Treaty of Paris and what it entailed until December 1898, and Aguinaldo would later

say the news hit him “like an atomic bomb.”

219

The hopeful feelings and outcome of freedom that

213

Ibid., p.112-113.

214

Ibid., p.112-113.

215

Ibid., p.113.

216

Ibid., p.113.

217

Ibid., p.115.

218

Ibid., p.115.

219

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.239.

many Filipinos had anticipated with the fall of Spanish leadership over the islands was now in

great peril. It did not help the Filipinos’ opinion of the United States that American troops were

still stationed in the former Spanish capital of the islands, Manila. Tensions between the American

troops and the Filipino civilians and Aguinaldo’s soldiers outside the city continued to grow during

the months of debate over the Treaty of Paris. American soldiers traveled together, Filipino

civilians began to carry weapons, and American soldiers frequently raided suspected weapon

caches and would meet protests with weapons of their own.

220

Feelings of “mutual hatred” ran

through both sides in a city that was quickly turning into a powder keg.

221

The city was set to

explode.

The city finally reached a breaking point early on February 4, 1899, only two days ahead

of the Senate vote on the long-term fate of the islands and the Filipino people. Early that morning,

a young private was on guard duty in a disputed area in Manila, when he was approached by a

patrol of Filipinos soldiers, and when the private yelled halt at the soldiers, they continued to move

towards his position.

222

This was when the fragile peace that had been holding on in the Philippines

finally fell apart. The American soldier fired at the Filipinos, killing the two on patrol before

running back to his unit shouting that the “[Filipinos] are in here and all through the lines!”

223

His

cries spread like wildfire though the American camps and units, and soon afterwards the whole

perimeter around Manila was engulfed in fighting. The American Army in Manila, which at this

point was still made up of many volunteers, remnants from the last war, began to push the Filipinos

back from the key points around Manila, and pursued them outside of the city. One soldier

220

Ibid., p.239.

221

Ibid., p.239.

222

Ibid., p.239.

223

Ibid., p.240.

remarked that shooting the fleeing Filipinos was “more fun than a turkey shoot.”

224

This type of

enthusiasm caused problems for the American war effort later in the conflict. Back in Manila,

American soldiers torched suspected rebel Filipino hideouts and even put down a planned rebellion

from inside of Manila itself.

225

The first battle of this new war was an American victory, but it

was only the precursor of what was to come in the Philippines.

Back in the United States, the outbreak of fighting in the Philippines, and just before the

Senate’s vote on the Treaty of Paris, was a major game changer in the debates. While the Treaty

had already been close before the fighting started, this new factor gave hope surprisingly to both

sides of the argument. The anti-imperialist inside and out of the Senate used the fighting as proof

that the Philippine Islands should not and could not be “subjugated” by the United States.

226

However, their opponents had more justification in their arguments about the fighting. The

supporters of the Treaty in the Senate portrayed that battle as an attack by the Filipinos on their

American “liberators” and that they had now become “public enemies” of the United States.

227

The anti-imperialists were then dealt more devastating blows leading up to the ratification. First,

President McKinley, not surprisingly, came out to support the jingo cause and ordered American

troops in the islands to hunt down Aguinaldo’s rebels.

228

Also, the journalists, at least initially,

came out decrying the attack on American troops, although Hearst, the diehard expansionist from

the Spanish-American War, was surprisingly quiet, a shift from his outspoken tone towards

Spain.

229

This already showed the fractures coming about in the jingo alliance that had prevailed

against Spain. At this moment, however, the anti-imperialists were again shocked when William

224

Ibid., p.240.

225

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.240, and Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace p.108-109.

226

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.119.

227

Ibid., p.119.

228

Ibid., p.119.

229

Ibid., p.119-124.

Jennings Bryan, a longtime Democrat politician and fierce anti-imperialist himself came out in

favor of the treaty, believing that fighting so hard against the treaty now could ruin the cause of

the movement.

230

As ratification approached, it looked to be a close decision. In the end, thanks

to a few defections from the opposition, the Treaty of Paris was approved by the Senate by only

one vote.

231

The Philippines officially belonged to the “new” United States, one that was an

imperial power. However, although the jingoes had just won a major battle, the war would turn

out to be very long.

Back in the Philippines where the actual war was occurring, the American military was

beginning to run into issues. In the beginning the American forces had success, advancing over

20 miles outside of Manila to capture the provisional capital of Aguinaldo’s republic, Malolos,

while always defeating their Filipino opponents in open battle.

