In April 1899, the U.S. government proposed an elected Filipino assembly with an American governor-general having the power of absolute veto.  Several battles occurred over the summer and fall, and then in November, Aguinaldo replaced regular army tactics with guerrilla warfare.  In March 1900, a commission headed by William Howard Taft began the process of establishing an American government in the Philippines.  In late June, General Arthur MacArthur issued a general amnesty and a monetary inducement to Filipinos who would lay down their arms, but the fighting continued.

On March 23, 1901, American troops captured Aguinaldo, forcing him to swear allegiance to the United States, renounce his revolutionary activity, and publicly encourage his comrades to do the same.  On July 4, 1901, the U.S. military handed civilian authority over to the American government officials.  The war ended in 1902, although sporadic guerrilla attacks continued for several years.  In the three years of the war, 10,000 Americans were killed and 200,000 Filipinos died of war-related fighting, disease, or pestilence.

Carl Schurz had opposed what he considered to be the aggressive and expansionist foreign policies of President Ulysses S. Grant in the 1870s and Secretary of State and Republican presidential nominee James Blaine in the 1880s.  As calls for American expansion overseas became more strident in the 1890s, Schurz emerged as one of the nation's leading anti-imperialists.  After six years as editor of Harper's Weekly, he resigned in 1898 when his stance on the Spanish-American War clashed with the views of the journal's publishers.  Schurz reluctantly supported the military effort against Spain, but opposed annexation of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.  

Schurz's anti-expansionist pronouncements were consistent over the decades, combining democratic principles with cultural bias.  He believed that the United States should never govern any land undemocratically; therefore, any newly acquired colonies should immediately be granted independence (his preference) or statehood.  Schurz considered the lands under consideration for annexation--from Santo Domingo in the 1870s to the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii in the 1890s--to be too alien in culture to be absorbed into the United States without undermining its character as a constitutional republic.  In his estimation, second-class citizenship would hurt the native peoples and undermine America's principles and reputation, while first-class citizenship would corrode the American republic.  

Schurz was angriest over the situation in the Philippines, which he labeled "a war of barefaced, cynical conquest," and called the Republican president, William McKinley, a liar when the administration blamed the Filipinos for the undeclared war.  Schurz explained to an anti-imperialist meeting in October 1899 that his loyalty was to America's democratic institutions, not to any particular president.    

During the first five months of 1902, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Philippines held hearings regarding alleged cruelties inflicted on Filipino prisoners by American servicemen.  That summer, General Jacob H. Smith, commander of American troops on the Philippine island of Samar, was convicted by a court martial for encouraging his troops to "kill and burn" indiscriminately.  On July 1, 1902, Congress passed a bill formally establishing a Philippine government, including an elected assembly, under the auspices of the United States.  William Howard Taft was already on his way to the islands to act as governor.  

The letter posted on the wall in this cartoon refers to correspondence from Schurz and other anti-imperialists to McKinley’s successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, in which they skeptically accepted the president's assurances concerning the implementation of democratic government in the Philippines.  It was not until 1934, however, that the U.S. Congress designated the Philippines as a U.S. commonwealth, setting it on the road to independence.