"We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has been our glory to be
free. We regret that it has become necessary in the land of Washington
and Lincoln to reaffirm that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We maintain that
governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
We insist that the subjugation of any people is "criminal aggression" and
open disloyalty to the distinctive principles of our government... We hold
with Abraham Lincoln, that 'no man is good enough to govern another
man without that other's consent. When the white man governs himself,
that is self-government, but when he governs himself and also governs
another man, that is more than self-government--that is despotism.' 'Our
reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense
is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands.
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and
under a just God cannot long retain it."" - Excerpt from the Platform of the
American Anti-Imperialist League (1899)
The arguments made by the Anti-Imperialists are similar to those made
by the