The Spanish American War: America’s Insular Acquisitions
Edward C. Bohling Jr.
History 497
Holly Heatley
January 31, 2011
The Spanish American War: America’s Insular Acquisitions
The war of 1898, which American historians have called the Spanish American War, began with a revolution in Cuba. The Spanish American War transformed America into a colonial power, and the ramifications of that transformation still have an effect on US policy today.
It is the premise of this study that the United States was launched into the business of empire outside the context of the continent, by the acquisition of five insular domains. Three of these domains are incidental to, rather than intentional objectives of the war of 1898. As shall be discovered the primary objective was not that which cost the most in blood and treasure, and a foreboding sense of shame. Nevertheless the events of this era made us who we are as a nation, and once enough men fell in love with the beauties of these islands, added beauty to the complexion of the American persona.
It is not often that Americans connect the annexation of Hawaii with the Spanish American War, however the annexation, or assurance of US Navy fueling, and provisioning rights was central to the task of a Pacific presence for the US Navy.[1] Without that presence Alfred Mahan’s theories of Sea Power would not have prevailed in establishing a foreign policy for the Pacific.[2] Hawaii however was assured as a logical possession before the onset of hostilities with Spain, and as the Secretary of Navy’s report in 1898 stated, it was not formally cemented until after Dewey’s defeat of the Spaniards at Manila Bay.[3]/[4]
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were the islands which were gained as a result of a war with Spain in 1898 which centered on its treatment of Cuba. It was the anxiety over Cuba, and the Americans sympathy with Jose Marti’s (Photo 1) revolution that had propelled the United States, and a weakened antiquated Spain toward war. Not much in the collections of the ebrary system reflect upon Puerto Rico’s pre US colonization, that is not to say that it has not been accomplished elsewhere. Perhaps it requires a visit to Puerto Rico itself. The Pastor of Temple Heights Baptist Church (Tampa, Florida) who was born and resided in Puerto Rico assures that there were indeed heroes and a movement away from Spanish rule, he learned of them in his child hood school days. A search in the Hillsborough County Library system revealed only one volume dedicated to the history of Puerto Rico, this volume required a trip to the Bruton Library in Plant City, Florida. Now, the student will be provided one more significant piece of information regarding the status of the contended properties which would be annexed from Spain.
Guam was different from the other three islands and thus there will be no look into national heroes as with the other three, which is to say that there was nothing to suggest that anyone on Guam was seeking to sever ties with Spain. The Philippines had its own independence movement brewing at the same time as Cuba though they would start seven months apart.[5] Let us look at heroes briefly.
These are the names that have inspired colonial revolts against Spain, which in effect made the US war effort somewhat easier, Jose Marti (Photo 1), Jose Rizal (Photo 2) Ramon Betances (Photo 3) and Emilio Aguinaldo (Photo 4). Jose Marti got the ball rolling in Cuba,[6] and Ramon Betances had inspired an ill-fated attempt to take Puerto Rico independent in 1868.[7] Jose Rizal inspired other Filipino Illustrados like Emilio Aguinaldo, but unlike the other 3 he was not searching for independence and would have nothing to do with Emilio Aguinaldo’s Katipunan movement.[8] Emilio Aguinaldo is considered a hero for defeating the Spanish garrisons on land after Dewey’s victory over the Spanish fleet, and for declaring war on the United States, when neither Spain nor the United States recognized the Philippine Republic.[9] It was Rizal’s martyrdom that informed the Katipunan movement that there was no other choice to address Filipino grievances except complete revolution.[10] Marti and Betances had both experienced exile due to their opposition to Spaniard oppression. Betances had been exiled to Madrid, and was freed to travel to Santo Domingo.[11] Marti had been exiled to Madrid,[12] and eventually returned to Cuba after 15 years in New York City’s Coney Island.[13] Marti would eventually die in combat against Spanish forces on May 19th 1895.[14] There is an irony which connects our heroes, Rizal was actually on the way to Cuba as a doctor in the Spanish army to put down the rebellion there before he was arrested and returned to Manila to face death by a firing squad.[15] Ramon Betances also was in league with Jose Marti in his fight on Cuba, both men sought to create a United Antilles out of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Santa Domingo.[16] Aguinaldo had no connection with Cuba.
