Finally Free

               On 4 February 1899, general hostilities began between Filipino and American forces when an American sentry patrolling near the border between the Filipino and American lines shot a Filipino soldier, after which Filipino forces returned fire, thus igniting a second battle for the city.[vi] Without the Spanish in the Philippines the Americans easily had the upper hand on the Nation that had just stolen from Spain. The American generals took a stance to control main trading points and central cities. Philippines being one of the few nations to have been “stolen” from another, Spain, allows for its uniqueness in the fact that without the presence of Spain in the first place it would not have led to its independence.  The Jones Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1916 to serve as the new organic law in the Philippines, promised eventual independence and instituted an elected Philippine senate, bringing in the way of the final Independence of the Philippines after having struggled with two other nations for hundreds of years. [vii]