Book contents
- Almost Citizens
- Series page
- Almost Citizens
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 1898: “The Constitutional Lion in the Path”
- 2 The Constitution and the New U.S. Expansion: Debating the Status of the Islands
- 3 “We Are Naturally Americans”: Federico Degetau and Santiago Iglesias Pursue Citizenship
- 4 “American Aliens”: Isabel Gonzalez, Domingo Collazo, Federico Degetau, and the Supreme Court, 1902–1905
- 5 Reconstructing Puerto Rico, 1904–1909
- 6 The Jones Act and the Long Path to Collective Naturalization
- Conclusion
- Afterword
- Notes
- Index
2 - The Constitution and the New U.S. Expansion: Debating the Status of the Islands
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2018
Book contents
- Almost Citizens
- Series page
- Almost Citizens
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 1898: “The Constitutional Lion in the Path”
- 2 The Constitution and the New U.S. Expansion: Debating the Status of the Islands
- 3 “We Are Naturally Americans”: Federico Degetau and Santiago Iglesias Pursue Citizenship
- 4 “American Aliens”: Isabel Gonzalez, Domingo Collazo, Federico Degetau, and the Supreme Court, 1902–1905
- 5 Reconstructing Puerto Rico, 1904–1909
- 6 The Jones Act and the Long Path to Collective Naturalization
- Conclusion
- Afterword
- Notes
- Index
Summary
As U.S. troops overran Puerto Rico in mid-1898, islanders and conquerors alike hailed a benevolent constitutional revolution. All imagined that annexation would bring Puerto Ricans citizenship, rights, and eventual statehood. But then President William McKinley decided to annex the Philippines. U.S. officials responded with rapid constitutional innovation. The Senate declared that annexation neither naturalized Filipinos nor permanently integrated the Philippines. The War Department, which administered Puerto Rico, moved to establish a precedent applicable to the Philippines by urging that Puerto Rico Ricans receive few rights, little self-government, and no U.S. citizenship. Congress enacted the suggestion. Puerto Rican political leaders were divided in their response. Some savaged the betrayal of U.S. ideals. Federico Degetau won election as Puerto Rico’s representative in Washington by promising to wield the U.S. Constitution to win Puerto Ricans citizenship, rights, and eventual statehood. The labor leader Santiago Iglesias a expressed similar faith in U.S. rights, until U.S. officials permitted antilabor violence to drive him from the island.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Almost CitizensPuerto Rico, the U.S. Constitution, and Empire, pp. 27 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018