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Section 1: Identification Questions

“Bread, Land, and Liberty” was a slogan for Puerto Rico’s Newly formed party, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). Led by Marin, the slogan symbolized three symbols that galvanized the military-political struggle.

Luis Muñoz Marin was a journalist, statesman and politician. In 1948, he became the first Governor of Puerto Rico to be elected democratically.

Rio Piedras Massacre was a peaceful massacre in Ponce, Puerto Rico, that led to the killing of over 19 Puerto Ricans and wounding of more than 200 others.

Jose Campeche y Jordan was a Puerto Rican painter that is known for his painting and religious imagery.

Julia de Burgos was a renowned celebrated literary icon whose themes of feminism, love, migration, blackness, nationalism, and nature helped birth the Nuyorican movement of 1960.

Nuyorican is a term used to refer to an individual of Puerto Rican descent that is a former or current resident of New York City.

A gag law prevents the public disclosure of information on a specific issue.

Downes v. Bidwell was a 1901 case in which the Supreme Court made the decision as to whether the territories of the United States were subject to the protections and provisions of the U.S constitution.

Pedro Albizu Campos was the leading figure in the independence movement of Puerto Rico.

Operation Bootstrap is the name that was given to numerous projects that transformed the Puerto Rican economy into a more developed and industrial one.

Section 2: Short Answer Questions

What attracted Puerto Ricans to Hartford after World War II was that they had an opportunity to apply their skills and intellect to their economy. Back home, the Puerto Rican economy was shifting from a mono-cultural economy to a platform of export factory production.

The United States became involved with Puerto Rico in a bid to liberate the inhabitants from the Spanish colonial rule that had recently imposed limited autonomy on its government.

The PPD party advocates that the United States should continue as a commonwealth but with self-governance. The Nationalist Party, on the other hand, had the primary goals to liberate Puerto Rico and attain independence.

The Foraker Act made it possible for Puerto Rico to have a civil government leading to free travel between the United States and Puerto Rico.

Operation Bootstrap was a policy for development that was enacted after World War II in Puerto Rico to attain rapid industrialization of the economic structure of the island.

Essay Question 3:

How Puerto Rico Attained Self Government

Puerto Rico has been under the colonial rule of the Spanish empire for more than 400 years. The island became a sovereign nation in 1897 after signing the Charter of Autonomy by the-then Spanish Prime Minister, Praxades Mateo Sagasta. However, it was not until 1948 that Puerto Rico attained self-government. This was after Congress instructed the people of Puerto Rico to choose their governor in the general election of 1948. Around the same time, Congress came up with a line of succession in the event of the governor’s temporary absence or disability. This essay details the United States’ takeover of Puerto Rico, including the conditions and events that led to the takeover.

Illiteracy, poverty, disease, and malnutrition pervaded the Puerto Rican population at the time. These social stresses ignited a wave of low-income workers to move to the United States in the 1930s. At the time, the rate of unemployment was about 65%. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Puerto Rico’s strategic value for the United States centered around military and economic interests. The island was valuable to the United States policymakers as it served as an outlet for extra manufactured goods. It also served as a key naval station for the Caribbean.

In July 1898, towards the end of the American-Spanish war, the United States invaded Puerto Rico. The island was Spain’s possession. Without much resistance, the U.S. troops managed to secure the land. After signing an armistice with Spain, the island was handed over to the U.S forces on October 18, 1898 (Duany, 47). General John R. Brooke was appointed military governor. In December, the war between America and Spain came to an end following the signing of the Treaty of Paris. This officially marked the cession of the island to the United States.

During the first 30 years of its rule, the United States government had made efforts to Americanize the island. This included granting Puerto Ricans full United States citizenship in 1917. They had also taken steps to make English the island’s national language. But in the 1930s, the Popular Democratic Party started a nationalist movement across the island, further opposing the United States’ assimilation. Starting in 1948, Puerto Ricans started electing a governor. In 1952 the United States Congress approved the island’s Constitution. The constitution qualified Puerto Rico to be an independent United States commonwealth, and its inhabitants retained American citizenship. Puerto Rico’s constitution was formally adopted on July 25, 1952. After gaining support across the island, movements for Puerto Rican statehood and other movements have gained popularity. In a recent referendum held in 2020 to decide Puerto Rico’s status, the majority of the people voted for its statehood.

In closing, before Puerto Rico became a self-governing state, it used to be a possession of the United States. However, Spanish colonizers had claimed the land for over three decades before the U.S troops invaded the island and seized power. Puerto Rico did not elect its first governor until 1948, although its constitution became formally adopted after a few years.

Works Cited

Duany, Jorge. Puerto Rico: What everyone needs to know. Oxford University Press, 2017.