It would be safe to say that Cuba was a pretext to empire. The Spanish authorities governing Cuba made the mistake of engaging in tyranny. The developing unrest on the Island which was only 90 miles from America’s shore fell under the guiding theory of the Monroe doctrine, which sought to bring all of the Americas under the watchful eye of the United States. The resulting war with Spain began in 1898; however the roots of the war began in 1892 when Jose Marti established the Revolutionary Party in Cuba. Within seven months of this time, the path to revolution was being developed in the Philippines.[17] Cuba was a source of anxiety which propelled the United States toward what many have said was an imperialistic nature driven by manifest destiny.
What then is manifest destiny? According to Walter Nugent, America’s manifest destiny began to be spelled out in the 1782 Treaty of Paris which recognized the United States as the victor in the war of independence from British rule.[18] It is Nugent’s view that the 1782 Treaty launched the United States on its habit of empire building, and that the nation is what it is as a result of some underhanded dealings.[19] According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, manifest destiny was the 19th century doctrine that the United States had the duty and right to expand throughout the North American continent.[20] When looking at what manifest destiny was, it may be concluded that the concept grew or evolved throughout the nation’s history.
One hundred ten years after the United States had been recognized as an independent nation, the rumblings of revolution were being raised in Cuba. It was at this point on January 5th 1892 that Jose Marti established his Cuban Revolutionary Party.[21] Marti was an intellectual and somewhat of a philosopher. Marti’s experience in Europe was confined to Madrid where he was exiled for his opposition to colonial rule.[22] Marti would spend 15 years of his life in New York City in the Coney Island area. Marti did not die a martyr’s death; he was born on January 28, 1853 and died in battle fighting Spain in Cuba on May 19th 1895.[23] If Oscar Montero is to be understood, Marti may be seen somewhat as the father of Latino nationalism. Coney Island may be viewed as an experience which developed Marti’s sense of liberty. The democracy of the United States would have an impact on Marti’s desire to remove Cuba from the orbit of Spanish despotism; however Carlos Ripoll relates that Marti had no desire to see Cuba fall under the domain of the United States.[24]
There is some irony with the study of Marti’s movement. While Jose Marti was raising the argument against Spain’s unfair rule of Cuba, another man who had become the hero of the Philippine independence movement, though he never sought it, accepted employment as a doctor in the Spanish Army bound for Cuba. The man is known to us as Jose Rizal. Rizal never made it to his duties in Cuba, while enroute from Manila he was arrested, and extradited back to Luzon.[25] False accusers (against their will) connected Rizal to the Katipunan, a secret underground organization of Illustrados seeking to gain independence from Spain. Rizal was imprisoned in Ft Santiago, placed on trial without being allowed to confront his accusers, and was sentenced to death. On December 30, 1896 Rizal was executed by firing squad at Bagumbayan field. Rizal had denounced the Katipunan, not wishing to gain independence from Spain; his aspirations sought only equality with Spaniards and recognition by the Spanish Parliament of the Philippines as a legitimate province.[26] The Spanish governor of the Philippines, General Ramon Blanco y Eranas did not wish to make Rizal’s death an incident of martyrdom, and sought to prevent the execution, but Blanco had been over ruled by the friars who had petitioned the Spanish regent who sent a new governor, General Camilio Garcia de Polavieja. It was Rizal’s martyrdom that enflamed the revolutionary fervor of the Katipunan, and convinced them that no other course of action except complete independence could resolve their grievance with Spain.[27] Today a monument in the Luneta celebrating Jose Rizal marks the location where Rizal met his end. The Luneta is a large public park which may be compared with the Central Park of New York City or the Grant Park in Chicago.
