The American Legacy Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it. (Lincoln’s letter to H. L. Pierce, April 6, 1859) 4. What was the significance of the 1898 Treaty of Paris? The Spanish-American War only took 10 weeks, starting with the US Declaration of War on April 25, 1898. Hostilities by mutual consent ended on August 12, 1898. The Treaty of Paris which was concluded on December 10, 1898 transformed the issue of the Philippines from a US constitutional and foreign policy issue on the principle of “consent of the governed” into a simple absolute deed of sale. In this treaty, annexationists inserted the acquisition of the Philippines for US $20 million despite the fact that the Philippines was already an independent republic starting on June 12, 1898 and Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago were never conquered by Spain, which could not claim territorial jurisdiction outside the walls of the forts. Through this treaty, it was also agreed that the US would annex Puerto Rico, Cuba and Guam. 5. Why was the Philippine-American War considered a treacherous act on the part of the US? Dewey and his subordinates acted with great malice, bad faith and deception, pretending to be libertarians and allies of the Philippine Revolution. They negotiated with Aguinaldo on this basis. On May 1, 1898, Dewey’s fleet destroyed the Spanish armada in Manila Bay. The demoralized and logistically deprived Spanish forces offered to surrender the Philippines. Dewey did not accept the surrender of Spanish land forces for this would create a vacuum and make the Filipino forces fill the void and complicate matters for the annexationists. On May 17, 1898 Aguinaldo landed in Cavite aboard a US ship with thousands of revolutionary forces waiting for him to lead a general offensive. The revolutionary army – while numerous and was widely supported – had only 5,000 rifles because the US did not deliver the second batch of weapons that Aguinaldo had already paid for using the revolutionary funds. This non-delivery was 55