52
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2016
An Empire in the East?
The Philippine Annexation Debate
“Providence has given the
United States the duty
Chris Carter, Concordia International School, Shanghai, China
of extending Christian
civilization. We come as
Grade Level: 9–12
Objectives:
At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:
ministering angels, not
despots.”
—Senator Knute Nelson1
• Determine key attitudes toward empire in the late nineteenth century United States and the underlying tenants
of those attitudes; and
• Create a historical argument concerning beliefs present in the late nineteenth century United States that
allowed for the acceptance of imperialism by synthesizing primary and secondary sources.
Guiding Question:
What attitudes and beliefs among influential Americans drove the United States to adopt an Asian empire
through the annexation of the Philippines, and what attitudes and beliefs provided the strongest arguments to
oppose expansion?
Connections to Common Core:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source;
provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.6 Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g.,
loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
“This Treaty will make us a vulgar, commonplace empire, controlling subject races and
vassal states, in which one class must forever rule and other classes must forever obey.”
—Senator George Frisbie Hoar
1
Brett Bowden, The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2009), 227-228.