232

However, this success did not

last forever. The Army that was in the Philippines was a remnant from the Spanish War, made up

of many volunteer troops whose enlistments were about to expire.

233

The Americans also

encountered fierce resistance and hostility from the Filipino population, discovering that the rebels

were larger than a simple “faction.”

234

This was different from the “liberator” status that many

American had enjoyed during the earlier war. The war itself also began to change. Realizing his

armies could not beat the American Army head on, Aguinaldo and his followers dispersed into the

countryside, beginning a phase of guerrilla war for the Philippines in late 1899.

235

Now, the war

230

Ibid., p.121-122.

231

Ibid., p.121.

232

Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace, p.109.

233

Ibid., p.109.

234

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.242.

235

Ibid., p.242-243.

at home and in the Philippines would enter a new stage, it shifted into a realm the United States

had never been in before, and tested the resolve of the American people.

The Anti-Imperialist Movement

The Anti-Imperialist League was founded on a broad premise, in order to stop what they

viewed as the unwanted and unnecessary expansion of the United States into other territories. For

the early years of its existence the members had a more specific goal, to stop the annexation of the

Philippine islands. However, while many anti-imperialists shared these broad goals, the personal

reasoning behind them were quite varied. Many of the anti-imperialists had even supported going

to war with Spain in 1898, truly believing in the “humanitarian” mission of the United States.

236

This group included prominent Americans such as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie. They, like

many others, believed in the humanitarian, and more importantly limited, mission of the United

States in Cuba. Others who joined the movement were driven by more basic influences. Many

viewed it as negative that the United States would be interacting with the “lesser races.” Men such

as William James, who supported the Spanish War but was against annexation, viewed it as more

of a burden to take on the Philippine islands.

237

To them, anti-imperialism was more based on race

than on humanitarian ideals.

Regardless of what type of anti-imperialism, actions by the government after the armistice

began to enflame these ideas. The passage of the annexation of Hawai’i and the proposed

annexation of more territory helped them get mobilized for their cause. While at first it was

difficult to raise an opposition in the face of victory in the war, by the end of the summer “anti-

236

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.68.

237

Thomas, The War Lovers, p.375.

imperialist committees” began to appear across the country.

238

This began the long, but in the end

fruitless, struggle to stop the passage of the Treaty of Paris that would eventually lead to the

formation of the Anti-Imperialist League. The League was a mix match of politicians,

businessmen, and social activists. Born from debates, the League would spend its exitance

fighting, often times in vain, to counter the expansion pushed by the jingoes.

Support and Opposition to the War

In addition to the actions of politicians and the newspapers during the Philippine War, other

literary figures took the stage to try to persuade the public towards either the jingoes or the anti-

imperialists. One of the most influential writers of this time was Rudyard Kipling, an Englishman

born in Bombay who had plenty of interactions with empire building. He was born in and lived in

the crown jewel of the British Empire which at this time was India, a powerful symbol of European

expansionism all over the world. Kipling was paying attention to the United States’ war with

Spain and it immediate aftermath. Kipling was a very prominent “mythologizer” of empire and

imperial ambitions, so the sharp debates over the future of the Philippine Islands and America’s

role as an imperial power drew his attention.

239

To help further the American jingoes, Kipling

wrote a poem that was published in three American newspapers, two in New York and one in San

Francisco on February 5, 1899, which ironically was the same day that word of the fighting around

Manila reached American audiences.

240

The poem was titled, The White Man’s Burden, and was

a hallmark of the emboldened American jingo faction:

“Take up the White Man's burden--

Send forth the best ye breed--

Go bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

238

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.68-69.

239

Ibid., p.120.

240

Ibid., p.120.

To wait in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild--

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--

In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain

To seek another's profit,

And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--

The savage wars of peace--

Fill full the mouth of Famine

And bid the sickness cease;

And when your goal is nearest

The end for others sought,

Watch sloth and heathen Folly

Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--

No tawdry rule of kings,

But toil of serf and sweeper--

The tale of common things.

The ports ye shall not enter,

The roads ye shall not tread,

Go mark them with your living,

And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--

And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better,

The hate of those ye guard--

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--

"Why brought he us from bondage,

Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--

Ye dare not stoop to less--

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloak your weariness;

By all ye cry or whisper,

By all ye leave or do,

The silent, sullen peoples

Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--

Have done with childish days--

The lightly-proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years

Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!”

