The historical conditions surrounding the acquisition of the Philippine Islands by the American government were of such a nature as to give rise to a very definite and peculiar legislative policy. The colonial expansion of other nations has usually followed up commercial or other economic enterprises, and therefore has generally been dominated only in a secondary manner by political considerations. In the imperial expansion of France, it is true, political motives predominated to a larger extent, and we shall therefore be prepared to find a certain similarity between American and French colonial methods. It was a political motive,—the desire to weaken the prestige of Spain,—that led the American government to make an attack upon Spanish dominion in the Philippine Islands, at a time when the American nation had as yet no economic interests in the archipelago, the foreign commerce of which was in the hands of Chinese and Europeans. It was also primarily for a political purpose that the islands were ultimately retained, as it was felt that they would assure the United States a position of leadership in the settlement of the Oriental and Pacific questions. Another motive was the desire to exclude any other power which might wish to take advantage of a renunciation on the part of the United States. When the islands had thus been acquired, the public conscience was somewhat disturbed, especially as a stubborn and far-spread native opposition had to be put down by force of arms.