Lecture # 11 - Puerto Rico & U.S. Imperialism: From 1898 to the Present
Paris Peace Treaty of
Signed between the United States and Spain at the close of the Spanish–American War.
Territorial transfers:
The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam ceded to the U.S.
Financial terms: U.S. paid Spain an indemnity of .
Immediate consequence: catapulted the U.S. into the ranks of global super-powers with its first string of overseas colonies.
Strategic Motivations & the Open-Door Logic
Pacific islands (esp. Guam and the Philippines) secured the “Open Door” policy—U.S. insistence on free trade access to Asian markets.
Paradox: “free movement of goods, not people.”
Ongoing Chinese Exclusion Acts blocked Asian immigration even while the U.S. sought Chinese consumers.
Geopolitical fear: U.S. elites worried that Japan or Russia would build rival Pacific empires if America did not “grab its own chunk.”
Guam & the Lingering Colonial Footprint
Guam remains an unincorporated U.S. territory to this day—illustrates the euphemistic language (“territory,” “commonwealth”) masking colonial reality.
U.S. Invasion & Occupation of Puerto Rico (Summer–Fall )
May: 12-ship U.S. squadron bombarded San Juan (parallel to attacks on Havana, Santiago, Manila).
USS Yosemite blockaded San Juan Harbor (example of naming war matériel after conquered sites/peoples).
July : U.S. troops landed unopposed at Guánica (shipped from the Guantánamo base).
By late August the entire island was overrun; last Spanish garrison evacuated in October.
➜ Result: one colonial master (Spain) swapped for another (U.S.).
Political Status After the War
Post-Treaty U.S. rejected a democratically elected Puerto Rican government; installed a military/territorial administration.
Insular Cases & 1901 doctrine: Supreme Court & Congress decreed Puerto Rico would never become a state, explicitly citing the perceived “race” of its Afro-Latino majority.
Created category “unincorporated territory” → no automatic path to statehood (sidesteps the usual territorial progression to representation, senators, statehood).
Economic Transformation: Coffee → Sugar
U.S. investors targeted the lucrative sugar sector.
By the U.S. was purchasing () of Puerto Rican sugar output.
Coffee-based economy dismantled → forced switch to sugar monoculture.
Consequences: peasant displacement, spike in poverty, dependency on U.S. export market.
Illustrates how wars of the era were often sparked/justified by demand for exotic commodities.
Citizenship & World War I (Jones Act )
Congress unilaterally granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans.
Real motive: expand draft pool for WW I; many Puerto Ricans were deployed to defend the newly completed Panama Canal.
Ongoing Political Disenfranchisement
Even as citizens, Puerto Ricans:
Cannot vote for President.
Elect no voting members of Congress (only a non-voting “Resident Commissioner”).
Violates the democratic ideal of “government by consent of the governed.”
Nationalist Resistance & Violent Flashpoints
Blair House Attack (Nov 1, )
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party members Griselio Torresola & Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Truman.
“Biggest gunfight in Secret Service history.”
Lasted < 1 minute; multiple agents & gunmen shot (knees, back, neck, head, chest, legs).
Torresola killed; Collazo sentenced to death → Truman commuted to life imprisonment (gesture of leniency).
Commonwealth Plebiscite (1952)
Truman backed island-wide vote (plebiscite) adopting a new Puerto Rican constitution.
Created the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico—a fresh label for continued colonial relationship.
First act of the new government: abolished U.S.-imposed English-only rule; reinstated Spanish as the principal language of administration & education.
U.S. Capitol Shooting (March 1, )
Four nationalists (incl. Lolita Lebrón) entered House gallery, unfurled Puerto Rican flag, yelled “¡Free Puerto Rico!” and opened fire.
5 congressmen wounded; all attackers captured.
Lebrón served years before release.
Twenty-First-Century Crisis & Status Debate
Hurricane Maria (2017) obliterated infrastructure, underscoring fragility of colonial status.
Ongoing fiscal emergencies, slow disaster relief, and mass out-migration reopened the question:
Statehood vs. Independence vs. Status Quo.
Lecturer’s stance: either statehood or independence preferable; current “de facto colony” untenable; ultimate choice should rest with Puerto Rican self-determination.
Ideological Justification: “The White Man’s Burden”
Term coined by Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book).
Defined as the supposed obligation of white imperial powers to administer colonies and “civilize” darker-skinned peoples.
Adopted by U.S. leaders:
President McKinley & others claimed Filipinos, Cubans, Puerto Ricans were “unprepared” for self-rule.
Future President William Howard Taft (then civil governor of the Philippines) called Filipinos “our little brown brothers.”
Visual Propaganda & Metaphors
Political cartoons depicted Uncle Sam (U.S.) and John Bull (U.K.) literally carrying small, dark-skinned figures labeled “Hawaii,” “Cuba,” “Philippines,” etc., over boulders of “Brutality, Vice, Ignorance, Superstition” toward the shining peak of “Civilization / Constitutional Republic.”
Another cartoon shows Uncle Sam outside an “Asylum for Destitute Children,” scratching his head as he receives new “children” (Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines) on an arm tattooed Manifest Destiny—visual shorthand for U.S. expansionism.
Overall message: paternalistic framing of empire as benevolent childcare.
Ethical & Philosophical Implications
Racist underpinnings: status determinations anchored in perceptions of race and cultural superiority.
Denial of full democratic rights exposes contradictions between American republican ideals and imperial practice.
Economic dependency engineered by colonial powers perpetuates poverty and limits local agency.
Modern disaster mismanagement (e.g., post-Maria) illustrates practical harms of partial sovereignty.
Persistent debate embodies larger question: Can a nation champion democracy abroad while maintaining colonies at home?