American Imperialism in the Philippines (1903) and Mary H. Fulton, On Term Paper

American Imperialism in the Philippines (1903) and Mary H. Fulton, On Christian Missionaries. Document analysis - Term Paper Example First, both documents reflect a common drive to conform to gender expectations. On the one hand, in the document â€Å"American Imperialism in the Philippines,† the attitude of President William McKinley in defending the colonization of the Philippines is plain machismo and ego in action. McKinley said, â€Å"That we could not give them back to Spain -- that would be cowardly and dishonorable.† Refusing to get the booty of war is in fact an honorable thing to do, especially when the booty which McKinley says â€Å"had dropped into our laps† has been fighting its own war against the Spanish regime for years already. Insofar as the Filipinos are concerned, when the Americans came, they were already winning. They won the fight against the Spaniards; they were not rescued by the Americans. â€Å"The Filipinos had also declared their independence and established a republic under the first democratic constitution ever known in Asia. Their dreams of independence were crushed when the Philippines were transferred from Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1898), which closed the Spanish-American War.† (Philippine History)... Gender dictates that the male sex is courageous, brave and honorable. And to colonize the Philippines is what an honorable and courageous man would do. On the other hand, Mary H. Fulton writes of the Chinese women, â€Å"Then they notice my clean, short finger nails, and contrast them with their long ones,—often a finger in length,— which indicate that they are ladies of leisure.† Again, this is the work of gender and the need to conform. Chinese women go through the inconvenience of unnecessarily long finger nails and the pain of bound feet all in the name of femininity and pride. Chinese tradition regards the lotus feet and long finger nails as signs of a good woman because its makes them the epitome of affluence and good fortune. It means that they can afford to pay for people to do the chores for them and even carry them on their backs. The men in America celebrate while the women in China suffer all in the name of conformity with their prescribed gender role s. Another human trait common to both documents is the belief in God. Broadly speaking, all man regardless of creed or religion believes in the existence of a supreme being. Even the self-confessed atheists have something that rules over their lives and to whom they turn to in times of need. To the believer, this God could be Jesus Christ, Allah, Yahweh, the Roman and Greek Gods or the pagan’s ancestors’ spirits. To the non-believer, this could be himself for it can be argued that if he does not believe in a god that rules over man, therefore he rules over himself and he is his own god. McKinley admitted to have acquired the wisdom on what to do with the Philippines after he knelt down and prayed to God for guidance and enlightenment: â€Å"I am not ashamed to tell