Every country hides skeletons in its closet - things they did or laws that they had in the past that are best left out of history books as nations evolve. Those skeletons are covered up, rarely mentioned, and few books are published on the disgraceful deeds.
One classic example is the Philippine-American War (also known as the Philippine Insurrection) at the dawning of the 20th century. McKinley was president, Teddy Roosevelt became president on McKinley's assassination. War between Spain and America was triggered by the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbour.
The war was really started by American support for Cubans seeking independence from Spain. On land and sea, the Americans were successful against the Spanish. In the treaties that followed, the United States - totally contrary to its anti-imperial policy - Spanish colonies became American controlled and the U.S. became an empire.
Spain had held the Philippines as a colony for centuries. But, as happened in Cuba, it was a time for rebellion and independence. When Admiral Dewy defeated the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Manila Bay, the rebels declared a new republic. The head of the rebels met with the American leaders and came away thinking they had a deal on independence. The Americans were not so sure such was the case. After an extensive prayer session, President McKinley sent out a "Proclamation of Benevolent Occupation." McKinley's Proclamation stated, "The U.S. have come, not as invaders or conquerors, but as friends, to protect the rights." It went on to say:
"It should be the earnest wish and paramount aim of the military administration to win the confidence, respect, and affection of the inhabitants of the Philippines by assuring them in every possible way that full measure of individual rights and liberties which is the heritage of free peoples, and by proving to them that the mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation substituting the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule."
The Philippine newly formed "government" was appalled. It believed that the United States, given its long history of opposing colonialization, would simply walk away and leave behind an independent Philippines. McKinley's proclamation destroyed that dream. It also made things clear that the U.S. regarded the Philippines as a prize of war.
In and attempt to make this palatable to the rebels, the American military leaders changed the text in the copy of the declaration sent to the rebels. In that copy, they remove "any mention of U.S. sovereignty... to stress our benevolent purpose" and not "offend Filipino sensibilities," by substituting "free people" for "supremacy of the United States," and deleting "to exercise future domination."
That ruse was quickly discovered. From a colony of Spain, the Philippines had become a colony of the United States.
The jingoistic American newspapers bore headlines like "Will Resist Americans by Armed Force" and "The Filipinos Must Lay Down Their Arms!" as negotiations stretched through January 1899. When those failed, over 10,000 US troops sailed for the Philippines and captured Manila in August of that same year after the city had been shelled by the America warships. The Spanish Army remnant behind castle walls fought on for several days before surrendering. The insurgents controlled all of the islands save Manila and had encircled Manila with fifteen thousand men while the Americans tried to push out from the city through the surrounding jungle. The guerilla war started in earnest when two American troops shot and killed an insurgent.
Much as the British had assumed modern equipment in South Africa would win the day over armed natives, the United States found itself embroiled in a war on unfamiliar terrain that favoured the insurgents, much as they would later confront in Vietnam decades later.
Thus would start a war that would continue for two very brutal years. Each side was guilty of massacres and mass killings, often involving torture of those unlucky enough to be prisoners. Entire villages - men, women, and children - would be killed as the Americans sought to eliminate support for the insurgents. American reports say that between 200,000 to 300,000 Filipinos were killed out of an estimated total population of nine million. Other estimates place the death toll as high as 1.4 million to as high as 3 million. It was genocide, violent and vile.
This was an era in which racial discrimination was the norm. One Philadelphia newspaper proclaimed:
"The present war is no bloodless, opera bouffe engagement; our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog...
Our soldiers have pumped salt water into men to make them talk, and have taken prisoners people who held up their hands and peacefully surrendered, and an hour later, without an atom of evidence to show that they were even insurrectos, stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to drop into the water below and float down, as examples to those who found their bullet-loaded corpses."
Concentration camps in which disease was king were put in place as the common thought was that every native was an insurgent. One soldier wrote:
"The town of Titatia was surrendered to us a few days ago, and two companies occupy the same. Last night one of our boys was found shot and his stomach cut open. Immediately orders were received from General Wheaton to burn the town and kill every native in sight which was done to a finish. About 1,000 men, women and children were reported killed. I am probably growing hard-hearted, for I am in my glory when I can sight my gun on some dark skin and pull the trigger."
Perhaps the worst of the bad was an American general, Jacob H. Smith. Wounded during the Civil War he gave the orders to kill any Filipino over the age of ten. In and out of civil courts for debt, court martials, "conduct unbecoming", and bankruptcy, Smith had managed to creep up the chain of command when seniority and not talent governed promotion. In Samar, he stated," "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States."
This was not an uncommon concept in his day. Smith was eventually court-martialed resulting in a mere admonishment and forced retirement.
Not all Americans were supporters of this war. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote and spoke against the growing brutality to little avail. Like the Vietnam War years later, the anti-war movement was disparaged and ignored. The nations of the world, having engaged in similar acts, were hardly in a position to point fingers.
The United States had since its foundation decried the very idea of empire and colonies. That was one of its founding principles, somewhat at odds with the visions of manifest destiny once limited to continental North America. Between the American discovery of Midway, the purchase of Alaska,and the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, no new territory had been added to the United States. Now, the remains of Spanish empire had been added as colonies and the age of American empire had begun.
