Filipino leaders felt they had been betrayed.

In their view America had used them and their arms to

drive out the Spaniards and now meant to take the Spaniards’ place. The revolutionists rallied their
forces in the provinces and an insurrection against the Americans was begun in February 1899. It
lasted for three years, during which time the United States Army and the outside world learned much
about the fierceness, tenacity, and effectiveness of Filipino guerrilla operations. In their three years of
occupation, the Japanese, too, have learned much about Philippine guerrillas.
The new American broom
American rule in the islands was so different from Spain’s that it won the people’s support as soon as
they were convinced of our real intentions. President McKinley sent a commission of five Americans
to the Philippines to advise Washington on policy. Shortly after their arrival in 1899, the commission
issued an important proclamation. It set forth the principle, described in the president’s instructions
to the second commission, that the government was designed “for the happiness, peace and
prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands.”
Filipinos were given a share in their government from the very beginning, especially in local affairs.
In 1907, an assembly of eighty Filipinos was elected to share in the task of legislation with the
commission, to which body three Filipino members were later added. In 1913, further appointments
were made to give Filipinos a majority on the commission. Filipinos served on the Supreme Court,
along with Americans, all during the American regime. In the lower courts, more and more Filipinos
came to serve as judges. After 1913, civil service in the islands was rapidly Filipinized.