Final answer:
Emilio Aguinaldo opposed the U.S. annexation of the Philippines, leading the resistance against American colonial rule and fighting for Philippine independence.
Step-by-step explanation:
Emilio Aguinaldo was strongly opposed to the annexation of the Philippines by the United States. As the first president of the Philippines, he expected that the U.S. would honor its promise to recognize the independence of the Philippine Republic. However, contrary to his expectations and following the Spanish-American War, President McKinley issued a policy of “benevolent assimilation” indicating American rule over the islands. Aguinaldo viewed annexation as a betrayal and led his countrymen in a struggle against the new colonial power. The conflict between Aguinaldo's aspirations for Philippine independence and U.S. imperial ambitions underscored the complex and often violent struggle for sovereignty and self-rule in the face of foreign domination.
The resistance included both militant opposition, as Filipinos had been fighting Spanish control since 1892, and diplomatic appeals. Aguinaldo believed in the capacity of his people for self-governance and took a stand against the concept that the U.S. was destined to administer government over “savage and senile peoples,” as some proponents of annexation like Senator Albert J. Beveridge suggested at the time. In the end, the U.S. acquisition of the Philippines resulted in the Philippine-American War, where Filipino guerrilla fighters, under Aguinaldo's leadership, waged a prolonged battle against American forces. Despite domestic opposition within the U.S. from the Anti-Imperialist League and others, the Treaty of Paris formalized U.S. control over the Philippines in 1898, contradicting Aguinaldo's efforts and the desires of many Filipinos.