241

In his poem, Kipling is encouraging Americans to “take up the white man’s burden,” “to

serve your captives' need,” while describing the “captive” Filipinos as “Your new-caught, sullen

peoples, Half-devil and half-child.”

242

Kipling paints a very primitive view of the Filipinos, and

places the responsibly for these supposed childlike people on the United States and Americans in

general. Throughout his poem, he makes it seem like it is the duty of white, able bodied Americans

to go out to the Philippine Islands to attempt to make it better for the devilish and childlike people

who live there.

243

He even makes the point that the United States will have to accomplish this task

with “your living … and your dead.”

244

This was Kipling’s attempt to draw the United States

deeper into the European model of imperialism. Since the mid-1800s, Europeans had been trying

to carry out this “civilizing mission” in Africa and Asia, which was often met with revolts and

bloody reprisals. Kipling was trying to point to the more noble aspects of the Europeans’ mission,

portraying it, and American involvement in the Philippines, as a thankless, bloody job, but one

that needed to be done.

245

For many Americans, especially the jingoes, this is exactly the kind of

public support they needed for annexation. The missionary and democratic ideals of American

society fit neatly into Kipling’s model.

246

It was the push the some American initially needed to

241

Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands,” McClure’s (12),

February 1899.

242

Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands.”

243

Ibid.

244

Ibid.

245

Ibid.

246

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.120.

get behind the annexation of the Philippines. Few could have imagined, however, how much of a

“burden” the Philippines would really be.

The anti-imperialists had their own literary support as well. Their ideolog was one of the

most well-known and popular American writers of this time, or anytime, Mark Twain. Twain was

living in Europe when events in the Caribbean and Pacific began, but that only sharpened his

hatred of colonial ideals.

247

While he was very critical of British imperialism, Twain was at first

very enthusiastic about America’s war with Spain, stating that he had “never enjoyed a war … as

I am enjoying this one.”

248

Like so many other Americans, Twain was caught up in the war fever

that swept up so many Americans, even all the way in Europe. As time went on however, his

views shifted dramatically. Twain did not even begin to associate with the Anti-Imperialist League

until he met with Booker T. Washington in London in 1899, who impressed him greatly.

249

Twain

did not arrive back in the United States until the end of 1900, but he had left his old views on

American policy behind in Europe. Twain viewed the prolonged Philippine War as a “quagmire,”

and believed that the islands should govern themselves “according to Filipino ideas.”

250

He soon

began to give speeches and started writing from the anti-imperial point of view, firmly entrenching

him within their movement. In one particularly harsh essay, Twain stated that with the war, “we

have debauched America’s honor and blackened her face before the world.”

251

Twains words were

just as sharp as Kipling’s had been only a short time before. However, he was making his case in

the opposite direction. Twain was trying to point out how in his mind, and the minds of many

other Americans, the war for the Philippine islands was doing nothing but harm to what America

247

Ibid., p.150.

248

Ibid., p.50.

249

Ibid., p.150.

250

Ibid., p.178.

251

Ibid., p.181-182.

stood for and that no good could come from this fighting. He even rewrote the Battle Hymn of the

Republic, the song of the Union cause in the Civil War, with words criticizing the American war

objectives and the “lust” of the war.

252

Twain and Kipling were not the only figures trying to persuade audiences to their cause.

Carnegie, a longtime supporter of the anti-imperialist movement, also published pieces

championing his cause. In an article in the North American Review in early 1899, Carnegie laid

out his ideas on imperialism and why American should not be involved in East Asia. Carnegie

recognized that America was greatly overmatched by the countries that were occupying part of

East Asia.

253

He also stated than in order to counterbalance this, America would have to become

involved in formal alliances with some of these powers.

254

This was a principle that had been

preached against since the time of George Washington as it went against many American values

of independence from other nations. Carnegie also argued for allowing the Philippines to rule

itself, under the same “protections” Cuba was under, allowing itself to create its own

government.

255

Carnegie and others like him were arguing for the independence of the island

under American protection, still a form of imperialism but one that was more hands off. Many

anti-imperialist viewed this as preferable to the full-blown occupation that was adopted by

expansionists.

In addition to the written arguments for and against the Philippine War, political cartoons

were again utilized by both sides. Arguments made in writing were also made in pictures, such as

252

Ibid., p.184.

