Timeline of American Occupation

TIME LINE OF THE FILIPINO-AMERICAN WAR

The Philippine-American War has been described as the United State’s first Vietnam War because of its brutality and severity. According to the Philippine-American War Centennial Initiative (PAWCI), roughly 22,000 Philippine soldiers and half a million civilians were killed between 1899 and 1092 in Luzon and the Visayan Islands, while one hundred thousand Muslims were killed in Mindanao.

The United States joined the ranks of colonial powers in Asia with support from American Expansionists and Protestant missionaries, but over the objections of domestic tobacco and sugar producers. Strategic interests proved most decisive in the age of Alfred Thayer Mahan’s treatise on the necessity of naval power. The United States was pursuing an “Open Door” policy in China, and the possession of coaling stations was imperative to a would-be Pacific power.

Benevolent Assimilation

Imperialism was difficult to square with the country’s republican tradition, as the noisy Anti-Imperialist League kept reminding Americans. US leaders also had to contend with the likes of Mabini and other ilustrados, despite the prevailing lens of racism that tended to see Filipinos as uncivilized or savage. This difficult reality compelled the new colonizers to demonstrate that their rule would be better than Spain’s or that of any European power.

The result was President McKinley’s “benevolent assimilation” – the American promise to train Filipinos in democratic governance until they were “ready” to govern themselves. But the first order of business was to achieve control over the country.

1896 | August 23 | Philippine Revolution Begins | 1897 | March 4 | William McKinley inaugurated 25th President of the United States | 1898 | February 9 | De Lome’s letter came out of the press | | February 15 | The American battleship Maine exploded near the port of Havana. Out of the 350 passengers, 266 died and many others were wounded. | | April 11 | McKinley asked Congress to declare war. | | April 16 | Army began mobilization. Teller Amendment was passed in Congress stating that the US would not annex Cuba. | | April 23 | McKinley issued call for 125,000 volunteers. Spain declared war | | April 25 | US declared war with Spain but made the declaration retroactive to April 22 | | April 27 | Commodore Dewey’s squadron left Mirs Bay, China for the Philippines. | | May 1 | Dewey defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Manila Bay. | | May 19 | Emilio Aguinaldo returned from exile. | | May 25 | McKinley issued a call for 75,000 more volunteers. The first army expedition left San Francisco for Manila. | | June 18 | Aguinaldo issued a proclamation establishing a revolutionary government and a message to foreign powers announcing that government. | | June 30 | The first batch of American soldiers arrived in Manila under the command of Brig. General Thomas M. Anderson. | | August 12 | Spain and the US signed the peace protocol which ended the war. | | August 13 | Capitulation of Manila to the Americans. | | September 15 | Filipino Congress met at Malolos | | December 10 | US and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris | 1899 | January 22 | Malolos Constitution was promulgated | | February 4 | Filipino-American was began | | March 31 | Malolos fell into the hands of the Americans. | | August 29 | General Elwell Otis succeeded General Merritt in command. | | May 2 | The Schurman Commission arrived in Manila | | November 13 | Aguinaldo disbanded the organized army and resorted to guerilla warfare. | 1900 | May 5 | General Arthur McArthur succeeded General Merritt as commander of the American army. | | June 3 | The Taft Commission arrived in Manila. | | June 21 | General McArthur issued a proclamation of amnesty to all who renounced the Filipino aspiration for independence and accepted American rule. | 1901 | March 10 | The Taft Commission conducted provincial sorties in Southern Luzon. They visited 18 provinces and returned to Manila on May 3. | | March 23 | Aguinaldo was captured in Palanan, Isabela. | | April 1 | The Commission issued a decree that property and funds of the insurgents would be confiscated if they did not surrender and that they be deprived of any position in the government, “no peace no job.” | | April 19 | Aguinaldo swore allegiance to the US government. | | July 4 | Taft was inaugurated first civil governor of the Philippines and General Chaffee replaced General McArthur. | | August | The Taft Commission conducted another provincial sortie to establish civil government in several towns in Northern Luzon. | | August 21 | The military transport S.S. Thomas arrived in Manila with 540 American school teachers aboard. | | September 6 | President McKinley was shot in Buffalo, New York and died after eight days (September 14) | | September 28 | Forty four American soldiers were massacred in Balangiga, Samar the worst blow to the American campaign in the Philippines. | 1902 | April 27 | Vicente Lukban, the last recognized rebel leader was captured. | | July 4 | President Roosevelt declared the Philippines pacified and granted amnesty to rebels. Military rule formally ended. | | December 23 | Taft left Manila to succeed Elihu Root as Secretary of War. |
While the determined but poorly organized forces under President Aguinaldo were defeated by superior military arms, the Filipino people’s commitment to national independence was slowly drained by disease and hunger.

To this was added the breakdown of the revolutionary leadership. Once provincial elites understood that the US was offering them the opportunity to run a state free from friar control – all that many had asked of Spain – there was little to hold them to the goal of independence. President McKinley dispatched a Philippine Commission to Manila in 1900 to meet with educated Filipinos and determine a form of government for the colony. Many “men of substance” testified before the committee on the need for American sovereignty in this country for the good of these “ignorant and uncivilized people.” This first group of collaborators soon formed a political party that positioned itself as pragmatically nationalists.

Reference:

Escalante, Rene R. The Bearer of Pax Romana: The Philippine Career of William H. Taft, 1900-1903. New Day Publishers. Quezon City. 2007.

Abinales, Amoroso. State and Society. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., Lanham, MD. Anvil Publishing Inc., 2005. Manila.

Photo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines_(1898%E2%80%931946)