Materials

• Computer with Internet access

Instructional Activities

1. Encourage students to reflect briefly on the events covered thus far in their study of this organizing topic. What impressions do they have about steps the United States took to acquire new territory? Allow a few minutes of open discussion on this topic. Encourage students to compare these actions to actions of other countries.
   
   
2. Remind students that at the end of the Spanish-American War, the United States annexed the Philippines against the Filipinos’ will. Encourage students to look at this area on a world map. Have them share their thoughts on the reasons why the United States was interested in this area. Encourage them to consider the navy’s need for refueling points and other actual reasons. Remind students that the Filipinos did not wish to be annexed; they wanted their independence.
   
   
3. Display the following prompts on the board or overhead, and instruct students to enter them in their notes:
   
   From 1899 through 1902, the Filipinos, under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo, fought United States rule in the Philippines. By 1902, the United States had defeated the Filipino troops.
   In November 1903, the United States supported Panama in her quest for independence from Colombia. In return for this support, the United States was granted “unending” control over a ten-mile-wide strip of land in Panama in order to build the Panama Canal.
   
   Discuss with students the actions of the United States in the Philippines and in Panama. Explain to them that the Philippines was granted independence in 1946, even though the United States maintained military bases there until 1999. The Web site <http://www.tribo.org/history/us-rp.html> may be of assistance. Encourage students to consider whether the U.S. actions were justified. Ask students to consider how the rest of the world may have viewed the U.S. actions in these two cases. Ask them what “unending” means. Call attention to the fact that the United States handed over control of the canal to Panama in 1999. The Web site <http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/panama.canal/> may be of assistance. It provides maps, the cost of tolls, and other important information about the canal.
   
   
4. Assign a teacher-selected reading, worksheet, or other reinforcement activity, using available resources that will prepare the students for the next days instruction.