Oddly enough Jose Rizal never saw the same qualities in the US that Jose Marti came to admire. When travelling to Europe, Rizal transited the United States by train from the west coast to the east coast before boarding a steam ship to Spain. What Rizal saw disturbed him. It was the racial discord that disturbed him the most. Since Rizal was a person of color he felt some of the same discord as black Americans did, he could not fathom how such a land of supposed liberty could harbor such stifling racial policies.[28]
Cuba and the Philippines were disparate colonies under Spanish rule. The flames of independence were born in relatively the same time period although their call to arms were seven months apart.[29] Cuba was seen by the Spanish court as a rebellious child, however the Philippines was treated as if it were an illegitimate heir not deserving of Spain’s blessing. According to Paul Kramer the Spaniard’s did not even accord much esteem on the mestizos of Spanish and indio heritage, deferring more prestige upon the mestizos of Chinese and indio mixture, though the Chinese mestizos were more heavily taxed. The majority of the Manila Illustrados seeking an equal footing with other Spanish colonies were of the Chinese mixture.[30]
To better understand Cuban and Philippine disparities the racial makeup of the two possessions must be taken into account. So too must the Spanish courts view of the world throughout the reign of its empire. Cuba had three Amerindian tribes when Columbus set foot there in 1492. These native groups were decimated by Spanish cruelty and by disease and so these peoples have had no input on the development of Cuba throughout the modern age.[31] Most of the history of what is thought of Cuba therefore relates to the Creoles and Africans that were brought in to work the tobacco and sugar fields. The Creoles are referenced as Spaniards born in Cuba.[32] According to Clifford Staten, the major reason of discord between the Creoles of Cuba and Spain was the practice of installing Peninsulares in authority over the Spaniards born on the island. The Peninsulares were Spaniards born in Spain as part of the peerage system, who normally were posted to official duties in New Spain (Mexico) before being sent to the backwater of Cuba[33] It is this factor which most certainly influenced Jose Marti’s reasoning for revolution.
In contrast the Philippines had not seen its populace decimated by military conquest or disease. The explorer Ferdinand Magellan who claimed the islands for Spain met his end by a tribal chieftain, or Datu, named Lapu-Lapu. This occurred on what is now known as Mactan Island which is part of the Special District of Cebu. Catholicism had been introduced to the indios of Mactan when Magellan befriended a Datu named Humabon. When the Spaniard Legaspi called on Cebu in 1565 a small idol of the Christ child known as El Nino was found in the sands of a village. This find by the soldados in company with Legaspi gave rise to the belief that the indios (The Spaniards who saw the Filipino natives, believed that they were the same peoples which they saw in the America’s, and that is how the Filipinos came to be called Indians, in reality the peoples are different. Filipinos are mainly of Malay extraction.), had accepted the Christian God .Christianity had survived, or so it was thought. Although there was some bloodshed on the part of Legaspi and his troops, the primary means of conquest of the Philippines was via the monks.[34]
When investigating the contrasts of Cuba and the Philippines it does become clear that the alleged jingoists whom urged war with Spain did so while the two colonies were taxing Spain’s resolve. According to Stanley Karnow, Spain’s rise and fall took place within King Phillip II’s reign.[35] This fear of Spanish weakness had fueled the proponents of Manifest Destiny. Cuba was such an important part of the United States economy particularly that of New England, that the era’s thinkers were concerned that Spain may lose control completely and that another foreign power would assume the control of Cuba.[36]
The United States populace believed that it was going to war with Spain in order to aide Cuba’s freedom from an Old World tyranny. The USS Maine (Photo 5) was in Havana to instill confidence in the rebels that the United States was there for them. There has been speculation over the actual cause of the Maine’s destruction, it is however the incident which some would say was an excuse, that sparked the war with Spain.[37] A New York Times article depicting the event does not provide the reporters name; there is no bi-line. The report conveys that the ship was in port on the orders of Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long who had ordered the ship to visit there on the 24th of January 1898. Long had also ordered ships to visit Mobile and New Orleans for public celebrations in those cities. The report said that an explosion which occurred on the Maine blew out windows in nearby homes, and the surviving sailors had no clue how the ship exploded. A Spanish Naval Vessel the Alfonso had been rendering aid to the survivors.[38]