253

Andrew Carnegie, “Americanism versus Imperialism,” North American Review, Vol. 168 No. 506, January 1899,

p.2-3. http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nora;cc=nora;rgn=full%20text;idno=nora0168-

1;didno=nora0168-1;view=image;seq=6;node=nora0168-1%3A2;page=root;size=100

254

Carnegie, “Americanism versus Imperialism,” p.3-4.

255

Ibid., p.11-12.

Carnegie’s idea for the Philippines. An image showed a woman, representing the Philippines,

telling Uncle Sam that if he treats her like Great Britain treats Egypt, there will be no violence.

256

This attempted to personify what type of imperialism many in the United States wanted, which

was a more hands off, peaceful existence with the Philippines, not a full-scale occupation. Another

harsher criticism of the war in the Philippines took aim at the “civilizing mission” idea put forth

by many jingoes. This cartoons shows lady Justice revealing to President McKinley the atrocities

being committed in the United States, mainly lynching and race violence, as he stares at a map of

the Philippines.

257

This is a very harsh criticism of the McKinley administration. It pointed out

that while many Americans want to “civilize” and help the Filipinos, they were ignoring their own

problems. It took aim at the whole idea of the civilizing mission. The expansionists also had their

own cartoons to counter the anti-imperialists. A cartoon from 1899 shows Uncle Sam trying to

teach his new students, the Philippines, Hawai’i, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.

258

This was a clear

reference to the civilizing mission, but it is painting it in a much better, although somewhat

satirical, manner. This was the attempt by supporters of the American mission in the Philippines

to paint American presence as a good thing. Both attempts show how each side is trying to get

their message out to the American public.

The writings of Twain, Kipling, and others along with the use of political cartoons show

the harsh divide that was seeping into American literature during the fighting in the Philippines.

No longer were Americans everywhere rallying around the flag to support the war like they had

with Spain. The nature of this war had caused conflict and which was now dividing public opinion.

As the war went on and casualties on both sides mounted, many Americans began to wonder why

256

See Figure 7 in Appendix.

257

See Figure 8 in Appendix.

258

See Figure 9 in Appendix.

it was so important to have the Philippine islands to begin with. As Twain stated, many now

believed the American flag should now have “the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced

by the skull and cross-bones.”

259

While the jingoes still had quite a bit of support for the cause of

expansion, the country was no longer so tightly united like it had been when war broke out with

Spain. As the war in the Philippines dragged on, new headlines would continue to sharpen this

divide.

The Election of 1900

During all of this bloodshed and infighting, the United States was also approaching a very

important political event. While the war in the Philippines was raging, and many other imperial

actions taking place around the world such as the Boers and the Boxers, the United States was

racing towards a Presidential election. Both sides felt the importance of this election. McKinley

had been able to accomplish so much as a jingo President, even if he was somewhat reluctant and

first. He led the United States in a successful war against the Spanish that had given American her

first real colonial possessions, and had even finally helped settle the Hawai’i question that had

been up in the air since 1893. His re-election would have showed that the American public

supported the jingoes’ plans for the future of the country and what they had done up to this point.

However, they were not running unopposed in this election. The anti-imperialists were preparing

to stage a major challenge to McKinley and the jingoes, many of whom were aligned with the

Republican Party. This was their chance to put an end to the quick paced that the American

imperial movement was growing.

259

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.182.

Early on in the election process, the jingoes received a pleasant addition to a already strong

Party ticket. With an eye towards future presidential elections, Lodge worked to get his friend

Roosevelt nominated for the vacant Vice President positon behind McKinley.

260

Although

Roosevelt was in a tough position politically in New York (he had angered the powerful party boss

soon after being elected Governor) he was not excited for a vice president nomination which he

saw as a dead end. In the end agreed to run if nominated by the convention, which he was.

261

This

gave McKinley an even more powerful imperialist platform to run on. Not only did he have his

powerful reputation, but he now also had Roosevelt’s, a war hero in the last war and one of the

most prominent and vocal supports of expansion. The anti-imperialists would have to amount a

string attack to knock off this group. Up to this point in time, they had lost every major decision

or actions that had taken place between them and the jingoes.

262

This was a perfect chance to make

up for all of these loses in one fell swoop. It would not come easily to them, however.

