MODULE 1

Readings in Philippine History

GE 102

ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-2022

Paolo R. Freo
Instructor
 GUIDE ON HOW TO USE THE MODULE

A. For Faculty

1. As there is no face-to-face teaching for now, the instructors have prepared this module to
be a way of imparting knowledge of Readings in Philippine History to the students while
they are staying in their respective homes.
2. This module will be distributed via Google Classroom and Google Mail depending on the
section to which they belong.
3. Answers to each task or activity will be sent via Google Classroom in a separate
document.

B. For Learners

1. Read the objectives that can be found on the second page of the module. This way, you
will know what you are expected to achieve at the end of this course.
2. Read the title of the lesson that follows to get an idea of what the content of the
preliminary period is about.
3. This module consists of three units. Organize your study to understand the meaning,
well-being and importance of learning Readings in Philippine History.
4. Here are the rules for learning each lesson:
• Read the title as well as the objectives of each unit so you that know the outcome of
the instructions.
• Read the lectures and lesson annotations and complete the following tasks or
activities
 FOREWORD

Due to the rapid change and challenge of globalization in the teaching of History,
especially in the field of education, it has become a challenge for teachers to share knowledge
regarding the Readings in Philippine History. Teachers have developed a module that will
address the need for the so-called new normal. With this method, it will increase the students'
level of knowledge and it is geared toward the holistic development of a person in overlapping
realms of the individual, the Filipino community, and the global community.
Students will be given guidance and assistance by the members of the institution in
achieving the expected objectives contained in this module. In order to achieve the teacher's
goals in sharing learning ideas, computers and especially the internet have played an important
role. Through these innovative technologies, teachers and even students have developed
alternative methods to achieve the required knowledge.
The author of this module also emphasizes the skills that will be developed to their ability
through activities appropriate for each lesson. The output of the members of the institution will
provide effective and quality education
 MODULES FOR READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Credits : 3 units lecture (3 hours/week), 1-unit laboratory (3 hours/week)
Pre-Requisite : 1ST year standing

Lesson Title: American Occupation of the Philippines

References:
1. Blount J.H. (1913). The American Occupation in the Philippines. The Knickerbocker Press: New
York
2. American Anti-Imperialist League (n.d). Retrieved October 19, 2020 from
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org /entry/American_Anti-Imperialist_League

Objectives
At the end of the course, the students are expected to:
1. Identify motivations which led the Americans to colonize the Philippines.
2. Analyze the different standpoints regarding the American occupation of the Philippines.
3. Explain the significance of the Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation

THE TREATY OF PARIS

August 12, 1898
Article III of the Peace Protocol signed at
Washington on August 12, 1898, provided:
The United States will occupy and hold
the city, bay and harbor of Manila,
pending the conclusion of a Treaty of
Peace which shall determine the control,
disposition, and government of the
Philippines.
October 1, 1898
https://www.britannica.com/event/T
reaty-of-Paris-1898 The first meeting with the Spanish Commissioners
was held in Paris. President William McKinley had
finally decided that the United States must take
possession of the Philippines. The matter was finally swallowed up and lost sight of in the
agreement to give Spain a lump of 20 million for the archipelago. Archbishop Chapelle was in
Paris at the time of these negotiations. He afterwards told the writer in Manila that he got that 20
million put in the Treaty of Paris. The Church preferred that the title should be a title of purchase
and not a conquest.
December 10, 1898
And that is how that twenty million found its way into the treaty—not forgetting the
prayers and other contemporaneous activities of Archbishop Chapelle. After the tremendous
eight weeks' tension had relaxed, and before the final reduction to writing of all the details, we
see this dear little telegram, from Secretary of State Hay, himself a writer of note, come bravely
paddling into port, where it was cordially received by both sides, taken in out of the wet, and put
under the shelter of the treaty:
Mr. Hay to Mr. Day: In renewing conventional arrangements do not lose sight of
copyright agreement.
Mr. Day to Mr. Hay: Treaty signed at 8:50 this evening.

