Treaty of Washington of 1900 (complete text)

Treaty Between the Kingdom Spain and the United States of America forCession of Outlying Islands of the Philippines [1900]*

ARTICLE

 

Relinquishment of islands to the United States.

 

The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, in the name of Her August Son, Don Alfonso XIII, desiring to remove any ground of misunderstanding growing out of the interpretation of Article III of the Treaty of Peace concluded between them at Paris the tenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety eight, whereby Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands and comprehending the islands lying within certain described lines, and having resolved to conclude a Treaty to accomplish that end, have for that purpose appointed as their respective plenipotentiaries:

 

The President of the United States, John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States;

 

and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, the Duke de Arcos, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain to the United States;

 

who, having met in the city of Washington and having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following sole article:

 

SOLE ARTICLE

Spain relinquishes to the United States all title and claim of title, which she may have had at the time of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace of Paris, to any and all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, lying outside the lines described in Article III of that Treaty and particularly to the islands of Cagayan, Sulu and Sibutu and their dependencies, and agrees that all such islands shall be comprehended in the cession of the Archipelago as fully as if they had been expressly included within those lines.

 

The United States, in consideration of this relinquishment, will pay to Spain the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) within six months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

 

The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, after approval by the Cortes of the Kingdom, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

 

In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this Treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals.

 

Done in duplicate at the city of Washington, the 7^th day of November, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred.

 

JOHN HAY (SEAL)

ARCOS (SEAL)

 

Footnotes:

 

* The Philippine National Territory: A Collection of Documents, Raphael Perpetuo M. Lotilla, ed. (1995), at 38.

 

1. Sources: 31 US Stat. 1942; II Malloy 1696.

 

2. Concluded November 7, 1900; ratification advised by U.S. Senate January 22, 1901; ratified by the U.S. President January 30, 1901; ratifications exchanged March 23, 1901; proclaimed March 23, 1901.