A constitutional convention was thus elected, and finished its draft in February 1935.

Prior to the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth, a constitution had to be drafted. After completing 10 years of nearly autonomous governance, the United States would withdraw its sovereignty over the islands on July 4 of the succeeding year, and would recognize the Philippines as an independent republic. Under the Tydings-McDuffie Law, the Philippines would establish a government to be known as the Philippine Commonwealth, which would steer the Philippines through a 10-year transition period. The ensuing act, the Tydings-McDuffie Law, was accepted by the Philippine legislature in May 1934, thus setting the stage for Philippine independence in 1946. Quezon accepted these and returned to Manila. Roosevelt and the congress were busy with New Deal policies and were only willing to resuscitate the HHC with very minor changes. Roosevelt, and the Democratic congress to rectify his main objections in a new Philippine independence bill. Quezon, the dominant political leader in the Philippines at that time, believed he could influence the new American president, Franklin D. Quezon, President of the Philippine Senate, proceeded to Washington immediately after to negotiate a more advantageous law, citing among others issues relating to the continuance of US bases in the Philippines after independence, the limits of authority of the Philippine president in the transitory government, and the abrupt end of Philippine preferential trade relations with the United States. The act was rejected by the Philippine Legislature later that year, after much debate and political wrangling. The Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act (HHC) envisaged a 10 year transitory period during which time the Philippines would establish a semi-autonomous government under an elected Filipino president. The advent of the Great Depression made Congress rethink US-Philippine relations, and passed the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act in 1933, over President Herbert Hoover’s veto. Filipinos sent regular independence missions to Washington to call for concrete steps towards independence, which were rebuffed by the prevailing Republican administrations. Filipinos were given great leeway in running the government at that time, but once the Great War ended, the US government reexamined Philippine conditions and strengthened American control of the insular government. No timetable was set, but once the United States declared war on Germany in World War I, Philippine political leaders offered a division of Filipinos to fight on the side of the United States. In August 1916, the Jones Law, more formally known as the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, was passed, promising independence to the Philippines once Filipinos were able to prove that they could govern themselves. The campaign for independence continued on the political front, even as sporadic violent resistance against American rule continued to break out. Filipinos had not been consulted, and as a result the war for independence turned against the United States.Īfter over two years of fighting, Aguinaldo was captured and President Theodore Roosevelt declared the end of the Philippine-American War.

The Spanish-American war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris which decreed that Spain would give up the Philippines, but in turn the archipelago would become a colony of the United States.

Aguinaldo became president and the Philippine Republic was formally inaugurated in Malolos, Bulacan, in January 1899. At the height of its military successes against Spain, the revolutionary government proclaimed independence on June 12, 1898.

The Philippine Revolution resumed in earnest, led by General Emilio Aguinaldo who established a revolutionary government. The outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898 brought Commodore George Dewey and the US Asiatic Squadron to Manila Bay, where they defeated the Spanish Asiatic fleet. After much fighting, a stalemate ensued, leading to a ceasefire agreement between Filipino and Spanish leaders. This culminated in a revolution that broke out in 1896. These revolts were disunited, however, until the nineteenth century when nationalism brought forth a more united anti-colonial movement. The Philippines had been a Spanish colony since 1565, and since that time numerous revolts broke out challenging Spanish rule. Pre-Independence History of the Philippines Program from the JIndependence Day celebrations from the collection of Dr.

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