Abstract
One of the greatest ironies of the United States’ colonial rule in the Philippines was that its humanistic, civilizing, and modernizing imperial project was in large part motivated by acute feelings of antimodernism and overcivilization. Though American imperialists openly celebrated their position at the pinnacle of history and frequently evoked a sense of historical omniscience to legitimate their colonial rule, “transcendent progress” was not without inherent difficulties. Beginning in the late nineteenth century many Americans began to experience severe psychological pains associated with total modernity. The character-shaping rigors and sense of exploration that defined their historical journey to modernity became