American Rhetoric: William Jennings Bryan -- "Against Imperialism" Page 1 of 16
William Jennings Bryan
Imperialism
delivered 8 August 1900, Indianapolis, IN
Audio mp3 Excerpt Studio Reading of Address
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Notification Committee: I shall, at an early
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day, and in a more formal manner, accept the nomination which you tender, and
shall at that time discuss the various questions covered by the Democratic
platform. It may not be out of place, however, to submit a few observations at
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this time upon the general character of the contest before us and upon the
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question which is declared to be of paramount importance in this campaign.
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When I say that the contest of 1900 is a contest of 1900 is a contest between Pharmace
Democracy on the one hand and plutocracy on the other I do not mean to say
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that all our opponents have deliberately chosen to give to organized wealth a www.gtcbio.c
predominating influence in the affairs of the Government, but I do assert that on
the important issues of the day the Republican party is dominated by those
influences which constantly tend to substitute the worship of mammon for the
protection of the rights of man.
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In 1859 Lincoln said that the Republican Party believed in the man and the News On T
dollar, but that in case of conflict it believed in the man before the dollar. This is Ongoing W
the proper relation which should exist between the two. Man, the handiwork of A Reliable
God, comes first; money, the handiwork of man, is of inferior importance. Man is www.NewYor
the master, money the servant, but upon all important questions today
Republican legislation tends to make money the master and man the servant.
The maxim of Jefferson, “equal rights to all and special privileges to none,”
and
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the doctrine of Lincoln that this should be a government “of the people, by the
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people and for the people,”
are being disregarded and the instrumentalities of
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government are being used to advance the interests of those who are in a
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position to secure favors from the Government.
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The Democratic party is not making war upon the honest acquisition of wealth; it
has no desire to discourage industry, economy and thrift. On the contrary, it
gives to every citizen the greatest possible stimulus to honest toil when it
promises him protection in the enjoyment of the proceeds of his labor. Property Global
rights are most secure when human rights are most respected. Democracy Governme
strives for civilization in which every member of society will share according to Events
his merits. Senior leve
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No one has a right to expect from a society more than a fair compensation for Governme
the services No one has a right to expect from a society more than a fair Technology
compensation for the services which he renders to society. If he secures more it www.terrapin
is at the expense of some one else. It is no injustice to him to prevent his doing
injustice to another. To him who would, either through class legislation or in the
absence of necessary legislation, trespass upon the rights of another the
Democratic party says "Thou shalt not."
Against us are arrayed a comparatively small but politically and financially
powerful number who really profit by Republican policies; but with them are
associated a large number who, because of their attachment to their party name,
are giving their support to doctrines antagonistic to the former teachings of their
own party.
Republicans who used to advocate bimetallism now try to convince themselves
that the gold standard is good; Republicans who were formerly attached to the
greenback are now seeking an excuse for giving national banks control of the
nation's paper money; Republicans who used to boast that the Republican party
was paying off the national debt are now looking for reasons to support a
perpetual and increasing debt; Republicans who formerly abhorred a trust now
beguile themselves with the delusion that there are good trusts, and bad trusts,
while in their minds, the line between the two is becoming more and more
obscure; Republicans who, in times past, congratulated the country upon the
small expense of our standing army, are now making light of the objections
which are urged against a large increase in the permanent military
establishment; Republicans who gloried in our independence when the nation
was less powerful now look with favor upon a foreign alliance; Republicans who
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three years ago condemned "forcible annexation" as immoral and even criminal
are now sure that it is both immoral and criminal to oppose forcible annexation.
That partisanship has already blinded many to present dangers is certain; how
large a portion of the Republican party can be drawn over to the new policies
remains to be seen.
For a time Republican leaders were inclined to deny to opponents the right to
criticize the Philippine policy of the administration, but upon investigation they
found that both Lincoln and Clay asserted and exercised the right to criticize a
President during the progress of the Mexican war.
Instead of meeting the issue boldly and submitting a clear and positive plan for
dealing with the Philippine question, the Republican convention adopted a
platform the larger part of which was devoted to boasting and self-congratulation.
In attempting to press economic questions upon the country to the exclusion of
those which involve the very structure of our government, the Republican
leaders give new evidence of their abandonment of the earlier ideals of their
party and of their complete subserviency to pecuniary considerations.
But they shall not be permitted to evade the stupendous and far-reaching issue
which they have deliberately brought into the arena of politics. When the
president, supported by a practically unanimous vote of the House and Senate,
entered upon a war with Spain for the purpose of aiding the struggling patriots of
Cuba, the country, without regard to party, applauded.
Although the Democrats realized that the administration would necessarily gain a
political advantage from the conduct of a war which in the very nature of the
case must soon end in a complete victory, they vied with the Republicans in the
support which they gave to the president. When the war was over and the
Republican leaders began to suggest the propriety of a colonial policy opposition
at once manifested itself.
