"White Man's Burden"

Even before Filipinos arrived in the United States, Americans were familiar with the Philippines and its people through political debates, popular science, advertisements, and political cartoons. After defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War (1898), the U.S. took up British poet Rudyard Kipling’s call to “take up the white man’s burden” and colonize the Philippines, along with other former Spanish colonies. Given our country’s roots in throwing off colonial rule and the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the question of whether the U.S. should become a colonial power was strongly debated. In fact, after Spain lost the war, the Philippines established the first republic in Asia. The United States did not recognize this government, and from 1899 to 1902 was at war with the Philippines to maintain its control over the islands.