In response to this Republican ticket, the anti-imperialists also turned to a known

commodity in American politics at this time. This was William Jennings Bryan. He had run for

president before and had even lost to McKinley in 1896, but he was the best chance for the anti-

imperialists. However, this was far from a perfect marriage like the Republican ticket. Bryan

came into the 1900 race with a few marks already against the anti-imperialists, chief among them

was refusing to help stop the Treaty of Paris a year earlier.

263

Also, though he really was against

jingoist policies in the United States, the issue that Bryan cared about most was the gold versus

silver standard for American currency.

264

This put him at odds with many anti-imperialists who

260

Ibid., p.162.

261

Ibid., p.162-163.

262

Ibid., p.163.

263

Ibid., p.163.

264

Ibid., p.163-164.

supported the gold standard, including prominent member Andrew Carnegie. It was with this

mismatched and uneasy alliance that Bryan and the anti-imperialists went into 1900.

On the campaign trail, constantly Bryan gave many speeches, including one concerning

the Philippines and American involvement in the islands. In this speech, Bryan explains how he

viewed the occupation of the islands, and American imperialism in general. Bryan first states that

the only reason he supported the passage of the Treaty of Paris was he believed that it would make

the process of independence for the Philippines easier.

265

He then went on to explain what he

thought was wrong with imperialism in the United States. He viewed conquest as being “not in

our principles,” although he did not object to expansion into areas that wished to join the United

States.

266

He saw the forced annexation of the islands as being unjust, and so it should not occur.

Bryan’s next argument again showed why there were so many divides in the anti-imperialist camp

during the election. Bryan believed that, because American and Filipinos were of different races

and that the “white race will not live so near the equator,” they could not function together.

267

However, Bryan did believe that the American “protectorate” system, like the one being use in

Cuba, was more acceptable than straight annexation.

268

Bryan’s speech showed the disconnect in

the anti-imperialist camp. Although many did agree broadly that expansion and annexation was

wrong, as stated before, their reasoning differed greatly.

Against the Republican and jingo coalition, the Democrats and anti-imperialists rolled out

an interesting political coalition of their own. In addition to Bryan’s strongholds in the populist

265

Ray Ginger, edit., “Mr. Bryan’s Address on Imperialism,” William Jennings Bryan: Selections, (New York:

Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc., 1967) p.60.

266

Ginger, “Mr. Bryan’s Address on Imperialism,” William Jennings Bryan, p.61.

267

Ibid., p.62.

268

Ibid., p.67.

Midwest and “Solid” South, the Northeastern based Anti-Imperialist League was added.

269

While

the election may have seemed within reach before, the anti-imperialists and their coalition were

soon faced with a political decision that would doom their campaign in the long run. A key strategy

for this coalition in the 1900 election was to shift the issues to a referendum on expansion and the

war in the Philippines, but Bryan was still clinging to his “free silver” ideas.

270

This not only

worried many members of the Anti-Imperialist League, but, it also worried many in the general

American public.

271

This scared many voters away from Bryan. Both sides campaigned heavily

that summer, but the enthusiasm was lacking in this election for the most part. Unless a person

was fully for either candidate, many voters were stuck in an uneasy middle ground between the

two. All the non-jingoes saw McKinley as being tainted by the imperialist wars and conquests,

while Bryan, on the other hand, was seen as being far too radical for most, primarily based off his

silver stance.

272

In the end, voters went back to the safer, known choice in McKinley and his

popular Vice President Roosevelt. It was a landslide victory for the Republicans, with many

jingoes seeing it as a “mandate” of their actions and policies.

273

Once again, the anti-imperialists

had missed a golden opportunity, and would have to continue to fight an uphill battle against the

firmly entrenched jingoes.

The Waller Trial and the End of the War

The war in the Philippines was characterized by the sheer brutality of the fighting that took

place across the islands. After the fighting had broken down into guerrilla war, the tactics

employed by both sides showed how far the war had come from the short, “noble” Spanish War.

269

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.169.

270

Ibid., p.169-173.

271

Ibid., p.172.

272

Ibid., p.176.

273

Ibid., p.177.

The Filipinos took to launching hit and run attacks on American positions and patrols, launching

442 such attacks in the first four months of 1900 alone.

274

This change in tactics was accompanied

by a change in methods for the Filipino fighters a well. The Filipinos began to employ booby traps

across their territory, trapping Americans in spiked pits or shooting them with arrows launched by

a trip wire.

