Newton W. Gilbert

Gilbert was born on May 24, 1862 in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio. His parents moved in 1875 to Steuben County, Indiana. His father was Theodore Gilbert, a country merchant in Ohio, while his mother, Ellen L. Johnson, was the granddaughter of former Governor of Virginia, Joseph E. Johnson.{{Cite book |last=Seeds |first=Russel Marlborough |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90oxAQAAMAAJ&dq=Newton+Whiting+Gilbert&pg=PA182 |title=History of the Republican Party of Indiana: Biographical Sketches of the Party Leaders, Volume 1 |date=1899 |publisher=Indiana History Company |isbn=978-0-7222-0805-2 |language=en}} He studied law at the Ohio State University and was admitted to the bar in 1885.{{Cite web |title=Gilbert, Newton Whiting |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/G000176 |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=bioguide.congress.gov}}

File:Newton W. Gilbert (Portrait, 1899).jpg

File:Hon. Newton W. Gilbert, The Filipino Teacher.jpg

In his early career, he practiced as a lawyer in Angola, Indiana{{Cite book |last=Monks |first=Leander John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxcaAAAAYAAJ&dq=Newton+Whiting+Gilbert&pg=PA451 |title=Courts and Lawyers of Indiana |date=1916 |publisher=Federal Publishing Company |language=en}} and was appointed surveyor of Steuben County, Indiana in 1886. During the Spanish-American War, he was captain of Company H, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

He was the 25th lieutenant governor of Indiana from 1900 to 1904, a member of the Indiana State Senate from 1896 to 1900 and a representative in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1905 until his resignation on November 6, 1906.[http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/gilbert.html Newton W. Gilbert] at Political Graveyard In 1906, he accepted his appointment as judge of the court of first instance in Manila. He was Chairman of the Board of Regents and acting President of the University of the Philippines since its establishment in 1908.{{Cite book |last=Torres |first=Cristina Evangelista |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVKrcWhwPsUC&dq=Newton+Whiting+Gilbert+philippines&pg=PA144 |title=The Americanization of Manila, 1898-1921 |date=2010 |publisher=UP Press |isbn=978-971-542-613-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZqYwtyPIoEC&dq=Newton+w.+gilbert+philippines&pg=RA1-PA16 |title=Philippine Agriculturist and Forester |date=1911 |publisher=College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines. |language=en}} In 1910, he became Vice Governor-General of the Philippine Islands{{Cite book |last=Jernegan |first=Prescott Ford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjM5AQAAIAAJ&dq=Newton+w.+gilbert+philippines&pg=PA59 |title=The Philippine Citizen: A Text-book of Civics, Describing the Nature of Government, the Philippine Government and the Rights and Duties of Citizens of the Philippines |date=1913 |publisher=Philippine Education Company |language=en}} and an acting governor-general of the Philippines from September 1, 1913, to October 6, 1913.

In 1908, Newton W. Gilbert also served on the Philippine Commission, the appointed upper house of the Philippine Legislature of the American colonial Insular Government of the Philippines.

In 1916, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Amidst the discussion on Philippine independence in 1930 on the U.S. Senate, Gilbert sent a letter to the Senate Territories Committee that U.S. withdrawal in the Philippines would disturb the "equilibrium" of the Far East. He feared of possible Chinese invasion and consequences of a World War.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to The New York |date=1930-03-04 |title=WARNS OF WAR PERIL IN FILIPINO FREEDOM; Gilbert, Ex-Vice Governor, Advises Senate Committee Notto Disturb "Equilibrium."MILITARY STUDY UNDER WAY Joint Army and Navy Board Will Soon Make a Report onIts Inquiry. Equilibrium Well Established. Danger of Chinese Invasion Seen. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/03/04/archives/warns-of-war-peril-in-filipino-freedom-gilbert-exvice-governor.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250524030250/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/03/04/archives/warns-of-war-peril-in-filipino-freedom-gilbert-exvice-governor.html |archive-date=May 24, 2025 |url-status=live |access-date=2025-05-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

{{Blockquote|text=It is only possible to keep them from the islands now by our Chinese exclusion act, which applies in the Philippine Islands. How can the Filipinos keep them out? It would require an army, and more, a navy, to keep the Chinese from their shores.|author=Newton W. Gilbert|source=The New York Times (March 4, 1930)}}

In 1937, Gilbert retired from politics. He moved to Santa Ana, California and died there on July 5, 1939.

File:Gilbert Bridge, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines.jpg

In 1914, the Gilbert Bridge in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines was completed and named after his honor.{{Cite web |title=Laoag City - Places of Interest |url=https://www.laoagcity.gov.ph/tourism/places_of_interest/gilbert_bridge.html |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=www.laoagcity.gov.ph}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Newton W. |date=1933-07-01 |title=Effects of Independence on the Philippines |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271623316800121?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.8 |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |language=EN |volume=168 |issue=1 |pages=162–165 |doi=10.1177/000271623316800121 |issn=0002-7162}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Newton W. |date=1927 |title=Our Promises Should Be Kept |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1015505 |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=131 |pages=14–18 |doi=10.1177/0002716227131001S04 |jstor=1015505 |issn=0002-7162}}

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| title=Lieutenant Governor of Indiana| before=William S. Haggard| after=Hugh Thomas Miller| years=1901–1905}}

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{{US House succession box |state= Indiana |district=12| before= James M. Robinson | years=1905–1906 | after= Clarence C. Gilhams }}

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{{succession box|title=Governor-General of the Philippines|before=James Francis Smith|after=William Cameron Forbes|years=1907–1908}}

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Category:1862 births

Category:1939 deaths

Category:People from Worthington, Ohio

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana

Category:Governors-general of the Philippine Islands

Category:Secretaries of education of the Philippines

Category:Lieutenant governors of Indiana

Category:Republican Party Indiana state senators

Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly

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