American Intervention and Philippine In

American
Intervention
and Philippine
Independence
By: Ha Z Dignadice
Eulimay Gillang

The Spanish-American War of
1898

• Cuba , Spanish Colony in the West Indies, revolted against its colonial master sometime in February, 1895.
• Governor-General Valeriano Weyler commander of the Spanish Forces in Cuba.
• American businessmen had huge investments in the sugar industry in Cuba.
• President William McKinley sent the US battleship Maine to Cuba for the purpose of evacuating American citizens in case revolution worsened.

• A letter from Enrique Dupuy de Lome, the
Spanish minister to the United States was published in the New York Journal on February 9,
1898.
• This letter pictured President McKinley as a
“would-be politician” and a weak president.
• President McKinley – symbol of American nation
• The American battleship Maine docked at Havana harbor was blown up, allegedly by the Spaniards on February 15, 1898.
• Resulted in the loss of about 260 crewmen.

• Randolf Hearst - the father of Yellow Journalism.
• According to Hearst, the battleship was actually blown up and sank not by the Spaniards but by the American spies stationed in Cuba.
• President McKinley recommended direct American intervention in Cuba to the US congress on April
11, 1898.
• Spain declared war against the US on April 24,
1898.
• April 25, 1898 – Spanish-American War began.

Battle of Manila Bay
• On April 25, 1898, Commodore George
Dewey, proceeded to the Philippines with a squadron of four armored cruisers, two gunboats and a revenue cutter.
• Led by the flagship Olympia.
• They entered Manila Bay in the early morning of May 1, 1898, and engaged the Spanish fleet of 12 ships.
• Admiral Patricio Montojo – head of Spanish fleet • Battle of Manila Bay – one of the most significant battles in the history of the American people as it established the United States as a world power.
• For the Filipinos, Dewey’s victory signaled the end of more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule in the country.
• It marked the beginning of American colonial rule in the Philippines.

Attempts at Gaining Filipino
Support
• After defeating the Spanish fleet, Dewey blockaded Manila while awaiting reinforcement from the US.
• Basilio Agustin – Governor-General of the country and the successor of Primo de Rivera.
• He was very demoralized by:
1.the defection of the Filipinos from the Spanish
Army to Aguinaldo’s side.
2.Dewey’s victory over the Spanish fleet in
Manila Bay.

• Agustin issued two decrees creating a Filipino
Volunteer Militia and a Consultative Assembly.
• His purpose was to win over the ilustrados.
• However, this backfired because all of those appointed to the militia sided with Aguinaldo.
• The Consultative Assembly, headed by Pedro
Paterno, the negotiator of the Pact of Biak-naBato and who appealed to the Filipinos to support
Spain.

Filipino-American Collaboration
• Meanwhile, a problem cropped up regarding the disposal of the P400,000 from GovernorGeneral Primo de Rivera under the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.
• Isabelo Artacho wanted the money to be apportioned among themselves.
• Aguinaldo rejected the proposal so Artacho sued him in the Hong Kong Supreme Court.
• Aguinaldo, Gregorio del Pilar and J. Leyba secretly went to Singapore and arrived there on April 23, 1898.

• Howard Bray, an Englishman, informed Aguinaldo that E. Spencer Pratt, the American consul, wanted to confer with him.
• Aguinaldo, consented to return to the Philippines with
Commodore Dewey to once more lead the revolution against Spain, fighting alongside the Americans.
• Rounseville Wildman - American consul in Hong
Kong.
• Wildman suggested Aguinaldo to establish dictatorial government. • Wildman and Pratt assured Aguinaldo that the
American government sympathized with the Filipino’s aspirations for independence.

• In view of new developments, Hong Kong Junta met on May 4.
• Present at this meeting:
- Felipe Agoncillo – temporary President
- Doroteo Lopez – temporary Secretary
- Teodoro Sandico, Anastacio Francisco,
Mariano Llanera, Miguel Malvar, Andres
Garchitorena, Severo Buenaventura, Maximo
Kabigting, Faustino Lichauco, Antonio
Montenegro, and Galicano Apacible.
• Aguinaldo gave Wildman Php117, 000 to be used in purchasing guns and ammunition.
• First shipment – Php50, 000.

