Essay

The United States intentions are to push American values such as freedom of speech, religion, and assembly in a Humanitarian way, but that may not be what other countries want. Each country has its own values and strong feeling of importance for their own unique independence. By doing this, it starts revolts against our Country and sparks the question, is what the United States does to other countries really right?
President McKinley thought taking the Philippines from Spain would benefit America. McKinley made it seem like America was helping the Philippines to help educate the Filipino's. In February 1899, The Filipino’s raised a revolt against the American rule. Although the Filipino’s raised the revolt, soldiers testified and said that the United States fired the first shot which started the revolution in the Philippines. William Hearst, an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher helped plan the war against Spain. Hearst stated, "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war."
During the revolt with the Philippine's the United States was very racist. In the United States at this time, on an average of every two weeks, two colored people were grabbed by mobs, tortured and killed because of the color of their skin. The United States could not tolerate difference in it's own country. A general in the war stated, " The more I burn and kill, the more pleased I will be." America had no remorse about the killings that had happened. Another American from Washington said, "This shooting human beings beats rabbit hunting all to pieces." Not only could the United States not tolerate the color of the Philippine's skin, but American's didn't like the Filipino's education system either. American tried bringing the Philippine's to the United States to have Filipino's education more like America's. The Philippine's had their own system that was working for their country that didn't need to be touched.
During McKinley's presidency, the United States also tried invading Cuba. America had a huge economic interest in Cuba's railroads, sugar, and shipping. This had huge potential of being helpful to the United States economic needs. Albert Beveridge has pushed the idea upon the United States that the Philippines had the same potential. He stated that Cuba and the Philippines had "limitless markets" that could some day be America's. Beveridge reminded all American's that "there are 5,000,000 people to be governed." The United State's economic problems were not Cuba's, or the Philippine's issue, it was America's.
The Philippine's and Cuba each have their own values and strong feeling of importance for their independence. When the United States push American values onto countries like Cuba and the Philippine's it makes America look violent, greedy, and intolerant of difference. Each country is unique and deserves to have independence to their values.