THE BENEVOLENT ASSSIMILATION PROCLAMATION

The Pandora box of the Philippine woes,
The Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation, was
signed on December 21, 1898. It was issued by
President McKinley and was announced in the
Philippine on January 4, 1899. The proclamation
stated the U.S. “altruistic” mission in obtaining the
Philippines.
 In response, the Philippine Republic was
declared on January 1 with Emilio Aguinaldo y
Famy as its president, but the United States refused
to
recognize it as the legitimate government.  https://www.filipinoamericanwar.com
/benevolentassimilation.htm
January 27, 1899
 In reaction to this non-recognition, the
Filipino government proclaimed its
constitution.
February 4, 1899
The Republic of the Philippines declared
war against the United States after three Filipinos were killed by the U.S troops.

ADDRESS ADOPTED BY THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE

 The Anti-Imperialist League was formed in June
1898 to oppose the war of the United States with Spain
over Cuba's fight for independence from Spanish rule.
United States also wished to expand its influence in the
Carribean and across the Pacfic and so annexed the
Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico. United States also
wished to expand its influence in the Carribean and
across the Pacfic and so annexed the Philippine Islands
https://filipinostudies.wordpress.co and Puerto Rico.
m/2012/07/20/anti-imperialist-
Two days later, Filipinos led by Emilio
league/
Aquinaldo, were fighting Americans. In protesting the
treaty, the 1899 Platform of the League stated: "We hold that the policy known as imperialism is
hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has been our glory to be
free. We regret that it has become necessary in the land of Washington and Lincoln to reaffirm
that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We maintain that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. We
insist that the subjugation of any people is 'criminal aggression' and open disloyalty to the
distinctive principles of our Government. We earnestly condemn the policy of the present
National Administration in the Philippines. . . . We denounce the slaughter of the Filipinos as a
needless horror. We protest against the extension of American sovereignty by Spanish methods."
Andrew Carnegie offered to buy the Philippines from the United States to give the islands their
independence. Instead, American troops killed between 250,000 and 600,000 Filipinos, probably
most of them civilians, and captured Aguinaldo in February 1902, at which time President
Roosevelt pronounced that the war was over.
The Anti-Imperialist League continued to challenge American intervention abroad until
1920, but it was largely isolated from the peace movement and had lost most of its impact.

PRIMARY SOURCE ON THE PHILIPPINE AMERICAN WAR

Primary Source Document 1
Emilio Aguinaldo, “True Version of the Philippine Revolution” (1899)
I, Emilio Aguinaldo—though the humble servant of all, am, as President of the
Philippine Republic, charged with the safeguarding of the rights and independence of the people
who appointed me to such an exalted position of trust and responsibility—mistrusted for the first
time the honour of the Americans … no other course was open to me but to repel with arms such
unjust and unexpected procedure on the part of the commander of friendly forces.
Primary Source Document 2
Private William Grayson, “Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions”
 About eight o’clock, Miller and I were cautiously pacing our district. We came to
a fence and were trying to see what the Filipinos were up to.
Suddenly, near at hand, on our left, there was a low but unmistakable Filipino outpost signal
whistle. It was immediately answered by a similar whistle about twenty-five yards to the right.
Then a red lantern flashed a signal from blockhouse number seven. We had never seen such a
sign used before. In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino.
I yelled Halt! and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the
guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud halt! Then he shouted
halto! to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn’t kill
him, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about fifteen feet from us.
I called halt! and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got
my second Filipino that time….
Primary Source Document 3
President William McKinley, “Decision on the Philippines” (1900)
“When next I realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps, I confess I
did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides-Democrats as well as
Republicans-but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other
islands, perhaps, also.
I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to
tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for light and
guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way-I don’t know how it
was, but it came:
That we could not give them back to Spain-that would be cowardly and dishonorable; That we
could not turn them over to France or Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would
be bad business and discreditable; That we could not leave them to themselves-they were unfit
for self-government, and they would soon have anarchy and misrule worse then Spain’s was;
and That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos,
and uplift and civilize and Christianize them and by God’s grace do the very best we could by
them, as our fellow men for whom Christ also died.
And then I went to bed and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the
chief engineer of the War Department, and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the
United States, and there they are and there they will stay while I am President!”