In February 1898, after the Maine exploded in Cuba, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt sent a telegram to Admiral George Dewey. Dewey was the head of the U.S. fleet in the Pacific. "In the event of declaration of war," the telegram ordered, "[begin] offensive operations in Philippine Islands." The Spanish-American War had expanded to include the Philippine Islands. The islands were halfway around the globe from Cuba.

Question

Battle at Manila Bay The Philippines provided Spain's main base in the Pacific. The islands' people were called Filipinos. They had repeatedly tried to throw off Spanish colonial rule. In 1898, they were trying again. Led by General Emilio Aguinaldo (ah-ghee-NAHL-doh), they had begun attacking the Spanish army and government officials. Now their struggle was about to become part of the war between the United States and Spain.

Dewey's fleet arrived in Manila, the Philippine capital, just five days after the United States declared war against Spain. At dawn on May 1, 1898, U.S. battleships faced Spanish gunships. As naval bands struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner," sailors stood on deck and saluted the flag. These men were about to engage in what would be the first battle of the Spanish-American War.

By 11 A.M., the entire Spanish fleet was burning, sunk, or sinking. Spain's old wooden ships could not compete with the modern steel U.S. ships run by well-trained crews. Only one American had died in the battle.

Defeating the Spanish Dewey blockaded Manila's port until U.S. troops could arrive to take over the city. Filipino fighters that were allied with Dewey surrounded Manila. The Filipinos believed that the coming Americans would help them gain independence. While they waited, Aguinaldo issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence. He also formed a national government and designed a national flag.

U.S. troops showed up. The Spanish agreed to "lose" a fake battle and surrender to the Americans. They did not want to give themselves up to the Filipinos, who resented Spanish rule so intensely.

A long war between the United States
and the Filipinos, who resisted U.S.
control, resulted in heavy casualties.
More than 20,000 Filipinos were
killed before the Philippines became
independent in 1946.
Fighting the Filipinos In a treaty negotiated after the surrender, the United States "bought" the Philippines from Spain for $20 million. Then, in 1899, Congress voted to annex the Philippines.

Aguinaldo's government felt betrayed. The Filipino leader angrily called for "war without quarter to the false Americans who have deceived us! Either independence or death!" More than 80,000 Filipino fighters fought off better-trained and better-armed U.S. troops for three years. Soldiers on both sides tortured prisoners. Americans became increasingly cruel. They harmed civilians and destroyed villages.

Some Americans protested that denying independence to the Philippines violated U.S. ideals. Carl Schurz was a leader among antiimperialists. He said, "We shall, for the first time since the abolition of slavery, again have two kinds of Americans: Americans of the first class, who enjoy the privilege of taking part in the Government …and Americans of the second class, who are to be ruled … by the Americans of the first class."

However, the expansionists won the day. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge argued that "Manila with its magnificent bay … will keep us open to the markets of China." President McKinley himself believed that the Philippines could become "a land of plenty."

More than 20,000 Filipinos and about 4,000 Americans died in the struggle. The revolt was finally put down. The Americans set up a nonmilitary government to "prepare Filipinos for independence." Americans built roads, hospitals, and schools. But the United States did not grant the Philippines independence until 1946.
Why did the Filipino leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, feel betrayed by the United States?

Answer 1

Emilio Aguinaldo felt betrayed by the United States because, after the Spanish surrendered to American forces in the Philippines, the U.S. did not support the Filipino quest for independence, which Aguinaldo and the Filipino people had expected. Aguinaldo and his allies believed that their fight against Spanish colonial rule would lead to their liberation and the establishment of an independent nation, particularly after they had issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence and set up a provisional government during the conflict.

Instead, the United States negotiated a treaty with Spain that involved "buying" the Philippines for $20 million, and then Congress voted to annex the islands, effectively denying the Filipinos their autonomy. Aguinaldo perceived this as a betrayal of the Filipino struggle for independence, particularly considering that the United States had declared itself as a champion of liberty and self-determination. His resulting call for "war without quarter to the false Americans" reflected his deep sense of betrayal and the feeling that the U.S. had deceived the Filipinos after they had fought alongside American forces against the Spanish.