Following the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States gained possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands, which had formerly belonged to Spain (Dudley 42). Many disagreed on whether or not the addition of the Philippines was beneficial or harmful, including two men named Joseph Henry Crooker and Albert J. Beveridge. Joseph Crooker was a member of the American Anti-Imperialist League, which was founded in 1898 to express objection to the annexation of the Spanish colonies (Dudley 45). He was also a clergyman and an author of various books dealing with religious issues (Dudley 45). Albert J. Beveridge was a U.S. senator, elected in 1899, who had toured the Philippines previously and believed the United States should retain them (Dudley 42). Between the two of them, Joseph Henry Crooker was right: the…show more content… Joseph Crooker, who was actively against imperialism, thought that the addition of the Philippines was a violation of other men’s rights. In one pamphlet written by him, he writes that “to buy 10,000,000 distant islanders is the expansion of Jefferson Davis, not the expansion of Abraham Lincoln” (Dudley 47). The point that he is trying to get across in this quote is just how hypocritical taking over the Philippines actually is, considering it promotes slavery, a practice that had been made illegal in the United States some thirty odd years prior, due to its intent to control many men that do not need to be controlled by Americans. Another quote from the pamphlet was one in which he wrote “we cannot
