AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: The Philippine American War (Day 222/309)

Hey APUSHers, let’s chat about the Philippine American War as part of my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

“A Thing Well Begun is Half Done,” Wikimedia Commons

The Philippine American War emerged as a consequence of the Spanish-American War, during which the United States acquired the Philippines from Spain through the Treaty of Paris in 1898. 

General Emilio Aguinaldo, Wikimedia Commons

While many Filipinos had fought alongside American troops in the conflict, they desired their own independence after. Filipino nationalists, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, opposed and fought against American rule.

“Kill Everyone Over Ten,” Wikimedia Commons

The war was marked by a series of atrocities, with reports of brutal tactics employed to suppress the insurgency, including the infamous Balangiga Massacre in 1901 in which an American general ordered troops “to kill everyone over age ten.”

“Separated,” National Archives

The conflict led to the Insular Cases in which the Supreme Court determined that constitutional protections were not automatically extended to territories which allowed the U.S. government to exert considerable authority over territories without full constitutional constraints.

In the Philippine American War, the U.S. stopped a Filipino effort to obtain independence which sparked domestic and international debates over self-determination, imperialism, and individual rights.

Join me tomorrow as I explain the Debates over Imperialism in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!