http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=215ff56bc6f3dbc546b1bf56a&id=9ef7ef2f42
If the US hadn’t been in the Philippines, we might not have confronted Japan in the Pacific; and hence, our entry into WWII might have been delayed, if it happened at all.
Ergo, we might be living in a world with a Reich and an Imperial East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
It was, on the whole, a bad idea.
I did know about Carnegie, and he certainly wasnt the only one warning against it.
McKinley didnt think it through, and it wasnt a very popular policy. And it was McKinleys decision alone, which does not seem proper for such things. I think he was deceived by the emotional high of the recent victory.
The US repented of the whole thing within a decade and spent the next thirty years trying to get rid of the place as cheaply as it could be managed. It was by that time though entangled in Filipino politics.
The story is fascinating. There are several good books on it, Stanley Karnows being flawed but well written.
Americans betrayed the Filipinos. The Filipinos had placed the Spanish under siege in Manila while our navy had them blockaded. We led the Filipinos to believe we were supporting their independence from Spain. The Spanish, when they finally surrendered, were saved the humiliation of surrendering to the locals. Marines came in and the Filipinos were told they could not march on the city. Some time later, we “caught” Filipinos trying to attack us one night. With a well orchestrated artillery barrage, in self defense of course, we hit the Filipino army outside of Manila. If we were caught by surprise, how did we light up the Filipino army as if it was a well coordinated attack? A British observer at the time noted and reported as such.