Philippine natives welcomed the Americans as liberators, to help them throw off the yoke of Spanish control. Indeed, when Spain surrendered, the Philippine government declared their independence. The Americans, on the other hand, had no intention of letting their new territory go, and U.S. President McKinley’s proclaimed the islands would be government under a Benevolent Assimilation. War followed, ending when the U.S. allowed autonomy of the Philippines and passed the Philippine Organic Act.

On this day, August 29, in 1916, in a follow-up to the first Organic Act in the Philippines, Congress passed the Jones Act, or the Second Organic Act. That for the first time stated American intentions to grant the Philippines full independence and provided the country its own legislature and a constitution.

While the legislature would be all-Filipino, the constitution was drafted by the United States, and left reserved for itself certain rights and privileges. The handoff to the Philippine government would occur as soon as a “stable government” was achieved, the act promised, but the definition of that term was left open to the interpretation of the U.S.