December 21: Pres. McKinley issued his Proclamation of “Benevolent Assimilation” with regards to the acquisiton of the Philippine Islands from Spain which reads, in part:
The destruction of the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila by the United States naval squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Dewey, followed by the reduction of the city and the surrender of the Spanish forces, practically effected the conquest of the Philippine Islands and the suspension of the Spanish sovereignity therein. With the signature of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain by their respective plenipotentiaries at Paris on the 10th instant, and as a result of the victories of American arms, the future control, disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands are ceded to the United States.
December 30: First national celebration of Jose Rizal’s martyrdom (Rizal was executed by the Spanish on December 1896), on orders of the 29-year-old president of the First Philippine Republic, General Emilio Aguinaldo
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