When the President finally laid before the Senate a treaty which recognized the
independence of Cuba, but provided for the cession of the Philippine Islands to
the United States, the menace of imperialism became so apparent that many
preferred to reject the treaty and risk the ills that might follow rather than take the
chance of correcting the errors of the treaty by the independent action of this
country.
I was among the number of those who believed it better to ratify the treaty and
end the war, release the volunteers, remove the excuse for war expenditures
and then give the Filipinos the independence which might be forced from Spain
by a new treaty.
In view of the criticism which my action aroused in some quarters, I take this
occasion to restate the reasons given at that time. I thought it safer to trust the
American people to give independence to the Filipinos than to trust the
accomplishment of that purpose to diplomacy with an unfriendly nation.
Lincoln embodied an argument in the question when he asked, "Can aliens
make treaties easier than friends can make laws?" I believe that we are now in a
better position to wage a successful contest against imperialism than we would
have been had the treaty been rejected. With the treaty ratified a clean-cut issue
is presented between a government by consent and a government by force, and
imperialists must bear the responsibility for all that happens until the question is
settled.
If the treaty had been rejected the opponents of imperialism would have been
held responsible for any international complications which might have arisen
before the ratification of another treaty. But whatever difference of opinion may
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have existed as to the best method of opposing a colonial policy, there never
was any difference as to the great importance of the question and there is no
difference now as to the course to be pursued.
The title of Spain being extinguished we were at liberty to deal with the Filipinos
according to American principles. The Bacon resolution, introduced a month
before hostilities broke out at Manila, promised independence to the Filipinos on
the same terms that it was promised to the Cubans. I supported this resolution
and believe that its adoption prior to the breaking out of hostilities would have
prevented bloodshed, and that its adoption at any subsequent time would have
ended hostilities.
If the treaty had been rejected considerable time would have necessarily elapsed
before a new treaty could have been agreed upon and ratified and during that
time the question would have been agitating the public mind. If the Bacon
resolution had been adopted by the senate and carried out by the president,
either at the time of the ratification of the treaty or at any time afterwards, it
would have taken the question of imperialism out of politics and left the American
people free to deal with their domestic problems. But the resolution was defeated
by the vote of the Republican Vice-President, and from that time to this a
republican congress has refused to take any action whatever in the matter.
When hostilities broke out at Manila republican speakers and Republican editors
at once sought to lay the blame upon those who had delayed the ratification of
the treaty, and, during the progress of the war, the same republicans have
accused the opponents of imperialism of giving encouragement to the Filipinos.
This is a cowardly evasion of responsibility.
If it is right for the United States to hold the Philippine Islands permanently and
imitate European empires in the government of colonies, the Republican party
ought to state its position and defend it, but it must expect the subject races to
protest against such a policy and to resist to the extent of their ability.
The Filipinos do not need any encouragement from Americans now living. Our
whole history has been an encouragement not only to the Filipinos, but to all who
are denied a voice in their own government. If the republicans are prepared to
censure all who have used language calculated to make the Filipinos hate
foreign domination, let them condemn the speech of Patrick Henry. When he
uttered that passionate appeal, "Give me liberty or give me death," he expressed
a sentiment which still echoes in the hearts of men.
Let them censure Jefferson; of all the statesmen of history none have used
words so offensive to those who would hold their fellows in political bondage. Let
them censure Washington, who declared that the colonists must choose
between liberty and slavery. Or, if the statute of limitations has run again the sins
of Henry and Jefferson and Washington, let them censure Lincoln, whose
Gettysburg speech will be quoted in defense of popular government when the
present advocates of force and conquest are forgotten.
Some one has said that a truth once spoken, can never be recalled. It goes on
and on, and no one can set a limit to its ever-widening influence. But if it were
possible to obliterate every word written or spoken in defense of the principles
set forth in the Declaration of Independence, a war of conquest would still leave
its legacy of perpetual hatred, for it was God himself who placed in every human
heart the love of liberty. He never made a race of people so low in the scale of
civilization or intelligence that it would welcome a foreign master.
Those who would have this Nation enter upon a career of empire must consider,
not only the effect of imperialism on the Filipinos, but they must also calculate its
effects upon our own nation. We cannot repudiate the principle of self-
government in the Philippines without weakening that principle here.
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Lincoln said that the safety of this Nation was not in its fleets, its armies, or its
forts, but in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands,
everywhere, and he warned his countrymen that they could not destroy this spirit
without planting the seeds of despotism at their own doors.
Even now we are beginning to see the paralyzing influence if imperialism.
