Insular Government of the Philippine Islands

Philippines, 1901–1935. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Insular Government of the Philippine Islands was an unincorporated territory of the United States that was established upon ratification of the 1898 Treaty of Paris. In 1902, the United States Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act, which organized the government and served as its basic law. This act provided for a governor-general appointed by the president of the United States, as well as a bicameral Philippine Legislature with the appointed Philippine Commission as the upper house and a fully elected, Filipino lower house, the Philippine Assembly. The 1902 Philippine Organic Act was replaced in 1916 by the Jones Law, which ended the Philippine Commission and provided for both houses of the Philippine Legislature to be elected.

Seat of power: Manila

Rulers

William Howard Taft

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1901–1903

In 1901, President William McKinley appointed Taft civilian governor of the Philippines. Taft sought to make the Filipinos partners in a venture that would lead to their self-government; he saw independence as something decades off.

Portrait of William Howard Taft: Pach Brothers, restored by Adam Cuerden, Public domain, file

William Cameron Forbes

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1909–1913

Forbes was an enthusiastic supporter of the summer capital at Baguio designed by Daniel Burnham. The summer capital drew resentment from local Filipinos, as it put the government at a distance from the people and was paid for with money earmarked for postwar recovery.

Portrait of William Cameron Forbes: James E. Purdy, Public domain, file

Francis Burton Harrison

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1913–1921

Harrison advocated for and oversaw the process of Filipinization, or the transfer of authority to Filipinos in the United States territory's Insular Government to better prepare for independence. Despite the length of his tenure as governor-general, he vetoed only five bills, the least number by any American governor-general in the Philippines.

Portrait of Francis Burton Harrison: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, file

Henry L. Stimson

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1927–1929

He served as governor-general of the Philippines under President Calvin Coolidge.

Portrait of Henry L. Stimson: Underwood & Underwood, Public domain, file

Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1932–1933

He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of Puerto Rico, and Governor-General of the Philippines.

Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, file

Frank Murphy

Governor-General of the Philippines, 1933–1935

He served as the last American Governor-General of the Philippines and the first High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Portrait of Frank Murphy: Harris & Ewing, Public domain, file

Culture

In 1904, Taft negotiated the purchase of 390,000 acres of church property for $7.5 million.
An elected Philippine Assembly was convened in 1907 as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the Philippine Commission as the upper house.
Every year from 1907, the Philippine Assembly and later the Philippine Legislature passed resolutions expressing the Filipino desire for independence.

Picture

Malacañan became the official seat of power of Spanish colonial rule, and the palace continued as the official state residence of colonial rulers after sovereignty over the islands was ceded to the United States in 1898.

Image: FiveGeekabytes, CC BY 4.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.