[2] As it was created during the fight for Philippine independence from Spain, however, its Article 99 allowed unhampered executive freedom of action during wartime.

[4] After over 300 years of Spanish rule, the country developed from a small overseas colony governed from the Viceroyalty of New Spain to a land with modern elements in the cities.

The Spanish-speaking middle classes of the 19th century were increasingly exposed to modern European ideas, including Liberalism, some studying in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

During the 1890s, the Katipunan, or KKK, a secret society dedicated to achieving Philippine independence from Spain, was formed and led by Andres Bonifacio.

When the Spanish–American War broke out on April 25, 1898, the United States Commodore George Dewey aboard the USS Olympia sailed from Hong Kong to Manila Bay leading the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy.

Aguinaldo took control of the newly re-formed Philippine revolutionary forces and quickly surrounded Manila on land while the American blockaded the city from the bay.

[8] Calderón himself writes in his journal that the charters of Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, in addition to using the French Constitution of 1793, were also studied as these countries shared similar social, political, ethnological, and governance conditions with the Philippine Islands.

This concept of the precedence of popular sovereignty over the national sovereignty is derived from the French political document, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793 (French: Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen de 1793) and forms the philosophical basis for article 4 of the Malolos Constitution and echoes the American Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

The inclusion of the rights of the accused in the national charter was done in direct response to numerous instances of abuse by police, a number of them specifically mentioned in the June 12, 1898 Philippine Declaration of Independence.

In fact, the right defined in the Filipino charter is actually a shorter enumeration of the civil and political rights of the Spanish citizen enshrined in the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1869 which brought liberalism into the public consciousness and inspired a generation of national heroes starting with governor-general Carlos María de la Torre and secular priest José Burgos, and later including Galicano Apacible y Castillo, Graciano López y Jaena, Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán and José Rizal.

Calderón mentions in his journal that the draft constitution was meant to enshrine: "all those freedoms that Englishmen enjoyed in the Assize of Clarendon (end to arbitrary arrest, a professional and independent judiciary) and in Magna Carta (due process of law)".

According to Title II, Article 4 the Government of the Republic is to be popular, representative, alternative and responsible, and shall exercise three distinct powers: namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

[12] Following this, provisions were added essentially giving Aguinaldo the power to rule by decree, "during the time the country may struggle for its independence."

[16] On April 19, he issued a Proclamation of Formal Surrender to the United States, telling his followers to lay down their weapons and give up the fight.

[20] The original copy of the Malolos Constitution is kept in the historical archives of the Batasang Pambansa Complex, the current seat of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.