Heretofore this Nation has been prompt to express its sympathy with those who
were fighting for civil liberty. While our sphere of activity has been limited to the
Western Hemisphere, our sympathies have not been bounded by the seas. We
have felt it due to ourselves and to the world, as well as to those who were
struggling for the right to govern themselves, to proclaim the interest which our
people have, from the date of their own independence, felt in every contest
between human rights and arbitrary power.
Three-quarters of a century ago, when our nation was small, the struggles of
Greece aroused our people, and Webster and Clay gave eloquent expression to
the universal desire for Grecian independence. In 1896 all parties manifested a
lively interest in the success of the Cubans, but now when a war is in progress in
South Africa, which must result in the extension of the monarchical idea, or in the
triumph of a republic, the advocates of imperialism in this country dare not say a
word in behalf of the Boers.
Sympathy for the Boers does not arise from any unfriendliness towards England;
the American people are not unfriendly toward the people of any nation. This
sympathy is due to the fact that, as stated in our platform, we believe in the
principles of self-government and reject, as did our forefathers, the claims of
monarchy. If this nation surrenders its belief in the universal application of the
principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, it will lose the prestige
and influence which it has enjoyed among the nations as an exponent of popular
government.
Our opponents, conscious of the weakness of their cause, seek to confuse
imperialism with expansion, and have even dared to claim Jefferson as a
supporter of their policy. Jefferson spoke so freely and used language with such
precision that no one can be ignorant of his views. On one occasion he declared:
"If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every
American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest." And again he
said: "Conquest is not in our principles; it is inconsistent with our government."
The forcible annexation of territory to be governed by arbitrary power differs as
much from the acquisition of territory to be built up into States as a monarchy
differs from a democracy. The Democratic party does not oppose expansion
when expansion enlarges the area of the Republic and incorporates land which
can be settled by American citizens, or adds to our population people who are
willing to become citizens and are capable of discharging their duties as such.
The acquisition of the Louisiana territory, Florida, Texas and other tracts which
have been secured from time to time enlarged the republic and the Constitution
followed the flag into the new territory. It is now proposed to seize upon distant
territory already more densely populated than our own country and to force upon
the people a government for which there is no warrant in our Constitution or our
laws.
Even the argument that this earth belongs to those who desire to cultivate it and
who have the physical power to acquire it cannot be invoked to justify the
appropriation of the Philippine Islands by the United States. If the islands were
uninhabited American citizens would not be willing to go there and till the soil.
The white race will not live so near the equator. Other nations have tried to
colonize in the same latitude. The Netherlands have controlled Java for three
hundred years and yet today there are less than sixty thousand people of
European birth scattered among the twenty-five million natives.
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After a century and a half of English domination in India, less than one-twentieth
of one per cent of the people of India are of English birth, and it requires an army
of seventy thousand British soldiers to take care of the tax collectors. Spain had
asserted title to the Philippine Islands for three centuries and yet when our fleet
entered Manila bay there were less than ten thousand Spaniards residing in the
Philippines.
A colonial policy means that we shall send to the Philippine Islands a few
traders, a few taskmasters and a few office-holders and an army large enough to
support the authority of a small fraction of the people while they rule the natives.
If we have an imperial policy we must have a great standing army as its natural
and necessary complement. The sprit which will justify the forcible annexation of
the Philippine Islands will justify the seizure of other islands and the domination
of other people, and with wars of conquest we can expect a certain, if not rapid,
growth of our military establishment.
That a large permanent increase in our regular army is intended by Republican
leaders is not a matter of conjecture, but a matter of fact. In his message of
December 5,1898, the president asked for authority to increase the standing
army to 100,000. In 1896 the army contained about 25,000. Within two years the
president asked for four times that many, and a Republican house of
representatives complied with the request after the Spanish treaty had been
signed, and when no country was at war with the United States.
If such an army is demanded when an imperial policy is contemplated, but not
openly avowed, what -may be expected if the people encourage the Republican
party by indorsing its policy at the polls?
A large standing army is not only a pecuniary burden to the people and, if
accompanied by compulsory service, a constant source of irritation, but it is ever
a menace to a Republican form of government.
The army is the personification of force, and militarism will inevitably change the
ideals of the people and turn the thoughts of our young men from the arts of
peace to the science of war. The Government which relies for its defense upon
its citizens is more likely to be just than one which has at call a large body of
professional soldiers.
A small standing army and a well-equipped and well-disciplined state militia are
sufficient at ordinary times, and in an emergency the nation should in the future
as in the past place its dependence upon the volunteers who come from all
occupations at their country's call and return to productive labor when their
services are no longer required --men who fight when the country needs fighters
and work when the country needs workers. The Republican platform assumes
that the Philippine Islands will be retained under American sovereignty, and we
have a right to demand of the republican leaders a discussion of the future status
of the Filipino. Is he to be a citizen or a subject? Are we to bring into the body
politic eight or ten million Asiatics so different from us in race and history that
amalgamation is impossible? Are they to share with us in making the laws and
shaping the destiny of this nation? No republican of prominence has been bold
enough to advocate such a proposition.
