Manifest Destiny and the expansion of the United States is discussed. The term coined in 1839 referred to America's westward expansion across North America to the Pacific Ocean. The document then discusses how the idea of Manifest Destiny was later applied to expanding U.S. influence and bringing democracy to other parts of the world. It provides context on why the Philippines was a strategic location for the U.S. and discusses the concept of "Benevolent Assimilation" used to justify American control. The document concludes by summarizing an interview where President McKinley defended the annexation of the Philippines, stating they could not be left to themselves and that America had a duty to civilize and Christianize them.

1. Manifest Destiny
GROUP 4 LINE 3

2. Manifest Destiny
 ang tawag paniniwala ng mga amerikano na sila ay
itinadhanang lahi na mahpapalaganap ng kanilang
sibilisaysyon sa mundo.

4. Manifest Destinyis the idea that the United States was
“destined” to spread across the North American continent from the
edge of the Atlantic to and through the Pacific Ocean. The term,
coined in 1839, was the motivation for the westward expansion of
America through the Great Plains and into what is now California. As
America continued to grow (in power as well as geographically), it’s
definitions of Manifest Destiny were altered. The United States
continued to expand its borders, but with the idea now of bringing
democracy, peace and civilization to all parts of the world.

5.  The Philippines was a likely candidate for a number of
reasons, the largest being that the archipelago is situated
in such a way in relation to other powerful nations (such
as Japan and China) that would allow commerce
between these countries and, perhaps more importantly,
in the case of conflict with these powerful nations, a
strategic warfare position.

6.  These motives were of course candy-coated under the veil of being the
bringer of civilization and peace to the uncivilized natives of the
Philippines. The notion of “Benevolent Assimilation” of 1898 was issued by
the United States in regards to the Philippines. In the original statement,
the United States clearly were attempting to overtake the Philippines in
terms of political control. The statement was sent to General Otis, the U.S.
military commander in the Philippines, which was then censored by Otis
and sent to Aguinaldo. The censored version removed any mentions of
rule by the United States.
 “Our little brown brothers” would need “fifty or one hundred years” of
close supervision “to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political
principles and skills.” “Filipinos are moved by similar considerations to
those which move other men.” - William Howard Taft to President
McKinley

7. Manifest Destiny, Continued: McKinley
Defends U.S. Expansionism

8. James Fowler Rusling
(1834-1918)
 Birth: April 14, 1834; Washington,Warren
County, New Jersey
 Death: April 1, 1918 (age 83); Trenton, New
Jersey
 Military Service: USA, 1861-67
 Unit: 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, 2nd
Division of III Corps, Volunteer Army, 3rd Corps
Quartermaster

9. William McKinley
 25th President of the United States
 Born -January 29, 1843
Niles, Ohio, U.S.
 Died - September 14, 1901 (aged 58)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
 Resting place - McKinley National Memorial
Canton, Ohio
 Political party – Republican
 Spouse(s) - Ida Saxton
 Children - Katherine, Ida (both died in early
childhood)
 Profession – Politician
 Religion – Methodism

10. Manifest Destiny, Continued: McKinley Defends U.S.
Expansionism
 In 1899 Americans divided sharply over whether to annex the Philippines.
Annexationists and anti-annexationists, despite their differences, generally agreed
that the U.S. needed opportunities for commercial expansion but disagreed over
how to achieve that goal. Few believed that the Philippines themselves offered a
crucial commercial advantage to the U.S., but many saw them as a crucial way
station to Asia. “Had we no interests in China,” noted one advocate of annexation,
“the possession of the Philippines would be meaningless.” In the Paris Peace
negotiations, President William McKinley demanded the Philippines to avoid giving
them back to Spain or allowing a third power to take them. One explanation of his
reasoning came from this report of a delegation of Methodist church leaders. The
emphasis on McKinley’s religious inspiration for his imperialist commitments may have
been colored by the religious beliefs of General James Rusling. But Rusling’s account
of the islands, falling unbidden on the U.S., and the arguments for taking the islands
reflect McKinley’s official correspondence on the topic. McKinley disingenuously
disavowed the U.S. military action that brought the Philippines under U.S. control, and
acknowledged, directly and indirectly, the equally powerful forces of racism,
nationalism, and especially commercialism, that shaped American actions.

11.  Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would
like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized
a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t
want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I
did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out
Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to
capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated,
he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were
victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and
California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it!
But that was as far as I thought then.

12.  When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not
know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as
Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon;
then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night
until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my
knees and prayed 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 and Germany—our 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 was; and (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 then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and
slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department
(our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States
(pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will
stay while I am President!

13. Source:
 General James Rusling, “Interview with President William
McKinley,” The Christian Advocate 22 January 1903, 17.
Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm
Shalom, eds., The Philippines Reader (Boston: South End
Press, 1987), 22–23.

14. END.
TGBTG.

15. Readings in Philippine History
University of Makati
Collage of Broadcast & Digital Arts
G4L8
Members
Guib, Christian
Ipan, Donnie Ray C.
Tolentino, Kim Jerald
Prof. Tessie Calubaquib Tapiador - Sagradraca