Philippines Transferred to USA
In 1898, Spain gave up the Philippine archipelago to the United States, ending more than three centuries of Spanish rule and beginning nearly half a century of American control. The transfer, settled in the Treaty of Paris, marked the emergence of the United States as an overseas colonial power in Asia and set the stage for a bitter war with Filipinos who had expected independence.
Spain had governed the islands since the 1560s, ruling largely through the Catholic religious orders and a small colonial administration based in Manila. By the late nineteenth century, resentment over abuses, land concentration, and the lack of political rights had given rise to a growing nationalist movement. Writers such as José Rizal called for reform, while the secret society known as the Katipunan, founded in 1892, pushed for armed revolt. A revolution began in 1896, and Rizal was executed by Spanish authorities that December.
The Philippines became entangled in a separate conflict when the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, chiefly over Cuba. On May 1, an American squadron under Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Emilio Aguinaldo, who had been in exile, returned and declared Philippine independence in June, and Filipino forces besieged Manila. Spanish commanders staged a brief, largely arranged battle in August, surrendering the city to the Americans in a way that kept Filipino troops out.
Under the Treaty of Paris, signed in December 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States and relinquished its claim to Cuba. The United States agreed to pay Spain 20 million dollars, which is why the event is often described as a sale, though Spain's defeat was the underlying reason. The Filipino leadership was not party to the negotiations. In the US Senate the treaty passed narrowly in early 1899, after a vigorous debate between expansionists and anti-imperialists.
Fighting between American and Filipino forces broke out in February 1899, beginning the Philippine-American War. Aguinaldo was captured in 1901, and President Theodore Roosevelt declared the war over in 1902, though resistance continued in some regions for years. Estimates of the death toll vary widely, but hundreds of thousands of Filipino civilians probably died from violence, disease, and hunger.
American rule brought public schooling, English as a language of government and education, and new political institutions, alongside economic ties that favored US interests. In 1935 the islands became a self-governing commonwealth with independence promised, and after the Japanese occupation of World War II, the Philippines became fully independent on July 4, 1946.