The official navy record states that the Maine was sent much like a UN mission would be sent to a trouble spot today. In other words the Maine was there to keep the peace and to assuage the fears of Americans conducting business on the island. The ship’s captain, Charles Sigsbee met with the American consul Fitzhugh Lee, who reported that the ships presence seemed to have a calming effect.[39] It should be clear that the Maine was not there on a hostile mission and that it had been granted permission to call on Havana by Spanish government officials. The ship’s captain was so concerned about possible violence that he did not permit his enlisted crew to go ashore.[40]
On February 16th 1898, President McKinley convened a naval court of inquiry to investigate the cause of the Maine’s explosion. In the weeks to follow congress would appropriate fifty million dollars for war preparations, and on March 25, the navy’s investigation revealed that the Maine was the victim of two explosions. It was determined that one of the explosions was caused externally by a submarine device. The administration concluded that only Spain could be held responsible for such an act of deliberate sabotage.[41] On April 21, 1898, President McKinley ordered a naval blockade of Cuba at which point hostilities ensued. On the 25th of April congress declared war on Spain.[42]
America’s memory of the war has focused itself on Dewey’s defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila bay, the heroics at San Juan Hill displayed by Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders and the USS Maine explosion. There were other events that occurred as a result of the war. A naval force had been sent to Hawaii to ensure the annexation of that kingdom for the United States.[43] [44] Further investigation into the record is required to learn that although the pretext for war was the sympathy for Cuba’s rebels and the destruction of the Maine, that there must have been a deliberate plan to take on the weakened Spain. It is with interest that Dewey’s Squadron entered Manila on the 1st of May. True, Dewey’s squadron was in the vicinity of Hong Kong at the time. Emilio Aguinaldo (Photo 2) was in Hong Kong at the time of Dewey’s presence there before hostilities broke out with Spain. He was trying to raise support for his effort against the Spanish in Philippines. Paul Kramer reports Aguinaldo’s intentions of seeking aid and munitions from the American Embassy and having been turned down, Stanley Karnow on the other hand illustrates that American consul Rounsevelle Wildman sought a deal with Aguinaldo which would garner a percentage of largess for himself, if Aguinaldo’s forces were successful in defeating the Spaniards, and if independence were achieved. The State Department snubbed Wildman’s proposal.[45]/[46] Further research reveals that American Consuls of the period had no implied or express authority. Wildman and his counterpart in Singapore were merely show pieces to display the flag.[47] A New York Times Article, dated August 26th 1899, recounts a lawsuit initiated by E. Spencer Pratt against the publisher and authors of a book titled The Philippine Islands. Apparently the authors alleged that statements made by Pratt to Emilio Aguinaldo constituted lawful commitments on the part of the United States, which Pratt had no lawful authority to make. Pratt insisted he never made such statements and the book was damaging his career.[48] Aguinaldo had been in Singapore negotiating with the US Consul E. Spencer Pratt for Philippine Independence. While in Singapore, Aguinaldo attended a number of meetings with US Navy Captain Wood who was acting on behalf of Commodore Dewey. Captain Wood, in the words of Aguinaldo, assured him that the United States was in no need of a colony, and would provide support for Aguinaldo if he returned to oversee ground offensives against the Spaniards. Wood did not offer this support in writing without Dewey’s express permission. Pratt also assured Aguinaldo that he should return to the Philippines, and arranged transport to Hong Kong so that Aguinaldo could meet with Dewey. Dewey’s fleet had already departed when Aguinaldo arrived in Hong Kong.[49] Dewey did arrange with Hong Kong Consul Wildman to have Aguinaldo transported back to the Philippines. Aguinaldo also arranged for Wildman to procure arms for his army. Aguinaldo only received one shipment although he had paid for two.[50] Aguinaldo arrived in May on board a US Navy cruiser in Manila, having been kept at arms-length from Dewey. Dewey did make an alliance with Aguinaldo and supplied his troops with arms and ammunition to take on the Spanish garrison ashore. After this bargain was made Dewey received a message from Secretary of Navy Long not to engage in alliances with insurgents.[51] It is at this point that America showed its two faced side and stabbed the Filipino people in the back, which author William F. Nimmo attributes to a lack of a planned well thought out policy. President McKinley was known to vacillate over the Philippine issue, not really quite sure how to proceed.[52]
|
Jose Marti Photo 1[53] |
Ramon Betances Photo 2[54] |
|
|
Jose Rizal Photo 3[56] |
Emilio Aguinaldo Photo 4[57] |
|
![Description: Emilio Aguinaldo.
