Betances admired the United States of America for its ideals of freedom and democracy, but despised Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine, and sensed that both philosophies were being used as excuses for American interventions on the continent. When Cuban revolutionaries requested help from the United States for reinforcing their armed struggle against Spain, Betances warned them against giving too much away. He feared American interventionism in the affairs of a free Cuba, and vehemently attacked Cuban leaders who suggested the annexation of Cuba by the United States. Some of his fears became reality years later, when the Platt Amendment became a ""de facto"" part of the Cuban constitution (1901).