I'm trying to compile as many primary source documents about the decisions, meetings, speeches leading up to the war, but I suppose I'm having trouble understanding specifically what events precipitated the shift from the Spanish-American War to the Philippine-American war?
Also I've been looking at editorials and cartoons found in American newspapers at the time, and greatly interested in how newspapers, photography, the nascent art of film covered the war(I've already found an interesting Edison newsreel of African American soldiers departing for the Philippines). And looking back at this discourse now, how have historians viewed issues of race, gender, class, etc.?
I know this is a lot and I don't expect all the questions will be answered but I want to try to get as much info as possible on the topic in question. Thank you, cheers!
There was a thread not too long ago that asked similar questions that may be useful for you. Thread here..
The reasons for the decision by the United States to engage in a colonial experiment are vast and I will provide you with three books to check out. The first is Ernest May's Imperial Democracy", in which May argues for ideological reasons; the second is Walter LaFeber's The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898, perhaps most notable for LaFeber's focus on material and economic concerns; and the third, and I think most useful for you, Paul Kramer's The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines, which brings into the history Filipino accounts and really delves into the issues of empire, race, and colonization.