275

These methods also transferred over to their treatment of prisoners, where American

soldiers who were captured were often tortured and mutilated.

276

The American soldiers in the Philippines responded to this with a brutal streak of their own,

but on a much larger scale. Even before the war had official broken out, Americans had looked

down upon and mistreated Filipinos in their sections of Manila. When met with the brutal and

scare tactics of the Filipinos, the Americans responded in their own horrific ways. In response to

a rebel attack or possible presence in a town, the Americans took to burning and destroying entire

villages, and adopted a “no prisoner” policy that soon swept through American ranks, and

mandated that any Filipino suspected of being a rebel was to be shot on site.

277

In some cases, all

the inhabitants of a town were killed as retaliation for an American death, a horrific tactic that is

very reminiscent of the European colonial wars of the time.

278

Even the Filipinos fighters lucky

to escape death were not entirely safe as captives. Americans also adopted many torture techniques

to get what they wanted from the Filipino prisoners, including the “water cure,” which involved

forcing a prisoner to drink water until his stomach looked like “he was pregnant,” then the water

was “forced” back out of the prisoner and the cycle began again.

279

This type of cyclical violence

occurred throughout the war, with each side becoming more entrenched by the others’ actions.

274

Miller, The President and the Assassin, p.244.

275

Ibid., p.244.

276

Ibid., p.244.

277

Ibid., p.244.

278

Ibid., p.244.

279

Ibid., p.244.

However, one event would not only rock the Americans and Filipinos in the islands, but also the

American public back home.

This deadly process began with the massacre of American troops stationed in a village in

the island of Samar. Ambushed early in the morning while unprepared, the American detachment

of 74 was decimated, with 48 men killed and all but 4 wounded in the attack.

280

Although the

Americans did respond quickly with and attack on the village and later burning the village itself,

the war on Samar would turn into slaughter that no one could have imagined. Soon after the

massacre of Americans on Samar, new commanders with new tactics were brought into the area.

Two of them would become icons for the war in the Philippines, and for all the wrong reasons.

General Jacob Smith was put in command of a brigade assigner to Samar, and under him was a

Marine Major named Littleton Waller Tazewell Waller who, under Smith’s orders, was to

command and expedition to pacify Samar.

281

It was the tactic they were to use that would bring

new attention to the Philippine War. Smith gave Waller orders to “[kill anyone] who are capable

of bearing arms,” on Samar and when Waller asked what that age limit was, Smith told him it was

ten.

282

Waller and his command set out across Samar, burning and killing “rebel” Filipinos as they

went, until Waller decided to divide his command and try to traverse Samar through thirty-five

miles of thick jungle, which killed many of his men and weakened all others, including him.

283

When he was finally got out of the jungle, Waller then had eleven of his Filipino porters executed

for possibly being rebels.

284

According to Smith’s plans, Waller’s operation had been a success,

280

Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace, p.102.

281

Ibid., p.120.

282

Ibid., p.120.

283

Ibid., p.120-122.

284

Ibid., p.122.

and he devastated Samar and killed many rebel troops in the process. Despite this perceived

success, in the end it all began to unravel.

The trouble for these men began when Waller was arrived back in Manila in early 1902.

His matter of fact execution of the eleven Filipinos had caught the attention to the Army high

command, who were now charging Waller with war crimes.

285

A Senate committee began to

investigate atrocities in the Philippines, and uncovered a mountains worth of evidence. They not

only read more into Waller’s atrocities, but learned of the “water cure” torture among other acts

of violence in the Philippines.

286

While this was a boost to the anti-imperialist side, Waller was

not left completely out to dry by the jingoes who still controlled the government. Henry Cabot

Lodge was the chairmen of the investigation and tried to shield Waller, as did President Theodore

Roosevelt and his Secretary of War.

287

This was nowhere near enough for Waller, however. He

was soon tried by court martial, and would reveal more damaging information about the jingo’s

war.

In classic court drama, the actual details of the Samar case came out in a flare of excitement.

Originally taking the responsibility for his action on Samar to save his superior officer, Waller was

greatly offended when General Smith put sole responsibly for the atrocities on him when he

testified.

288

In an act of revenge, Waller took the stand again to tell Smith’s true orders, which

were supported by other officers in Smith’s command.

289

The secret had finally been let out, and

it was now spreading like wildfire. Back in the United States, the orders to “kill everyone over

ten” swept through the American public, causing widespread backlash against those accused and

285

Ibid., p.122.

286

Ibid., p.122.

287

Ibid., p.122.

288

Ibid., p.123.

289

Ibid., p.123.

support for the war. This horrific scene was even created as an image for newspapers.

290

Newspaper headlines across the country ran headlines calling out the General Smith and his

barbaric order, even the jingoistic New York Journal. Newspapers began running stories about the

trial of the former “Hero of Samar,” over what was called “atrocious cruelty” committed against

the “natives.”

291

Unlike the last war, which produced many untainted heroes such as Roosevelt,

some of this war’s heroes were tainted by cruelty. This was something totally unique from the

previous war. The American newspapers covered all the aspects of the court martial, including

Waller testimony that Smith told him “the more he killed and burned the better pleased [Smith]

would be.

292

These accusations even began to spread up the chain of command in the Philippines,

when the Judge Advocate General of the Philippines, Colonel Groesbeck, was questioned for

making remarks praising the conduct of both Smith and Waller.

293

This type of controversy had

never plagued the war with Spain, which was seen as a “just” war from beginning to end. The

horrors of colonial war had finally reached the American public.

Americans were confronted with the harsh reality of this war. No longer were the

newspaper headlines calling for revenge against a bloodthirsty enemy like they had only four years

earlier against the Spanish. Now, in the newspaper headlines and the minds of many Americans,

their commanders were the ones committing atrocities that needed to be answered for. The flare

and excitement that had existed during the Spanish-American War, and Roosevelts charge up San

Juan Hill, were now long gone. The war in the Philippines had morphed into something entirely

different. Roosevelt put Smith on trial for his orders because of public outcry, but like with most

290

See Figure 10 in Appendix.

291

“A Court Martial for Major Waller,” New York Times, March 6, 1902.

292

“Major Waller Testifies,” New York Times, April 8, 1902.

293

“Groesbeck Questioned,” New York Times, July 21, 1902.

things during the war in the Philippines, American were still sharply divided.

294

Jingoist

politicians and newspapers came to the defense of Smith, Waller, and others, supported the war

and the Army’s actions fully.

295

Concerning the atrocities in the Philippines, Roosevelt had

compared the fighting of “savages there to the old Indian wars against the Sioux and Apaches.

296

He believed that coming into contact with “savages” and their warfare style would make some

whites commit equally savage actions, and although those must be punished with “merciless

severity,” the war could not be given up because of this because it would be “utterly unworthy of

a great people.”

297

This was the viewpoint taken by many in regard to the Philippine atrocities. Yes, they

were terrible, but in the bigger picture they did not account for much. However, debates still

became heated over these issues, with two Senators getting to a fist-fight on the Senate floor

because of their opposing views.

298

Still, the changing nature of this war could not keep many

Americans on the side of Roosevelt and his expansionists. The war had reached a point of no

return for the United States. The virtuous United States that had entered the war against Spain to

right wrongs and atrocities, was now committing them just as the other colonial powers had

previously done. The terrible cycle had come full circle for the United States.

Even as these stories broke back home in America, the war in the Philippines dragged on.

In a lesser known story, and American general in the Philippines, set up “concentration camps” in

order to battle the insurgency, much like the often criticized British were doing against the Boers

294

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.222.

295

Ibid., p.222-223.

296

Louis Auchincloss, edit., “The Philippine Insurrection,” Theodore Roosevelt: Letters and Speeches, (New York:

Library of American, 2004) p.168.

297

Auchincloss, “The Philippine Insurrection,” Theodore Roosevelt, p.168.

298

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.218-220.

in South Africa.

299

In 1902, after years of fighting, the war was slowly dragging to a close. In a

final, brutal campaign an American general burned crops, killed livestock, forced Filipinos into

concentration camps, and randomly selected a civilian for execution every time and American was

killed.

300

These were tried and true tactics from other colonial conflicts, but those conflicts were

often the ones criticized by Americans for their brutality, such as the British and the Boers.

However, America was numb to the war at this point, and glad to see the fighting die down.

301

Americans at home were worn down from the long duration of the war, three years compared to a

little over three months with Spain, and the disheartening news of the conduct of the war.

Proclamations in July formally ended the war and annexed the Philippines,

302

causing the jingoes

to let out a sigh of belated relief and the anti-imperialist to finally accept their defeat.

