What Caused The Territorial Expansion Of The United States?

In history, the territorial expansion of the United States is full of wars, bought and sold regions. When France lost the French and Indian War in 1763, it gave most of its possessions in North America to Britain. This extended British domain beyond the original thirteen colonies. Since Spain was an ally, it had to give east and west to Britain ; in exchange it was compensated by France with territory west of the Mississippi. Although The United States declared its independence in 1776 and formed its territory from the original thirteen colonies, it had to go to war with Britain to establish its sovereignty.

The treaty of Paris put and end to the revolutionary war in 1783; America expanded to the Mississippi river and Spain recovered Florida,
since in this war Spain and US were allies. Nevertheless, in the 1800’s, Spain privately gave the Louisiana territory back to France, which lifted Napoleon’s hopes to establish an empire in North America. When president Thomas Jefferson learned about this arrangement he was worried that an empire would be built in North America. He attempted to buy New Orleans and West Florida for 10 million dollars; as a result they got the entire Louisiana territory back for 15 million dollars.

In 1810, American settlers capture the port of Baton Rouge after attempting a revolt against Spanish and West Florida; President James Madison obtained what remained of West Florida.
The 49th parallel was established after the war of 1812 when Britain ceded the Red River Basin. In 1821 Spanish renounced to the pacific North West. That same year Mexico became another power after proclaiming its independence.

Slavery prevented Texas from being included as part of the territory for several years but the Republic of Texas was declared in 1836 and President Polk allowed its seizure since mexican invasion was a risk. Expansion to the southern part caused war with Mexico over the Texas border. Mexican lost lead to the claim of the north part of Rio Grande, New Mexico and California. In 1867 president William Seward purchased Alaska, from Russia. In 1898, the Spanish war proved that Hawaii could be strategically important for the US navy; therefore, it was annexed from Spain to the US as well as Puerto Rico.

Westward expansion came along within 6 decades of the Constitution. The seizure of Hawaii in 1898 and Puerto Rico in 1899 brought the total area to approximately 3,628,000 square miles, (the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an associated
state)

Puerto Rico, the oldest and most popular territory; a rich blend of Europeans, African, and Native American cultures. Under the Paris treaty, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines were ceded to the US. In almost 100 years the US congress expressed their sovereignty over Puerto Rico in several ways. Since 1917, after the Woodrow Wilson’s elections, the Congress passed the Jones Act which agreed to give the US citizenship to those that were born in the island. Puerto Rico’s assembly voted to apportion funds for emergencies, like helping earthquake’ victims or even to provide scholarships, to promote education, but these intentions were presumed to violate the Jones Act. Despite of this the US provided some help in order to ease the precarious situation of the territory; the downside was that in comparison to the other states Puerto Rico was given much less.

During the 1930’s Puerto Rico faced several cases of violence against the US government located in the territory. These confrontations, between the police and nationalists, lead to the assassination of a local police chief in 1936 and the “Ponce Massacre.” These events did not ceased any soon reason why the US intended to ease Puerto Rico’s problems. One possible solution was to allow the territory to become independent; although the United States and Puerto Rico were not completely confident about this since there were interests in common. The United States knew that having a base in the Caribbean was a military strategy to be close to the Panama Canal. In the case of Puerto Rico, this detachment could discontinue the advantages of US trade and the help provided for emergencies, which were very low in comparison to the other states but yet better than nothing.

In 1950 the Act 600 passed which allow Puerto Rico to create its own Constitution and pay the wave for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952.
The Act 600 provided a hybrid status between a colony and a state. Many view this as an undefined status. The Act 600 and the commonwealth introduced a non-political situation in the 1950’s. As stated in the Constitution of Puerto Rico: “We, the people of Puerto Rico… do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Commonwealth which, in exercise of our natural rights , we now create within our Union with the United States of America” (Constitution of Puerto Rico)

Democratization of the island was an important step. The Puerto Ricans can also elect their own political leaders at all levels of local government. The establishment of the commonwealth turned the economy from agricultural to industrial. Tax rates were offered to companies that were established on the island. By 1993, more than 60% of workers were involved in manufacturing and the standard of living increased for many Puerto
Ricans.

The commonwealth failed to meet many expectations, one of them political. The establishment of the commonwealth was sort of misleading since it did not solve the colonial status of Puerto Rico. In the past, efforts to adjust Puerto Rico’s status were impeded by the failure of federal government to define the status options which states that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States.

The commonwealth attempted to democratize the government and its institutions but failed to give its citizens a true representation. Even though, at first, the economy had a positive impact, it started to decline. Agricultural sector was neglected and depended on US trade. This had a negative impact since the commonwealth did not change one of the probations of the Navigation Act, of the 1900. Therefore all commerce with the US could only be done in US ships, which are one of the more expensive ones; this made the cost of products higher. As a result, Puerto Rico remained very poor with unemployment and low wages.

Residents of Puerto Rico have been part of the nation for more than a century but they do not have the same rights as people in the fifty states. They cannot vote for the US president, they have no senators in Congress, only one representative in the House who cannot vote, but also they do not have to pay federal taxes. Puerto Ricans are able to serve in the military but yet they cannot vote for their commander in chief at least they move to any of the fifty states.

The Puerto Rico statehood movement refers to the organizations, events and/or activities that aim to change Puerto Rico’s political status, in order to become a US state.

On november 6, 2012 Puerto Rican voters rejected their current status of being a territory 54% to 46%. Second Puerto Ricans were asked to choose their preferred status; 61.15% votes favored statehood in the US and 24% left the question in blank. This same year President Obama’s responded that the majority of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood and asked the Congress to act upon this decision.

On December 11, 2012 Puerto Rican assembly presented a concurrent resolution, to the president of the US and the Congress, requesting a punctilious and successful response regarding the island’s political status. In January 15, 2014 the House of Representatives passed a bill of 2.5 million dollars without a deadline, in order to fund a referendum that can be carried out anytime. President Barack Obama signed it to become a law in January 17, 2014.

Some of the previous territories that became states like Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, and Arizona, has walked the same pathway Puerto Rico did. In comparison to these territories Puerto Rico do not enjoy of the same rights. Are these rights solely determined by where citizens live? In reality this decision is in the hands of both.