The McEnery resolution, adopted by the senate immediately after the ratification
of the treaty, expressly negatives this idea. The Democratic platform describes
the situation when it says that the Filipinos cannot be citizens without
endangering our civilization. Who will dispute it? And what is the alternative? If
the Filipino is not to be a citizen, shall we make him a subject? On that question
the Democratic platform speaks with equal emphasis. It declares that the Filipino
cannot be a subject without endangering our form of government. A republic can
have no subjects. A subject is possible only in a government resting upon force;
he is unknown in a government derived without consent and taxation without
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representation.
The Republican platform says that "the largest measure of self-government
consistent with their welfare and our duties shall be secured to them (the
Filipinos) by law." This is a strange doctrine for a government which owes its
very existence to the men who offered their lives as a protest against
government without consent and taxation without representation. In what respect
does the position of the Republican party differ from the position taken by the
English Government in 1776? Did not the English Government promise a good
government to the colonists? What king ever promised a bad government to his
people? Did not the English Government promise that the colonists should have
the largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and English
duties? Did not the Spanish Government promise to give to the Cubans the
largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and Spanish
duties? The whole difference between a monarchy and a republic may be
summed up in one sentence. In a monarchy the king gives to the people what he
believes to be a good government; in a republic the people secure for
themselves what they believe to be a good government.
The Republican party has accepted the European idea and planted itself upon
the ground taken by George III., and by every ruler who distrusts the capacity of
the people for self-government or denies them a voice in their own affairs.
The Republican platform promises that some measure of self-government is to
be given the Filipinos by law; but even this pledge is not fulfilled. Nearly sixteen
months elapsed after the ratification of the treaty before the adjournment of
congress last June and yet no law was passed dealing with the Philippine
situation. The will of the president has been the only law in the Philippine islands
wherever the American authority extends. Why does the Republican party
hesitate to legislate upon the Philippine question? Because a law would disclose
the radical departure from history and precedent contemplated by those who
control the Republican party. The storm of protest which greeted the Puerto
Rican bill was an indication of what may be expected when the American people
are brought face to face with legislation upon this subject.
If the Puerto Ricans, who welcomed annexation, are to be denied the
guarantees of our Constitution, what is to be the lot of the Filipinos, who resisted
our authority? If secret influences could compel a disregard of our plain duty
toward friendly people, living near our shores, what treatment will those same
influences provide for unfriendly people 7,000 miles away? If, in this country
where the people have a right to vote, republican leaders dare not take the side
of the people against the great monopolies which have grown up within the last
few years, how can they be trusted to protect the Filipinos from the corporations
which are waiting to exploit the islands?
Is the sunlight of full citizenship to be enjoyed by the people of the United States,
and the twilight of semi-citizenship endured by the people of Puerto Rico, while
the thick darkness of perpetual vassalage covers the Philippines? The Puerto
Rico tariff law asserts the doctrine that the operation of the constitution is
confined to the forty-five states.
The Democratic party disputes this doctrine and denounces it as repugnant to
both the letter and spirit of our organic law. There is no place in our system of
government for the deposit of arbitrary and irresponsible power. That the leaders
of a great party should claim for any president or congress the right to treat
millions of people as mere "possessions" and deal with them unrestrained by the
constitution or the bill of rights shows how far we have already departed from the
ancient landmarks and indicates what may be expected if this nation deliberately
enters upon a career of empire.
The territorial form of government is temporary and preparatory, and the chief
security a citizen of a territory has is found in the fact that he enjoys the same
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constitutional guarantees and is subject to the same general laws as the citizen
of a state. Take away this security and his rights will be violated and his interests
sacrificed at the demand of those who have political influence. This is the evil of
the colonial system, no matter by what nation it is applied.
What is our title to the Philippine Islands? Do we hold them by treaty or by
conquest? Did we buy them or did we take them? Did we purchase the people?
If not, how did we secure title to them? Were they thrown in with the land? Will
the Republicans say that inanimate earth has value but that when that earth is
molded by the divine hand and stamped with the likeness of the Creator it
becomes a fixture and passes with the soil? If governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed, it is impossible to secure title to
people, either by force or by purchase. We could extinguish Spain's title by
treaty, but if we hold title we must hold it by some method consistent with our
ideas of government. When we made allies of the Filipinos and armed them to
fight against Spain, we disputed Spain's title. If we buy Spain's title we are not
innocent purchasers.
