Essay: To What Extent Did US Imperialism in the Philippines Affect Military Ties?

A. Identification and Evaluation of Sources
The purpose of this investigation is to answer the question, “To what extent did American imperialism in the Philippines affect our military ties in 1900-1950?” Back in the early 1900’s the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish American war and in the Treaty of Paris Spain gave the  Philippines to America. Two important sources that could potentially help one find the answer to the question include the third article of the Treaty of Paris which helped start all the future events, The second source is “Old Frenemies: A Timeline of US-Philippine Relations”,
an article written by Catherine A Traywick, which has an ample amount of knowledge on the subject.
Source A
This source is the third article of the treaty of Paris. This treaty was made in 1898 and signed by multiple parties and  ending the Spanish American war. The value of this document is that it clearly states the terms of post Spanish American War and what the US would gain because of it. The document shows the beginning of conflict between the United States and the Philippines. It clearly states that America now had control of the the Philippine islands since they were under Spain’s control. It helped set the future between countries without actually expressing in detail of what the future would hold other than control. The limitation is that in the source it’s not clearly stated the outcomes of the treaty just what was included on paper. This document is also just a set of rules with not much context. This all happened while the Philippines had no say in being imperialized.
Source B
This source is from an article written in 2014 by  Catherine A Traywick, a historian and author. The article lists facts about the history between the United States and the Philippine islands, It would be helpful because it lists many facts that are historically accurate, and it can provide a good amount of knowledge on the topic of interest. The timeline includes all major events that took place between 1900 and the 1960’s. She also used quotes from books and civilians that had opinions on America at certain time periods. The problem with the article is that it’s not a primary source and taken from a website so it’s not as official as other potential sources. This was written for people that want knowledge on the Philippines and the US relations. Overall it’s a strong resource that gives helpful information.
Word count: 415
B. Investigation
As of right now the Philippines and America are on equal terms, but it hasn’t always been that way. Before 1898 the Philippines had almost nothing to do with the United States other than similar trade partners. At this time the United States was very focused on imperialising and was fighting Spain over control of countries that Spain had control over. The war lasted for a couple of months and since Spain lost the war, between them and the United States, they had the right to give over the control of the Philippines. This was the start of conflict.
In the 1900’s the Philippines already disliked being under the rule of another country and wanted independence due to their nationalistic pride. But since the Philippines was a small third world country with a small and undeveloped military they couldn’t have a successful revolution. With Spain losing the war it was a possibility that the Filipino people thought they could have independence, and they did but that’s not how it felt for the people that live there. They were free from Spanish rule but not completely free from under rule of another country. Instead the Treaty of Paris, the article which officially declared the end of the Spanish American war, stated the United States had possession of the Philippine islands. Since the Filipinos were already angry from Spain, this caused the people of the Philippines to revolt against America. Officially they declared their independence, but the Treaty of Paris only handed ownership to a less ruthless country. As stated through the beginning of the first sentence of the article, “Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands”(1 “Mickenley”). In this article it also states that the United States were to pay twenty million dollars to Spain for complete ownership of the country of the Philippines. The Spanish American War itself made the United States slightly weaker, due to all that it brought upon. So then America wasn’t prepared to enter into another war. The Philippines was outraged with the fact that they were not free and declared war against the United States .
In 1899 the United States and the Philippines already had growing tension between them. There were many Filipinos that fought and lost their lives during the course of the Spanish American War just to lose more later on to a country they hated. The Philippines was already attacking the US and rejecting the treaty that had already been signed. In February of 1899 the two countries officially declared war against each other. This started the Philippine-American war. It lasted for three years as compared to the three months the Spanish American war took, the Philippines wasn’t planning on losing their land. In this timeframe from 1899-1902 there were a total of 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and disease.(Espiritu) All of these stats combined are about 3 times as many as the actual Spanish American war was. The United States lost 2,910 and 10,650 Cubans died as well. The opposite side of the fight lost 3,560 spanish and 10,000 Filipinos. The Philippines showed their determination through it all but in the end the United States won. There was a treaty that was made that granted the Philippines rights. This was passed as a bill known as the Philippine Bill of 1902. The bill stated that the Philippines would secede from the fight, comply in a census, and continue peace together(Dolan). The United States had to comply to a Bill of Rights for the Philippines, 2 members to represent the Philippines in the United States Congress, a civil governor, and the establishment of a Philippine assembly. The positive outcome for the Philippines is that the US didn’t try to have a huge presence there which made the people that lived in the Philippines happy (Traywick). Another purpose that the Filipinos served to the US was an area to help with trade and give supplies when necessary for a moment of time.
