The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-09-22
The parallel between what Jencr-
SON did With Louisiana and. VIA Is

The parallel between what Jefcr.
son did with Louisiana and: what Is
now being done In the PHILIPPINES
10 exact. .-,., ..,4.. atz IN
Jefrerson, the author Of the Declara-3
ton Of Independence, and Of the CON
sent Of the governed doctrine. saw no
incongruity between this n the estab-
nInent Of a. government, on common
sense grounds in the new territory; and
he rallied at the sticklers for an impossi-
bit application Of his principle, saying. in
language which at the present day ap-
plies to the situation in the Philippines
without the change Of a word, though
1t is acknowledged that our new fellow
citizens are as yet incapable Of self-gov-
eminent as children, yet some cannot
bring themselves to suspend its principles
for a single moment" He intended hat
ut.mately self-government should be in
troduced throughout the territory, but
only as the different parts became fit for
it, and no sooner. This is just the policy
that has been pursued. In no part of the
Louisiana purchase was complete self
government introduced for a number OF
years; in one part of it, the Indian Terri
tory, 1t has not yet been introduced, al
though nearly a century has elapsed.
Over enormous tracts. of 1t, including the
various Indian reservations, with a terri
tory in the aggregate as large as that of
the Philippines, the Constitution has
never yet followed the flag" the H.rmy
officer and the civilian agent still exer-
else authority, without asking the "con-
sent of the governed" We must proceed
in the Philippines with the same wise
caution, taking each successive step as 1t
becomes desirable, and accommodating
the details of our policy to the pecuiar,
needs of the situation. But as soon as
the present revolt is put down and order
established it will undoubtedly be posi-
BILE to give the islands a larger measure
of self-government than Jefferson origt-
nally gave Louisiana.
America Continues to Expand.
The next great step in expansion was
the acquisition of Florida. This was
partly acquired by conquest and partly
by purchase, Andrew Jackson being the
most prominent figure in the acquisition.
It was taken under President Monroe,
the aftertime President John Quincy
Adams being active in securing the pur-
chase. AS in the case of the Philippines,
Florida was acquired by purchase from
Spain, and in Florida the Seminoles, who
! had not been consulted in the sale. re-
belled and waged war exactly as some OF
! the Tagals have rebelled n waged war
in the Philippines. The Seminole war
lasted for many years but Presidents
| Monroe, Adams and jackson declined for
a moment to consider the question OF
abandoning Florida to the 5Seminoles or
to treat their non-consent to the govern
ment Of the United States as a valid
reason for turning over the territory to
them *i'rN5aHt'' "' i9'f" fff'a
Our next acquisition Of territory was
that of Texas, secured by treaty after 1t
had beer wrested from the Mexicans by
the Texans themselves. Then came the
acquisition of California, New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada and parts of Colorado
and Utah as the result of the Mexican
war, supplemented five years later by the
Gadsden purchase.
The next acquisition was that Of Alas
ka, secured from Russia by treaty and
purchase. Alaska was full of natives,
some of whom had advanced well beyond
the stage of savagery and were Chris
tians. They were not consulted about
the purchase nor was their acquiescence
required. The purchase was made by the
men who had just put through a trf-
umphant war to restore the Union and
free the slave; but none of them
deemed 1t necessary to push the doctrine
of the consent of the governed to a
conclusion so fantastic as to necessitate
the turning over of Alaska to its original
owners, the Indian and the Aleut. For
thirty years the United States authors
ties, military and civil, exercised the
supreme authority in a tract OF land
many times larger h the Philippines.
in which it did not seem likely that there
would ever be any considerable body of
white inhabitants.
. Then Came Hawaii.
Nearly thirty years passed before the
next instance Of expansion occurred,
which was over the Island Of Hawaii.
An effort was made at the end Of Pres
ident Harrison's administration to secure
the annexation of Hawaii. The. effort
was unsuccessful. In a debate in con-
,gress on Feb. 2, 1894, one of the lead
ers in opposing the annexation of the ISL
ands, stated: "These islands are more
than 1000 miles distant from our extreme
western boundary. We have a serious
race problem now in our country, and I
am not in favor Of adding to our do
nestle fabric a mongrel population cot
this c~haracter). Our Constitution makes
no PROVISIONS lot q COlOLldl ESTABLISH
ment. Any territorial government We
might establish would necessarily, be-
cause of the population, be an oligarchy,
which would have to be supported by
armed soldiers" Yet Hawaii has now
been annexed and her delegates have. sat
in the national conventions of the two
great parties. The fears then expressed
in relation to an "oligarchy'' and earned
soldiers are not now seriously enter
tanned by any human being; yet they
are precisely the objections urged against
the acquisition Of the Philippines at this
very moment. We are making no new
departure. We are not taking a single
step which in any way affects our insti-
tutions or our traditional policies. From
the beginning we have given widely
varying. degrees OF self-government to
the different territories. according . to
their needs. ~ Z z -
The simple truth IL that there IL
nothing wen remotely resembling
aimpkriaRism,' or ttmilitarisn"- in-
voIved in~theg present development
of, that; policy Of expansion which
has been part Of the 9 history Of
America from the day when she be-
\ ca1aSAt aAnn1lNn; e@ia.fiNs@ Hfb 9a1at7 :
The words fnean absolutely nothing as
applied to iour recent policy In the Philip
pines; for this policy is only imperdafistic