Is it possible for an independent Philippines to retain Marianas and Palau?
Those island chains may have been a part of the Spanish East Indies but I highly doubt with the Yanquis on the scene any Filipino would even begin to entertain trying to claim them...
Who says it needs claiming if you are represented in the First Republic? The issue would be how to retain since the USA has got a better navy if ever US is involved.
If the Spanish Asian Armada rebelled at the same time or if the ships were taken by the rebels before OTL battle Manila bay, you can protect those islands.
It was a last minute decision, and given his initial reluctance to go to war, as well as communications at the time, it's easy to conceive a scenario in which the Philippines are not ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris.
It aint last minute. It wasnt planned before the Spanish-American war but it was planned before the Treaty of Paris. The decision was pressured by his supporters which it turns out to be the business community.
As a president of a country, McKinley's first job is to support his constituents rather to save an unknown country who werent his voters. Otherwise, the president aint acting a president.
I think the aims of the US business sectors can be achieved w/o annexing the Philippines. They just needed to retain one or two bases there like they did with Cuba and arrange some trade agreements (read as unequal treaties) with the Filipino government.
From what I know, the reasons why McKinley and the Congress insist on full annexation were:
- If they annex only Luzon (like what McKinley originally planned), the other powers would definitely scramble over the other islands (yup, Qing China 2.0). That would complicate matters.
- The Congress at that time, had little knowledge about the Philippines. And most of it came from yellow journalist, who frequently describes Filipinos as uncivilized barbarians. The congressmen felt that it was the responsibility of the US to civilize them.
This is true. The one who is in control of the media is the US businessmen who happens to be the one's pressuring McKinley.
The same thing you can say about the US Congress.
Democracy is like that. Politicians act upon the pressure of their constituents or in this case, those who support them.
The best way to butterfly when you are forcing the same people in the US government is take away the need for US businesses to expand in the China market.
But then again, why force the hand of US government and business when you can actually avoid this by having an earlier revolt that wins which is much easier than actually changing the nature of US businessmen and US politicians. I dont know why you guys keeps wanting McKinley, the same US government and Treaty of Paris to involve the Philippines when it can have a separate peace treaty with Spain.