Question

Directions: Use the documents and your knowledge of history to answer the questions that follow.

Document A: The following is an excerpt from sworn testimony given before the U.S. Senate by Corporal Richard O’Brien in 1902. O’Brien was called to testify in a Senate investigation of alleged war crimes committed by American soldiers in the Philippine-American War.
“The first thing we saw was a boy ... and the first sergeant shot at the boy. Everybody fired at him. That brought the people in the houses out . . . [and] the town was fired on ... Two old men came out, hand in hand ... they had a white flag, they were shot down. At the other end of the town we heard screams, and there was a woman there; she was burned up, and in her arms was a baby, and on the floor was another child ... The fighting was continued until everybody had fled or everybody was killed ... There was not a shot fired on the part of the Filipinos.”
Question 1: Many Americans opposed the war in the Philippines. How does Document A provide evidence of this?

Answer 1

War crimes

Explanation: It's actually pretty easy. The article states war crimes committed by American soldiers in the war. The testimony mentions the horrors and atrocities the soldiers did. "The first thing we saw was a boy...and the first sergeant shot at the boy.-" There are many atrocities mentioned in the text, most likely those events traumatizing the soldiers. This evidence might be part of what explains why the soldiers hated the war.