The American Legacy Roosevelt’s instructions to Dewey amounted to orders to seize the Philippines, even though the Philippines were not an issue between Spain and the U.S. Roosevelt is on record of wanting to seize the Philippines at least as early as 1897. He handpicked Dewey to head the Asiatic squadron, over opposition. Roosevelt “cut through red tape and navy routines and had coal sent him.” On his famous February 25, 1898 he ordered the entire squadron except the Monocacy to Hong Kong, and ordered Dewey to go on the offensive in the Philippines if war on Spain was declared. Long failed to recall these instructions. “The Assistant Secretary [of the Navy] had seized the opportunity … to insure our [the U.S.] grabbing the Philippines without a decision to do so by either Congress or the President, or least of all the people. [70] Note that Roosevelt’s illegal and clandestine orders to prepare the attack on the Philippines was made on February 25, 1898 while the actual Declaration of War by the US Congress was made on April 25, 1898, exactly two months later as a result of the mysterious sinking of USS Maine (an incident that was never proven by investigations to be the handiwork of Spain). The Battle of Manila Bay occurred on May 1, 1898. B. The Philippine American War 1. Why did Admiral Dewey link up with Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo against the Spanish forces in the Philippines? Admiral Dewey commanded the Asiatic Squadron, a modern naval fleet that was capable of destroying the Spanish navy docked in Manila Bay. But the US armed forces still lacked troops to occupy Manila. Dewey needed time for the US to recruit and form infantry units for this purpose. The possibility of Aguinaldo resuming the Philippine Revolution to victory loomed as Spain could no longer send reinforcements and logistics to the Philippines. The Spanish Army in the Philippines became highly demoralized knowing that they were now on their own. On the other hand, the revolutionary forces in the Philippines remained intact. Aguinaldo did not disband the revolutionary army after the Pact of Biak na Bato. They only turned over about 1,000 old rifles and accepted the initial 400,000 settlement amount that could buy at least 50,000 new rifles (at 7 pesos apiece) with enough money left to fund a major offensive. Hong Kong and Singapore, being international British free ports, had merchant 51