Teritorial Decisions Made by the US regarding the Phillipeans

The decisions made by the US regarding the Philippines were not easy ones by any means. The US had to take into consideration many points of view. European powers, the American people, the people of the Philippines and the commercial well being of the country all had to be taken into consideration when judging the fate of the Philippines. It is believed that the US's plan of action regarding the Philippines was a plan deficient in many respects the biggest of which was that regarding whether to give the Philippines its sovereignty.

The US made many mistakes when deciding what to do with the Philippines but none of which compared to the idea that it would be best for all to annex the Philippines. At this point in US history it would be easy to see that the key to imperialism in this time period would be an extremely modern and strong navy; the US navy was neither of these things.

United States

United States

Provinces and regions of the Philippines

Looking back on the decision to try and hold on to the territory it can be seen as a foolish one. The US could not have hoped to control or exert and type of major influence on the islands from ten thousand miles away no matter how "noble" the intensions. Even in World War 2 the US would only be able to regain control of the Philippines and neighboring islands after an aggressive military campaign. If US was so concerned with not letting the European powers gain control of the Philippines then after we paid the twenty million dollars to the Spanish we should have set up an interim government and removed all but the most minimal military presence.

To some up, the US was too imperialistic in its decision to try and control the Philippines. The Philippines...