Aguinaldo’s Return to the
Philippines
• Consul Wildman arranges Aguinaldo’s return to the revenue cutter McCulloch.
• May 17, 1898, the ship left and arrived in Cavite.
• Aguinaldo was taken aboard the Olympia, where he accorded honors due to general.

• “Four major forces on the historical stage” - Spanish colonialism, which was trying to ward off its impending end;
- American imperialism, which was waiting for such time when it had gathered sufficient military strength in the Philippines before showing its real motives;
- The Filipino ilustrados, whose main concern was to place themselves in a jockeying position whatever political setup was to emerge; and
- The masses, who still believed in and fought for the revolutionary objectives of the
Katipunan.

• May 21, 1898, Aguinaldo advised the people to
“respect foreigners and their properties, also enemies who surrender… if we do not conduct ourselves thus, the Americans will decide to sell us or else divide up our territory as they will hold un incapable of governing our land; we shall not secure our liberty; rather the contrary, our own soil will be delivered over to the other hands.”
• Dalahikan – the Cavite shipyard
• Petrel – American warship

• 5, 000 Spaniards had been captured.
• Within a week, Imus and Bacood, in Cavite, and
Parañaque and Las Piñas in Morong, were seized from Spanish control, also San Fernando and Macabebe in Pampanga.
• Joining the fight for freedom were the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,
Bataan, Tayabas (Quezon), and Camarines.
• June 2, 1898, General Artemio Ricarte accepted the surrender of the Spanish commanding general in Cavite.
• The Filipinos gained victory after victory.
• June, 1898, almost the whole of Luzon, except for the port of Cavite and Manila, had fallen into the hands of Filipino rebels.

The Filipino Siege of Manila
• Aguinaldo was treated with courtesies befitting a head of state.
• Their motives was to use the Filipinos to fight the
Spaniards until reinforcements arrived.
• When the Spanish navy was destroyed, many
Spaniards had taken refuge at Intramuros or the
Walled City.
• Aguinaldo besieged the city and cut off its food and water supply to force the Spaniards out.
• Aguinaldo, offered the option of surrender three times, with generous terms, to GovernorGeneral Augustin.

The Aguinaldo Dictatorship
• Aguinaldo brought with him a draft of a constitutional plan drawn up by Mariano
Ponce.
• The plan was for the establishment of a federal republic.
• Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista –
Aguinaldo’s adviser. Suggest a dictatorial government to prosecute the war against
Spain.
• May 24, 1898, Aguinaldo issued a decree formally establishing such form of government, albeit temporary in nature.

• The decree also nullified the orders issued under the Biak-na-Bato Republic.
• Aguinaldo deemed it necessary to declare the independence of the Philippines.
• Apolinario Mabini – Aguinaldo’s unofficial adviser at this time who objected to this plan.
• Mabini stressed the need to reorganize the government first into one that could prove to foreign powers its independence and stability before declaring independence.

Proclamation of Philippine
Independence
• June 12, 1898 – Philippine Independence was proclaimed at the ancestral home of General Emilio
Aguinaldo between four and five in the afternoon in
Cavite El Vejo, now known as Kawit.
• This event was highlighted by the ff:
- The unfurling of the Philippine national flag sewed in Hong
Kong by Marcella Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina
Herbosa;
- The playing of the Marcha Filipina Magdalo by the San
Francisco de Malabon marching band as the country’s national anthem and the reading of the Declaration of
Philippine Independence which was written by Ambrosio
Rianzares Bautista.

• Sulpicio Guevarra – translate the Declaration of
Independence into English.
• The proclamation of June 12, was later modified by another proclamation done at Malolos, Bulacan, upon the insistence of Apolinario Mabini.
• Mabini objected to the original proclamation as it basically placed the Philippines under the protection of the United States.

From Dictatorial to Revolutionary
Government
• June 18 – Aguinaldo issued a decree reorganizing local governments in areas liberated from Spain.
• The chiefs of the towns were to elect delegates to the Congress, and military commanders who liberated towns became their commissioners.
• Apolinario Mabini – the Sublime Paralytic, became Aguinaldo’s liberal advisor.

• Declaration of Independence was premature.
• by virtue of the Decree of June 23, they announced that the dictatorship was changed to a Revolutionary Government.
• Emilio Jacinto, who was operating independently, was invited by Mabini to join the government in Malolos.
• By the end of June the rebels controlled all of
Luzon except Manila, which was beseiged.

