roops that were occupying the country.5 This reaction caught Americans by surprise, and even worse, the Filipinos using guerilla tactics were difficult to defeat. The United States made peace by offering the illustrados all they could possibly want. The U.S promised to end the religious orders, guarantee private property, limit the franchise to the educated, place illustrados in key positions, hold early elections, and make America’s stay in the Philippines brief.6The Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, 1898. By the Treaty, Cuba gained its independence and Spain ceded the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States for the sum of US$20 million.7 This was not well received in the Philippines. Filipino nationalists were incensed at the arrogance of the imperial powers to bargain away their independence for the tidy price of US$20 million with not so much as a pretence of consultation with Filipinos. Given its own history of colonial revolution, American opinion was uncomfortable and divided on the moral principle of owning colonial dependencies. Having acquired the Philippines almost by accident, the United States was not sure what to do with them. On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (Schurman Commission) to make recommendations. Aguinaldo did not need recommendations to decide what he would do. On January 23, 1899 he proclaimed the Malolos Constitution and the First Philippine Republic. The hostilities in the Philippine War of Independence began on February 4, 1899 and continued for two years. The United States needed 126,000 soldiers to subdue the Philippines. The war took the lives of 4,234 Americans and 16,000 Filipinos. As usual in guerrilla campaigns, the civilian population suffers the worst. As many as 200,000 civilians died from famine and diseases. The Filipino rebels did not do well in the field. Aguinaldo and his government escaped the capture of Malolos on ...