Eventually in the future there was a law that was passed to help correct the previous bill. This was called the Philippine Autonomy Act. This acted as somewhat of a constitution of the Philippines. The law, in short, was to help make the country more free. The law was similar to the United States form of government (Dolan). The law made the Philippines the Commonwealth of the Philippines. This meant that the Philippines was a free country  but still part of the United States, as they had an alliance and a close connection. While this angered some Filipinos, overall there wasn’t too much conflict between the countries for years. Not much happened for awhile until world war 2.
In the early 1940s the Philippines was invaded by Japan. The US helped aid but it wasn’t enough and they didn’t want to get too involved with the war already happening. But, unfortunately for Japan, Pearl Harbor got attacked by the Japanese thus forcing America to join the war. Since the Philippines was so close to other eastern asian countries  America realized that they would have a strategical advantage. So then America tried to help and get involved with getting the Japanese out of the Philippines. They were successful and due to that the United States now had helped fix the political tension between the two countries. Since there was trust the Philippines allowed bases to be built within their country. This could have given the allies what they needed to help advance the war to the end. With more people aiding the allied forces and a closer point to the war itself, the war was won. With the Philippines already being so close to Japan this gave the allies a closer place to keep military. And then they were close in 1945 the US could get to Iwo Jima and defeat Japan which was a key point in the war. This made Japan less of a threat. With Japan suppressed the Allies won the war.
Post world war 2 the United States and the Philippines were close allies. Although they had differences in the past, they fixed their issues. In 1951 the countries signed a mutual defense treaty further strengthening ties. This treaty meant that the countries would help each other if one was to be attacked by a third party (Traywick). This was proven during vietnam when multiple bases and other military outposts were formed. Later the two countries came to an agreement to take remove the previously established bases. Although the physical military presence in the Philippines wasn’t as strong as before, it was still there as the US came to aid when there was conflict within the country.
Words: 1,143
C. Reflection
Overall, answering the question, “to what extent did US imperialism affect tensions between them and the Philippines” was difficult. Finding resources that would help answer this question proved rigorous. The primary sources were challenging to find due to the fact that not many officials and popular people stated their opinions on how United States imperialism affected their lives. Finding opinions on a topic that isn’t too popularized and known to most can prove to be difficult but worth when the outcome of the investigation that is unique.
History is a far different subject than math and science. In math, for example, one already has the equations and the formulas already set out to solve. While both are very trying tasks a historian is not simply given the sources and answers to complete an investigation on a unique topic. Math is solving a problem while history is meant to teach those about certain specific events. Science is different in it’s own way because it is already solved and one only has to translate that. While in history one has to actually search for the answers from multiple sources to prove the point of the investigation.
It was a challenging experience but fortunately I found valuable sources that guided me through the entire paper. The sources could only take one so far, but the author of the investigation must continue stating factual evidence while maintaining the interest of the reader. The overall investigation was very eye opening because the battles that took place and the intervention and aid the philippines offered during World War 2 is something that is not explored in the classroom hardly ever. I learned about the strategies to write a historical investigation and the strategies in war, which this paper felt like at times.
Words: 300
D. Bibliography
Espiritu, Yen L. Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries. N.p.: U of California, 2003. Print.
Mckinley “Paris, Treaty of (1898).” Dictionary of American History.
Ronald E. Dolan, ed. Philippines: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991
Traywick, Catherine A. “Old Frenemies: A Timeline of US-Philippine Relations.” Foreign Policy. N.p., 29 Apr. 2014. Web.
Woolf, Christopher. “Here’s the Backstory on Why the US Has Such Close Ties to the Philippines.” Public Radio International. N.p., n.d. Web.