Manifest Destiny

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Manifest Destiny ang tawag paniniwala ng mga amerikano na sila ay

itinadhanang lahi na mahpapalaganap ng kanilang

sibilisaysyon sa mundo.

Manifest Destiny is the idea that the United States was “destined” to spread across the North American continent from the edge of the Atlantic to and through the Pacific Ocean. The term, coined in 1839, was the motivation for the westward expansion of America through the Great Plains and into what is now California. As America continued to grow (in power as well as geographically), it’s definitions of Manifest Destiny were altered. The United States continued to expand its borders, but with the idea now of bringing democracy, peace and civilization to all parts of the world.

The Philippines was a likely candidate for a number of reasons, the largest being that the archipelago is situated in such a way in relation to other powerful nations (such as Japan and China) that would allow commerce between these countries and, perhaps more importantly, in the case of conflict with these powerful nations, a strategic warfare position.

These motives were of course candy-coated under the veil of being the bringer of civilization and peace to the uncivilized natives of the Philippines. The notion of “Benevolent Assimilation” of 1898 was issued by the United States in regards to the Philippines. In the original statement, the United States clearly were attempting to overtake the Philippines in terms of political control. The statement was sent to General Otis, the U.S. military commander in the Philippines, which was then censored by Otis and sent to Aguinaldo. The censored version removed any mentions of rule by the United States.

“Our little brown brothers” would need “fifty or one hundred years” of close supervision “to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills.” “Filipinos are moved by similar considerations to those which move other men.” - William Howard Taft to President McKinley

Manifest Destiny, Continued: McKinley Defends U.S.

Expansionism

James Fowler Rusling (1834-1918)

Birth:  April 14, 1834; Washington,Warren County, New Jersey

Death:  April 1, 1918 (age 83); Trenton, New Jersey

Military Service: USA, 1861-67

Unit: 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, 2nd Division of III Corps, Volunteer Army, 3rd Corps Quartermaster

William McKinley 25th President of the United States

Born -January 29, 1843Niles, Ohio, U.S.

Died - September 14, 1901 (aged 58)Buffalo, New York, U.S.

Resting place - McKinley National MemorialCanton, Ohio

Political party – Republican

Spouse(s) - Ida Saxton

Children - Katherine, Ida (both died in early childhood)

Profession – Politician

Religion – Methodism

Manifest Destiny, Continued: McKinley Defends U.S. Expansionism

In 1899 Americans divided sharply over whether to annex the Philippines. Annexationists and anti-annexationists, despite their differences, generally agreed that the U.S. needed opportunities for commercial expansion but disagreed over how to achieve that goal. Few believed that the Philippines themselves offered a crucial commercial advantage to the U.S., but many saw them as a crucial way station to Asia. “Had we no interests in China,” noted one advocate of annexation, “the possession of the Philippines would be meaningless.” In the Paris Peace negotiations, President William McKinley demanded the Philippines to avoid giving them back to Spain or allowing a third power to take them. One explanation of his reasoning came from this report of a delegation of Methodist church leaders. The emphasis on McKinley’s religious inspiration for his imperialist commitments may have been colored by the religious beliefs of General James Rusling. But Rusling’s account of the islands, falling unbidden on the U.S., and the arguments for taking the islands reflect McKinley’s official correspondence on the topic. McKinley disingenuously disavowed the U.S. military action that brought the Philippines under U.S. control, and acknowledged, directly and indirectly, the equally powerful forces of racism, nationalism, and especially commercialism, that shaped American actions.

Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.

When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!

Source:

General James Rusling, “Interview with President William McKinley,” The Christian Advocate 22 January 1903, 17. Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, eds., The Philippines Reader (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 22–23.

END.

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