Mark Anthony D. Abenir, MCD
Department of Social Sciences
University of Santo Tomas

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1. Use the country as a gate portal to develop business in Asia.
2. Use the country’s abundant natural resources , cheap labor , & market for their products.
3. For the country to house the needed strategic naval and military bases of US in the Asia-Pacific.
4. Open the country to Protestant missionaries .
5. To “civilize” and teach Filipinos about democracy
& governance .

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 Gen. Wesley Merritt (1898)
 Gen. Elwood S. Otis (1900)
 Gen. Arthur McArthur (1900-01)
Merritt McArthur

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•
1. Crush the Filipino arm struggle.
2. Establishment of Supreme Court composed of 6
Filipinos & 3 Americans.
 Cayetano Arellano as 1 st Chief Justice
3. Establish town & provincial governments and hold elections for local officials in pacified areas.
4. Introduction of American public school system & teaching of the English language .

st
• Commission headed by Dr. Jacob Schurman that issued the following recommendations to President McKinley on
Jan. 31, 1900:
1. US should remain in the Philippines since the country is not yet ready for independence.
2. Military government be replaced by a Civil government under American control.
3. Bicameral legislature to be established in the country.
4. Organization of autonomous municipal & provincial governments.
5. Introduction of American public school system
Schurman

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• Commission headed by Judge William Howard Taft that was mandated to establish a government designed for the happiness, peace, & prosperity of the people in the country.
1. Enacted a law that allocated $1 million for the construction & repair of roads & bridges.
2. By August 1902, it had legislated more than 400 laws dealing with a. Public administration b. Local governance c. Civil service d. Public school system
Taft

• Spooner Amendment of 1901
 Sponsored by Senator John Spooner of Wisconsin which established a civil government in the Philippines and passed Philippine administration from the US President to the American Congress .
• American Governor-Generals were:
1. William H. Taft (1901-04)
2. Luke E. Wright (1904-06)
3. Henry Ide (1906)
4. James Smith (1906-07)
5. Newton Gilbert (1907-08)
6. William Forbes (1908-13)
7. Francis B. Harrison (1913-21)
8. Charles Yeater (1921)
9.
Leonard Wood (1921-27)
10. Eugene A. Gilmore (1927)
11. Henry L. Stimson (1927-29)
12. Eugene A. Gilmore (1929-30)
13. Dwight F. Davis (1930-32)
14. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1932-33)
15. Frank W. Murphy (1933-35)

• Also known as Cooper Act of 1902
 Sponsored by US Representative Henry A. Cooper of
Wisconsin which served as the 1 st organic law for the country
& laid the foundation of American democratic regime in the
Philippines:
1. A bill of rights for the Filipino people.
2. Appointment of 2 Filipino resident commissioners (Pablo
Ocampo & Benito Legarda) to represent the country without voting rights.
3. Establishment of a Philippine Assembly to be elected by
Filipinos 2 years after the publication of a census & only after peace had been totally restored in the country.

Transport &
Communication
Tenancy
Problem
Socio-
Economic
Social Welfare
Monopoly
Capitalism
Economic
Policies

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• American colonial government & firms built and profited from infrastructure projects, which they loaned from foreign banks, such as:
 Bridges, streets, ports facilities, & railway expansion
 Postal service development & installation of electric & telecommunication services (telephone system & wireless telegraphy)
• Motor vehicles were introduced in 1903.
• Airplane was introduced in 1911 & commercial airport operation started in 1930.
• Radio was introduced in 1935.

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• American colonial government & private organizations gave relief goods to Filipinos who were victims of natural calamities.
• The colonial government established charitable institutions like a mental hospital, a correctional for juvenile delinquents, and a school for the deaf and the blind.
• Establishment of clinics and hospitals throughout the archipelago that contributed to the lowering of death rates of Filipinos.

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•
 All Philippine exports except rice, sugar, & tobacco can freely enter US ports within quota limits . Exports beyond these quota limits will be subjected to full custom duties to protect American products.
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 US products could freely enter the Philippines in unlimited quantities while Philippine export products can only enter US ports within quota limits.

