The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Although there are no options attached, we can say the following.
The conquest and rule of territories such as the Philippines challenged American ideas of democracy in that imperialistic and expansionistic voices in the United States asked for the US presence in more territories in different regions.
For instance, Carl Schurz suggested the United States could have followed other options instead of annexing the Philippines and going to war with the Filipino guerrillas.
Carl Schurz (1829-1906) born in Germany and moved to the United States in 1849. He was a journalist and politician that supported reformation in America. He co-founded the Liberal Republican Party and expressed his opposition to American Imperialism in the Philippines.