There can be no doubt that we accepted and utilized the services of the
Filipinos, and that when we did so we had full knowledge that they were fighting
for their own independence, and I submit that history furnishes no example of
turpitude baser than ours if we now substitute our yoke for the Spanish yoke.
Let us consider briefly the reasons which have been given in support of an
imperialistic policy. Some say that it is our duty to hold the Philippine Islands. But
duty is not an argument; it is a conclusion. To ascertain what our duty is, in any
emergency, we must apply well settled and generally accepted principles. It is
our duty to avoid stealing, no matter whether the thing to be stolen is of great or
little value. It is our duty to avoid killing a human being, no matter where the
human being lives or to what race or class he belongs.
Every one recognizes the obligation imposed upon individuals to observe both
the human and the moral law, but as some deny the application of those laws to
nations, it may not be out of place to quote the opinions of others. Jefferson,
than whom there is no higher political authority, said:
"I know of but one code of morality for men, whether acting singly or collectively."
Franklin, whose learning, wisdom and virtue are a part of the priceless legacy
bequeathed to use from the revolutionary days, expressed the same idea in
even stronger language when he said:
"Justice is strictly due between neighbor nations as between neighbor citizens. A
highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single;
and the nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang."
Many may dare to do in crowds what they would not dare to do as individuals,
but the moral character of an act is not determined by the number of those who
join it. Force can defend a right, but force has never yet created a right. If it was
true, as declared in the resolutions of intervention, that the Cubans "are and of
right ought to be free and independent" (language taken from the Declaration of
Independence), it is equally true that the Filipinos "are and of right ought to be
free and independent."
The right of the Cubans to freedom was not based upon their proximity to the
United States, nor upon the language which they spoke, nor yet upon the race or
races to which they belonged. Congress by a practically unanimous vote
declared that the principles enunciated at Philadelphia in 1776 were still alive
and applicable to the Cubans. Who will draw a line between the natural rights of
the Cubans and the Filipinos? Who will say that the former has a right to liberty
and that the latter has no rights which we are bound to respect? And, if the
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Filipinos "are and of right ought to be free and independent," what right have we
to force our government upon them without their consent? Before our duty can
be ascertained their rights must be determined, and when their rights are once
determined it is as much our duty to respect those rights as it was the duty of
Spain to respect the rights of the people of Cuba or the duty of England to
respect the rights of the American colonists. Rights never conflict; duties never
clash. Can it be our duty to usurp political rights which belong to others? Can it
be our duty to kill those who, following the example of our forefathers, love liberty
well enough to fight for it?
A poet has described the terror which overcame a soldier who in the midst of the
battle discovered that he had slain his brother. It is written "All ye are brethren."
Let us hope for the coming day when human life --which when once destroyed
cannot be restored --will be so sacred that it will never be taken except when
necessary to punish a crime already committed, or to prevent a crime about to
be committed.
It is said that we have assumed before the world obligations which make it
necessary for us to permanently maintain a government in the Philippine Islands.
I reply first, that the highest obligation of this nation is to be true to itself. No
obligation to any particular nations, or to all the nations combined, can require
the abandonment of our theory of government, and the substitution of doctrines
against which our whole national life has been a protest. And, second, that our
obligation to the Filipinos, who inhabit the islands, is greater than any obligation
which we can owe to foreigners who have a temporary residence in the
Philippines or desire to trade there.
It is argued by some that the Filipinos are incapable of self-government and that,
therefore, we owe it to the world to take control of them. Admiral Dewey, in an
official report to the Navy Department, declared the Filipinos more capable of
self-government than the Cubans and said that he based his opinion upon a
knowledge of both races. But I will not rest the case upon the relative
advancement of the Filipinos. Henry Clay, in defending the right of the people of
South America to self-government said:
"It is the doctrine of thrones that man is too ignorant to govern himself. Their
partisans assert his incapacity in reference to all nations; if they cannot
command universal assent to the proposition, it is then demanded to particular
nations; and our pride and our presumption too often make converts of us. I
contend that it is to arraign the disposition of Providence himself to suppose that
he has created beings incapable of governing themselves, and to be trampled on
by kings. Self-government is the natural government of man."
Clay was right. There are degrees of proficiency in the art of self-government,
but it is a reflection upon the Creator to say that he denied to any people the
capacity for self-government. Once admit that some people are capable of self-
government and that others are not and that the capable people have a right to
seize upon and govern the incapable, and you make force --brute force --the
only foundation of government and invite the reign of a despot. I am not willing to
believe that an all-wise and an all-loving God created the Filipinos and then left
them thousands of years helpless until the islands attracted the attention of
European nations.
