American annexation of the Philippines

The history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 covers the period of American rule in the Philippines and began with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, when the Philippines was still part of the Spanish East Indies, and concluded when the United States formally recognised the independence of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. The interim U.S. military government of the Philippine Islands experienced a period of great political turbulence, characterised by the Philippine–American War. Beginning in 1901, the military government was replaced by a civilian government—the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands—with William Howard Taft serving as its first Governor-General. From 1901 to 1906 there also existed a series of revolutionary governments that lacked significant international diplomatic recognition.

Following the passage of the Philippine Independence Act in 1934, a Philippine presidential election was held in 1935. Manuel L. Quezon was elected and inaugurated second President of the Philippines on November 15, 1935. The Insular Government was dissolved and the Commonwealth of the Philippines was brought into existence. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was intended to be a transitional government in preparation for the country's full achievement of independence in 1946.