The conquest of the Philippines by the United States, 1898-1925

This book has been prepared in order to lay before the people of the United States the facts relating to the conquest of the Philippines.

The government of the United States rests upon the self-evident truths that “all men are created equal,” that is, with equal political rights, and that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” or, in the words of Abraham Lincoln,—“No man is good enough to govern another without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle—the sheet anchor of American republicanism.”

As if anticipating what would be said in justification of the policy in the Philippines, the same great American said: “These arguments that are made that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying, that as much is to be done for them as their condition will allow,—what are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have made for the enslaving of the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all the arguments of kingcraft were always of this class: they always bestrode the necks of the people—not because they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden.... Turn it every way you will,—whether it come from the mouth of a king as an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race,—it is the same old serpent.”

In 1898 every good American believed in the principles thus announced and in recognition of this belief President McKinley in his message to Congress urging the declaration of war against Spain used these words: “I speak not of forcible annexation for that under our code of morals is criminal aggression.”

To emphasize this principle and to remove all doubt as to the purpose of the United States the Senate on April 20 passed the so-called Teller Resolution declaring that “the people of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independent,” and that “the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island (of Cuba) except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and control of the Island to its people.”

How happens it that with these convictions and these high purposes the United States proceeded to conquer the Philippine Islands and to hold them for more than twenty-five years against the will of their people?

President McKinley assured his fellow-countrymen that “our priceless principles undergo no change under a tropical sun.” How happened it that they did change?

It is the purpose of this volume to answer these questions and to show how the American people were led by false statements and systematic suppression of truth to believe that the Islands came into their possession “unsought by the fortune of war,” and that, in consequence, they became responsible for the government of the Filipinos in the effort to fit them for independence, and that they have since been governed wholly for their own benefit and not for America’s, while as a matter of fact their conquest and retention were due to the influence of a comparatively few men who, caring nothing for American principles or the interests either of the Filipinos or their own countrymen, have sought to make money for themselves at the expense of both.

It will become apparent that this policy has not been approved by the people of the United States nor their representatives in Congress with full knowledge of the facts, but has been devised and carried through by the Executive in the exercise of usurped powers. Today the same influences are at work seeking to prevent the fulfillment of the promise made in the Jones Bill and to make permanent the retention of the Philippine Islands because a few Americans wish to make money. It has even been urged that the United States should deny the Filipinos independence because some of the Islands are well-adapted to the cultivation of India rubber, and the question is whether America’s “priceless principles” and solemn promise shall be abandoned in order to make rubber cheaper.

The people of the United States must indeed be blind if with the history of Ireland before them, they believe that the Filipino nation will continue to submit and regard with placid indifference this cynical repudiation of our national promises and national principles. The weapons which labor now uses against its fellow-countrymen at home are quite as effective abroad and will be used.

Not in the interest of the Filipinos only, therefore, but far more in the interest of the United States, should the control of the Philippine Islands be abandoned. Well did Lincoln say, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it,” and well did Whittier say the same thing in the lines: