The Tydings-McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act; Public Law 73-127) approved on March 24, 1934 was a United States federal law which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a period of ten years. It was authored by Maryland Senator Millard E. Tydings and Alabama Representative John McDuffie.
In 1934, Philippine politician Manuel L. Quezon headed a "Philippine Independence mission" to Washington, DC that successfully secured the act's passage in Congress.
The Tydings–McDuffie Act authorized and specified a procedural framework for, within two years of its enactment, the drafting of a Constitution for the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. The act specified a number mandatory constitutional provisions, and required approval of the constitution by the U.S. President and by the Filipino people. The act mandated U.S. recognition of independence of the Philippine Islands as a separate and self-governing nation after a ten year transition period. Prior to independence, the act allowed the U.S to maintain military forces in the Philippines and to call all military forces of the Philippine government into U.S. military service. The act empowered the U.S. President, within two years following independence, to negotiate matters relating to U.S. naval reservations and fueling stations of in the Philippine Islands.
The act reclassified all Filipinos, including those that were living in the United States, as aliens for the purposes of immigration to America. A quota of 50 immigrants per year was established.
One effect of the act was to pave the way for the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935.[1]
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