Republicans ask, "Shall we haul down the flag that floats over our dead in the
Philippines?" The same question might have been asked, when the American
flag floated over Chapultepec and waved over the dead who fell there; but the
tourist who visits the City of Mexico finds there a national cemetery owned by the
United States and cared for by an American citizen. Our flag still floats over our
dead, but when the treaty with Mexico was signed American authority withdrew
to the Rio Grande, and I venture the opinion that during the last fifty years the
people of Mexico have made more progress under the stimulus of independence
and self-government than they would have made under a carpet-bag
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government held in place by bayonets. The United States and Mexico, friendly
republics, are each stronger and happier than they would have been had the
former been cursed and the latter crushed by an imperialistic policy disguised as
"benevolent assimilation."
“Can we not govern colonies?”
we are asked. The question is not what we can
do, but what we ought to do. This nation can do whatever it desires to do, but it
must accept responsibility for what it does. If the Constitution stands in the way,
the people can amend the Constitution. I repeat, the nation can do whatever it
desires to do, but it cannot avoid the natural and legitimate results of it own
conduct.
The young man upon reaching his majority can do what he pleases. He can
disregard the teachings of his parents; he can trample upon all that he has been
taught to consider sacred; he can disobey the laws of the State, the laws of
society and the laws of God. He can stamp failure upon his life and make his
very existence a curse to his fellow men, and he can bring his father and mother
in sorrow to the grave; but he cannot annul the sentence, “The wages of sin is
death.”
And so with the nation. It is of age and it can do what it pleases; it can spurn the
traditions of the past; it can repudiate the principles upon which the nation rests;
it can employ force instead of reason; it can substitute might for right; it can
conquer weaker people; it can exploit their lands, appropriate their property and
kill their people; but it cannot repeal the moral law or escape the punishment
decreed for the violation of human rights.
"Would we tread in the paths of tyranny,
Nor reckon the tyrant's cost?
Who taketh another's liberty
His freedom is also lost.
Would we win as the strong have ever won,
Make ready to pay the debt,
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For the God who reigned over Babylon
Is the God who is reigning yet."
Some argue that American rule in the Philippine Islands will result in the better
education of the Filipinos. Be not deceived. If we expect to maintain a colonial
policy, we shall not find it to our advantage to educate the people. The educated
Filipinos are now in revolt against us, and the most ignorant ones have made the
least resistance to our domination. If we are to govern them without their
consent and give them no voice in determining the taxes which they must pay,
we dare not educate them, lest they learn to read the Declaration of
Independence and Constitution of the United States and mock us for our
inconsistency.
The principal arguments, however, advanced by those who enter upon a
defense of imperialism are:
First-That we must improve the present opportunity to become a world power
and enter into international politics.
Second-That our commercial interests in the Philippine Islands and in the Orient
make it necessary for us to hold the islands permanently.
Third-That the spread of the Christian religion will be facilitated by a colonial
policy.
Fourth-That there is no honorable retreat from the position which the nation has
taken.
The first argument is addrest to the nation’s pride and the second to the nation’s
pocket-book. The third is intended for the church member and the fourth for the
partisan.
It is sufficient answer to the first argument to say that for more than a century this
nation has been a world power. For ten decades it has been the most potent
influence in the world. Not only has it been a world power, but it has done more
to shape the politics of the human race than all the other nations of the world
combined. Because our Declaration of Independence was promulgated others
have been promulgated. Because the patriots of 1776 fought for liberty other
have fought for it. Because our Constitution was adopted other constitutions
have been adopted.
The growth of the principle of self-government, planted on American soil, has
been the overshadowing political fact of the nineteenth century. It has made this
nation conspicuous among the nations and given it a place in history such as no
other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been able to check the onward
march of this idea. I am not willing that this nation shall cast aside the
omnipotent weapon of truth to seize again the weapons of physical warfare. I
would not exchange the glory of this Republic for the glory of all empires that
have risen and fallen since time began.
The permanent chairman of the last Republican Nation Convention presented
the pecuniary argument in all its baldness when he said:
“We make no hypocritical pretense of being interested in the Philippines solely
on account of others. While we regard the welfare of those people as a sacred
trust, we regard the welfare of American people first. We see our duty to
ourselves as well as to others. We believe in trade expansion. By every
legitimate means within the province of government and constitution we mean to
stimulate the expansion of our trade and open new markets.”
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This is the commercial argument. It is based upon the theory that war can be
rightly waged for pecuniary advantage, and that it is profitable to purchase trade
by force and violence. Franklin denied both of these propositions. When Lord
Howe asserted that the acts of Parliament which brought on the Revolution were
necessary to prevent American trade from passing into foreign channels,
Franklin replied:
"To me it seems that neither the obtaining nor retaining of any trade, howsoever
valuable, is an object for which men may justly spill each other's blood; that the
true and sure means of extending and securing commerce are the goodness and
cheapness of commodities, and that the profits of no trade can ever be equal to
the expense of compelling it and holding it by fleets and armies. I consider this
war against us, therefore, as both unjust and unwise."
