<P> Preparation for a fully sovereign state was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II . The United States suffered a total of 62,514 casualties, including 13,973 deaths in its attempt to liberate the Philippines from Imperial Japanese rule during the hard - fought Philippines campaign from 1944--1945 . Full independence came with the recognition of Philippine sovereignty by the U.S. in 1946 . </P> <P> Wake Island was annexed as empty territory by the United States in 1899 (the claim is currently disputed by the Marshall Islands). </P> <P> Germany, the United States, and Britain colonized the Samoan Islands . The nations came into conflict in the Second Samoan Civil War and the nations resolved their issues, establishing American Samoa as per the Treaty of Berlin, 1899 . The U.S. took control of its allotted region on June 7, 1900, with the Deed of Cession . Tutuila Island and Aunuu Island were ceded by their chiefs in 1900, then added to American Samoa . Manua was annexed in 1904, then added to American Samoa . Swains Island was annexed in 1925 (occupied since 1856), then added to American Samoa . (The claim is currently disputed by Tokelau, a colonial territory of New Zealand .) American Samoa was under the control of the U.S. Navy from 1900 to 1951 . American Samoa was made a formal territory in 1929 . From 1951 until 1977, Territorial Governors were appointed by the Secretary of the Interior . Immigration of Americans was never as strong as it was, for instance, in Hawaii; indigenous Samoans make up 89% of the population . The islands have been reluctant to separate from the U.S. in any manner . </P> <P> The Annexation of Santo Domingo was an attempted treaty during the later Reconstruction Era, initiated by United States President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, to annex "Santo Domingo" (as the Dominican Republic was then commonly known) as a United States territory, with the promise of eventual statehood . President Grant feared some European power would take the island in violation of the Monroe Doctrine . He privately thought annexation would be a safety valve for African Americans who were suffering persecution in the US, but he did not include this in his official messages . Grant speculated that the acquisition of Santo Domingo would help bring about the end of slavery in Cuba and elsewhere . Militarily he wanted a US naval port in the Dominican Republic which would also serve as protection for a projected canal across Nicaragua . </P>

How did the u.s. gain the territory of florida