1934 U.S. federal law providing the Philippines with a process for independence
Philippine Independence Act
|
Other short titles
| Tydings?McDuffie Act
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Long title
| An act to provide for the complete independence of the Philippine Islands, to provide for the adoption of a constitution and a form of government for the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes.
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Enacted by
| the
73rd United States Congress
|
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Effective
| May 1, 1934
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|
Public law
| Pub. L.
Tooltip Public Law (United States)
73?127
|
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Statutes at Large
| 48
Stat.
456
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The
Tydings?McDuffie Act
, officially the
Philippine Independence Act
(
Pub. L.
Tooltip Public Law (United States)
73?127
, 48
Stat.
456
, enacted
March 24, 1934
), is an
Act of Congress
that established the process for the
Philippines
, then an
American territory
, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, the
1935 Constitution of the Philippines
was written and the
Commonwealth of the Philippines
was established, with the first directly elected
President of the Philippines
. (Direct elections to the
Philippine Legislature
had been held since 1907.) It also established limitations on Filipino immigration to the United States.
The act was authored in the
73rd United States Congress
by Senator
Millard E. Tydings
(
Dem.
) of
Maryland
and Representative
John McDuffie
(
Dem.
) of
Alabama
,
[1]
and signed into law by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
Provisions
[
edit
]
The Tydings?McDuffie Act specified a procedural framework for the drafting of a
constitution
for the government of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines
within two years of its enactment. The act specified a number of mandatory constitutional provisions, and required approval of the constitution by the U.S. President and by Filipinos. The act mandated U.S. recognition of independence of the Philippine Islands as a separate and self-governing nation after a ten-year transition period.
[2]
Prior to independence, the act allowed the U.S to maintain military forces in the Philippines and to call all military forces of the Philippine government into U.S. military service. The act empowered the U.S. President, within two years following independence, to negotiate matters relating to U.S. naval reservations and fueling stations of in the Philippine Islands.
[2]
Immigration
[
edit
]
The act reclassified all Filipinos, including those who were living in the United States, as
aliens
for the purposes of immigration to America. A quota of 50 immigrants per year was established.
[2]
Before this act, Filipinos were classified as
United States nationals
, but not
United States citizens
, and while they were allowed to migrate relatively freely, they were denied naturalization rights within the US, unless they were citizens by birth in the mainland US.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
An attempt to set a final date for Philippine independence was first manifested in the
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act
of 1933. Though Congress passed it, overriding President Hoover's veto, it failed to create a concrete timeline for independence. Requiring the consent of the Philippine Senate for it to be implemented, the bill failed after the then-President of the Senate
Manuel L. Quezon
convinced it to reject the bill because of the act's provision that would have allowed for the U.S. to station military bases in the islands permanently. Thus, it was necessary for Congress to draft a new bill to address these complaints and finally establish a timeline for the colony's independence.
[4]
In 1934,
Manuel L. Quezon
, the
President of the Senate of the Philippines
, headed a "Philippine Independence mission" to Washington, D.C. It lobbied Congress and secured the act's passage.
[1]
In 1935, under the provisions of the act, the
1935 Constitution of the Philippines
was drafted and became law, establishing the
Commonwealth of the Philippines
with an elected executive, the
President of the Philippines
.
[5]
[6]
The Commonwealth was to be a transitional government lasting for a period of ten years, with independence to be granted on July 4, 1946.
[7]
Accordingly, President Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946, officially recognizing the independence of the Philippines.
[8]
Immigration
[
edit
]
The immigration quota under the act was low, and immigration continued at levels much higher than the legal quota.
[9]
This was due to the strength of agricultural lobbies, such as the Hawaiian sugar planters, which were able to successfully lobby the federal government to allow more male Filipino agricultural workers provided that they demonstrated a need. This further increased the Filipino population in Hawaii which had at one point been 25% of agricultural workers on the islands.
[9]
The act also led to the
Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935
.
[10]
This act extended the Asian-exclusion policy of the
Immigration Act of 1924
to the soon-to-be-former territory. This policy hampered the domestic lives of many Filipinos within the US because any Filipino who wished to go to the Philippines and then return to the United States would be subject to the restrictions on Asian immigration to America and would likely never be allowed to return.
[9]
In 1946, the US decreased the tight restrictions of the Tydings?McDuffie Act with the
Luce?Celler Act of 1946
, which increased the quota of Filipino immigrants to 100 per year and gave Filipinos the right to become naturalized American citizens.
[11]
Filipinos would have been
barred
from immigrating to the U.S. without the Act. Two days later, on July 4, 1946, the Philippines became independent with the signing of the
Treaty of Manila
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Zaide, Sonia M. (1994).
The Philippines: A Unique Nation
. All-Nations Publishing Co. pp. 314?315.
ISBN
971-642-071-4
.
- ^
a
b
c
Pub. L.
Tooltip Public Law (United States)
73?127
, 48
Stat.
456
, enacted
March 24, 1934
- ^
Yo, Jackson (2006).
Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology
. SAGE. p. 216.
ISBN
978-1-4129-0948-8
. Retrieved
September 27,
2009
.
- ^
"Hare?Hawes?Cutting Act"
.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
. Retrieved
24 March
2024
.
- ^
Daenecke, Eric (February 1966).
"Constitutional Law in the Philippines"
.
ABA Journal
.
52
(2). American Bar Association: 161?164.
ISSN
0747-0088
.
JSTOR
25723514
. Retrieved
2 February
2021
.
- ^
Background Notes, Philippines
. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public Communication, Editorial Division. 1983. p. 4
. Retrieved
2 February
2021
.
- ^
"Tydings-McDuffie Act"
.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
. Retrieved
24 March
2024
.
- ^
"Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946 "Independence of the Philippines"
"
.
National Archives
. 15 August 2016.
- ^
a
b
c
Posadas, Barbara Mercedes (1999).
The Filipino Americans
. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. pp.
1?30
.
ISBN
9780313297427
.
- ^
Jeffrey D. Schultz (2000).
Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics: African Americans and Asian Americans
. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.
275
.
ISBN
978-1-57356-148-8
.
- ^
Bayor, Ronald (2011).
Multicultural America: An Encyclopedia of the Newest Americans
.
ABC-CLIO
. p. 714.
ISBN
978-0-313-35786-2
. Retrieved
7 February
2011
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
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