Compare And Contrast Puerto Rico American Imperialism

In the late 1800’s and 1900’s America began taking control of smaller nations and territories. This action is called imperialism. America practiced imperialism because of its needs for raw materials and markets, nationalism, and to gain access to different ports for their navy. Among the places taken under American control was the Latin American territory and former Spanish colony of Puerto Rico. America’s imperialism politically striped Puerto Rico of its right to self-govern and control its own affairs, which greatly upset the Puerto Rican people. Now, Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth yet it is still limited in its Political abilities. America claimed total control of Puerto Rico on October 18 of 1898 during the Spanish- American War.
American occupancy in Puerto Rico began with two full years under direct military rule. During those first two years, congress developed the Foraker Act, which stated that the U.S. president was to appoint a governor and an Executive Council for Puerto Rico. The Executive Council consisted of eleven people and six were Americans. This Act was passed in 1900. The Foraker Act made it nearly impossible for Puerto Rican’s to have a say in their own political system. This act was extremely unfair and enraged Puerto Ricans. Two Commissioners of Puerto Rico expressed that they believed “the voice of Puerto Rico [were] not heard” and “the island and its people were conveyed from one sovereign to another as a farm and its cattle are conveyed from a master to another” (ibid, 9). Puerto Ricans were tired of being controlled by various other nations, but what angered them specifically about the U.S. is that they were ironically “under the military control of the freest country in the world” (José Julio Henna and Manuel Zeno Gandia, The Case of Puerto Rico, (Washington DC: Press of W.F. Roberts, 1899),7).

Several years later, America continued to tighten its political grip on Puerto Rico. They tried to grant Puerto Rican’s full U.S. citizenship and make English the official language. However, Puerto Ricans widely supported a certain democratic party that opposed and successfully dismissed U.S. Assimilation. The ever-growing resistance to American political imperialism and rising tension in Puerto Rico showed that the people were in disagreement with the U.S.’s political control.

Modern day Puerto has gained some more political freedom, but it is still limited on some maters. For example, Puerto Rico gained the right elect its own governor in 1948 and in 1952 it became a commonwealth of the U.S. and its citizens became U.S. citizens. However, Puerto Ricans have yet to gain the right to vote on the U.S. president. Unfortunately, due to U.S. imperialism, Puerto Rico has yet to gain some political rights.