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Expansion as a Way of Life

321

first and then ask questions." Those cries for slaughter are rooted in white America's conviction that, underneath it all,
white is right.

In Search of Monsters to Destroy*

The true American goes not abroad in search of monsters
to destroy

The domestic history of the United States has been rooted in racism. To correctly analyze her domestic history'the effects of racism on the American psyche must be taken into account. Furthermore, it is impossible to analyze her foreign policy without doing the same. American exPilrF sionism is inextricably linked to Ameriqan racism. (1)

[America] well knows that by once enlisting

under other banners than her own, were they even the
banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself,

beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of inkrest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition. She might become the dictatress of the world; she would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit.

No Entangling Alliances*
volution, America's policy to*a

In the century following

the R+

The Lord Bless Americat

Were it not for the light of the blessed Bible shining upon these shores, merchants, mechanics, planters, farmers, tradesmen, lawyers, physicians, judges, artisans, and citizens of foreign lands would not this evening be scattered throughout these islands in the peaceful pursuit of their various avocations. It is the wondrous influences accompanying the story of the Cross which has here dispelled the
darkness

trated both by a clergymal panegyric on the benefits of &

Christian gospel in the Hawafu Islands and President McKinlcqt account of how he decided that ft United States would keep -

foreign involvements changed frtr the "hands off" attitude advocaci by Washington and Adams to a of self-justifying imperialism, ilb

i i

j
I
1

Philippines.

is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliare with any portion of the foreign world, so far, I mean, .Is 'are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood r capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagemetrE hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to pri affairs that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat, fore, let those engagements be observed in their ge sense. But in my opinion it is unnecessary and would

of heathenism and transformed the pagan nation into a Christian community. The Lord of the Vineyard The Lord Says, "Keep the Philippines"$

1,

I
x

It

planted a goodly vine in these isles of the sea.

!
I

i
::

I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late
* "Iohn Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821," in William Appleman Williams, The Contours ol American Ilislory (New York: World Publishing Co.,
'i "Rev. A. O. Forbes," in Rev. Gulick and Mrs. Orramel Hinckley, Pilgrims ol Hawaii (Fleming H. Revell Co., 1918 ) . * President William McKinley's explanation in 1898, quoted in Iron
1961

unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable

ma\ hments on a resoectable oosture. we may respectable defensive posture, lishments trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emer
can History, ed. Henry Steele Commager (Appleton-Centur
Inc.,1958). * "George Washington's Farewell Address," in Documents o!

).

ahlfr, Little Brown Brother (Doubleday & Co. Inc., Garden City, New

l-ork,1961).

TO SERVE THE DEVIL it came to me this way-I don't know how it was but it
322

Expansion as a Way of Life

323

Spain-that would be cowardly and dishonorable; secondthat we could not turn them over to France or Germanyour commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable; third, that we could not leave them to themsslyss-they were unfit for self-government and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was; and fourth, that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to
bed, and went to sleep and slept soundly.

came; first, that we could not give [the Philippines] back to

The pioneer exiles from South Carolina had settled here iong before the Colony of Georgia existed. Several generations had lived to manhood and died in those forest-homes. To their descendants, it had become consecrated by "many an oft-told tale" of early adventure, of hardship and suffering; the recollection of which had been retained in tradition, told in story, and sung in their rude lays, Here were the graves of their ancestors, around whose memories were clustered the fondest recollections of the human mind. The

(2)

The Destruction of Sanctuaries in Florida*

One of the least-known and mos infamous episodes in the history of developing white racism was tie war conducted against the desceni* ants of some Negroes who had escaped from slavery in South Carolina and settled in what was the= Spanish territory in Florida, whe= they lived peacefully with the Ser:

inole Indians. In a book publish-

1858, Congressman Joshua Gi.idings described how these "exil=were hunted down and slaughtere: in 1816 under the orders of Geleral Andrew Jackson. In the fcilowing excerpts from Congressmz: Giddings' book official U.S. dLregard for "foreign frontiers" t+comes clear. The "Seminole Warwas a euphemism for an invasill:

