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Sh..fr,." j../y13. 18911.T hefirstbarrlcoftheSpauish-cA mcricanWarwas
foughtin t hePhilipp in es.Amer icanwarshipssan ka
Spanishfleett hatwasanchoredth ere. Aleww eek s
laterAmericansold iersoccupiedManila. the chief
city in the Ph ilip p ines .andSpanishresistan cecam eto
anend.
Ameri can soldiersalsolandedIIICuba.In lessthan
twow eek so f fighting.t heSpanishwereagain
defea ted .Oth er AmericansoldiersoccupiedPuerto
Rico. anot he rSpanish-ownedislan dclo setoCuba.
In J u ly the Spanishgovernmentsawit w asb ea te n.
lr asked the A merican s for peace.
When peacew assig ned.Spaingavemost o f its
o verse asempire to th e U n itedSla tes- Cub a. th e
Philippin es. Pu ert o Rico andasmall Pacific islan d
calledGuam. Atth e sameti metheU n i ted St ate salso
annexedH aw ai i. H aw aiiw asa g roup of isla nd sin th e
middleofth e Pac ifi cOcean. Bef o re th is it hadbeen
in depen de nt .butA m er icansown ed p ro fit ablesu ga r
andpin eap pleplan tations th ere.
In lesst han a yeartheU n ited Statesh adbecomea
colonialpow er. w ith millions o f non-Americans
underits ru le. Some A m erica ns wereworried by
this.After all.th ey .too. hadonceb ee n a colo nial
peo ple. In rebelling againstBriti sh ru let hey had
claimed t hatcol o ni alpeopless ho u ldbefr eetorule
them selves. Sowhat abo utt h e Cuba n s? An dwhat
ab o u tth e Filipino s?Fili pino swho hadfou ghtfo r
indepen den ce fro mSpa inweresoonfigh tingagainst
Amer ican occupation t roops.Ilo w cou ld American s
fight ag ainstsuchpeoplewithoutbeingunfaith fulto
t hem o st im portanttr adi tion san dvalueso f t heirown
count r y?86MostAmerica nsansweredth is questionbyclaim in g
thatth eywerep reparing underdevelopednationsfor
civiliza tio nandd em o cr acy ."I'mproudofm y
count ry. " said a Metho d istm ini st erinNew
Englan d ."patie ntlyteachingpeopletogovern
th em selves andto enjoyth e blessingsofaChristian
Civilizat io n. Surelyt hisSpanish warhasnotb eena
g rab fo r empire.b u t anheroic efforttofreeth e
oppressed andto teach millionsofignoraru.debased
h uman beings ho w tolive. "
T here wassometruthintheclergyman'sclaim.T he
A mericans bu ilt schoolsandhosp ita ls.construct ed
road s,providedpure wate rsupp liesandpman end
to killer diseaseslike mala riaandyellowfeverin the
landstheynowruled .Theycontinuedtorulemo stof
themuntilth e m id dle yearso f t he century .T h e
Philip pin es beca me an inde pen dentcoum r yin 1946.
ln1l,l53PuertoRicobecamesel f-govern ing.b ut
conti nu ed to b e closel ytiedtot he U ni tedSta res .In
1959 I I awaiiwasadmin cdasth efiftiethsta teofthe
Union.
Cuba w ast re ated d iff e rentl y .WhenC ongress
declared war o n Spain in18CJ8 it saidth atit wason ly
doing sotohelpt heCubanpeopletoWill
independence.When t he war ende d.CubawasSOOIl
decl aredanind ep endentcountry.Bu t fo r yearsCuba'sind ependen cew asJlISt a
p ret en se.Befo ret he A merican stookawayth eir
so ldi er sin!1)02th eymadet heCubangovernment
g rvcth emland atG u anranam oBayon the Cuban
coast. A bigA meri cannavalbaseW;lSbui lt th ere.
T heC ubansalsohad toacceptacondit io ncalled the
PlattA m endm ent .T h issaidt hatth e U ni tedSta tes