An organic law is a law or system of laws which forms the foundation of a government, corporation or other

organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law for a sovereign state.

1. Instruction of President William McKinley to the Second Philippine Commission (Taft Commission) on
1900;
2. the Philippine Bill of July 1, 1902;
3. and the Jones Law of August 26, 1916

1. The Taft Commission, also known as Second Philippine Commission (Filipino: Ikalawang Komisyon ng Pilipinas)
was established by United States President William McKinley on March 16, 1900 following the recommendations of the
First Philippine Commission. The Second Commission was at first the sole legislative body of the Philippines, then known
as the Philippine Islands under the sovereign control of the United States, while still under the Philippine-American War.
After the passage of the Philippine Organic Act in 1902, the Commission functioned as a House of bicameral legislature
until it was supplanted in 1916 by an elected legislature established in 1916 by the Philippine Autonomy Act.

William Howard Taft was the first head of the Philippine Commission, a post he filled between March 16, 1900
and July 4, 1901, after which the commission head also became the Civil Governor of the Philippines. He held the post
until January 31, 1904 after he was appointed as the Secretary of War by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. The Philippine
Commission was subsequently headed by a number of persons, but is often mentioned informally and collectively as the
"Taft Commission".

2. 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:

1. the cessation of the existing insurrection in the Philippine Islands;

2. completion and publication of a census; and
3. 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,

 the appointment of two Filipino nonvoting Resident Commissioners to represent the Philippines in the
United States Congress, and
 the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church.
 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.

3. The Jones Law (39 Stat. 545, c. 416), also known as the Jones Act, the Philippine Autonomy Act, and the Act of
Congress of August 29, 1916, was an Organic Act passed by the United States Congress. The law replaced the Philippine
Organic Act of 1902 and acted like a constitution of the Philippines from its enactment until 1934 when the Tydings–
McDuffie Act was passed (which in turn led eventually to the Commonwealth of the Philippines and to independence
from the United States). The Jones Law created the first fully elected Philippine legislature.

The law, enacted by the 64th United States Congress on August 29, 1916, contained the first formal and official
declaration of the United States Federal Government's commitment to grant independence to the Philippines, and was a
framework for a "more autonomous government", with certain privileges reserved to the United States to protect its
sovereign rights and interests, in preparation for the grant of independence by the United States. The law provides that
the grant of independence would come only "as soon as a stable government can be established", which was to be
determined by the United States Government itself.

The law also changed the Philippine Legislature into the Philippines' first fully elected body and therefore made
it more autonomous of the U.S. Government. While the 1902 Philippine Organic Act provided for an elected lower house
(the Philippine Assembly), the upper house (the Philippine Commission) was appointed. The Jones Law provided for both
houses to be elected and changed the name of the Assembly to the House of Representatives. The executive branch
continued to be headed by an appointed Governor General of the Philippines, always an American.

Elections were held on October 3, 1916 to the newly created Philippine Senate. Elections to the Philippine
Assembly had already been held on June 6, 1916 and those elected then automatically became members of the House
of Representatives.

In 1898, the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States, which subsequently fought the Philippine–
American War between 1899 and 1902 and established control over the Philippines.