Philippine Independence Movement in the United States

THIS country was conquered by the Spanish in 1565, by the British in 1762, returned to Spain in¬ 1764, became independent from Spain in 1898, was bought by America in 1899, invaded by Japan in 1941, and granted independence by the United States in 1947.

We proudly proclaim our independence day to be on June 12, 1898. What’s wrong with this picture?

Our country should celebrate two independence days but we only celebrate the one from Spain. This has always bothered me a little.

Isn’t our independence from the United States considered true independence? Especially since it was our most recent one? There were even certain individuals within the United States itself who lobbied for Philippine independence – and not one of them was Filipino.

The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization that was established for the sole purpose of lobbying against American occupation of foreign territories.

Now, to be clear – the anti-imperialists didn’t oppose expansion for oppose commercial, religious or humanitarian reasons. They opposed it because they believed it was against the wishes of the founding fathers of the United States and the set of ideals that were laid down in the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

They believed in freedom of all people just as Lincoln believed, and they believed in freedom of a state from imperialist powers just as Washington believed.

The group had an anti-war stance in general, since it believed that American boys dying overseas were not really “defending the country” but were more likely simply “displaying power”. The founder of the Anti-Imperialist League, James McCormick, saw the Spanish-American War as “insane and wicked”. That particular conflict ended with the Treaty of Paris, which ceded the Philippines to the United States.

The Anti-Imperialist movement lobbied for Philippine independence from the very beginning, distributing propaganda leaflets and holding speeches against the idea of an “American Empire”.

If you think these were just some crazy guys with bullhorns, think again. The Anti-Imperialist League had some very famous figures in its ranks, like the former presidents of the United States Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison, the writer Mark Twain, and the richest man in the world – Andrew Carnegie.

If you paid any attention at all during history class, you’ll remember that the United States bought the Philippines from Spain for $20 million, which is roughly $522 million in today’s money.

Carnegie, being the staunch anti-imperialist that he was, wouldn’t stand for it. He came to the United States government with a deal – he would pay them the proposed $20 million out of his own pocket in exchange for the Filipino people’s rights to receive freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For some reason the United States government said “no”, and they sent the richest man in the world away, disappointed that his money could not save the liberty of a nation.

If people in the country that conquered us wanted our own independence, doesn’t that give us more than enough reason to celebrate it, instead of passing it off as what is simply called “Philippine-American Friendship Day?”

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