The Spanish American War

Reforming a Colony into a Republic

Perry Arrasmith Junior Division Website

Near the end of the 19th century, a short war of 113 days between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain proved to be a worthwhile event for the Filipinos because it reformed the Filipino infrastructure, revolutionized their social services, and advanced the condition of the economies of the Philippines and the United States. The reactions to these reforms served as the initial steps to the Filipinos gaining their independence in 1946. When I attended a summer class introducing students to History Day, I got an idea of some of the possible topics I could do for History Day as it is a requirement at our school. With a passion for learning about different conflicts, I decided that a war I had never heard much about, the Spanish-American war, would be my topic. When I began the project, many of the resources I used were books I borrowed from the library. I also searched the internet for website sources that gave me a broad understanding of my topic. As time went on, I found a website named, The Spanish American War Centennial. This site was able to give me many primary sources from documents written by people from that time period. My other source that I was able to use was a documentary I

borrowed from the library entitled, Crucible of Empire: The Spanish American War. The reason I thought this video to be valuable was because of the clips from people who were experts on the subject (Professors & Authors). I was able to post these clips on my website. I would say these two sources ended

up being my most important pieces of evidence. When I first started my research, I focused on the entire scope of the war (Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam). As my research continued, I started focusing more on the Philippines. Over time, what interested me the most about the Philippines was how they had been fighting Spain since 1896. With the Spanish-American War, the Filipinos sided with the Americans for the prospect of Independence. When the war with Spain ended though, a treaty of peace was signed, giving the Philippines to America as a colony. The Philippines tried to fight the Americans, only to be defeated. I then tried to show how the Filipinos benefited from American rule as the infrastructure of the Philippines was reformed. Soon after gathering all my research, I started to think about which type of product that I wanted to do. In the end, I wanted to do a website. I am not good with media, but it seemed like it would be a fun way to display my project. When I chose this, I soon saw all the work that would have to be done. While working on my topic, I faced many predicaments with doing the research. It was easy to wander off topic as I ended up spending too much time on my research. I am also not the best at using a computer. Time

seemed like such as valuable object during this project and sometimes I did not take advantage of it. I did not always use my time wisely and because of it, I had to do things at the last minute. In the end though, I had to focus and finish my product.

In the Spanish American war, I saw a connection to the theme through the outcome it had on the Philippines. After the Spanish-American War,

America for the first time had territory in Asia. Over the next 48 years, the Philippines went through many reforms as it was revolutionized into a more modern society. While the Filipinos were under American rule, their infrastructure was revolutionized and their economy improved compared to that of what it had been while under the rule of Spain. In this project, I saw how the Philippines was able to benefit from the rule of the Americans, while also regaining the independence that it lost 48 years earlier.