Nidhi+A.+-+PAD+-+SP12

Samuel Langhorn Clemens otherwise known by his pen name Mark Twain

Occupation:He was a former printer, steamboat pilot, solider in confederate Calvary. He became a reporter than an author.

Position on issue: Against Annexation of Philippines. He was anti-imperialism.

List of reasons for interest in topic: Mark Twain was at first misguided in thinking that the U.S was only in the war to gain freedom for Cuba. After the Treaty of Paris, Twain found out the true intentions of the U.S entering the war and his opinion quickly changed. He was disgusted by the fact that U.S only entered the war to gain further expansion. “There were the Filipinos fighting like blazes for their liberty. Spain would not hear to it. The United States stepped in, and after they had licked the enemy to a standstill, instead of freeing the Filipinos they paid that enormous amount for an island which is of no earthly account to us; just wanted to be like the aristocratic countries of Europe which have possessions in foreign waters. The United States wanted to be in the swim, and it, too, had to branch out, like an American heiress buying a Duke or an Earl. Sounds well, but that's all.”- interview "Mark Twain in Clover / Joseph in the Land of Cornbread and Chicken." //Baltimore Sun//, 10 May 1907, p. 14 This quote shows the disgust Mark Twain had about the annexation of Philippines. Twain believed that America was behaving just like the aristocratic countries in Europe and wanted foreign land. Mark Twain was also disgusted with the cruelty shown upon the Filipinos by American soldiers there. He was upset that they were going to be ruling over them like how Spain did. It was completely going against all that America had fought for all these years. "I have seen, that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. "

This quote demonstrates that America was only going there for their own gain of land at the expense of the freedom of the Filipinos. Mark Twain believed that the U.S could not be a republic and an empire at the same time.

References: Work Cited:
 * Emilio Aguinaldo**

COHEN, M O R T O N V. "MARK TWAIN AND THE PHILIPPINES :." //Ku.edu//. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.

"Mark Twain Quotations - Philippines." //Mark Twain Quotations//. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. .

"Mark Twain." //Spanish American War//. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. .