“Apacible’s mission was doomed from the very start because he was going to deal with the administration of U.S. President William McKinley whose policy favored the acquisition and colonization of the Philippines. While in the United States, Apacible tried but failed to receive from the State Department the recognition as the official Filipino government representative, on the basis that neither the United States nor Spain, or any other country for that matter, recognized the new Filipino republic. However, prominent Americans who styled themselves as anti-imperialists took Apacible under their wings and succeeded in making the independence of the Philippines one of the key issues in the platform of the Democratic Party of William Jennings Bryan, who was contesting the reelection bid of the Republican President McKinley in the Presidential election of 1900.”

read more: To the American people, an appeal