The period of U.S.

influence
The juxtaposition of U.S. democracy and imperial rule over a subject people was
sufficiently jarring to most Americans that, from the beginning, the training of Filipinos
for self-government and ultimate independence—the Malolos Republic was conveniently
ignored—was an essential rationalization for U.S. hegemony in the islands. Policy
differences between the two main political parties in the United States focused on the
speed with which self-government should be extended and the date on which
independence should be granted.

In 1899 Pres. William McKinley sent to the Philippines a five-person fact-finding

commission headed by Cornell University president Jacob G. Schurman. Schurman
reported back that Filipinos wanted ultimate independence, but this had no immediate
impact on policy. McKinley sent out the Second Philippine Commission in 1900, under
William Howard Taft; by July 1901 it had established civil government.

In 1907 the Philippine Commission, which had been acting as both legislature and
governor-general’s cabinet, became the upper house of a bicameral body. The new 80-
member Philippine Assembly was directly elected by a somewhat restricted electorate
from single-member districts, making it the first elective legislative body in Southeast
Asia. When Gov.- Gen. Francis B. Harrison appointed a Filipino majority to the
commission in 1913, the American voice in the legislative process was further reduced.

Harrison was the only governor-general appointed by a Democratic president in

the first 35 years of U.S. rule. He had been sent by Woodrow Wilson with specific
instructions to prepare the Philippines for ultimate independence, a goal that
Wilson enthusiastically supported. During Harrison’s term, a Democratic-
controlled Congress in Washington, D.C., hastened to fulfill long-standing
campaign promises to the same end. The Jones Act, passed in 1916, would have
fixed a definite date for the granting of independence if the Senate had had its
way, but the House prevented such a move. In its final form the act merely stated
that it was the “purpose of the people of the United States” to recognize
Philippine independence “as soon as a stable government can be established
therein.” Its greater importance was as a milestone in the development of
Philippine autonomy. Under Jones Act provisions, the commission was
abolished and was replaced by a 24-member Senate, almost wholly elected.
The electorate was expanded to include all literate males.