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Government & LawWorld Wars and the Atom

Philippine independence

1946

The United States grants the Philippines full independence on July 4, 1946, after nearly five decades of American rule.

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The story

On July 4, 1946 the United States lowered its flag over Manila and the Republic of the Philippines became independent. Manuel Roxas was inaugurated as the first president of the new republic. The date was chosen by Americans, who celebrated their own Independence Day then, and the Philippines marked the anniversary on July 4 until 1962, when it moved the holiday to June 12, the day in 1898 when Filipino revolutionaries declared independence from Spain.

The U.S. had taken the islands from Spain in 1898 and then fought the Philippine-American War of 1899 to 1902 against Filipino forces to hold them. Over time Americans built schools, roads and a colonial government, and offered Filipinos more self-rule. The Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 promised independence after a ten-year transition, and a Commonwealth was set up in 1935 under Manuel Quezon. World War II interrupted the plan: Japan invaded in December 1941 and occupied the islands until 1945. Manila was almost destroyed in the battle to retake it. The postwar republic was heavily dependent on American aid, and the treaty terms gave the U.S. trade privileges and, from 1947, long-term military bases. It was among the first Asian colonies to gain independence after the war.

Why it mattered

Philippine independence was among the first of the postwar wave of decolonization in Asia.
The U.S. bases and trade ties of 1946 and 1947 shaped Philippine politics and the American presence in the Pacific for decades.
The young republic's struggles with inequality and insurgency set the pattern for its postwar history.

Sources

History of the Philippines: World War II and independence Britannica
Tydings-McDuffie Act Britannica
Independence Day (Philippines) Britannica
The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 Office of the Historian

Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made

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At a glance

When: July 4, 1946
Where: Manila, Philippines
Key people: Manuel Roxas (first president of the republic)
Sergio Osmena (last president of the Commonwealth)
Manuel Quezon (first Commonwealth president)

48 yearsof American rule, 1898 to 1946

20 million dollarspaid to Spain in the 1898 Treaty of Paris

388earlier events it rests on

1later events that depend on it

Couldn't have happened without

Philippine-American War1899

ImportantThe U.S. conquest of the islands made the Philippines an American colony that later had to be released.

World War II1939

ImportantThe war and Japanese occupation delayed independence and made the U.S. keep its 1946 promise.

Led to

Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines1972

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