#历史开讲 #
Historical Reflection: How did the United States establish colonial rule over the Philippines in the 19th century? First of all, before answering this question, we need to know that in the 19th century, the Spanish government vigorously developed education, which was essentially to spread religion, but it was the implementation of this relatively enlightened education policy that made great progress in Philippine education, and a large number of intellectuals from the rich to the poor children were produced, promoting the ideological enlightenment of Filipinos. A group of intellectuals represented by the rich class such as Lisa, Maximo Biola, Del Pilar, and Panganiban were all more or less studied under Spanish colonial education, and they formed the main force of the propaganda movement.
The Impact of Western-style Education on the Philippines
As the founding father of the Philippines and a pioneer of ideological enlightenment, Lisa was born into a wealthy family from an early age, and he grew up under the cultivation of Spanish education from primary school to middle school to university. In 1872, he went to study at Artinho College in Manila; He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1877 and continued his studies at the University of St. Thomas.
In the face of domestic colonial oppression and the ignorance of the Chinese people, Lisa published articles such as "Don't Offend Me" and "Farewell, My Motherland", which caused shocks at home and abroad and played a positive role in arousing the awakening of the nation. Educated in Spain, De La Pilar studied law at the University of Santo Tomas, and after graduation went into journalism and founded the daily newspaper Tagalog, which exposed and denounced government corruption.
In addition, Panganiban also received higher education at the University of Santo Tomas, these people were the first to be ideologically liberated under the influence of Spanish education, and in the face of the corruption of the Spanish government, they united and successively carried out propaganda campaigns in Spain and the Philippines, established the Philippine Union, and used the newspaper "Unity" as an organ to report on the cruel atrocities of the Spanish rulers in the Philippines and promote the ideological enlightenment of the Filipino people.
Under the influence of Spanish education, a group of intellectuals represented by Bonifacio and a group of poor classes such as Jacinto not only enlightened their ideas and awakened their national consciousness, but more importantly, they were more radical than the intellectuals of the rich class, and they were not satisfied with relying on simple propaganda to promote the reform of the Spanish government's colonial rule, but adopted a revolutionary approach to thoroughly realize the freedom and democracy of the Filipino people.
Bonifacio is the soul of Katipunan, he was born in the slums of Manila, although he only received primary education, but it was the foundation laid by primary education that made Bonifacio develop good study habits, self-learning ability is very strong, master his Galog, Spanish and English, read "History of the French Revolution", "The Insurrection" and other books, all of which inspired his strong revolutionary spirit.
Coupled with the oppression of domestic colonialism, he established Katipunan and became the main leader of the Philippine Revolution of 1898; As an important thinker for the Katipunan organization, Jacinto also came from a poor family of journalists, received higher education, studied law at the University of Santo Tomas, and drafted the cohesive "The Doctrine of Katipunan".
In short, under the influence of Spanish education, this group of lower-class intellectuals represented by Bonifacio enlightened their ideas, promoted the establishment of Katipunan, a revolutionary organization, and set off a vigorous Philippine Revolution of 1898 to fight for the independence of the country and the freedom of the people. In the more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, the Western-style education system was gradually established in the Philippines, and with the awakening of Philippine national consciousness and the establishment of US rule over the Philippines, Western-style education inevitably declined.
In 1898, the United States launched a war against Spain, seized the Philippines and established colonial rule there. During nearly half a century of colonial rule, the United States formulated and implemented a series of policies to consolidate colonial rule, and its Chinese and education policies played an important role, not only maintaining its rule, but also having an important impact on the development of the Philippines after independence.
The United States starts the Spanish-American War
At the end of the 19th century, driven by the second industrial revolution, the comprehensive strength of the United States continued to increase, entered the stage of imperialism, and eagerly carried out foreign expansion, mainly in the Pacific region. At this time, the only colonies left in the declining Spanish Empire were Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam, while the Filipino people were waging a war of independence against the West. Spain, which was in trouble at home and abroad, became the target of US attacks.
On February 15, 1898, the explosion and sinking of the American battleship "Maine" in the Spanish colony of Cuba became a pretext for the United States to wage war against Spain, and on April 25, the United States declared war on Spain. On May 1, the U.S. fleet entered Manila Bay, defeated the Spanish fleet, and occupied the Manila area.
On December 10, 1898, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, in which Spain recognized Cuba's independence, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred Philippine power to the United States in compensation of $20 million. The United States thus gained control of the Philippines from Spain. To realize this right, the United States also needs to suppress the Philippine revolution.
