American+in+the+Philippines

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**//__America in the Philippines__//**

**//__Timeline of the Philippines:__//**
__//**1899, May 6.**//__ Aguinaldo appoints a new cabinet which gives the US government confidence in securing a **peaceful agreement** with the Filipinos. Among the members are: Pedro A. Paterno, Premier; Felipe Buencamino, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; Severino delas Alas, Secretary of Interior; Mariano Trias, Secretary of War; Hugo Ilagan, Secretary of Finance; Aguedo Velarde, Secretary of Public Instruction; Maximo Paterno, Secretary of Public Works and Communications; Leon Ma. Guerrero, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. __//**1899, Oct 12.**//__ The US mounts a full scale offensive against the Filipinos. Aguinaldo goes into hiding. __//**1901, Mar 23.**//__ Aguinaldo is captured by US authorities. Aguinaldo issues a proclamation of his belief that freedom can be obtained through the magnanimity of the US. A civil government is established in the Philippines, with William Howard Taft (Sep 15, 1857 - Mar 8, 1930) as the first US Governor-General. __//**1902, Mar 30.**//__ The US Marines leave Balangiga. During their 5 month stay in the region the Marines are on record to have killed **ten thousand natives** in revenge for the earlier surprise attack by the Filipinos. The US Army also conducted armed missions in Candaba and Macabebe in central Luzon. __//**1916, Oct 16.**//__ The Jones Law, sponsored by US Congressman William Atkinson Jones, is enacted. It promises independence upon the establishment of a stable government. __//**1917, Jan 11.**//__ The first cabinet of Filipinos under the US regime is organized. It is composed of Rafael Palma (Oct 24, 1874 - May 24, 1939), Secretary of Interior; Alberto Barreto, (Oct 21, 1867 - Dec 7, 1951) Secretary of Finance; Dionisio Jakosalem, Secretary of Commerce and Communication; Victorino Mapa, Secretary of Justice; Galicano Apacible (Jun 25, 1864 - Mar 22, 1949), Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and Charles Yeaster, Secretary of Information. __//**1934, Mar 24.**//__ The Tydings-McDuffie Law, known as the Philippine Independence Law, is approved by US President Roosevelt. It provides for a ten year transition period of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under a constitution to be drafted by a Constitutional Convention, the members of which are to be elected by the people.
 * //__1901, Apr 19.__//**
 * //__1901, Jul 4.__//**

//**__What is the Jones Law?__**//
The **Jones Law**, also known as the **Jones Act**, the **Philippine Autonomy Act** or the **Act of Congress of August 29, 1916**, was an organic act passed by the United States Congress which replaced the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. The Jones Law acted like a constitution for the Philippines until 1934 when the Tydings–McDuffie Act created the Commonwealth of the Philippines. It established for the first time an elected upper house, which would eventually become the Philippine Senate.

To begin with, the Philippines was a Spanish colony for 300 years prior to the arrival of the Americans. During the Spanish-American war, the Philippines decided to take action against their oppressors. On June 12, 1898, the Philippine Declaration of Independence was put into effect. This meant that the Filipino government officially declared themselves independent. Neither the Spanish nor the Americans recognized this however, and before long, the Spanish had ceded the Philippines to the Americans in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American war. This meant that the Philippines was simply back to square one, being a dependent colony of a larger nation.
 * __Political__**
 * __Short-Term:__**

After the Philippines was ceded to the Americans by the Spanish, the Filipino people were outraged that nobody was recognizing them as an independent nation. Almost immediately they were annexed by the U.S. they revolted. The violence broke out on February 4, 1899 and quickly led to the Battle of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war on the Americans. The war officially ended on July 4, 1902 but the fight for independence continued for much longer. Many members of the Katipunan Society were extremely determined along with the Moro people and the Pulahanes. These people continued to fight until June 15, 1913 when they were defeated by the U.S. at the Battle of Bug Bagsak. By this time, the fight for their independence probably seemed hopeless, but in 1916 the U.S. promised the Filipino people a limited amount of self-government. This was the first step to being an independent nation; however, this promise was never actually fulfilled until 1935. Then, later on, after World War II, the U.S. finally granted the Philippines complete independence. In 1946, the Treaty of Manila was put into effect.
 * __Long-Term__**