in

climate was genial. They were surrounded by extensive forests, and far removed from the habitations of those enemies of freedom who sought to enslave them; and they regarded themselves as secure in the enjoyment of liberty. Shut out from the cares and strifes of more civilized men, they were happy in their own social solitude. So far from seeking to injure the people of the United States, they were only anxious to be exempt, and entirely free from all contact with our population or Government; while they faithfully maintained their allegiance to the Spanish crown. Peace with Great Britain, however, had left our army without active employment. A portion of it was stationed along our Southern frontier of Georgia, to maintain peace with the Indians. The authorities and people of Georgia maintained social and friendly relations with the officers and men of the army. By means of Indian spies, the real condition of the Exiles was also ascertained and well understood. What means were used to excite the feelings or
prejudices of the military officers against these unoffending Exiles, is not known at this day. Most of the officers commanding in the South were, however, slaveholders, and probably felt a strong sympathy with the people of Georgia in their indignation against them, for obtaining and enjoying liberty without permission of their masters. General Gaines, commanding on the Southern frontier of Georgia, making Fort Scott his headquarters, wrote the Secretary of War (May 14), saying, "certain negroes and outlaws have taken possession of a fort on the Appalachi-

:i,iffi::l
* Joshua Giddings, The Exiles sity of Florida Press, 1964).

territorv

to

destrci

ol Florida

(Gainesville, Fla.: Univer-

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TO SERVE THE DEVIL

Expansion as a Way of

Life

329

hearted old men cheered and encouraged their friends.

declaring that death was to be preferred to slavery. The struggle, however, was not protracted. The cannon balls not taking effect upon the embankments of earth, thev prepared their furnaces and commenced the fire of hot shot, directed at the principal magazine. This mode proved more successful. A ball, fully heated, reached the powder in the magazine. The small size of the fort, and the great number

to the interior, and sold to different planters. There they mingled with that mass of chattelized humanity which characterizes our Southern states, and were swallowed up in that tide of oppression which is now bearing three millions of human
case; but they were delivered over upon claim, taken

beings to untimely graves.

(3)

of

people rendered the explosion unusually fatal Many were entirely buried in the ruins, others were killed by falling timbers, while many bodies were torn in pieces Limbs were separated from bodies to which they had been attached, and death, in all its horrid forms, was visible within that doomed fortress.s Of three hundred and thirty-four souls within the forr two hundred and seventy were instantly killed; while of tb sixty who remained, only three escaped without injury. Twc

in it,

Songs from the Spanish-American War

The following
from the
songs, all
Spanish-American

War, reveal the attitudes of the peoples and the cultures of the lands which theY invaded and annexed.

American soldiers toward

of the survivors-one

Negro and one Indian-were

Filipinos, who had

themselves, was

"Our" war

against the
estab-

se-

lished their own government

lected as supposed chiefs of the allied forces within the fon They were delivered over to the Indians who accompaniec Colonel Clinch, and were massacred within the fort, in the presence of our troops; but no report on record shows rhe extent of torture to which they were subjected. We have no reliable information as to the number *-hc'

after routing the Spaniards the bloodiest in the history of the

Philippine Islands, including World War II. Filipinos fought like tigers for their independence, and earned the hatred of Americans sent

died of their wounds. They were placed on board the gu* boats, and their wounds were dressed by the surgeons; ar( those who recovered were afterwards delivered over te claimants in Georgia. Those who were slightly woundecbut able to travel, were taken back with Colonel Clinch u. Georgia and delivered over to men who claimed to harr descended from planters who, some three or four gener&

to oYerpower them. The glorification of the Anglo-Saxon race and its

superiority to all others was

f:rt,*ff
"TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP"*

songs

,:!r:everar

tions previously, owned the ancestors of the prisoners. There could be no proof of identity, nor was there asr court authorized to take testimony, or enter decree i1 5ra-i
:l Monette says, "The scene in the fort was horrible beyond descripir, Nearly the whole of the inmates were involved in indiscriminate desction; not one-sixth of the whole escaped. The cries of the woundedgroans of the dying, with the shouts and yells of the Indians, renda:t the scene horrible beyond description."

Damn, damn, damn the Filipinos

Cross-eyed, Kakiak Ladrones, And beneath the starry flag

Civilize'em with a Kragt And we'll all go back to our beloved homes.
* "Damn, Damn, Damn the Filipinos" (tune: "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, The Boys are Marching.") t Slang for the Krag-Jensen rifles, an extremely powerful weapon used by the U.S. Army in the Philippines.-Editor's Note.

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TO SERVE THE DEVIL

Expansion as a Way of Life

CHORUS:

333

THE ANGLO-SAXON*

What's the matter with old Europe, hear her mutterings and
threats;

Sing hey! on high C the Federal Eagle screams. Sing ho! for the Lion's double bass; Ye will quickstep to changes beyond Boney's wildest dreams.