The United States suppresses the Philippine Revolution
During the Spanish-American War, under the banner of helping the Filipinos resist Spanish colonial rule and achieve Philippine independence, the United States deceived the Philippine revolutionary government to support and help and fight Spain together. However, when the United States defeated Spain and occupied the Manila area, on the one hand, it prevented the Philippine revolutionary army from entering the city of Manila, and on the other hand, actively negotiated with Spain to annex the Philippines, which fully exposed the ambition of the United States to invade and occupy the Philippines.
However, the Philippine revolutionary government still pinned its hopes on the United States for the realization of the national liberation of the Philippines until the issuance of the "Declaration of Enlightened Assimilation" of the US military on January 4, 1899, declaring that the United States had the right to rule in the Philippines, which was a benevolent assimilation, replacing arbitrary rule with "fair and upright moderate rule". The declaration completely shattered the illusions of the revolutionary government of the Philippines represented by Aguinaldo about the United States, which opposed American colonial rule and was ready for armed confrontation.
On February 4, 1899, the U.S. Army shot and killed a Filipino soldier, setting off the prelude to the suppression of the Philippine Revolution. In this war, the military strength of the United States and the Philippines was very different, and the Philippine revolutionary government was defeated one after another, and the capital was changed. In April 1901, Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine revolutionary government, swore allegiance to the United States and issued a "Letter to the Filipino People", calling on the Filipino people to lay down their arms and accept American rule. At this point, the suppression of the Philippine Revolution, which lasted for more than two years, came to an end, and the United States finally established colonial dominance over the Philippines.
U.S. policy of colonial rule in the Philippines
U.S. colonial rule of the Philippines began with the signing of the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Spain in December 1898 and ended with the declaration of independence of the Philippines in July 1946 (of which 1942 to August 1945 was the period of Japanese occupation, which was not considered because the Philippines was not under American colonial rule). The U.S. colonial rule in the Philippines was roughly divided into three phases: the military regime (1898-1901), the civilian-ruled government (1901-1935), and the self-government (1935-1946), and the colonial system was not static, but was in the process of appropriate adjustment.
After the United States occupied Manila on August 13, 1898, it began to establish a temporary colonial ruler, the military government, whose main task was to suppress the Philippine Revolution, extend American rule throughout the entire Philippine island, and provide a transition for the establishment of a complete colonial government in the future. The military government exercises military administration over the occupied areas, and the military and political governors hold the political and economic power of the localities.
For the unoccupied areas, the military government on the one hand militarily suppressed the Philippine revolution and seized the Philippines by force; On the other hand, with the assistance of the Schulman Committee and the Taft Committee dispatched by the US Congress, it carried out demagogic propaganda, promising Philippine autonomy, freedom for Filipinos, development of industry and agriculture, and the establishment of a just civil service system, and through this political offensive to divide the revolutionary forces in the Philippines and achieve the purpose of suppressing the Philippine revolution. With the victory of the United States in suppressing the Philippine Revolution in 1901, the military junta lost its meaning.
On March 2, 1901, the U.S. Congress passed the "Spuno Amendment Army Appropriations Act", which stipulated the transition of U.S. rule in the Philippines from military to civilian, and authorized the President of the United States to establish a civilian government in the Philippines. On July 4, 1901, the inauguration ceremony of the civilian government was held in Manila, and the period of civilian government rule began.
In the form of legislation, the civilian government established the political system of separation of powers in the United States in the Philippines and established a relatively complete form of political power organization. In 1902, the U.S. Congress passed the Philippine Act. The bill provides for the legislative establishment of the Philippine Council as the upper house, the Philippine democratically elected Philippine parliament as the lower house, and the legislative power is vested in both houses, but the democratically elected Philippine parliament only has formal legislative power, and the Philippine committee controlled by the Americans can have the power to approve and veto parliamentary proposals.
Administratively, executive power is exercised by the Governor of the Civil Administration, and officials in all departments are appointed by the President of the United States (with the approval of the United States Senate); Judicially, the Supreme Court of the Philippines judges are appointed by the President of the United States, with a majority of American members of the Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States has the power to review, amend, supplement and annul any judgment of the Philippine courts at all levels.
In general, in fact, the introduction of the bill firmly placed the Philippine executive, legislative and judicial affairs in the hands of the Americans, and established the colonial rule of the United States in the Philippines in the form of legislation. However, the implementation of the Philippine Act also made the Filipinos realize that the country had not achieved the autonomy promised by the Americans, and the Filipinos simply could not hold real power in the colonial government, which greatly deepened the Philippines' dissatisfaction with the United States.