**__Culture and Language:__**
In the beginning, Americans often tried to accomodate the culture of the Philippines. Teachers and American officials were instructed to respect the Filipino culture and to try their best to use the native languages in their dealings with the Filipino people. They tried to create teaching materials in as many indigenous languages as they could and to learn the languages themselves.This worked for a while, but soon the American people realized there were far too many languages, and too much variation of culture between regions to learn it all themselves and to accomodate everyone.
 * __Short-Term__**

In the long run, Filipino culture and language was severely damaged. When American teachers and officials realized just how many indigenous languages there really were, they quickly abandoned the idea of using them all. Rather than try to create teaching materials for each language, they began to simply teach the Filipino people English instead. Thus, many languages have been lost throughout the Philippines. Also, American missionaries came to the Philippenes to try to convert the people there, who mainly believed in a mix of shamanistic Animism, Islam, Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism, to religions such as Roman Catholicism and Christianity. Today, approximately 81% of the people in the Philippines claim to be Roman Catholics. The education system that was previously quite limited, was soon made to be nearly identical to the American education system. Nearly every aspect of Filipino culture has been changed by American influence. The Philippines has essentially been "Americanized".
 * __Long-Term__**

Before the United States first came to the Philippines in the late 19th century, Spain had been colonizing the islands for 300 years; the population of the islands by 1850 was in the excess of 3 million people. Within the next fifty years, the population grew to 7.4 million. Between 1900 and 1946, the population of the country grew to 18.4 million people, amid battles over independence and settlement of the islands by US missionaries and soldiers. After the islands gained independence from the United States, many Americans immigrated to the Philippines and settled there, along with many of the people who had come to the islands before independence. Today, the Philippines has the largest American population in Asia, with an estimated 250 000 American citizens currently living on the islands.
 * __Population__**

After being colonized by the United States, the island’s natural beauty had remained largely intact until the country started the process to become an industrialized nation. Through this process of industrialization, the nation has become increasingly polluted. Deforestation has been a main cause of the nation’s increasingly polluted environment, as illegal logging had led to the loss of one-third of forest land on the islands between 1990 and 2005. The environment has also started to degrade due to over-fishing, water and air pollution, high annual growth rates within the nation’s population, improper disposal of toxic materials and abuse of coastal regions. When Filipinos first come into contact with Americans, the economy of the country depended largely on the US. Mining and exporting crops were two of the major industries at the time. Between 1900 and 1946, when American influence was at its greatest, the country’s economy was reliable. The country continued to have an economy based on agriculture until recently. Today, the country is still reliant on exporting products to foreign countries within Asia, as well as the US. While the country has recently become industrialized, with major industries based on manufacturing and services, there are many people who remain poor. Currently, around 40% of the population lives in slums. The Philippines have the 33rd largest economy in the world, yet many still live in poor living conditions.
 * __Environment__**
 * __Economy__**

__//**References:**//__
Brown, G. (2004). //Philippine Timeline.// Available: http://philippines-timeline.com/first-independence.htm. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2012. N/A. (2003). //Changes in the American Period.// Available: http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/history3.htm. Last accessed 4th Apr 2012. Central Intelligence Agency. (2012). //Philippines.// Available: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html. Last accessed 4th Apr 2012. N/A. (2012). //Economy of the Philippines.// Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Philippines. Last accessed 5th Apr 2012. N/A. (2010). //Homeless Statistics.// Available: http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statistics. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2012. N/A. (2012). //Philippines.// Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines. Last accessed 2nd Apr, 2012. N/A. (2012). //American Settlement in the Philippines.// Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_settlement_in_the_Philippines. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2012. Lahmeyer, J. (2003). //Historical Demographical Data of the Whole Country.// Available: http://www.populstat.info/Asia/philippc.htm. Last accessed 4th Apr 2012. N/A. (2012). //Culture of the Philippines.// Available: ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_Philippines. Last accessed 5th Apr 2012. N/A. (2012). //Philippine Declaration of Independence .// Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Declaration_of_Independence. Last accessed 4th Apr 2012.