[Credit: Brown Brothers]](The%20Spanish%20American%20War%20Americas%20Insular%20Aquisitions%20RD_files/image008.jpg)
Aguinaldo informed his compatriots not to engage against American troops, but to concentrate their hostility toward the Spaniards. Filipino conscripts serving the Spaniards were urged to turn on their Spaniard overlords and not die to preserve a possible Spanish victory. If the Filipinos were to have a chance at independence it would be achieved through a US victory over the Spaniards.[58] To the discredit of the United States the revolutionary government of the Philippines was not recognized as legitimate. Once the war with Spain was settled the sovereign title over what was the Philippine Archipelago was sold to the United States. President McKinley had no idea where the Philippines were located, neither did most Americans.[59] Soon American troops would find themselves in a foreign land covered with jungles in a remote part of the world spilling their blood in order to rob from the Filipinos what they themselves so fervently cherished. It was a land that most Americans did not even want, and a responsibility that many politicians wished to avoid. The victory over the Spaniards in the Philippines which in large measure on land had been won by the forces of Aguinaldo’s army, turned into a war of insurrection that resulted in America’s first Viet Nam experience, and even though the Korean War has been labeled as the forgotten war, few Americans remember the Philippine Insurrection, being content to preserve only Dewey’s victory in the collective memory.[60] Research shows no specific data of how many Americans lost their lives securing the Philippines from the Spaniards, casualties were probably non-existent or very low since Aguinaldo’s forces did most of the fighting. According to the Military Factory website which relies on data from the US Army Military History Institute, four thousand one hundred ninety six American’s died to defeat Aguinaldo’s Philippine Republic Army.[61] Veltisezar Bautista, author of The Filipino Americans From 1763 to the Present, corroborates the previous numbers, and further relates that more than 120,000 American Military personal served in the Philippines from 1899 until April16, 1902 when hostilities were declared to have ceased, about $600 million dollars had been spent on the conflict, which historians now call the Philippine American War. [62] The loss of American lives to defend and then retake the Philippines from Japan in World War II would exceed those that were lost to secure the possession from its people. Author William Nimmo indicates that 2,330 Americans died in the Bataan Death March.[63] The Navy gives figures of 337 regular Navy and 132 Marine Corp personnel killed in action during the Japanese invasion, and states that 4026 sailors along with 132 marines gave their lives to boot the Japanese out.[64] When Douglas MacArthur kept his promise and returned to the Philippines, 2,623 Army personnel died during the Leyte Gulf and Samar Campaign and another 2,676 were lost during the Luzon campaign.[65] It is clear, that of the possessions reaped from the war of 1898, the acquisition of and retention of the Philippines until given independence has been the most costly in blood and treasure.
When media makes an attempt to interpret the Spanish American War most of the hyperbole concerns the exploits of Teddy Roosevelt and his valiant taking of the San Juan Hill with his Rough Riders. Very little is done to explain the campaign in the Philippines with the exception of Dewey’s seemingly brilliant victory over a numerically superior force. Perhaps it is too difficult for many American’s to come to terms with the dark side of it’s past. This author has communicated with Ken Burn’s management group to do a series on the cost of seizing the Philippines from Spain; however the Burn’s group has their plate full. PBS, to its credit aired a documentary on General Douglas MacArthur which illustrates that many of the troops which were called upon to reinforce, and secure Manila had been Indian fighters on the Great Plains, and that some of the commanding officers had been heroes of the Civil War. The most notable of these heroes was the father of the hero which was the documentaries subject, and that the Filipino’s have come to revere, of course, the hero is Arthur MacArthur, father of General Douglas MacArthur.[66]
The troops that served in the Philippines brought home words to their homeland which would be added to the US English lexicon. The popular song, Down in the Boondocks [67] incorporates a word from the Tagalog (bundok[68]) that means the hills or mountains which has come to mean, out in the sticks in the American vernacular. Both uses infer a rural setting.
Today Guam displays tourist info which boasts that America’s Day begins there. While the annexation of Guam may have been part of an overall plan, there is no evidence to suggest that the seizure of that island and Puerto Rico were coordinated efforts. That is to say no force had been allocated to wrest these dominions from Spain all at the same time. In truth forces would not land on Guam except as an ancillary operation to render aid to Dewey in Manila. Yes Dewey had defeated the antiquated Spanish fleet, but he was fearful of possible interventions by the German or Japanese navies. Dewey also did not have the troops to wage land operations, it would become clear that Dewey’s efforts to secure Manila and Luzon rested upon the assistance of Emilio Aguinaldo and his troops.[69]
