Abstract

Establishing American Colonial Government in the
Philippines
Summary
The Philippines was the only American colony and its establishment
caused a fierce debate in the United States on whether this complied with
the principles of American civil society. It was decided that returning the
archipelago to Spain or simply abandoning it was out of the question,
and that the USA would retain its sovereignty over the islands while
preparing the country for independence.
This is in fact what happened. After the period of military struggle
with the forces of Emilio Aguinaldo, Americans began what would today
be described as a nation-building process. Its most important components were the health system and education, along with the training of
administrative staff, who assumed more and more responsibility. This
was in stark contrast with the behaviour of traditional colonial powers.
While the process was somewhat slower than expected, and was
interrupted by the outbreak of World War 2, the Philippines became
independent soon after the war and the process of transition was conducted in an orderly fashion.
The article, the first on the topic in Poland, analyses the successive
phases in the building up of American colonial control of the Philippines
and its subsequent withdrawal.