Insular Government of the Philippine Islands

Insular Government
of the Philippine Islands
Gobierno Insular
de las Islas Filipinas
 (Spanish)
1902[a]–1935
Anthems: "Hail, Columbia" (until 1931)

"The Star-Spangled Banner"(from 1931)

"The Philippine Hymn" 
1921 map of the Philippine Islands
1921 map of the Philippine Islands
StatusUnincorporated and organized United States territory[b]
Capital
and largest city
Manila
Official languagesEnglish • Spanish
Common languagesPhilippine languages • Hokkien[c]
Religion
(1910)
78.7% Catholicism
21.3% other (including Indigenous Philippine folk religions and Islam)[2]
Demonym(s)Filipino
Philippine Islander
(uncommon)
Philippine
(used for certain common nouns)
GovernmentDevolved presidential dependency
President 
• 1902–1909
Theodore Roosevelt
• 1909–1913
William Howard Taft
• 1913–1921
Woodrow Wilson
• 1921–1923
Warren G. Harding
• 1923–1929
Calvin Coolidge
• 1929–1933
Herbert Hoover
• 1933–1935
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Governor-General 
• 1902–1904
William Howard Taft
• 1913–1921
Francis B. Harrison
• 1921–1927
Leonard Wood
• 1927-1929
Henry L. Stimson
• 1929–1932
Dwight F. Davis
• 1933–1935
Frank Murphy
LegislaturePhilippine Legislature
Philippine Commission
(1902–1916)
Senate
(1916–1935)
Philippine Assembly
(1907–1916)
House of Representatives
(1916–1935)
History 
July 1, 1902[a]
• Jones Law
August 29, 1916
November 15, 1935
Area
1903[3]297,916 km2 (115,026 sq mi)
1918[4]296,296 km2 (114,401 sq mi)
Population
• 1903[3]
7,635,426
• 1918[4]
10,350,640
CurrencyPhilippine peso ()
Time zoneUTC+08:00 (PST)
Drives onleft[5]
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Taft Commission
Commonwealth of the Philippines

The Insular Government of the Philippine Islands[6] (Spanish: Gobierno Insular de las Islas Filipinas[7]) was an unincorporated territory of the United States that was established in 1902 and was reorganized in 1935 in preparation for later independence.[8][9][10] The Insular Government was preceded by the Military Government of the Philippine Islands and was followed by the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

The Philippines were acquired from Spain by the United States in 1898 following the Spanish–American War. Resistance led to the Philippine–American War, in which the United States suppressed the nascent First Philippine Republic. In 1902, the United States Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act, which organized the government and served as its basic law. This act provided for a governor-general appointed by the president of the United States, as well as a bicameral Philippine Legislature with the appointed Philippine Commission as the upper house and a fully elected, fully Filipino elected lower house, the Philippine Assembly. The Internal Revenue Law of 1904 provided for general internal revenue taxes, documentary taxes and transfer of livestock. A wide variety of revenue stamps were issued in denominations ranging from one centavo to 20,000 pesos.

The term "insular" refers to the fact that the government operated under the authority of the Bureau of Insular Affairs. Puerto Rico also had an insular government at this time. From 1901 to 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with the constitutional status of these governments in the Insular Cases.[11] In Dorr v. United States (1904), the court ruled that Filipinos did not have a constitutional right to trial by jury.[11] In the Philippines itself, the term "insular" had limited usage. On banknotes, postage stamps, and the coat of arms, the government referred to itself simply as the "Philippine Islands".

The 1902 Philippine Organic Act was replaced in 1916 by the Jones Law, which ended the Philippine Commission and provided for both houses of the Philippine Legislature to be elected. In 1935, the Insular Government was replaced by the Commonwealth. Commonwealth status was intended to last ten years, during which the country would be prepared for independence.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "Act No. 2928, March 26, 1920". March 26, 1920 – via Official Gazette of the Philippine Government.
  2. ^ "The Global Catholic Population". February 13, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Brewer, Isaac Williams (1906). Notes on the vital statistics of the Philippine census of 1903. [Philadelphia. p. 1.
  4. ^ a b Census of the Philippine Islands taken under the direction of the Philippine Legislature in the year 1918. University of Connecticut Libraries. Manila, Bureau of printing. 1920.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Section 60 of the Revised Motor Vehicle Law, Act No. 3992 "Drive on Left Side of Road. — Unless a different cause of action is required in the interest of the safety and security of life, person, or property, or because of unreasonable difficulty of operation in compliance herewith, every person operating a motor vehicle or guiding an animal drawn vehicle on a highway shall pass to the left when meeting persons or vehicles coming toward him, and to the right when overtaking persons or vehicles going the same direction, and, when turning to the right in going from one highway into another, every vehicle shall be conducted to the left of the center of the intersection of the highways."
  6. ^ This form of the name appeared in the titles of US Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See Costas v. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, 221 U.S. 623, 1911. The Administrative Code of the Philippine Islands of 1917 gives the formal name of the state as either "Insular Government" or "Government of the Philippine Islands" (p. 5).
  7. ^ see, for example, the Spanish version of Law No. 1290, as published in Leyes públicas aprobadas por la Comisión en Filipinas durante el periodo del 1 de Septiembre de 1904 al 31 de Agosto de 1905 comprende desde la ley no. 1226 hasta la no. 1381, inclusive
  8. ^ Ooi 2004, p. 387.
  9. ^ Zaide 1994, p. 319.
  10. ^ Roosevelt, Franklin D (November 14, 1935), Proclamation 2148 on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, This Proclamation shall be effective upon its promulgation at Manila, Philippine Islands, on November 15, 1935, by the Secretary of War of the United States of America, who is hereby designated as my representative for that purpose.
  11. ^ a b "Insular Cases," Dictionary of American History, 2003.