That's not right. The US had no expectation or desire for the Philippines when the war with Spain began in 1898; it ended up with the Philippines (and Puerto Ri

That's not right. The US had no expectation or desire for the Philippines when the war with Spain began in 1898; it ended up with the Philippines (and Puerto Rico and Guam) because Spain was so decisively defeated so quickly that it was willing to give up its entire colonial empire to end the war. The US began discussing when and how to give the Philippines independence within two decades after the 1898 annexation. The Jones Act contemplated independence as early as 1920; the date was pushed back because Filipinos thought that it was too soon. By the attack on Pearl Harbor, 1945 had been legally set as the target date for independence, after a 10-year transition period. Hawaii, by contrast, was contemplated by Americans and Hawaiians as inevitably becoming an American possession long before the 1898 annexation.