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• The colonial government retained the Spanish Hacienda
System closely tied to American Monopoly Capitalism :
1. Investments through foreign loans focused on exporting
Philippine raw materials to US while importing expensive manufactured goods. This unequal trade relationship brought about the start of huge foreign debts to the country.
2. Landlords ( mestizos and principalia of the Spanish era) became business partners of US capitalists. They drove away peasants or subjected them to unequal landlord-tenant relationship to clear & cultivate hinterlands for agri-export.
3. The dumping of foreign goods in the Philippine market stunted the growth of local manufacturing and handicrafts.

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• Homestead Act
 People could avail of titles for lands they had cleared and farmed. But farmers who actually tilled and cleared lands did not become owners of the farmlands due to the following reasons:
1. American middlemen & local elite who held government positions came to hold land titles of farmers tilling their land.
2. Farmers were saddled with large debts by landlords who continued to exact rents or levy duties to farmers.
3. Landlords who gave farmers loans to develop their farms had very high interest rates and easily changed conditions to their advantage, thus in turn, farmers could not pay back and eventually gave up their lands as payment.

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• Torrens Act
 An act that administered the Titling of Old farm lands in the country.
 In 1903, The American colonial government under
Governor-General William H. Taft bought 166,000 hectares of friar lands worth $7.2 million .
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These were resold to landless Filipino tenants on easy installment terms.
But a large portion of such land were eventually bought back or grabbed through legal means by cunning landlords who held positions in the government.

Suppressed
Nationalism
Administration of Wood
Wood-Forbes
Commission
Socio-
Political
Political Parties
Philippine
Assembly
Philippine
Legislature
Philippine
Autonomy Act

• Sedition Act of 1901
 Declared punishable by imprisonment , death , or exile the advocacy of independence or separation from US, even through peaceful means.
 Apolinario Mabini & other patriots were exiled to Guam while others like Sakay were executed .
 Banned the staging of nationalist plays and publication of patriotic newspapers like El Nuevo Dia in Cebu, El Grito del
Pueblo & El Renacimiento in Manila.
• Flag Act of 1907
 Outlawed the unfurling of the Philippine flag & expression of nationalistic thoughts.

• Partido Federal / Partido Nacional Progresista
 1 st political party in the country founded in Dec. 1900 headed by Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera , Felipe
Buencamino , & Pedro Paterno among others.
 Campaigned for the annexation of the Philippines to
US .
• Partido Nacionalista
 Established in 1907 after Governor-General Henry Ide lifted the ban on political parties advocating separation from US in 1906.
 Headed by Manuel L. Quezon & Sergio Osmeña.
 Dominated Philippine politics until WWII.
 Philippine politics belonged to the National & Local Elite.
Paterno
Quezon

• On July 30, 1907 , the elections for the Philippine Assembly was held. Out of the 80 seats, 59 seats were won by the Partido
Nacionalista .
• Philippine Assembly served as Lower House (Pro-Filipino) &
Philippine Commission as Upper House (Pro-American) of the
Philippine Legislature.
• On October 16, 1907 at the Manila Grand Opera House , the formal inauguration of the 1 st Philippine Assembly was held.
 Manuel L. Quezon was elected Majority Floor Leader &
Sergio Osmeña as Speaker.
• Gabaldon Act was the 1 st legislation enacted by the body establishing barrio schools throughout the country.

• Also known as Jones Law of 1916
 Sponsored by William Atkinson Jones of Virginia where it repealed Phil. Bill of 1902 and expressed the granting of
Philippine Independence as soon as a stable government was established.
 Created the Philippine Legislature directly elected by
Filipinos which is composed of the Philippine Senate as upper chamber (24 members) & the House of
Representatives as lower chamber (90 members).
 Members of the Supreme Court (composed of Filipino
Chief Justice, and Filipino and American associate justices
& judges) were to be appointed by the US President with the approval of the US Senate.