War's abroad and her passions are aflame; She menaces John Bull to pay old scores and debts, But to checkmate Uncle Sammy is the game. Count on Sam, O! mother England when Europe wants to fight. Should mad ambition overleap her sense; The cherished Monroe doctrine will mount skyward like a kite: He can march for either conquest or defense.
CHORUS:

To the music of the Anglo-saxon

race'

_-N. Arbert sherman

(4)

Beveridge Trumpets Imperialism*

Albert J. Beveridge's speech, The March of the Flag, is a classic
piece

Sing hey! for Britannia, sing ho; for Uncle Sam; For kin to stand by kin is no disgrace;

Indiana, on September 16, 1898, cision to keep the Philippines. A year after making it, Beveridge was elected to the United States Senate from Indiana.
before McKinley had made his de-

It was delivered at

of

pro-expansionist oratory.
Indianapolis,

Look out for their advance, Austria, Italy and France, Ol the Anglo-Saxon is the coming race.
The continental powers are balanced, so they say, To guard against surprise or wily scheme; All the while your scales, O, princess, are adjusted in the plav To make the Anglo-Saxon kick the beam. The outstripped Latin race we cannot greatly blame, Whichever way they turn, east or west, The sleepless Anglo-Saxon has staked a mighty claim, Always of the biggest and the best. Sing hey! for Columbia, song hol for Albion; On every land their footsteps you may trace; Round the globe their vessels roll; North and South from pole tc pole, O! the Anglo-Saxon's up and in the race.

Distance and oceans are no arguments. The fact that all the territory our fathers bought and seized is contiguous is no argument. In 1819 Florida was further from New York than Porto Rico is from Chicago today; Texas further from Washington in 1845 than Hawaii is from Boston in 1898; California, more inaccessible in 1847 than the Philippines . The ocean does not separate us from lands are now. of our duty and desire-the oceans join us, a river never to
be dredged, a canal never to be repaired.

Uncle Sammy is a giant who was never known to boast, But he cautions you, my continental friend, Not to twist the Lion's tail, nor approach the Eagle's roost, Lest Britannia and Yankee Doodle blend. The Dragon and St. George for a thousand years and more,
Have on many a sea and land fate defied;

While the Stars and Stripes float over and guard a mightie
shore,

Steam joins us; electricity joins us-the very elements are in league with our destiny. Cuba not contiguous! Porto Rico not contiguous! Hawaii and the Philippines not contiguous! Our navy will make them contiguous. [Admirals] Dewey and Sampson and Schley have made them contiguous, and American speed, American guns, American heart and brain and nerve will keep them contiguous forever. But the Opposition is right-there is a difference. We did
* "Beveridge Trumpets Imperialism,"

Than the ancient Roman Eagles in their pride.

* Ibid.

it

States History as Seen by Contemporaies, (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1963 & 1968).

Vol. II, ed. Thomas A. Bailey

The American SPirit-United

334

TO SERVE THE DEVIL

Expansion as a Way of

Life

335

not need the western Mississippi Valley when we acquired

it, nor Florida, nor Texas, nor California, nor the royal
of the far Northwest. We had no emigrants to people this imperial wilderness, no money to develop it, even no highways to cover it. No trade awaited us in its savage vastnesses. Our productions were not greater than
provinces our trade. There was not one reason for the land-lust of our statesmen from Jefferson to Grant, other than the prophet
and the Saxon within them.

manhood the world has ever seen. It means that the resources and the commerce of these immensely rich domin-

ions will be increased as much as American epergy is greater than Spanish sloth; for Americans henceforth will monopolize those resources and that commerce. (5)

But today we are raising more than we can consume. Today we are making more than we can use. Today our
industrial society is congested; there are more workers than there is work; there is more capital than there is investment. We do not need more money-we need more circulation. more employment. Therefore we must find new markets for our produce, new occupation for our capital, new work for our labor. And so, while we did not need the territory taken during the past century at the time it was acquired, we do need what we have taken in 1898, and we need it now. Think of the thousands of Americans who will pour into Hawaii and Porto Rico when the republic's laws cover those islands with justice and safety! Think of the tens of thousands of Americans who will invade mine and field and forest in the Philippines when a liberal government, protected and controlled by this republic, if not the government of the republic itself, shall establish order and equitl there! Think of the hundreds of thousands of Americans

A San Francisco Weekly Defends the Army, 1902*

a weekly magazine, stated baldly the purposes of the United States regarding the Philippine Islands. The magazine was resPonding to criticism of American soldiers for their numerous and flagrant atrocities committed against the Filipino insurgents.
naut,

ln

1902, the San Francisco Argo'

