Republic of Negros
The Republic of Negros was a short-lived revolutionary entity which had existed on the island of Negros first as a canton of the First Philippine Republic and later as a protectorate of the United States.
Nomenclature
The entity had gone by multiple names throughout its short existence: the Negros Canton of the First Philippine Republic, and the Federal Republic of Negros or Federal State of Negros under U.S. protection. According to Gregorio Zaide, the protectorate had been annexed to the History of [the Philippines (1898–1946)|Philippine Islands] as simply the Republic of Negros.History
From November 3 to 6, 1898, the Negrenses began to revolt against the Spanish Empire‘a colonial government, headed locally by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro. The Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops marching in a pincer movement towards Bacólod, the chief city of the island. The revolutionaries, led by Generals Juan Araneta, from Bago and Aniceto Lacson, from Talisay, were actually carrying fake arms consisting of rifles carved from palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. On 5 November, Spanish officials surrendered themselves to native troops. A provisional government was then established with Aniceto Lacson as President, and a notice of this was transmitted by Melecio Severino to President Emilio Aguinaldo on Luzón. On November 27, 1898, the unicameral Congress of Deputies met in Bacólod and declared the establishment of the Republican Canton of Negros. The Congress of Deputies acted as a constituent assembly to draft a constitution.Motivated by either economic interests or sheer realpolitik, the hacendero-led cantonal government surrendered to invading U.S. forces on March 4, 1899, following the outbreak of hostilities between the nascent First Philippine Republic and the U.S. [military government of the Philippines|U.S. military government] which had been established during the Spanish–American War, and came under U.S. protection on April 30, 1899 as a territory separate from the Philippine Islands. A constitution for a Federal Republic of Negros, which proposed two governors, a U.S. military governor and a civil governor elected by voters of Negros, was framed by a committee sitting in Bacólod and sent to General Otis in Manila, proclaimed to take effect on October 2, 1899. The Negros government operated smoothly under this constitution until the province of Occidental Negros was established on April 20, 1901, and annexed to the Philippine Islands by the United States simply as the "Republic of Negros".