Philippines 1905 United States Territory 1 Peso .900 Silver

Philippines 1905 United States Territory 1 Peso .900 Silver

This 1905 Peso originates with the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, which was an unincorporated territory of the United States from 1899 until 1935. The United States had acquired the territory at the end of the Spanish-American War, when the Treaty of Paris stripped Spain of its sovereignty over the West Indies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Mariana Islands, and the Philippines. Some of these remain American territories to this day. The Philippines, however, were simply too far away to govern and defend, and Filipino immigration quickly became a problem in the deeply racist United States. The Filipinos also had little interest in being a territory, and pushed consistently for sovereignty through political campaigning and armed rebellion. It simply wasn't worth it, and the United States lost interest in maintaining an overseas colonial empire.

Peso coins from this period were made of .900 silver and weigh about 27 grams.