In 1898 the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Paris of 1898, on the basis that annexing Guam and the Philippines would involve America in the overlapping spheres of European (and Japanese) colonial interests in Asia, and risk dragging America into overseas wars. This forced the treaty's revision, leading to Japan buying Guam from Spain a year later, and the US recognizing Philippine independence, followed by Siam, Japan, and Britain doing likewise in 1899 and 1902 respectively. Furthermore, it affirmed America's 'Americas First' foreign policy for decades to come, and even when the policy was amended in light of realpolitik concerns from the 1930s onward, American overseas influence remained an almost purely 'soft power' affair.
But what if the US Senate did ratify the treaty as it original was? How would it have affected the Eurasian balance of power, and American foreign policy onward?
But what if the US Senate did ratify the treaty as it original was? How would it have affected the Eurasian balance of power, and American foreign policy onward?