When America Chose Empire - LewRockwell

 In 1901, on far-away Balangiga, a village in Eastern Samar of the Philippines, an American general gave an order that stripped away any notion of “civilizing” or “Christianizing” a foreign people: “Make it a howling wilderness.”

General Jacob H. Smith’s command—accompanied by the instruction to “kill everyone over ten”—was not an aberration. It was consistent with a decision made only a few years earlier about America becoming one of the “great” nations.  The government would abandon its anti-imperial tradition and join the ranks of empire.

The events at Balangiga were recorded but not broadcast — the public today knows nothing about it.  After months of occupation, abuses by American troops—including arrests, food deprivation, and humiliation of the local population—provoked a surprise Filipino attack on September 28, 1901 that killed 74 men of Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, “who were stationed in Balangiga to keep its small port closed and prevent any trading.”  The American response was swift and total. Villages were burned, civilians killed, and Balangiga was reduced, in Smith’s words, to a “howling wilderness.”The Preparation: How T...Smith, MaximCheck Amazon for Pricing.

Smith was court-martialed—not for murder, but for “conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.” On President Teddy Roosevelt’s order he was reprimanded and retired.  Murdering and raping savages was considered more like a breach of etiquette than an atrocity......

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2026/05/george-f-smith/when-america-chose-empire/ 

.....Lincoln’s suppression of the South’s independence had already altered the American mindset. After Appomattox, the Union was no longer a voluntary confederation of states.  A country that was founded on secession had shown it would crush any part of it that attempted to secede.  It was now one nation, indivisible, ready to conquer or suppress.

The same nation that celebrated liberty erected concentration camps for Native Americans, waged campaigns of annihilation on the plains, then eagerly went to war in 1898.  By the end of the 19th century, the government was ready for imperial ventures.

Conclusion

In 1899, Roosevelt articulated what would become the moral language of the new America: “I wish to preach… the doctrine of the strenuous life… of labor and strife… and splendid ultimate triumph.”

If you’re a rugged American, this sounds exhilarating.  But for government, it leads to perpetual war.  The drive for an energetic, interventionist government leaves us where we are today, a debt-choked, warmongering state armed with the power to extinguish all life on earth.