The Philippine-American War ended with much less ceremony than its predecessor. More

Americans died in the fighting and much of the country was deeply divided over the purpose and

conduct of the war. The purpose of the Philippines helped distance it from the Spanish-American

War. There was no vail of self-righteousness to hide behind this time. The jingoes goal of

expansion was out for all to see, and many did not like what they saw. This war was America’s

first real taste of being a true colonial power, and it had responded in the true colonial way. This

is why the Spanish-American and the Philippine-American Wars were viewed so differently; they

were two completely different wars. One, even if it was only superficial, was a war to free people

from oppression, while the other was subjugating “rebels.” Americans had been given a taste of

both types and they clearly had a favorite.

299

Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace, p.123-124.

300

Kinzer, The True Flag, p.224.

301

Ibid., p.224.

302

Ibid., p.225.

Conclusion

With the end of Philippine-American War in 1902, the jingoes were in the position they

had always wanted to be in. They had just successfully conquered a colonial territory, and one of

their own, Theodore Roosevelt, was occupying the White House. It must have seemed like the

aggressive expansionist policy was set to continue. However, surprisingly, it did not. Roosevelt

and his successors were indeed interventionists, but the nature of American intervention had

changed greatly. After the pacification of the Philippines and the campaign against the Boxers in

China, American interest returned to where it all began, the Caribbean Sea. During the years

between the Spanish-American War and the First World War, the United States played an active

part in the Caribbean nations, including Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

303

However, this

was a different type of intervention from actions in the Philippines only a few years earlier. Instead

of trying to enforce a lengthy occupation of these countries, American forces adopted a new

approach. Now, a sizable American force would land, set up whatever institutions it felt would

benefit American interests in that country, and then leave.

304

American strategic and economic

interests now came before territory. The perfect example of this was American involvement in

Panama. In 1903, American forces supported an uprising as Panama broke away from Colombia,

and so afterwards received a piece of land to create the Panama Canal, while the rest of Panama

was independent, though under heavy American protection.

305

This was in stark contrast was what

the United States had been doing only a year earlier in the Philippines.

This period of American history is now highlighted for other historical reasons, such as the

rise of the progressive movement, instead of the wars that had a huge impact on the course of

303

Boot, The Savage Wars of Peace, p.129.

304

Ibid., p.129.

305

Ibid., p.133-134.

American history. At this point, 1898, expansionist forces in the United States managed to

overcome opposition to put American in the position to become an imperial power, just like the

great empires in Europe. The United States even attempted to copy their tactics and forms of

suppression in its own colonial holdings, while trying to fuse it with American ideals of civilization

and frontier expansion. This period was also one of extreme polarization between the opposing

side of this issue. The jingoes and the anti-imperialists were locked into extreme end of the

expansion spectrum, and neither was willing to compromise in its quest for what it thought was

best for the United States. Both sides utilized the emerging mass media in the United States to

push their messages and goals on the pubic in attempts to win favor with American citizens. These

included actual newspaper articles and the political cartoons that accompanied them. These were

effective forms of media that helped display the positons of the tow ideologies and what their

message really was.

This thesis has shown how these events unfolded and the impact they had on the United

States. The war with Spain in 1898 showed that the United States could become more actively

involved on the world stage. It intervened into the affairs of a European power, even if it was the

declining power of Spain, and had come out victorious. It had also done so with what most saw

as a “just” cause in the fighting. However, the war in the Philippines had been a wakeup call for

the United States. It had attempted to seize a territory using the European model of colonialism,

and it had been met with European results. The United States had seen the results and

consequences of colonial wars, such as the Boer War, but had not experienced it first hand, until

the Philippines. The result of this was the adoption of new imperial policies, such as the one used

in Panama. America experienced the effects of colonial war in the Philippines, and used its

knowledge from this war to adapt to a new way of operating, creating a new system it would

employ until the Second World War. The American experience in Cuba and the Philippines helped

define the country for decades, and it is this definition that has largely been forgotten in the United

States. This was the period when the United States began to figure out how to interact with other

nations to achieve its own goals. The lessons learned from Cuba and the Philippines formed the

basis of American interventions that carried on throughout the twentieth century. American

foreign policy from the interwar period to the Cold War was shaped by these lessons. The actions

of the United States in the twentieth century cannot be fully understood without knowing about

the events surrounding two forgotten wars on opposite sides of the world. They should at least be

remembered for that.

The Birth of American Empire; Spain, the Philippines, and the Debates over Expansion.

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