Lessons from the past.

I found this with my incoming email:
It was titled lessons from the past.

Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League
(October 18, 1899)

We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to
liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has
been our glory to be free. We regret that it has become
necessary in the land of Washington and Lincoln to reaffirm
that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We maintain that
governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed. We insist that the subjugation of any people is
"criminal aggression" and open disloyalty to the distinctive
principles of our government.

We earnestly condemn the policy of the present national
administration in the Philippines. It seeks to extinguish the
spirit of 1776 in those islands. We deplore the sacrifice of
our soldiers and sailors, whose bravery deserves admiration
even in an unjust war. We denounce the slaughter of the
Filipinos as a needless horror. We protest against the
extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods.

We demand the immediate cessation of the war against liberty,
begun by Spain and continued by us. We urge that Congress be
promptly convened to announce to the Filipinos our purpose to
concede to them the independence for which they have so long
fought and which of right is theirs.

The United States have always protested against the doctrine
of international law which permits the subjugation of the weak
by the strong. A self-governing state cannot accept sovereignty
over an unwilling people. The United States cannot act upon
the ancient heresy that might makes right.

Imperialists assume that with the destruction of self-
government in the Philippines by American hands, all opposition
here will cease. This is a grievous error. Much as we abhor
the war of "criminal aggression" in the Philippines, greatly
as we regret that the blood of the Filipinos is on American
hands, we more deeply resent the betrayal of American
institutions at home. The real firing line is not in the
suburbs of Manila. The foe is of our own household. The attempt
of 1861 was to divide the country. That of 1899 is to destroy
its fundamental principles and noblest ideals.

Whether the ruthless slaughter of the Filipinos shall end next
month or next year is but an incident in a contest that must
go on until the declaration of independence and the
constitution of the United States are rescued from the hands
of their betrayers. Those who dispute about standards of value
while the foundation of the republic is undermined will be
listened to as little as those who would wrangle about the
small economies of the household while the house is on fire.
The training of a great people for a century, the aspiration
for liberty of a vast immigration are forces that will hurl
aside those who in the delirium of conquest seek to destroy
the character of our institutions.

We deny that the obligation of all citizens to support their
government in times of grave national peril applies to the
present situation. If an administration may with impunity
ignore the issues upon which it was chosen, deliberately create
a condition of war anywhere on the face of the globe, debauch
the civil service for spoils to promote the adventure, organize
a truth-suppressing censorship, and demand of all citizens a
suspension of judgement and their unanimous support while it
chooses to continue the fighting, representative government
itself is imperiled.
We propose to contribute to the defeat of any person or party
that stands for the forcible subjugation of any people. We
shall oppose for re-election all who in the white house or in
congress betray American liberty in pursuit of un-American
ends. We still hope that both of our great political parties
will support and defend the declaration of independence in the
closing campaign of the century.

We hold with Abraham Lincoln, that "no man is good enough to
govern another man without that other's consent. When the white
man governs himself, that is self-government, but when he
governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than
self-government--that is despotism." "Our reliance is in the
love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is
in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men
in all lands. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not
for themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it."

We cordially invite the co-operation of all men and women who
remain loyal to the declaration of independence and the
constitution of the United States.

Dove of Peace