U.S. History 1877-Present 5: The Philippine-American War

some people argued that the state didn't really have the right to be there they [Men arguing]

said hey why don't we let the Filipinos rule themselves and go on their merry

uncolonized way on the other side of the aisle the folks rooting for American

imperialism push for the u.s. to annex the country and do what the Spanish did

but better really it's for the Filipinos own good they said after all they aren't

white or American so they're clearly incapable of governing their own country [US and Philipino men standing side by side]

right yep racism strikes again of course all the racists weren't just on one side

of the aisle oh it's nice to hear they weren't excluded right well some were

anti-imperialists that thought the filipinos might one day be allowed to [Man protesting to vote for him]

participate in American government if the u.s. conquered them which apparently

was a bad thing the business minded people also got in on the debate some

argued that the best thing to do was keep the Philippines firmly in America's [Man puts Philippine flag into pocket]

pocket the island chain was a great new market for the US products after all and

if we didn't continue controlling them well somebody else would snatch away the

opportunity from us maybe turn them into communist or something god forbid while [Stalin places communist hat on philippine]

all this debate was gone on the Philippines decided to make the decision

for the US by launching a rebellion apparently they weren't very interested [Man protesting to free philippines]

in just switching out the Imperial flag flying on their Island a man named

Emilio Aguinaldo led the country in a rebellion that became an all-out war it

ended up costing three years and 20,000 Filipino lives both sides got nasty with [Filipino soldiers dying by lake]

pointing at torture and atrocities to go eventually the Outland in Afghan [Aguinaldo and Uncle Sam fighting]

Filipinos admitted defeat as part of a campaign called the policy of attraction

the US government appealed the Filipino elites by promising economic development [Uncle Sam hands over cash to Aguinaldo]

and a decent amount of self-rule and while over the years the u.s. gradually

loosened the reins until the Philippines was finally granted independence in 1946

at long last it was out of Uncle Sam's lap which was way less awkward for [Philippine flag jumps out of Uncle Sams lap]

everyone