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 * Senator George F. Hoar

Occupation:** I am a graduate of Hravard University where I studied in the field of law and then later practiced in the field of law. I was first and foremost a member of the Free Soil Party, but I later joined the Republican party and was elected to served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate. I was then appointed to serve in the U.S. Senate until my death in 1904.


 * Position:** I am in complete opposition to the annexation of the Philippine islands. I was not a huge fan of our involvement in Cuba and I completely denounce this Philippine-American War. These people deserve independence with little to no American involvement. Imperialism is not a policy that is in the best interest of the country at this point in our history. These people are being slain as we speak and pushed into reconcentration camps. We owe them at least their well-deserved independent status. No where in our Constitution does it call for the need to imperialize, nor does it condone it. We do not need to spread our countrys' ideals to all stretches of the earth because it is not only unnecessary but it is morally wrong.

"You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American lives—the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the burning of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture. Your practical statesmanship which disdains to take George Washington and Abraham Lincoln or the soldiers of the Revolution or of the Civil War as models, has looked in some cases to Spain for your example. I believe—nay, I know—that in general our officers and soldiers are humane. But in some cases they have carried on your warfare with a mixture of American ingenuity and Castilian cruelty. Your practical statesmanship has succeeded in converting a people who three years ago were ready to kiss the hem of the garment of the American and to welcome him as a liberator, who thronged after your men when they landed on those islands with benediction and gratitude, into sullen and irreconcilable enemies, possessed of a hatred which centuries can not eradicate." —Senator George F. Hoar, From a speech in the United States Senate in May, 1902, chastising the Philippine-American War and the three Army officers, who were court-martialed


 * Reasons for Interest:**
 * imperialism does not provide any advancements to the country-only deterrents-costs money, resources and human resources
 * may cause war and we are in need of peace as we grow on the world stage
 * the Constitution does not look favorably on imperialism
 * the way a country is run-especially an independent country-should be up to the natives of the country, not foreign invaders
 * as a stanch advocate for black and women's rights, I believe in freedom and liberation for all peoples and keeping them out of potentially oppressive hands


 * References:**

T. Jefferson Coolidge -Boston business leader who worked with me to set up a presidential relief fund for starving Cuban

Charles Sumner/Daniel Webster- I am said to fit the mold of these prominent political figures

President William McKinley- Although we had our many differences, he knows how devoted I am to my cause and can attest to my intentions as being good.

//**Sources:** George Frisbie Hoar//. Wikipedia. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. []. //George F. Hoar//. World History Sources. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. []. //Anti-Imperialism//. Bioguide. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .