Abstract
Though military colonial officials in Mindanao and Sulu certainly advocated and pursued policies designed to instill a sense of individual civic identity, democratic awareness, and modern education, the obstacles obstructing the institutionalization of these attributes among Moros were initially much greater than in the north. The military regime’s policy of noninterference (directly) with Moro religious and political institutions made social engineering a more difficult task. In the face of such impediments, American administrators began to look more broadly at the foundational principles and incentives of modernity. In their view capitalism in particular proved to be the most promising and dynamic