How would you feel if a natio took your freedom? That how the Philippines felt when they were in the Spanish rule. Freedom was taken away from the Philippines by the Spanish and the US wanted to liberate them. In 1898, the US successfully won a war against Spain to liberate the Philippines and Cuba. The victory made the US suddenly the major world power. The US liberated Cuba, but the Philippines was another matter. The Filipinos wanted their independence, but the United States decided to hold on to the islands.The US had to make a hard decision on weather to the Philippines annexed or not. (Annexed means to add (territory) to one's own territory by appropriation). In the end, the US did make the right decision. The Philippines should be annexed…show more content… Other countries such as Germany or France could have easily taken because of the lack of government in the Philippines or would have been easily taken again by Spain. Germany and other countries like, it then had a chance to expand their empires even more. According to William McKinley, “We could not turn them over to France and Germany- our commercial rivals in the Orient- that would be bad business and discreditable” (Doc C). Furthermore, if the Philippines were not ready to govern themselves, it would have been unwise to let them fall into the hands of a country that would treat them badly or the competition of the United States. Another reason is that the United States wanted some type of power. Other countries like Germany or France were expanding their empire and expanding their armies. If the U.S. annexed the Philippines, would have a great opportunity to gain some power and expand the empire by showing more power and…show more content… Also, another country could take the Philippines under their power or the Philippines could have been easily taken over again by Spain. Also, Philippines need protection and education from the US. The Philippines are not the only that benefit also the United States because they can open trade ports for various goods and services and broadened business interests or use their resources and land to expand their empire. The location of the Philippines is convenient to the