It took the navy three weeks to send reinforcements from San Francisco. The flotilla was commanded by Captain Henry Glass aboard the USS Charleston in company with three troop transports. It should be noted that there were no support vessels in the company of the Charleston which indicates the importance of Hawaii in the projection of Sea Power. It was Alfred Mahan that suggested to the Navy Board that Guam should be captured to serve the same purpose, that is, as a logistics base in support of the effort in the Philippines. Today, the modern Navy runs on nuclear fuel and Diesel Fuel Marine (DFM), but at that time the fuel was coal. Robert Rogers work on the History of Guam does not tell when the Charleston group left San Francisco; he does give the fourth of June as the date when the group put to sea from Hawaii.[70] When the Glass flotilla had secured from the maneuvering detail, the Captain opened up a sealed telegram from Secretary of the Navy Long instructing his group to capture Guam’s governmental and military officials, and that he should take no more than two days in its prosecution, before proceeding to render aid to Dewey.[71]
Today Guam acts as a fixed Air Craft carrier and still is an important part of US Naval Strategy; it serves as part of the American lake security doctrine for domination of the Pacific Ocean.[72] Guam has taken on more importance since the Navy lost its largest base outside the United States which was located at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Today a foreign power would be hard pressed to take on the US fortress called Guam, but when Captain Glass and his force entered Apra Harbor Guam on the 20th of June 1898, the Spanish Garrison was in no position to resist Captain Glass and his mixture of Army and Marine Corp troops. True to his orders Glass secured Guam for the United States within two days and then proceeded to Manila. The American flag was raised at 2:45 in the afternoon on the 21st of June to officiate US possession of the island; however Captain Glass was not given a firm understanding about US intentions for the island and had the flag lowered to take back aboard ship. Only one man was left to oversee US sovereignty with no troops to enforce the new status. A firm US presence would not be established until the 7th of August 1899 with the arrival of the first US naval governor.[73]
The status of Guam until the latter half of the 20th century was unique for an American territory; in essence it did not enjoy the pre-statehood status of territories on the continent or for that matter the Philippines itself. The Navy governed Guam with the exception of the Japanese occupation until the Organic Act passed by congress in 1950. The territory was overseen by a navy governor from 1899 until 1970 with the exception of the occupation by the Japanese. In 1970 the first civilian governor was elected by popular vote.[74] Guam owes its infrastructure and utilities to the past naval administration. Today those facilities are operated by the Government of Guam, some of the telephone service is owned by a private corporation, the electrical grid and telecommunications on the island were maintained by the US Navy Public works center on the island, even the Piti power plant which now suffers brownouts had been run by the Navy. [75]
At one point in time Guam had been thought of as Americas Gibraltar in the Pacific. Time and American policy has proven this view to be false, even though Guam had been valued for its strategic location, only a token force had been allocated for its defense after the end of the Great War. Unfortunately Guam and other insular US territories in the Pacific, fell victim to America’s naïve policy of disarmament, which to the countries discredit undervalued the maintenance of a professionally trained permanent Army. Logically since the Island was administered by the Navy, ground defense would have fallen to the Marines. The few Marines on the Island were not sufficient to mount a proper defense of the island against the Japanese forces. When the Japanese attacked Guam on December 8, 1941, there were only 153 marines on the island to supplement the 120 strong Insular Guards which had begun with just 9 members in 1901. There were also 274 naval personnel on the island who were typically not trained for land action. The Japanese attacked the island with a force of 5,900. On December 10, just three days after the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Naval Governor surrendered the island to the Japanese at seven o’clock in the morning.[76] On July 21, 1944 the US 3rd Marine Division in company with the Army’s 77th infantry division invaded Guam to retake the territory from its Japanese occupiers. The two divisions numbered about 20,000 close to four times the number of Japanese that attacked the island in 1941. Americans lost 1500 men retaking the island at a cost of 3500 Japanese lives. [77] Today there is a sizeable military presence on Guam of nearly 7,000 which includes Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force, Army, and Army reserve with National Guard personnel.[78] Apra Harbor (Photo 3) is home to the US Navy Fleet Activities Support Center, which is currently in an expansion phase to accommodate the Marine Expeditionary Unit relocating from Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
|
Apra Harbor Guam Photo 3 [79] |
Subic Bay
Philippines Photo 4 [80] |
|
Guantanamo
Bay Cuba Photo 5[81] |
Roosevelt
Roads Puerto Rico Photo 6 [82] |
In retrospect very little force had been used to wrest Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain. Ironically the Jewel that was sought in the acquisition of Cuba was not retained; it had been granted its independence in 1902, which in hindsight has not served the interests of the United States. Cuba has in fact become the nemesis which the proponents of manifest destiny feared, in that the island has become a strategic threat to US security. Out of the possessions gained from the war of 1898 only Guam and Puerto Rico have been retained.