I place the philosophy of Franklin against the sordid doctrine of those who would
put a price upon the head of an American soldier and justify a war of conquest
upon the ground that it will pay. The democratic party is in favor of the expansion
of trade. It would extend our trade by every legitimate and peaceful means; but it
is not willing to make merchandise of human blood.
But a war of conquest is as unwise as it is unrighteous. A harbor and coaling
station in the Philippines would answer every trade and military necessity and
such a concession could have been secured at any time without difficulty.
It is not necessary to own people in order to trade with them. We carry on trade
today with every part of the world, and our commerce has expanded more
rapidly than the commerce of any European empire. We do not own Japan or
China, but we trade with their people. We have not absorbed the republics of
Central and South America, but we trade with them. It has not been necessary to
have any political connection with Canada or the nations of Europe in order to
trade with them. Trade cannot be permanently profitable unless it is voluntary.
When trade is secured by force, the cost of securing it and retaining it must be
taken out of the profits and the profits are never large enough to cover the
expense. Such a system would never be defended but for the fact that the
expense is borne by all the people, while the profits are enjoyed by a few.
Imperialism would be profitable to the army contractors; it would be profitable to
the ship owners, who would carry live soldiers to the Philippines and bring dead
soldiers back; it would be profitable to those who would seize upon the
franchises, and it would be profitable to the officials whose salaries would be
fixed here and paid over there; but to the farmer, to the laboring man and to the
vast majority of those engaged in other occupations it would bring expenditure
without return and risk without reward.
Farmers and laboring men have, as a rule, small incomes and under systems
which place the tax upon consumption pay much more than their fair share of the
expenses of government. Thus the very people who receive least benefit from
imperialism will be injured most by the military burdens which accompany it.
In addition to the evils which he and the farmer share in common, the laboring
man will be the first to suffer if oriental subjects seek work in the United States;
the first to suffer if American capital leaves our shores to employ oriental labor in
the Philippines to supply the trade of China and Japan; the first to suffer from the
violence which the military spirit arouses and the first to suffer when the methods
of imperialism are applied to our own government.
It is not strange, therefore, that the labor organizations have been quick to note
the approach of these dangers and prompt to protest against both militarism and
imperialism.
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The pecuniary argument, the more effective with certain classes, is not likely to
be used so often or presented with so much enthusiasm as the religious
argument. If what has been termed the “gunpowder gospel”
were urged against
the Filipinos only it would be a sufficient answer to say that a majority of the
Filipinos are now members of one branch of the Christian church; but the
principle involved is one of much wider application and challenges serious
consideration.
The religious argument varies in positiveness from a passive belief that
Providence delivered the Filipinos into our hands, for their good and our glory, to
the exultation of the minister who said that we ought to “thrash the natives
(Filipinos) until they understand who we are,”
and that “every bullet sent, every
cannon shot and every flag waved means righteousness.”
We cannot approve of this doctrine in one place unless we are willing to apply it
everywhere. If there is poison in the blood of the hand it will ultimately reach the
heat. It is equally true that forcible Christianity, if planted under the American
flag in the far-away Orient, will sooner or later be transplanted upon American
soil.
If true Christianity consists in carrying out in our daily lives the teachings of
Christ, who will say that we are commanded to civilize with dynamite and
proselyte with the sword? He who would declare the divine will must prove his
authority either by Holy Writ or by evidence of a special dispensation.
Imperialism finds no warrant in the Bible. The command, “Go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature,”
has no Gatling gun attachment.
When Jesus visited a village of Samaria and the people refused to receive him,
some of the disciples suggested that fire should be called down from Heaven to
avenge the insult; but the Master rebuked them and said: “Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives,
but to save them.”
Suppose he had said: “We will thrash them until they
understand who we are,”
how different would have been the history of
Christianity! Compare, if you will, the swaggering, bullying, brutal doctrine of
imperialism with the golden rule and the commandment, “Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself.”
Love not force, was the weapon of the Nazarene; sacrifice for others, not the
exploitation of them, was His method of reaching the human heart. A missionary
recently told me that the Stars and Stripes once saved his life because his
assailant recognized our flag as a flag that had no blood upon it.
Let it be known that our missionaries are seeking souls instead of sovereignty;
let be it known that instead of being the advance guard of conquering armies,
they are going forth to help and uplift, having their loins girt about with the truth
and their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, wearing the
breastplate of righteousness and carrying the sword of the spirit; let it be known
that they are citizens of a nation which respects the rights of the citizens of other
nations as carefully as it protects the rights of its own citizens, and the welcome
given to our missionaries will be more cordial than the welcome extended to the
missionaries of any other nation.
