Imperialism-Its Dangers and Wrongs

 Samuel Gompers delivered his speech at the Peace Jubilee in Chicago, IL on October 18, 1898.  This quote is an excerpt of his speech:

"In our country we are perhaps too powerful to incur outside disaster; but
we shall certainly court worse evils at home if we try to benumb the
nation's sense of justice and love of right, and prevent it from striving
earnestly to correct all proved errors."



What is America's next move?
 The world will have to wait and see.

 Thequote by Gompers is referring to the power of the United States of America and its role in the annexation of the Philippines resulting in the migration of the Chinese, Negritos and the Malays to our country. It is a known fact that physical aggression towards a country reaps repercussions such as immigration of individuals with lower standards of living invading a country with social and financial opportunities such as America. Despite the fact that America has not had a skirmish on their own territory in more than thirty years, they are not above asserting their military authority in the annexation of other nations.  This poses an important question:  Is it fair for the United States to strong-arm the natives of the Philippines under our rule? If we do, it is certain that more lives will be taken and bloodshed is inevitable.  This, in turn, would bring us down to the level of the other world powers who practice Imperialism during the turn of the 20th Century. Although America is emerging as an assertive nation during the time of the Spanish-American War, such power through violent bullying is not typical of the peaceful beliefs of our government. Imperialism , on the other hand, demands respect by a dominant entity, with the use of violent force, while stripping the less dominant country of their dignity and pride.   Clearly at the end of the 19th Century, there is a definite question of Expansion versus Imperialism/Colonialism and it will be up to the United States to choose a course of action to rise to uphold our impending status.