On 7 November 1900, in Washington, John Hay, Secretary of State, for the United States, and the Duke de Arcos, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain, signed the treaty by which Spain cedes any islands of the Philippine Archipelago lying outside the lines in Article III of the Treaty of Peace of Paris. Two originals, in English and Spanish. A sole article. It is not the Treaty of Paris of 10 December 1898 and not the Treaty of Washington of 1842 (Webster–Ashburton).

The preamble: the United States and the Queen Regent of Spain, in the name of her son Alfonso XIII, desire to remove any ground of misunderstanding growing out of the interpretation of Article III of the Paris peace, whereby Spain cedes the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, comprehending the islands lying within certain described lines. The plenipotentiaries exchanged their full powers, found in due and proper form.

Sole article, first paragraph: Spain relinquishes to the United States all title and claim of title which she may have had at 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 Sulú (now Mapun) and Sibutú 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.

Sole article, second paragraph: the United States, in consideration of this relinquishment, will pay Spain one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) within six months after the exchange of ratifications. Third paragraph: the treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and by the Queen Regent after approval by the Cortes; the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

The Senate advised ratification on 22 January 1901; President William McKinley ratified on 30 January; Spain on 25 February. Instruments were exchanged at Washington on 23 March 1901, and McKinley proclaimed the treaty the same day. Published text: 31 Stat. 1942, Treaty Series 345.

The treaty does not repeat the twenty-million-dollar price of 1898 and does not redraw the Article III coordinates of Paris. It is not the Treaty of Washington of 1871 (the Alabama claims) and not the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. The 1935 Philippine Constitution later folded both cessions into Article 1; later arguments about the Spratlys, Scarborough or Batanes are not 1900 clauses, which name Cagayan Sulú and Sibutú.

Image: map of the Philippine Islands, 1902 gazetteer, Bureau of Insular Affairs; public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Treaty of Washington (1900). Treaty text: Treaty between the United States and Spain for the cession of islands of the Philippine Archipelago lying outside the lines of Article III of the Treaty of Paris, Washington, 7 November 1900.