The Writing of History During The American Period

The Writing of History during
the American Period

GROUP 3
MICHAEL VICNENT JUAN
IRISH BUENAFLOR
MARK GENVER MEDINA GIANAN
JOHN MICHAEL GONZAGA ROXAS
KARL TIAN
JHOAN CLORADO
LYZA CASTRO
JHENNIFER GUZMAN BARCELONA
On June 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo declared the
independence of the Philippines. The short-lived Philippine
Republic ended with the capture of Aguinaldo in Palanan,
Isabela on March 23, 1901. In this year, the American
government decided to terminate the military government
and replaced it with a civil government under the leadership
of William Howard Taft
Generally speaking, the writing of history during this period
can be considered better compared to the writings of history
during the Spanish Period. Although, most of the writings of
the Americans about the Philippines were extremely biased,
still there were few Americans who wrote in favour of the
Filipinos. Historians during this period can be classified into
Filipino ilustrado, American colonial officials, non-colonial
officials and the so-called academic historians.
Some known Filipino Ilustrados are Pedro
Paterno, Rafael Palma, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera,
Epifanio de los Santos, Teodoro M. Kalaw and
Isabelo de los Reyes, their socio-political affairs of
the country led them to contribute to the
development of Philippine historical writing. There
are also Americans who made a tremendous effort
in research to write the history of the Philippines,
some of them are Emma Hellen Blair, Jame s
Alexander Robertson, Fred Atkinson, James Le Roy
and Joseph Hayden. Though the Americans were
critical to the Republic of Malolos and the
American history in the Philippines.
Historical Writings during the Third Republic
After the Philippines regained its independence in

1946, the newly established Philippine Republic
has to confront several problems. Aside from the
rehabilitation of the country, the newly
established government had to face the problems
concerning national unity and national identity. In
this light, the country was in need of history that
will reflect the characters of the people and will
serve as a unifying factor of the country.
Here are some of the important occurrences in the
history of the Philippines during this period:
In the early 1950s, the writings of history continued
to be dominated by traditional historians. The
saying “No Documents, No History” is popularized
by the positivist tradition advocated by Leopold Von
Ranke in the early 19th century continued to have
support from the Filipino historians. Some
historians in early 50’s are Dr. Nicolas Zafra, Dr.
Conrado Benitez, Dr. Domingo Eufronio Alip, Dr.
Gregorio Zaide and Dr. Antonio Molina.
History writing during this period was
influenced by the cold war. The Philippines,
being known as an ally of the United States
tried to combat communism by privileging the
achievements of the colonizers in the
Philippine history.
Historian Gregorio Zaide and younger scholars
like Fr. Horacio de la Costa and Fr. Jose Arcilla
had written their history books from a clerical
point of view. Needless to say, most of the
writings during this period are actually the
history of the colonizers in the Philippines.
Basically, it’s just like being re-written.
In the late 1950s, Teodoro Agoncillo revolutionized the
writing of the Philippine history. In his effort to write the
history of the Philippines using a Filipino standpoint
highlighted the 1896 Revolution and considered 1872 as
the beginning of the history of the Philippines as a nation.
Agoncillo’s argument that 1872 was the beginning of the
history of the Philippines is that for his, the early years of
1872 was actually the history of Spain in the Philippines
because the Filipinos then were just passive followers of
the Spaniards. Also, there are controversies in Agoncillo’s
writings because of his questionable methodology like
oral interviews which is not a popular practice at that
time, nonetheless , we cannot deny his contribution in
writing the Philippine history
Following the footsteps of Agoncillo, Renato
Constantino placed the masses at the center in his
treatment of history. He emphasized that the real
mover of history is the masses and superman does
not exist, only leaders who became great because
they were working with people. His book, “The
Philippines: A Past Revisited ” departed heavily
from the tradition treatment of history.
Even though followed opinion about the oral
interview, he believed in the existence of Philippine
pre-colonial civilization. He argued that the pre-
colonial Philippines develop a structure he termed
as a communal democracy.
Archaeological and anthropological findings in the late 1960s
had given scholars the chance to reconstruct the history of the
Philippines prior to and during the early years of Spanish
domination. William Henry Scott and Dr. Landa Jocano were the
leading scholars who specialized on the subjects that concern
the pre-colonial civilization of the country. Some notable
writings of them were Scott’s “Cracks in the Parchment Curtain”
and Dr. Jocano’s The Philippine Pre-History.The two used
different sources like the colonial documents, ethnographic
accounts or participants observation and archaeological data in
their reconstruction of the Philippine past. Their works had
given the historians new possibilities in the study of the
Philippine history because of the inclusion of the different
indigenous communities of the past that led to a better
understanding, acceptance and respect to the least acculturated
Filipinos who tried to maintain their social order despite the
threats from the colonizers.
Aside from Ileto, Vicente Rafael and Connie Alaras
made significant studies using the tradition of
Annales as their framework. Vicente Rafael’s
Contracting Colonialism is a good follow-up to the
work of Ileto. On the other hand, Consolacio Alaras’
“Pamathalaan” documented the world view of the
kapatiran. This documentation gave people the
chance to understand the mentality of the kapatiran.
The works of Rafael and Alares are good additions to
the historiographical literature. Like Ileto, both
scholars tried to penetrate the mentality of the
common people. They gave scholars new lens to
interpret history and that will answer the challenges
posed by the changing time and changing need.

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The Writing of History during

the American Period

After the Philippines regained its independence in

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