• July 15, Aguinaldo chose his cabinet that included his brother Baldomero as secretary of
War and Public Works.
• Cayetano Arellano – offered the post of
Secretary of foreign affairs but declined.
• Mabini – accepted the position.
• July 23 – Aguinaldo proclaimed as a chief general. • 14, 000 Filipino soldiers deployed between the
Spaniards and the Americans outside Manila’s walls. • American forces :
- General Thomas Anderson – 2, 500 men on June
30.
- General Francis V. Greene – 3, 500 men on July
17.
- General Arthur McArthur – 4, 800 men on July 31.
- General Wesley E. Merritt – commanded 10, 964 men and 740 officers.

Surrender Negotiations and the
Mock Battle of Manila
• July 7 – Aguinaldo made another demand for the Spanish general to surrender.
• Dewey started negotiating with GovernorGeneral Augustin and with Belgian Consul,
Andre, acting as mediator for the surrender of the Spaniards.
• Peninsular Government replaced Augustin with General Fermin Jaudenes.

• The two powers then very secretly agreed to stage a mock battle between them in one condition:
- That no Filipino troops would be allowed to enter
Manila.
• clearly an act of betrayal of the Filipinos on the part of the Americans.
• Aguinaldo and his forces guarded the city, and waited for the Spaniards to give in to hunger and thirst and surrender.
• General Merritt - had overall command of the
American forces, decided to conduct the
“offensive” against Manila from the side of Manila
Bay.

• General Francis Greene (commander of 2nd reinforcement) – instructed to tell Aguinaldo and his troops to cooperate with the Americans by leaving the area free for the foreigners to occupy.
• Aguinaldo gullibly withdrew his troops when
Greene promised to grant that request after the evacuation. • General Anderson (commander of 1st reinforcement) – telegraphed Aguinaldo warning him not to let his troops enter Manila without permission from the American commander or else they would be shot.

• On the dark of rainy morning of August 13, 1898, they amassed on the right side of General Arthur
McArthur (commander of 3rdv reinforcement) ready for battle.
• 11:20 A.M., the Spaniards raised the flag of surrender, but it was only noticed at noon.
• By 5:00 P.M., surrender negotiations were completed. • The Americans would safeguard the city and its inhabitants, churches, and religious worship.

• August 14 – the document stating the terms of surrender was formally signed by representatives of both parties.
• General Merritt – announced the establishment of the Military Government.
• August 12, Washington, D.C. time, American
President McKinley issued a proclamation directing the Suspension of all military operations against the Spaniards.
• Dewey had cut the cable between Manila and the outside world after winning the Battle of
Manila bay.

End of Filipino-American
Collaboration and Spanish Rule
• The surrender of Manila to the Americans signaled the end of the Filipino-American collaboration. • The Filipinos, started feeling hostile to the
Americans.
• General Riego de Dios – successor of
Jaudenes.
• De Dios transferred the headquarters of the
Spanish government to Iloilo and took command of the Spanish Army in the South.

• Martin Delgado – leader of the Visayan patriots.
• General de Dios leave Iloilo on December 24 and moved to Zamboanga.
• American troops occupied Jolo on May 19, 1899, displacing the Spanish garrison in the area.
• November 1899, all Spanish forces in the South were shipped to Spain.

The Treaty of Paris of 1898
• October 1, 1898 – Peace commissioner of Spain and the US met in Paris, France to draft a peace treaty, to end the six-month hostilities between these two countries.
• American Peace Commission:
- William R. Day
- Sen. Cushman K. Avis
- William P. Frye
- Sen. George Gray
- Honorable Whitelaw Reid

• The Spanish Commission:
- Don Eugenio Montero Rios – head and the
President of the Senate
- Jules Cambon – French diplomat
• All Europe, except England was sympathetic to the Spanish side.
• The final treaty was concluded in Paris on
December 10, 1898, and provided for the following: 1. Spain agreed to remove all soldiers from Cuba and recognize American occupation of the area;

2. Spain ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the
United States;
3. The United States compensated Spain for its losses with payment of $20 million.
• A great debate ensued, pitting imperialist against anti-imperialists.
• The point of friction was the Philippines.
• A revival of the old manifest destiny argument.
• February 18, 1899 – the treaty received the necessary two-thirds ratification approval by single vote.
• Finally, the United States emerged as a world power.