Schurman Commission

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The Schurman Commission , which was established by US President William McKinley on January 20, 1899, is called the First Philippine Commission in the Philippines . You should consider proposals for the initiative announced by McKinley on December 23, 1898 before the US Congress Benevolent assimilation ( Benevolent Assimilation ) with the participation of Filipino upper class of principalia and intellectual Illustrados work out.

The commission consisted of five members. The President of Cornell University , Jacob Gould Schurman , was appointed chairman . The other members were George Dewey , Elwell Stephen Otis , Charles H. Denby and Dean C. Worcester . The three civilian members of the commission did not reach the Philippines until March 4, 1899, so that they could not start their work until one month after the outbreak of fighting in the Philippine-American War . The meetings were made more difficult by the fact that Otis was also the military governor of the Philippines and he did not attend many meetings in Manila .

The Commission was able to convince Cayetano Arellano , Felipe G. Calderon , Benito Legarda and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera to work together. The latter declared on July 24th that the Philippines were not yet ready for an independent republic and expressed their interest in working in an autonomous civil colonial administration for the United States . Later, the three still Florentino Torres and the meanwhile captured Prime Minister of the first Philippine Republic , Pedro Paterno , joined this group. For this reason, the five are still accused of collaboration , as they were able to secure many personal advantages for themselves through their cooperation. Arellano became the first chairman of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1901, and Paterno was given a seat in the Manila local government. In December, the five formed the conservative political party, Partido Federal .

In January 1901, the commission presented its findings and recommendations to US President McKinley. It came to the conclusion that a civil colonial administration could replace the military administration much faster. The prerequisite is the establishment of a two-chamber legislature, the separation of administration and judiciary , the creation of autonomous provincial and municipal administrations and the introduction of an education system based on the US model. These proposals were to serve as a working basis for the Taft Commission appointed on March 16, 1901 , which, under the leadership of the later US President William Howard Taft, was to replace the military administration with a civil administration.

Web links

literature

  • Golay, Frank H. (1997). Face of empire: United States-Philippine relations, 1898-1946. Ateneo de Manila University Press. ISBN 978-971-550-254-2 .
  • Morgan, Howard Wayne (2003). William McKinley and his America. Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-765-1 .
  • Noyes, Theodore Williams (2008). Chapter XXI: The Schurman Paradox, from Oriental America and Its Problems. BiblioBazaar, LLC. ISBN 978-0-554-52946-2 .