Glossary of Terms

Abrogate
To abolish or annul an act, decree or treaty  by authority.

Abrogation, Unilateral
To abrogate a treaty without consulting the other signatory. The Bates Treaty of 1899 was terminated by General Leonard Wood on this basis without consulting the Sultan of Jolo.

Annexation
To incorporate a territory into an existing state, country or empire.

Archipelago
A sea containing many groups of islands, such as the Philippines.

Aspiration
A political dream of a group of people such as establishing their own homeland and be allowed to run their own affairs.

Assimilation
The process whereby a group, especially a minority,  or immigrant group, gradually adopts the characteristics of another culture -the colonizer, in the case of colonized people.

Autonomy
A self-governing region of a country based on certain terms of autonomy.

Balangiga Massacre
An incident that occurred in Balangiga, Samar near the closing of the Independence War when soldiers of the 9th Infantry, Company "C" was attacked by surprise in early morning of Sept. 27, 1901 by Filipino nationalist forces led by Major Eugenio Daza (under over-all command of Gen. Vicente Lukban), killing 54 U.S. soldiers out of 74-man detachment including its commander, Capt. Thomas O'Connell.

Battle of Manila Bay
The naval battle at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 between the U.S. fleet led by Commodore George Dewey and the Spanish fleet led by Commodore PatricioMontojo which led to the defeat and destruction of the Spanish fleet.

Ceded
To surrender possession officially or formally.

Claim of Sovereignty
The practice of colonizers to assert their claim over territories under their military and political control.

Colony
A region or a country politically and economically controlled by a distant country.

Colonialism
A policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies. The era of colonialism started in the sixteenth century by European nations, later followed by the United States.

Commonwealth
A self-governing, autonomous political unit voluntarily associated with the United States.

Commemorate
To honor the memory of with a ceremony.

"Dead Lines"
The border lines separating the concentration camps and the area systematically destroyed and deprived of humans, crops, food stroes, domestic animals, houses and boats, practice applied by Gen. Franklin Bell in Batangas.

Dictatorship
A government imposed by military force without the consent of the population.

Imperialism
The policy of the state aimed at establishing control beyond its bordersover people unwilling to accept such control.

Independence War
Another name of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902)

Insurrection
An act of open revolt against civil authority or a duly constituted government.

Insurrectos
People involved in an insurrection, especially in the Cuban and Filipino fight for independence from Spain in the late nineteenth century.

Juramentado
The ultimate act of self-sacrifice among Moro warriors to carry out a fanatical attack against the Americans with its aim of driving them out from the Morolands during the Moro Resistance Wars. The ferocity of the attacks led to the requesition of a more powerful sidearms by the U.S. military when the 0.38 revolver was insufficient to fell the juramentados, thus the 0.45 pistol was perfected in 1911 as an effective "juramentado stopper."

Lonoy Massacre
The ambush of Filipino nationalist forces by the Americans forces killing all 406 nationalists on Easter Sunday, March 1901.

Manifesto
A public declaration of principles, policies, and intentions, usually of a political nature.

Manifest Destiny
The 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent.

Martial Law
Military rule over a civilian population, which may be imposed by a government during a period of emergency.

Nationalism
A condition of mind, feeling, or sentiment of a group of people living in a well defined geographical area, speaking a common language, possessing a literature in which the aspirations of the nation have been expressed, being attached to common traditions, and, in some cases, having a common religion.

Neocolonialism
A system in which countries that were once colonized gain formal political independence but are still subjected to foreign domination in economic affairs.

Oppression
To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority, usually committed by rulers towards their constituents or subjects.

Protocol of Peace.
The cease-fire treaty signed between Spain and the U.S. of August 12,1898. ordering the cessation of all hostilities of the Spanish-AmericanWar of 1898. Unfortunately, the text of the treaty was not received in Manila until August 16, 1898 because of transmission difficulty caused by Dewey's cutting of the cables  in preparation for the naval battle at Manila, which was not repaired until few months later.

Pact of Biak-na-Bato
The treaty between Spain and the Philippine revolutionary forces of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo signed in Biak-na-Bato, Bulacan whereby  Spain called for cessation of hostilities and promised political reforms. In return, Aguinaldo and his forces would be compensated to lay down their arms and go on exile in Hongkong.

Plebiscite
A direct vote in which the entire electorate is invited to accept or refuse a proposal or political question.

Philippine Insurrection
The term of the Philippine conflict used by the U.S. military and historians.

Plenipotentiary
A person, especially an ambassador or diplomat conferred with full powers  to represent a government.

Protectorate
A relationship of protection and partial control assumed by a superior power over a less powerful country or region.

Ragtag Army
A description of the Filipino nationalist army as described by Gen. Elwell Otis, referring to the ill-equipped condition of Aguinaldo's army during the conflict.

Ratification
The process by which approval of a political document (as in a treaty) or proposal is confirmed.

Reconcentracion
A policy used by the Spanish colinizers to suppress aresistance movements by forcing the civilaian population into heavily garrisoned zones in order to cut off support to the rebels.

Resistance
Opposition of a government system and practices introduced by a colonial power .

Secede
To withdraw formally from membership in an organization, association,or alliance.

Self-determination
Determination of a freedom-loving people to determine its own political status without compulsion.

Sovereignty
The right of a country or people to control its own fate

Spanish-American War (1898)
Trumpeted by the war proponents as the "War for Humanity," the war between the U.S. and Spain lasted merely four months. Despite its briefness, the war catapulted the U.S. as a world superpower as a late comer 19th century superpower together with Austria, England, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and Russia.

Subjugation
To bring under dominion one people by another by force.

Teller Amendment
A Congrssional relolution authored by Henry Teller promising independence to Cuba, which was added to President McKineley's intervention resolution of April 1898.

Treaty of Paris
The treaty signed in Paris, France on Dec. 10. 1898 between Spain andthe U.S. which formally closed the Spanish-American War of 1898. The treaty ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam to the U.S., and purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 Million.
 
 
 
 

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