After the appointment of a civil Governor-General, the procedure developed that as parts of the country were pacified and placed firmly under American control, responsibility for the area would be passed to the civilian.

This plan minimized the risk of unnecessary casualties on all sides, while the Spanish would also avoid the shame of possibly having to surrender Intramuros to the Filipino forces.

[12] On the eve of the mock battle, General Anderson telegraphed Aguinaldo, "Do not let your troops enter Manila without the permission of the American commander.

[14][15][16] The battle started when Dewey's ships bombarded Fort San Antonio Abad, a decrepit structure on the southern outskirts of Manila, and the virtually impregnable walls of Intramuros.

The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

In 1898 Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and steel magnate, offered to buy the Philippines for $20 million and give it to the Filipinos so that they could be free of United States government.

On January 1, 1899, news had come to Washington, D.C., from Manila that American forces, which had been sent to Iloilo under the command of General Marcus Miller, had been confronted by 6,000 armed Filipinos, who refused them permission to land.

[29] Unknown to Otis, the US Department of War had also sent an enciphered copy of the proclamation to General Marcus Miller in Iloilo for informational purposes.

I denounce these acts before the world, in order that the conscience of mankind may pronounce its infallable verdict as to who are the true oppressors of nations and the tormentors of human kind.

"[32]: 356–7 After some copies of that proclamation had been distributed, Aguinaldo ordered the recall of undistributed copies and issued another proclamation, which was published the same day in El Heraldo de la Revolucion, the official newspaper of the Philippine Republic: "As in General Otis's proclamation he alluded to some instructions edited by His Excellency the President of the United States, referring to the administration of the matters in the Philippine Islands, I in the name of God, the root and fountain of all justice, and that of all the right which has been visibly granted to me to direct my dear brothers in the difficult work of our regeneration, protest most solemnly against this intrusion of the United States Government on the sovereignty of these islands.

I equally protest in the name of the Filipino people against the said intrusion, because as they have granted their vote of confidence appointing me president of the nation, although I don't consider that I deserve such, therefore I consider it my duty to defend to death its liberty and independence.

The next day, the government officials were surprised to learn that messages to Otis to deal mildly with the rebels and not to force a conflict had become known to Agoncillo and had been cabled by him to Aguinaldo.

"[27] The Filipino committees in London, Paris, and Madrid around that time telegraphed to President McKinley: "We protest against the disembarkation of American troops at Iloilo.

January 8, 1899, 9.40 p.m., "In consequence of the order of General Rios to his officers, as soon as the Filipino attack begins the Americans should be driven into the Intramuros district and the walled city should be set on fire.

"[35] The New York Times reported on January 8 that two Americans who had been guarding a waterboat in Iloilo had been attacked, one fatally, and that insurgents were threatening to destroy the business section of the city by fire and that on January 10, a peaceful solution to the Iloilo issues may result but that Aguinaldo had issued a proclamation threatening to drive the Americans from the islands.

"[38] On January 31, 1899, the Minister of Interior of the revolutionary First Philippine Republic, Teodoro Sandiko, signed a decree stating that President Aguinaldo had directed that all idle lands be planted to provide food for the people in view of impending war with the Americans.

[39] Worcester gave General Otis' account of the opening of active hostilities,[40]: 96 On the night of February 2 they sent in a strong detachment to draw the fire of our outposts, which took up a position immediately in front and within a few yards of the same.

The insurgents had thus succeeded in drawing the fire of a small outpost, which they had evidently labored with all their ingenuity to accomplish, in order to justify in some way their premeditated attack.

Other sources name the two specific US soldiers involved in the first exchange of fire as Privates William Grayson and Orville Miller of the Nebraska Volunteers.

While commissioners were appointed to negotiate with General Otis, secret societies were organized in Manila pledged to obey orders of the most barbarous character to kill and burn.

The spark was applied, either inadvertently or by design, on the 4th of February by an insurgent, willfully transgressing upon what, by their own admission, was within the agreed limits of the holding of the American troops.

"[42] On February 4, Aguinaldo declared, "That peace and friendly relations with the Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies, within the limits prescribed by the laws of war.

"[43] On June 2, 1899, the Malolos Congress enacted and ratified a declaration of war on the United States, which was publicly proclaimed on that same day by Pedro A. Paterno, the President of the Assembly.

Peace feelers from members of Aguinaldo's cabinet failed in May when the American commander, General Ewell Otis, demanded an unconditional surrender.

McKinley had appointed a five-person group, headed by Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, president of Cornell University, on January 20, 1899, to investigate conditions in the islands and to make recommendations.

We cannot from any point of view escape the responsibilities of government which our sovereignty entails; and the commission is strongly persuaded that the performance of our national duty will prove the greatest blessing to the peoples of the Philippine Islands."

[52] Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws; established a judicial system, including a supreme court; drew up a legal code; and organized a civil service.

[50][58] On July 2, 1902, the Secretary of War telegraphed that the insurrection against the sovereign authority of the U.S. had come to an end, with provincial civil governments established, and so the office of Military Governor was terminated.

[8] On July 4, Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of McKinley on September 5, 1901, proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all persons in the Philippine archipelago who had participated in the conflict.

[8][59] On April 9, 2002, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed that the Philippine–American War had ended on April 16, 1902, with the surrender of General Miguel Malvar, and she declared the centennial anniversary of that date as a national working holiday and as a special non-working holiday in the Province of Batangas and in the Cities of Batangas, Lipa and Tanaun.