• On October 3, 1916 , elections were held for both chambers of the Philippine Legislature in which Partido Nacionalista won the majority of the seats.
 Manuel L. Quezon was elected Senate President
& Sergio Osmeña was elected as Speaker of the
House of Representatives .
• On October 16, 1918 , Governor-General Francis
B. Harrison created the Council of State in order to advice him in matters of national significance.
 The council was composed of officials from both chambers of the Philippine Legislature & the
Cabinet Secretaries of the Governor.
Harrison

• Created in 1921 under the orders of US
President Warren G. Harding to investigate the state of the Philippines.
• Commission headed by Major General
Leonard Wood & W. Cameron Forbes who sternly proposed to the President to halt the granting of Philippine Independence due to:
1. The poor financial state of the country.
2. Bankruptcy of the Philippine National bank.
3. Instability of the government.
4. Filipinos are not prepared.
Harding

• Became Governor-General on October 5, 1921 and abolished the Council of State in 1923 and the Board of Control in 1926 .
 The Board of Control was the body responsible for voting stocks in government corporations whose members are the
Governor, the Senate President, & Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
• He proceeded governing the country without the cooperation of the Philippine Legislature.
• He died on August 7, 1927 while on vacation in US.
• After his death, the succeeding Governors restored back the good relationship between the Philippine Legislature and the
American colonial government.

Education
Policies
Philippine
Independent
Church
Protestant
Religion
Customs &
Traditions
English
Language
Agenda of
Education

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• The colonial government introduced popular education
& institutionalized the coeducational system .
 American soldiers served as the 1 st teachers of English.
 On August 23, 1901, the US Army transport Thomas brought 600 American teachers popularly called
“ Thomasites.
”
• Act No. 1870 created the University of the Philippines on June 18, 1908.
• Act No. 2706 known as “Private School Law” enacted on March 10, 1917 made obligatory the recognition & inspection of private schools & colleges (UST, Ateneo,
Letran, etc.) by the Secretary Public instruction.

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• The use of the English language is one of the greatest legacies of the Americans to Filipino culture. English was made:
 The medium of instruction in all schools, colleges, and universities.
 The language of business and medium of communication in the government.
 The medium in local newspapers such as Independent
(1915), The Philippine Herald (1920), and the Tribune
(1925).
• Most Filipinos gained mastery of the English language in both oral and written.

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• Americans knew that the most effective way of conquering people is to capture their minds and blind them with biased ideologies .
1. Department of Public Instruction from 1901 until 1935 was headed by an American, and top management of which was not allowed to be ceded for Filipinization.
2. Text books were screened by the American military and only allowed reading materials that promoted and benchmarked
American culture & ideals , thus, entrenching colonial mentality .
3. In 1935, a “ new breed of Filipinos ” called “ pensionados” who were trained to be more American in thoughts, in words, & in deeds were entrusted to the educational, political, and economical leadership of the country..

The United States often imposed its will on the people it has conquered. This political cartoon portrays Uncle Sam as a school teacher lecturing the various people placed under his care. This illustrates how many Americans thought the
United States should treat the
Philippines following the
Spanish-American War of
1898.

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• Filipinos imitated and practiced American commercialized and consumerized :
 Holidays such as Halloween, Christmas,
Thanksgiving Day, Valentines Day
 American food and beverage such as burger, pizza, french fries, and soda.
 Recreation and sports such as basketball and baseball.
 American style of clothing, music, and recreation

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• Protestantism was introduced not by coercion but thru winning over some Filipinos by means of good examples and friendly persuasion .
 The religion was introduced whereby the central tenet is that salvation is a gift of God through death of Jesus Christ & not a product of good work and observing laws, rituals, and dogmas.
• Protestant denominations that came to the country:
 Presbyterians (1899)
 Baptists (1900)
 Disciples of Christ (1905)
 Methodist Episcoplaians (1908)

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• Also called Aglipayan Church
 Filipino Protestant Church organized in 1902 after the Filipino-
American War.
 Cofounders of the church were Isabelo de los Reyes and Gregorio
Aglipay , a Philippine Roman Catholic priest who was excommunicated in 1899 for his activities on behalf of the Philippine revolution.
 Aglipay served as Supreme Bishop of the new church from 1903-1940.
 In 1948, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated three bishops of the Philippine Independent Church.
 In 1961 the church was accepted into full communion with the Church of England and the Old Catholic churches.

In a short span of time, the US had already wielded its control on the country’s economy, politics, and culture. They made use of the educational system to colonize Filipinos more effectively. In essence, it retained the economic order established by the Spaniards while introducing news ways of living. Just like any colonizer, all these changes were meant to benefit the interest of America.