So my history class's assignment this week was to talk about consequences of American rule in Hawaii and the Philippines and explain if the citizen prospered, enjoyed their freedom, and if they accepted American rule. It was meant to be a 300-ish word response. I think several of my classmates didn't understand the impact the US taking over those nations had as most of my classmates posted how Hawaii and the Philippines did prosper, did enjoy freedom, and did accept American rule. Here is MY reply to the prompt which I think some of you guys on here might not be aware of the history of those two places:
The sovereign nation of Hawaii was ruled by a monarchy until 1893 when Sanford B. Dole (cousin of the founder of the Dole Corporation) staged a coup against Queen Liliuokalani. This coup was supported by the United States and the United States even provided 300 Marines from the U.S cruiser Boston to help with the coup. Most of the Democrats in the US Senate and most Hawaiians did not support the annexation of Hawaii and President Grover Cleveland even sent a new minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to her throne. Dole refused and declared the islands as the independent Republic of Hawaii with him ruling over it. When the Spanish-American war broke out and the naval base at Pearl Harbor was seen as a strategic base, it convinced Congress to approve the annexation. The annexation of Hawaii allowed the United States to gain possession and control of all ports, buildings, harbors, military equipment, and public property that had formally belonged to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands. The native Hawaiians suffered massive depopulation, landlessness, Christianization, economic and political marginalization, institutionalization in the military and the prisons, poor health and educational profiles, increasing diaspora. Under US control, they have been overrun by settlers: missionaries and capitalists, adventurers and, of course, hordes of tourists today.
The result of the Spanish-American war was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the United States. It allowed temporary American control of Cuba and indefinite colonial authority over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Spain agreed to essentially sell Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States for a sum of $20 million dollars. After the war, citizens of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba did not prosper. With promises of independence and sovereignty, the Americans gained the cooperation of the Filipinos who were yearning to be free from Spain. President William McKinley used the term “benevolent assimilation” to the American policy of absorbing the Filipinos into their culture out of their magnanimous desire to “civilize” them. The truth was, America valued the Philippines mainly because of economic and strategic reasons. The Philippine-American War waged on between 1899 and 1902. This saw outgunned and out-manned Filipinos fight against a better-armed and better-trained American forces. So no, Filipinos did not prosper under US rule or enjoy their freedom. They fought the US to gain their sovereignty back but failed to do so.