that, in spite of the prevailing belief
of the thirty preceding years, the United States had always been
an expanding power, stretching its authority over new areas with a
persistency and rapidity hardly equaled by any other nation, and that
this latest step was but a new stride in the natural expansion of the
United States. But here again the similarity between the former and
the most recent steps was more apparent than real. Louisiana, Florida,
Texas, California, and Oregon, had all been parts of an obvious
geographical whole. Alaska, indeed, was detached, but its acquisition
had been partly accidental, and it was at least a part of the American
continent and would, in the opinion of many, eventually become
contiguous by the probable annexation of Canada. Moreover, none of the
areas so far occupied by the United States had been really populated. It
had been a logical expectation that American people would soon overflow
these acquired lands and assimilate the inhabitants. In the case of the
Philippines, on the other hand, it was fully recognized that Americans
could at most be only a small governing class, and that even Porto Rico,
accessible as it was, would prove too thickly settled to give hopes of
Americanization.

The terms of the treaty with Spain, indeed, recognized these
differences. In all previous instances, except Alaska, the added
territory had been incorporated into the body of the United States with
the expectation, now realized except in Hawaii, of reaching the position
of self-governing and participating States of the Union. Even in the
case of Alaska it had been provided that all inhabitants remaining in
residence, except uncivilized Indians, should become citizens of the
United States. In the case of these new annexations resulting from the
war with Spain, provision was made only for the religious freedom of
the inhabitants. "The civil rights and political status of the native
inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall
be determined by the Congress." There could therefore be no doubt that
for the first time the United States had acquired colonies and that the
question whether they should develop into integral parts of the country
or into dependencies of an imperialistic republic was left to the future
to decide.

It was but natural that such striking events and important decisions
should loom large as factors in the following presidential campaign. The
Republicans endorse