• Isolationism - This is the most important idea in early American foreign
policy. The US wanted to be left alone. The worlds problems were not ours.
We also had a continent to fill up. American's viewed their nation as the
best and didn't see a reason to get involved with the rest of the world.
• City on a Hill - This idea strengthened the isolation theme. American's
saw themselves as a "City upon a hill..." We were the most just and perfect
nation. If we just did our wonderful thing, the rest of the world could watch
us and learn from our example. A particularly puritan program.
• Manifest Destiny - The United States is destined to grow. It is our right
and our duty to stretch from "sea to shining sea."
• National Security - This has always been a goal in US foreign policy. We
need to make sure that our actions keep us safe. We need to be sure that no
country is in a position to invade us or do us damage.
• Free Trade - Trade and Commerce - The US is a trading nation. The strength
of our economy requires that we be able to trade freely with all other countries
that we want to trade with. We cannot allow any other country to challenge
our ability to trade.
• No Entangling Alliances - This is a part of the isolation theme. The US
should make no agreements with other countries that could get us into trouble.
We can take care of our own protection and we have no need of anyone's help.
Therefore, the US should not agree to help anyone else. That could just lead
to war. It could also harm our ability to trade at will.
• Monroe Doctrine - The US will allow no other countries to set up colonies
anywhere in North, South, or Central America. European countries in particular
monarchies were not allowed into the Americas. Those colonies that were already
in the Americas as of 1823 (The Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo, Cuba and
Puerto Rico, British Honduras, and the Guianas), the US didn't bother. Monroe
also said that the US would not interfere in European politics.
• The Roosevelt Corollary - An addition to the Monroe doctrine that said that
the US had the right to act as the police in the Americas. If a nation refused
to pay debts or did some other terrible thing, the US could intervene.
• Balance of Power - This is a way to keep anyone from becoming too powerful
in one place. The US tries to make sure that in any region, there are two
nations of equal strength. That way, there is no way that one nation can take
over an entire area. This is important, because if one nation takes over it
could threaten the US or stop trade.
In December of 1898, the United States settled it's war with Spain. In exchange
for $20 million, the US bought Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The
US was unsure about buying the Philippines. President McKinley describes his
reasons for eventually making the purchase:
"The truth is I didn't want the Philippines... I walked the floor of the White
House night after night until midnight... I went down on my knees and prayed
to 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 of Germany, out 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.
(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 I went to sleep and slept soundly." (People's History of the
US, Zinn, p. 305)
The Philipinos did not get the same message from God. By February 1899 they
had risen up against US troops. Emilio Aguinaldo was one of the leaders of
the rebellion. He had originally supported the US in it's war against Spain,
but became angry when the US refused to allow the Philippines to become a
free country. The Philippine rebels were called insurrectos.
The US was willing to fight the war for a number of reasons. We wanted Luzon
Bay as a military and commercial base in Asia. The Philippines were also rich
in natural resources that the US wanted. McKinley's other reason, that we
couldn't let anyone else have them, was also a key. Senator Albert Beveridge
explained US reasons on January 9, 1900:
"The Philippines are ours forever. ...And just beyond the Philippines are
China's illimitable markets. The Pacific is our ocean... The Philippines give
us a base at the door of all the East... No land in America surpasses in fertility
the plains and valleys of Luzon [main island in the Philippines]. Rice and
coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco... The wood of the Philippines
can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come. At Cebu [another
island] the best informed mean of the island told me that there are practically
mountains of coal... I have a nugget of pure gold picked up in its present
form on the banks of a Philippine creek...
My own belief is that there are not 100 men among them who comprehend what
Anglo-Saxon self-government even means, and there are over 5 million people
to be governed.
It has been charged that out conduct of the war has been cruel. Senators,
it has been the reverse... We are not dealing with Americans or Europeans.
We are dealing with Orientals." (The Rhetoric of Empire, Young)
Although powerful people in the US supported the war, many did not think that
we had any reason to deny the Philipinos their independence. Labor unions
were usually against the war. Men as diverse as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie
also fought US involvement.
It took the US three years to crush the insurrection. The insurrectos had
the support of the Philippine people, so they were hard to beat. The US had
to send in 70,000 troops to deal with the rebellion. This was four times as
many troops as the US had used in taking Cuba just a few years before. Because
of combat and disease, US troops suffered 7,000 thousand casualties. The insurrectos
suffered 16,000 to 20,000 thousand casualties. Possibly a quarter of a million
civilians also died in the struggle. Many were victims of disease and starvation
as well as violence. (America: The Glorious Republic, Graff, p.523)
A US general describes the war in 1901:
"One-sixth of the natives of Luzon have either been killed or have died of
the Dengue fever in the last few years. The loss of life by killing alone
has been very great, but I think not one man has been slain except where his
death has served the legitimate purposes of war. It has been necessary to
adopt what in other countries would probably be thought harsh measures." (People's
History, p. 308)
A US major court-martialled for killing unarmed men tells a different story:
"The major said that General Smith instructed him to kill and burn, and said
that the more he killed and burned the better pleased he would be; that it
was no time to take prisoners, and that he was to make Samar a howling wilderness.
Major Waller asked General Smith to define the age limit for killing and he
replied "Everything over ten." (People's History, p. 308)
American firepower was completely overwhelming to the insurrectos. Against
Philippine rifles, the US had cannons, navy guns, and well trained soldiers.
The US eventually won and the Colony of the Philippines remained in US hands
until it became independent after World War II.