After the U.S. victory in the brief Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. The U.S. decision to annex the Philippines provoked a domestic controversy. Those in favor of the annexation believed that the United States should become a world power with overseas possessions. Acquiring the Philippines would provide the United States with access to the Far East and prevent another imperialist nation, such as Japan or Germany, from taking control. Some of those who favored annexation also believed that the Filipino people could not govern themselves and needed the United States to provide leadership.

Those opposed to the annexation cited several reasons for their position. They claimed that for the United States to rule another people in a distant country did not accord with American ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Some argued that the country should focus on domestic reform rather than foreign entanglements and that the annexation would be too expensive. Still, others mentioned that Filipino troops fought on the U.S. side in the Spanish war and that Filipino leaders already created the First Philippine Republic, which showed their ability to run their country in an orderly way.