During the Spanish era of the Philippines, officially from the years 1565 to 1898, education other than that provided by religious institutions, was not generally available to the average Filipino until after 1863. Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Philippines was annexed by the United States due to the Treaty of Paris, and it became a territory of the United States. As a consequence, Filipinos became nationals of the United States. However, Filipinos who supported the independence of the First Republic of the Philippines clashed with American authority, and fought an unsuccessful conflict with the United States. At the behest of American soldiers, well-to-do families began to send their children to the United States for education; one example was Ramon Jose Lascon, who went on to earn his Ph.D. at Georgetown University at the age of 20. This followed a trend of well-to-do Asian families sending students to the United States, with Chinese students first coming to the United States beginning in 1847, and Japanese students coming to the United States beginning in 1866.