The argument made by some that it was unfortunate for the nation that it had
anything to do with the Philippine Islands, but that the naval victory at Manila
made the permanent acquisition of those islands necessary, is also unsound.
We won a naval victory at Santiago, but that did not compel us to hold Cuba.
The shedding of American blood in the Philippine Islands does not make it
imperative that we should retain possession forever; American blood was shed
at San Juan and El Caney, and yet the President has promised the Cubans
independence. The fact that the American flag floats over Manila does not
compel us to exercise perpetual sovereignty over the islands; the American flag
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floats over Havana to-day, but the President has promised to haul it down when
the flag of the Cuban Republic is ready to rise in its place. Better a thousand
times that our flag in the Orient give way to a flag representing the idea of self-
government than that the flag of this Republic should become the flag of an
empire.
There is an easy, honest, honorable solution of the Philippine question. It is set
forth in the Democratic platform and it is submitted with confidence to the
American people. This plan I unreservedly indorse. If elected, I will convene
Congress in extraordinary session as soon as inaugurated and recommend an
immediate declaration of the nation’s purpose, first, to establish a stable form of
government in the Philippine Islands, just as we are now establishing a stable
form of government in Cuba; second, to give independence to the Filipinos as
we have promised to give independence to the Cubans; third, to protect the
Filipinos from outside interference while they work out their destiny, just as we
have protected the republics of Central and South America, and are, by the
Monroe doctrine, pledged to protect Cuba.
A European protectorate often results in the plundering of the ward by the
guardian. An American protectorate gives to the nation protected the advantage
of our strength, without making it he victim of our greed. For three-quarters of a
century the Monroe doctrine has been a shield to neighboring republics and yet it
has imposed no pecuniary burden upon us. After the Filipinos had aided us in
the war against Spain, we could not leave them to be the victims of the ambitious
designs of European nations, and since we do not desire to make them a part of
us or to hold them as subjects, we propose the only alternative, namely, to give
them independence and guard them against molestation from without.
When our opponents are unable to defend their position by argument they fall
back upon the assertion that is destiny, and insist that we must submit to it, no
matter how much it violates our moral percepts and our principles of
government. This is a complacent philosophy. It obliterates the distinction
between right and wrong and makes individuals and nations the helpless victims
of circumstance.
Destiny is the subterfuge of the invertebrate, who, lacking the courage to oppose
error, seeks some plausible excuse for supporting it. Washington said that the
destiny of the republican form of government was deeply, if not finally, staked on
the experiment entrusted to the American people. How different Washington’s
definition of destiny from the Republican definition!
The Republicans say that this nation is in the hands of destiny; Washington
believed that not only the destiny of our own nation but the destiny of the
republican form of government throughout the world was intrusted to American
hands. Immeasurable responsibility! The destiny of this Republic is in the hands
of its own people, and upon the success of the experiment here rests the hope of
humanity. No exterior force can disturb this Republic, and no foreign influence
should be permitted to change its course. What the future has in store for this
nation no one has authority to declare, but each individual has his own idea of
the nation’s mission, and he owes it to his country as well as to himself to
contribute as best he may to the fulfillment of that mission.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: I can never fully discharge the
debt of gratitude which I owe to my countrymen for the honors which they have
so generously bestowed upon me; but, sirs, whether it be my lot to occupy the
high office for which the convention has named me, or to spend the remainder of
my days in private life, it shall be my constant ambition and my controlling
purpose to aid in realizing the high ideals of those whose wisdom and courage
and sacrifices brought the Republic into existence.
I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the glories of the present and the
past --a destiny which meets the responsibility of today and measures up to the
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possibilities of the future. Behold a republic, resting securely upon the foundation
stones quarried by revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth --a
republic applying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident
propositions that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with
inalienable rights; that governments are instituted among men to secure these
rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed. Behold a republic in which civil and religion liberty stimulate all to
earnest endeavor and in which the law restrains every hand uplifted for a
neighbor's injury --a republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which
no one cares to wear a crown. Behold a republic standing erect while empires all
around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments --a republic Art & Scie
whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared. Behold a republic Coaching
increasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the Coaching
problems of civilization and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood -- ICF Accred
a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent example World Class
and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in darkness. Behold a republic Training-T
gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress www.erickson
and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes --a republic whose history, like
the path of the just, "is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day."
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Text Source 1: Bryan, William Jennings. “Imperialism.”
Speeches of William Jennings Bryan. New York:
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Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1909.
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Text Source 2: Bryan, William Jennings. “Imperialism.”
Under Other Flags: Travels, Lectures, Speeches.
Ed. Neb Lincoln. The Woodruff-Collins Printing Co., 1904.
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