President
William McKinley of the United States
December 21, 1898
In
performing this duty [the extension of American sovereignty throughout
the Philippines by means of force] the military commander of the
United States is enjoined to make known to the inhabitants of
the Philippine Islands that in succeeding to the sovereignty of
Spain, in severing the former political relations, and in establishing
a new political power, the authority of the United States is to
be exerted for the securing of the persons and property of the
people of the Islands and for the confirmation of all private
rights and relations. It will be the duty of the commander of
the forces of occupation to announce and proclaim in the most
public manner that we come not as invaders or conquerors, but
as friends, to protect the natives in their homes, in their employment,
and in their personal and religious rights. All persons who, either
by active aid or by honest submission, cooperate with the Government
of the United States to give effect to these beneficent purposes
will receive the reward of its support and protection. All others
will be brought within the lawful rule we have assumed, with firmness
if need be, but without severity, so far as may be possible….
Finally, it should be the earnest and paramount aim of the military
administration to win the confidence, respect, and affection of
the inhabitants of the Philippines by assuring them in every possible
way that full measure of individual rights and liberties which
is the heritage of a free people, and by assuring them in every
possible way that full measure of individual rights and liberties
which is the heritage of a free people, and by proving to them
that the mission of the United States is one of the benevolent
assimilation, substituting the mild sway of justice and right
for arbitrary rule. In the fulfillment of this high mission, supporting
the temperate administration of affairs for the greatest good
of the governed, there must be sedulously maintained the strong
arm of authority, to repress disturbance and to overcome all obstacles
to the bestowal of the blessings of good and stable government
upon the people of the Philippine Islands under the flag of the
United States.
Source:
The Statutes At Large of the United States of America from March
1897 to March 1899 and Recent Treaties, Conventions, Executive
Proclamations, and The Concurrent Resolutions of the Two Houses
of Congress, Volume XXX, published by the U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1899. Copy courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress, Asian
Division.
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