There has been too much hypocrisy about this Philippine

fusiles5-tso much snivel-too much cant. Let us all

frank.
WE DO NOT WANT THE FILIPINOS. WE WANT THE PHILIPPINES.

be

who will build a soap-and-water, common-school civilization of energy and industry in Cuba, when a government of law replaces the double reign of anarchy and tyranny!think of the prosperous millions that Empress of Islands will support when, obedient to the law of political gravitation. her people ask for the highest honor liberty can bestow, the sacred Order of the Stars and Stripes, the citizenship of the
Great Republic!

of our troubles in this annexation matter have been by the presence in the Philippine Islands of the Filipinos. Were it not for them, the Treaty of Paris would have been an excellent thing; the purchase of the archipelago for twenty millions of dollars would have been cheap. The islands are enormously rich; they abound in dense forests of valuable hardwood timber; they contain mines of the precious metals; their fertile lands will produce immense crops of sugar cane, rice, and tobacco. Touched by the wand of American enterprise, fertilized with AmeriA11

caused

can capital, these islands would speedily become richer than Golconda was of old.
* "A San Francisco Weekly Defends the Army," in The American Spirit-United States History as Seen by Contemporaries, Vol. II, ed.
Thomas A. Bailey (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1963 & 1968).

What does all this mean for every one of us? It means opportunity for all the glorious young manhood of the republic-the most virile, ambitious, impatient, militant

336

TO SERVE THE DEVIL

it is to be feared that

Expansion as a Way of Life

337

But unfortunately, they are infested by Filipinos. There

are many millions of them there, and

their extinction will be slow. Still, every man who believes in developing the islands must admit that it cannot be done
successfully while the Filipinos are there. They are indolent.

We are all responsible. You, reader, are responsible. If you are a Republican, your party has made this action part of its national policy. If you are a Democrat, your party, by its vote in the House of Representatives, made the war possible, and by its vote in the Senate turned the scales for
the purchase of the Philippines.

They raise only enough food to live on; they don't care to make money; and they occupy land which might be utilized to much better advantage by Americans. Therefore the more of them killed, the better. It seems harsh. But they must yield before the superior race, and the American syndicate. How shortsighted, then, to check the army in its warfare upon these savages; par-

ticularly when the army is merely carrying out its orders and the duly expressed wishes of the American people, as
shown through their elections and their representatives. Doubtless, many of the excellent gentlemen now in Congress would repudiate these sentiments as brutal. But we are only saying what they are doing. We believe in stripping all

hypocritical verbiage from national declarations, and telling the truth simply and boldly. We repeat-the American people, after thought and deliberation, have shown their wishes. THEy Do Nor wANT THE FILIpINos. THEy wANT
THE PHILIPPINES.

But if we, the people of the United States, are responsible for the Philippine campaign, the American army is not. The army is only seventy thousand out of seventy million. The army did not ask to go there. It was sent. It has fought for four years under tropic suns and torrential rains, in pestilential jungles and miasmatic swamps, patiently bearing the burdens placed upon it by the home country, and with few laurels to be gained as a result of hard and dangerous duty. Nearly every general officer returning from the Philippines has returned to either a wrecked reputation, newspaper odium, or public depreciation. Look at Merritt, Otis, Merriam, MacArthur, Funston. The best treatment that any of them has received is not to be abused. And yet, with these melancholy examples before them, our army toils on uncomplainingly doing its duty.

It is no one party, no one class, that is responsible for our

Philippine policy. It is the people of the United States. The Democratic Party shares equally the responsibility with the Republican Party. The Democratic Party voted for the war with Spain. Had it opposed the fifty-million [arms] appropriation, the war could not have taken place. The Democrats advocated the purchase of the Philippines. For a time, the confirmation of the Philippine treaty was in doubt. It was the direct personal lobbying of William J. Bryan with the Democratic Senators which Ied to the confirmation of the Philippine purchase, and which also led to the present bloody war. Mr. Bryan said at the time that he advocated the confirmation of the treaty in order to put "the Republicans into a hole." He has certainly put his country into a
hole. Is he proud of his work?

The army did not bring on the war. We civilians did it. The army is only doing our bidding as faithful servants of their country. And now that they have shown a perfectly human tendency to fight the devil with fire, we must not repudiate their actions, for their actions are our own. They are receiving the fire of the enemy from the front. It is shameful that there should be a fire upon them from the
rear.