William McKinley: “Benevolent Assimilation” Proclamation

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

McKinley was determined to govern the Philippines under his power as commander in chief until Congress established a civil government for the islands. By late 1898 tensions rose between American forces on the ground and Filipinos who resented the presence of the United States in their country. The prospect of an armed conflict was very much on the minds of American policy makers at the time. When McKinley took steps to establish a framework for the military government in the Philippines, he thus spoke both to the residents of the islands and to the political controversy at home.

On December 21, 1898, McKinley issued an executive proclamation setting out how government should operate in the Philippines. His reference to “benevolent assimilation” gave the document its name in history. Notice that the president assumes that the peace treaty is in operation, even though Congress had not yet acted to approve it. From that premise, he then asserts that American sovereignty and military control should at once be extended throughout the archipelago. McKinley lays out the duties of the military commander to reassure the inhabitants of the islands that “all their private rights and relations” would be safeguarded. He also announces the friendly purpose of the United States and the goal of protecting “their personal and religious rights.” The president then argues for an approach that would return the Philippines to normal life as rapidly as possible. Those residents who were willing to accept the supremacy of the United States would be protected. Those who did not would be treated “with firmness if need be, but without severity, so far as possible.”

The key phrase in this document and the one that has established its historical significance for an understanding of McKinley as president relates to the use of the term benevolent assimilation. The racial and ethnic overtones of the phrase are immediately evident to the modern reader. During the late nineteenth century, Americans were convinced that their form of government was the best in the world. Asian, Latin American, and African peoples were, in the popular mind of the day, not as far advanced as were the Anglo-Saxon civilizations. It was the duty, some imperialists argued, to spread the blessings of civilization to areas where backwardness persisted. That there was ample bigotry and condescension in this point of view now seems clear. But for McKinley and the leaders of his generation, the honest and moral purposes of the United States were self-evident. He believed that he had a mission to provide “the blessings of good and stable government” to the people of the Philippines.

During the month and a half that followed, the Senate debated the Treaty of Paris. At the same time, in the Philippines, the tense military situation continued. In early February fighting broke out between the U.S. Army and Filipino insurgents. The senators approved the treaty by one more vote than the two-thirds necessary, and the United States could now claim full legal possession of the Philippines as a result of the war with Spain. But the country was waging an imperial war to subjugate the Philippine people and make good on its claims of sovereignty over the islands. Meanwhile, full-scale debate raged in the United States about the merits of overseas expansion. The Democrats, led by William Jennings Bryan, challenged the assumptions of American foreign policy that acquiring possessions overseas was a good result of the recent war.