The following statements were made by Cuban and United states officials in response to the Platt Amendment. Read them and complete the exercise that follows.
Juan Gualberto Gomez, Cuban leader of African descent and delegate to Cuba’s Constitutional Convention:
Statement 1. To give the United States the right to intervene in Cuban affairs is like giving the key to your house to a neighbor and telling him he can enter at all hours day and night whenever he wishes.
Statement 2. If we ratify the Platt Amendment, we Cubans of African descent will face the discrimination which is suffered by United States Negroes. We will become second-class citizens in our own land.
Representative Lacey of Iowa and Senator Platt of Connecticut during Congressional debates:
Statement 3. Representative Lacey: Having at the cost of millions of dollars and the sacrifice of thousands of lives freed Cuba from her oppressors, we not only have the right but the duty to see that Spanish tyranny is not followed by anarchy (the absence of law).
Statement 4. Senator Platt: In many respects the Cubans are like children. It is our duty to see that they are not destroyed by themselves, while at the same time protecting our valuable investment on the island.
Report of the Cuban Constitutional Convention Committee, 1901:
Statement 5. The duty of the body (group of people) in framing a constitution for our newly independent nation is to make Cuba independent of every nation. If we have to ask the United States for permission to make agreements with other nations, we are not truly free. If we obliged to surrender part of national territory to the use of the United States, we will not be truly independent in the eyes of any nation.
Jose N. Ferrer, Cuban leader, in a letter to The New York Times:
Statement 6. If we do not accept the Platt Amendment, we might very well be annexed by the United States and made a colony; we certainly wouldn’t want that to happen.
Exercise:
Pretend you are a reporter at a press conference on the Platt Amendment. Based on the statements on the previous page, write one question you would like to ask each speaker.
In the readings below, President McKinley explains his reasons for taking control of the Philippines. Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo gives his views regarding the United States takeover of the Philippines.
According to McKinley, why did the United States decide to annex the Philippines?
How does Aguinaldo explain the United States decision to annex the Philippines?
Aim: Should Puerto Ricans have supported the Foraker Act?
After the United States gained control over Puerto Rico in 1898, it set up a government under the Foraker Act in 1900. As a result of the opposition of Puerto Ricans to the Foraker Act, the Unites States passed the Jones Act in 1917. Read the two acts below, and then complete the exercise that follows.
The Foraker Act, 1900
Puerto Rico is a United States possession. Puerto Ricans are not citizens of the United States, but can elect a non-voting observer to the United States Congress.
Puerto Ricans will have the right to elect the lower house of its local legislature. The upper house will be nominated by the president of the Unites States and approved by the United States Congress.
The governor general, who is appointed by the president (with the advice and consent of the United States Senate), will have the power to amend or void all legislation of Puerto Rico.
All foreign trade bills affecting Puerto Rican trade will be enacted by the Congress of the United States.
The provisions of these bills can be changed by the Congress of the United States, if it so desires.
The Jones Act, 1917
All people of Puerto Rico shall be granted United States citizenship with all its privileges and responsibilities except the right to vote for the president of the Unites States and the right to representation in Congress. However, any citizens of Puerto Rico will have until six months after this act becomes law to refuse to accept such citizenship.
The government of Puerto Rico shall consist of a governor, appointed by the president of the United States and two houses of the legislature elected by the people of Puerto Rico. Any laws passed by the legislature may be vetoed by the governor or the United States Congress.
Exercise
In the chart below, list the major similarities and differences between the provisions of the Foraker and Jones Acts for the government of Puerto Rico by putting a check mark in the appropriate box.