Benevolent assimilation

The term benevolent assimilation refers to a policy of the United States towards the Philippines as described in a proclamation by U.S. President William McKinley issued on December 21, 1898. It succinctly stated that "future control, disposition, and government of the Philippine islands were ceded to the United States" and that "the military government is to be to the whole of the ceded territory." The proclamation was issued after Spain was defeated in the Spanish–American War but before fighting began in the Philippine–American War. Prior to the proclamation, the United States had defeated Spain during the naval Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Subsequently, on June 12, 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent and established a revolutionary government whose the Filipino revolutionary armed forces surrounded Manila and the occupying American Army. This created a stand-off between opposing armies that would erupt in fighting in early 1899.
The proclamation reads in part:
The proclamation was sent to General Elwell Otis, U.S. military commander and Governor-General in the Philippines. Otis sent Emilio Aguinaldo a version of the proclamation that he had bowdlerized by removing mention of U.S. sovereignty "to stress our benevolent purpose" and not "offend Filipino sensibilities", by substituting "free people" for "supremacy of the United States," and deleting "to exercise future domination." General Otis had also sent an unaltered copy of the proclamation to General Marcus Miller in Iloilo City who, unaware that an altered version had been sent to Aguinaldo, passed a copy to a Filipino official there. The unaltered version eventually made its way to Aguinaldo.
Otis later explained,