Schurman Commission

The Schurman Commission also known as the "First Philippine Commission" was the legislature of the Philippines, then known as the Philippine Islands under the sovereign control of the United States during the Philippine-American War. It was established by United States President William Mckinley on January 30, 1899.

Background

On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), a five-person group headed by Dr. Jacob Schurman, president of Cornell University, to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. In the report that they issued to the president the following year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the Philippines was not ready for it. ["Chapter XI: The First Philippine Commission", in Citation
last=Worcester
first=Dean Conant
title=The Philippines: Past and Present (vol. 1 of 2)
url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12077
publisher=Macmillan
year=1914
accessdate=2008-01-21quote|On November 2, 1900, Dr. Schurman signed the following statement: [456] —

"Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the commissionbelieve that the government of the Philippines would speedily lapseinto anarchy, which would excuse, if it did not necessitate, theintervention of other powers and the eventual division of the islandsamong them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the ideaof a free, self-governing, and united Philippine commonwealth atall conceivable. And the indispensable need from the Filipino pointof view of maintaining American sovereignty over the archipelago isrecognized by all intelligent Filipinos and even by those insurgentswho desire an American protectorate. The latter, it is true, wouldtake the revenues and leave us the responsibilities. Nevertheless,they recognize the indubitable fact that the Filipinos cannot standalone. Thus the welfare of the Filipinos coincides with the dictatesof national honour in forbidding our abandonment of the archipelago. Wecannot from any point of view escape the responsibilities of governmentwhich our sovereignty entails; and the commission is strongly persuadedthat the performance of our national duty will prove the greatestblessing to the peoples of the Philippine Islands."
[...]
[456] Report Philippine Commission, Vol. I, p. 183.] Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools.Citation
chapter-url=http://countrystudies.us/philippines/16.htm
chapter=United States Rule
url=http://countrystudies.us/philippines
editor=Ronald E. Dolan
title=Philippines: A Country Study
location=Washington, D.C.
publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress
year=1991
accessdate=2008-01-05]

essions

*Sessions: March 4, 1899 – March 16, 1900
**"Session with William Mckinley": January 31, 1900
**"Session with the United States Congress": February 2, 1900

Leadership

*President:::Jacob Gould Schurman

Members

*Members:

ee also

*Congress of the Philippines
*Senate of the Philippines
*House of Representatives of the Philippines

References

Further reading

*Philippine House of Representatives Congressional Library
*cite book
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*cite book
last = Pobre
first = Cesar P.
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title = Philippine Legislature 100 Years
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