Guam, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, and a bit of a lesson here about the downsides of being an American colony TODAY.
The Philippines are not US territory. Hawaii was colonized by private citizens and only joined the US later.
Not now, but they were…
Same with Hawaii, it too was a country that was colonized and made a US territory before it became a state.
Why ignore all the other examples too? Lol
Well personlly I fully support admitting Puerto Rico as a state. Most people who believe in freedom and the rights of citizens do. That being said, there is a problem with the other US Territories.
Consider that the nation has 330 million people and that there are 435 representatives to the US House of Representatives which is suppose to be “one person, one vote”. That means that each Congressperson represents about 758 thousand people. Vermont and Wyoming are just over half a million each, just under that number.
Now Puerto Rico has over three million people so that’s not a problem but the other US Territories are under 200 thousand each. If Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands went in together they would be at about 200 thousand. The US Virgin Islands are at about 100 thousand and American Samoa is at about half that.
A better solution would be for those territories to become part of a US state. For example the Pacific Islands could become part of Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands could become part of Florida or another East Coast state. That would be a fair solution that would give them full US citizenship and the chance to vote for electors for President.
What?
That wasn’t what we were talking about.
You issued the challenge:
You were responded with The Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo Bay as examples.
You then proceeded to claim:
I told you that was wrong:
End of story.
I don’t care what you’re personal takes are on American Territorial Politics and I’m not going to debate them with you, what.
The overall point here was that you said the United States didn’t partake in ‘that much colonialism’ (I guess?) from your original post, which yeah, compared to Europe it wasn’t as blatant… but they still partook in their fair share of colonialism (even beyond the US territories mentioned here, the US has toyed with Latin American politics for a long time).
The End.
Manifest Destiny was just a fancy way to cloak colonialism and make it morally ok because God Said So. The US is just as guilty as everyone else who began as an extension of a European Power. We just mostly focused on ‘Continental Colonialism’ as they call it.
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Lesson time:
The Philipininos got a tad upset when they found out that they were exchanging one colonial overlord for another. They would not get their independence until 1946 so they decided to do something about it.
A particurlarly ugly episode of American Colonialism. You make it sound like it was the Jones moving next door.
And I told you it was right. What happened was tha King Kamehameha V died without an air. Another was elected but died shortly after. Another was appointed by a legislature and riots broke out. American and British troops restored order.
The major influence at this time was from Pinapple businessmen and religious ministers with the US government coming along later to sweep up the mess.
You said this. Just because there was a coup against Queen Liliʻuokalani, and traitors betrayed their country to the U.S., does not mean that Hawaii was not a colony. In fact, google how Native Hawaiians feel about their land today. People recommend tourists not to visit.
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It’s funny how people are either traitors or freedom fighters depending on whose side you are on. After the King Kamehameha V died without a named successor there was no clear system to pick a new King. Some people supported the people selected, others did not.
The government was in chaos and was overthrown by private fruit companies. There wasn’t much to overthrow.
As for Hawaii today, I’ve been there. The people were very kind and welcoming and consider themselves to be US Citizens.
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This is one of those truth is stranger than fiction things.
“Traitor” was the word I chose, yep. When you overthrow your country’s government to give it to a foreign power so it can be annexed, then I think you’re a traitor.
Well that’s irrelevant to the U.S. being a colonizer.
That’s kind of a colonizer mentality tbh. Many Native Hawaiian’s don’t want visitors, and want independence.
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It’s not that uncommon. See “British East India Company” and check out the shenanigans they got up to.
What the hell happened in this thread.
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Look up the term “Banana Republic” and study it’s origin sometime.
Education sneaked into it.
So by your definition, George Washington was a traitor to the British government for which he had fought as an officer in the Virginia Militia.
Thanks for proving my point.
It seems you might have already read it, but if you hadn’t - Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery is pretty much exactly what you talk about. Good writing on the topic of it both bolstering and eventually ending slavery once it had become unprofitable.
It didn’t end slavery… it simply adapted it to the new economics.
First sharecropping, then Jim Crow and today…