Bibliography
Bautista, V., 1998, The Filipino Americans From 1763 to the Present: Their History Culture and Traditions, Bookhaus Publishers, Farmington Hills, MI
Bundok, In the Tagalog English Dictionary, 2004, Retrieved from http://tagalog-dictionary.com/cgi-bin/search.pl?s=bundok
January 17, 2011
Costello, J., 1981, The Pacific War
1941-1945, Perennial Books, New York
Down in the Boondocks, 1965, Artist Billy Joe Royal, Writer
Joe South, Sony, Retrieved from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/billy_joe_royal/down_in_the_boondocks.html
January 17, 2011
Department of the Navy- Naval Historical Center, Frequently
Asked Questions, US Navy and Marine Corp Casualties in World War II, Retrieved
from http://www.sartori.com/nhc/frames/faqs/faq11-1.html
January 24, 2011
Dyal, D.H., Carpenter, B.B., Thomas, M.A., 1996, Historical
Dictionary of the Spanish American War, Greenwood Press, Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=5007298
December 27, 2010
Emilio Aguinaldo, 2011, In Encyclopedia Britannica Online,
Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9892/Emilio-Aguinaldo
January 17, 2011
Friedman, H.M., 2000, Creating an
American Lake: United States Imperialism & Strategic Security in the
Pacific Basin, 1945-1947, Greenwood Press, Retrieved from, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10017914
December 17, 2010
Global Security.Org, Guam, Pike, J., June 7, 2010, Retrieved from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/guam.htm
January 21, 2011
Jose Rizal University, Jose Rizal: A Biographical Sketch, Montemayor, T.H., 2004, Retrieved from http://www.joserizal.ph/bg01.html January 22, 2011
Karnow, S., 1989, In Our Image: America’s Empire in the
Philippines, Ballantine Books, New York
Kramer, P.A., 2006, Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the
United States, and the Philippines, University of North Carolina Press,
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10273415
December 30, 2010
Manifest Destiny, 2007, In The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/hmdictenglang/manifest_destiny December 27, 2010
Military Factory. Com, American War Deaths Through History: From Independence Day until Iraqi Freedom, Retrieved from, http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp January 24, 2011
Montero, O., 2004, Jose Marti: An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, Retrieved from, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10118449 December 30, 2010
Navy Historical Center, Frequently Asked Questions, The Destruction of USS Maine, August 13,2003, Retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq71-1.htm January 10,2011
Naval Historical Center, Selected Naval Documents Spanish American War, Report of the Secretary of the Navy 1898, Retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/spanam/sn98-3.htm December 17, 2010
New York Times on the Web, 2010, On This Day, The Maine Blown Up, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0215.html January 1, 2011
Nimmo, W.F., 2001, Stars and Stripes Across
the Pacific: The United States, Japan and the Asia Pacific Region 1895-1945,
p29, Greenwood Press, Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10001975
January 24, 2011
Nugent, W., 2009, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansionism, Vintage Books, Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10310924 December 27, 2010
Perez, L.A., Jr., 1998, War of 1898: The United States &
Cuba in History and Historiography, p58, University of North Carolina Press,
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=2001279
December 21, 2010
Public Broadcasting System, The American Experience,
MacArthur, People and Events, The Spanish American War (1898), WGBH, 1999, Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX87.html
January 24, 2011
Ripoll, C., Jose Marti, Free Cuba Foundation, Sourced from
Ripoll’s Book, Jose Marti: Thoughts, Endowment for Cuban American Studies,
Cuban National Foundation, 1995 Retrieved from http://www2.fiu.edu/~fcf/jmarti.html
January 3, 2011
Rogers, R.F., 1995, Destiny’s Landfall: A History of Guam,
pp.110-112, University of Hawaii Press, Retrieved from, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10015512
January 19, 2011
Staten, C.L., 2005, History of Cuba, Palgrave Macmillan,
Retrieved from, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=1035495
January 3, 2011
The Journal of Politics, Battle and Other Combatant Casualties in the Second World War, II, Vagts, A., Vol.7, No. 4, November 1945, pp. 411-438, Cambridge University Press, Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2125967 January 24, 2011
The National Park Service, The War in
the Pacific, The Defense of Guam 1941: Fateful and Tragic Year, Tony Palomo,
Retrieved from, http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/wapa/defense/defense1.htm
January 20, 2011
The New York Times, Spencer Pratt and Aguinaldo, August 26th
1899, Retrieved from http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F0DE3D61530EE32A25755C2A96E9C94689ED7CF
January 24, 2011
United
States Naval History & Heritage Command, Photo # NH 48619, USS Maine
Passing Moro Castle, Havana Harbor January 25, 1898, Retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h48000/h48619.jpg January 17, 2011
