Alaska (><) Philippines Connection 3

How USA Exploited Philippines' Wish for Independence

Future US President, William Howard Taft was instrumental in thwarting early revolutionary efforts for Philippine Independence through a program of appeasement, before being named by President William McKinley as the first governor general of the islands, along with several Americans to serve in his cabinet. All this went on even as the war raged outside the few pacified areas.

[1]A History of the Philippines.

The first Republican Constitution in Asia--called the Malolos Constitution--was drafted and adopted by the first Philippine Republic and lasted from 1899 to 1901 under a revolutionary government. This constitution acknowledged that sovereignty resided solely in the Filipino people. Other notable provisions included: A call for a system of free and compulsory education, a new fiscal and tax system, the foundation of a navy and reorganized army and establishment of a diplomatic corps. Malolos delegates were eager to show that they were capable of running the country without outside help--just as Alaska delegates to a constitutional convention in 1955 would likewise aspire to convince the US Congress and president Dwight Eisenhower--that Alaskans were capable of being a state.