At the end of the Spanish-American War, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1898),
Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in exchange for 20 million United
States dollars. When it became clear to the natives that American forces intended to
occupy and control the country, revolts broke out. AT a constitutional convention held
against the wishes of American autorities, Aguinaldo was declared President of the
Philippines Republic. The US refused to recognized any Philippine right to self-
government, and on February 4, 1899, Aguinaldo declared war against the United States
for denying them independence. In the US, there was a movement to stop the war; some
said that the US had no right to land whose people wanted self-government.

Filipinos and an increasing number of American historians refer to these hostilities as
the Philippine-American War (1899-1913) and in 1999 the U.S. Library of Congress
reclassified its references to use this term, 1901, Aguinaldo was captured and swore
allegiance to the United States. A large American military force was needed to occupy
the country, and would regularly engaged in war, againts in Filipino rebels, for another
decade. An estimated 250,000 Filipinos were killed by the U.s Forces in the attempt to
put down the forces favorind independence.

Some measures of Filipino self-rule were allowed, however. The first legislative
assembly was elected in 1907. A bicameral legislature, largely under the Philippine control,
was established. A civil force was formed and gradually taken over the
Filipinos, who had effectively gained control by the end of the World War I.

In 1943, the American Tydings-McDuffie Act granted Philippine independence by
1946. On My 14, 1935, an election to fill the newly created office of the President of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines was won by Manuel L. Quezon and a Filipino
government was formed on the basis of the US Constitution.