ABSTRACT
When the United States wrested the Philippines from Spain, sizeable numbers of Americans found their way to the Islands. Some, such as Dean C. Worcester, found fulfillment there as high-ranking government officials. Others made money, or attempted to, as cowboys in Mindanao or as merchants in Manila. And some came to bring the True Religion and make the society pure. They shared much. All saw themselves as pioneers on an exciting, but dangerous, frontier. To some degree they all tried to be “civilizers.” They supported the American decision to take the Islands and resisted nationalist designs to weaken American control. The missionaries alone tried to serve as the conscience of the American experiment.
