by Patrick J. Buchanan – July 24, 1998

As America was annexing the Philippines in 1898, preparing to send a U.S. army to crush Filipino resistance to the new American empire, William Graham Sumner gave a speech titled, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain.”

“(W)e are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and politics,” said Sumner. “If we believe in liberty, as an American principle, why do we not stand by it? Why are we going to throw it away and enter upon a Spanish policy of domination?”