Bates Agreement

(1899–1904)

   An agreement negotiated between United States Brigadier General John C. Bates and the Sultan of Sulu, Jamal-ul Kiram II, on August 20, 1899, governing U.S. and Moro relations between 1899 and 1904. According to the agreement, the Sultan and his principal datos (local chieftains) recognized American sovereignty over the Moro, the Spanish and American name for the Muslim inhabitants of the Philippines, Provinces of Mindanao, and the Sulu Archipelago in exchange for American recognition of the Sultan’s jurisdiction over intra-Moro affairs. Initially designed to placate the Moros and keep them from joining the Philippine Insurrection against American rule, the Bates Agreement was abrogated by President Theodore Roosevelt on March 2, 1904 because of the Sultan’s inability to maintain order and the American desire to curb Moro practices such as slavery, blood feuds, and polygamy. American intervention to curb these local customs led to Moro resistance and to the launch of the Moro Punitive Expeditions.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Gowing, Peter. “Mandate in Moroland: The American Government of Muslim Filipinos, 1899–1920.” D.S.S. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1968;

    Jornacion, George W. “The Time of Eagles: United States Army Officers and the Pacification of the Philippine Moros, 1899–1913.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maine, 1973;

    Thompson, Wayne Wray. “Governors of the Moro Province: Wood, Bliss, and Pershing in the Southern Philippines, 1903–1913.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California - San Diego, 1975.

   JAMES PRUITT