Philippine Organic act of 1902

Cooper Act

The Philippine Organic Act (c. 1369, 32 Stat. 691) was a basic law for the Insular
Government that was enacted by the United States Congress on July 1, 1902. It
is also known as the Philippine Bill of 1902 and the Cooper Act, after its author
Henry A. Cooper. The approval of the act coincided with the official end of the
Philippine–American War.
The Philippine Organic Act provided for the creation of an elected Philippine
Assembly after the following conditions were met:

the cessation of the existing insurrection in the Philippine Islands;

completion and publication of a census; and
two years of continued peace and recognition of the authority of the United
States of America after the publication of the census.
After the convening of the Assembly, legislative power shall then be vested in a
bicameral legislature composed of the Philippine Commission as the upper
house and the Philippine Assembly as the lower house. Supervision of the
islands was assigned to the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs.

Other key provisions included:

a bill of rights for the Filipinos,[1]

the appointment of two Filipino nonvoting Resident Commissioners to
represent the Philippines in the United States Congress, and[1]
the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church.[1]
conservation of natural resources for the Filipinos
exercise of executive power by the civil governor who would have several
executive departments
establishment of the Philippine Assembly to be elected by the Filipinos two
years after the publication of a census and only after peace had been restored
completely in the country
This act was superseded by the Philippine Autonomy Act, or the Jones Law,
enacted on August 29, 1916.

The act was preceded by the Spooner Amendment to the Army Appropriations
Act of 1901 (31 Stat. 895, 910, enacted 2 March 1901) which had provided that:
... all military, civil, and judicial powers necessary to govern the Philippine
Islands ... shall until otherwise provided by Congress be vested in such person
and persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the President of the
United States shall direct, for the establishment of civil government, and for
maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of said Islands in the free
enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.

This was complemented by a cable from the Secretary of War Elihu Root to the
Philippine Commission on 5 March 1901:[2]

Until further orders government will continue under existing instructions and
orders.

The comprehensive Spooner Amendment, and these instructions and orders,

virtually constituted for many months the charter of government for the
Philippine Islands.[3] Between September 1900 and August 1902, the Second
Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission) issued 499 laws.[1]

The act was enacted into law on July 1, 1902, and the Philippine Commission
executed its provisions.[4] A census was conducted in 1903, and published on
March 25, 1905.[4] The Philippine Assembly elections of 1907 were held on July
30, 1907, for 80 seats, and on October 16, 1907, the 1st Philippine Legislature
was inaugurated at the Manila Grand Opera House.[4]

As a result of the act, the Catholic Church agreed to gradually substitute

Spanish priests with Filipinos and to sell its land.[1] It refused however to send
the friars immediately back to Spain.[1] In 1904, the American administration
bought 166,000 hectares, a major part of the friars' holding, over half of which
was in the Manila area, and the land was resold to Filipinos—some of them
tenants but the majority of them estate owners

Tyddings mcduffie

Other short titles Tydings–McDuffie Act

Long title An act to provide for the complete independence of the Philippine
Islands, to provide for the adoption of a constitution and a form of government
for the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes.
Enacted by the 73rd United States Congress
Effective May 1, 1934

he Tydings–McDuffie Act, officially the Philippine Independence Act (Pub.L. 73–

127, 48 Stat. 456, enacted March 24, 1934), is an Act of Congress that
established the process for the Philippines, then an American territory, to
become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the
act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines was written and the
Commonwealth of the Philippines was established, with the first directly
elected President of the Philippines. (Direct elections to the Philippine
Legislature had been held since 1907.) It also established limitations on Filipino
immigration to the United States.

The act was authored in the 73rd United States Congress by Senator Millard E.
Tydings (Dem.) of Maryland and Representative John McDuffie (Dem.) of
Alabama,[1] and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Provisions[edit]
The Tydings–McDuffie Act specified a procedural framework for the drafting of
a constitution for the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
within two years of its enactment. The act specified a number of mandatory
constitutional provisions, and required approval of the constitution by the U.S.
President and by Filipinos. The act mandated U.S. recognition of independence
of the Philippine Islands as a separate and self-governing nation after a ten-
year transition period.[2]
Prior to independence, the act allowed the U.S to maintain military forces in
the Philippines and to call all military forces of the Philippine government into
U.S. military service. The act empowered the U.S. President, within two years
following independence, to negotiate matters relating to U.S. naval
reservations and fueling stations of in the Philippine Islands.[2]
Immigration[edit]
The act reclassified all Filipinos, including those who were living in the United
States, as aliens for the purposes of immigration to America. A quota of 50
immigrants per year was established.[2] Before this act, Filipinos were
classified as United States nationals, but not United States citizens, and while
they were allowed to migrate relatively freely, they were denied naturalization
rights within the US, unless they were citizens by birth in the mainland US.[3]
History[edit]

Representatives from the Philippine Independence Mission in 1924 (left to

right): Isauro Gabaldón, Sergio Osmena, Manuel L. Quezon, Claro M. Recto,
Pedro Guevara, and Dean Jorge Bocobo
In 1934, Manuel L. Quezon, the President of the Senate of the Philippines,
headed a "Philippine Independence mission" to Washington, D.C. It
successfully lobbied Congress and secured the act's passage.[1]
In 1935, under the provisions of the act, the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines
was drafted and became law, establishing the Commonwealth of the
Philippines with an elected executive, the President of the Philippines.[4][5]
In accordance with the act, President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation
2695 of July 4, 1946, officially recognizing the independence of the Philippines.
[6]

Immigration
Main article: History of Filipino Americans
The immigration quota under the act was low, and immigration continued at
levels much higher than the legal quota.[7] This was due to the strength of
agricultural lobbies, such as the Hawaiian sugar planters, which were able to
successfully lobby the federal government to allow more male Filipino
agricultural workers provided that they demonstrated a need. This further
increased the Filipino population in Hawaii which had at one point been 25% of
agricultural workers on the islands.[7]

The act also led to the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935.[8]

This act extended the Asian-exclusion policy of the Immigration Act of 1924 to
the soon-to-be-former territory. This policy hampered the domestic lives of
many Filipinos within the US because any Filipino who wished to go to the
Philippines and then return to the United States would be subject to the
restrictions on Asian immigration to America and would likely never be allowed
to return.[7]
In 1946, the US decreased the tight restrictions of the Tydings–McDuffie Act
with the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, which increased the quota of Filipino
immigrants to 100 per year and gave Filipinos the right to become naturalized
American citizens.[9] Filipinos would have been barred from immigrating to the
U.S. without the Act. Two days later, on July 4, 1946, the Philippines became
independent with the signing of the Treaty of Manila.