Puerto Rico

Author’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Date

Vocabulary

Unionist Party- A political party based in Punjab during the British rule over India. It represents the interests of the gentry and landlords.

Jones-Shafroth Act – The act gave Puerto Ricans US citizenship and separated the powers of the government into executive, judicial and legislative branches.

Pedro Albizu Campos- Puerto Rican attorney and politician who led the independence movement.

Carlos E Chardon- First Puerto Rican mycologist and government official on agriculture and appointed chancellor in the University of Puerto Rico.

Plan Chardon – The plan was formed as a new deal during the Chardon administration to put people to work during the great depression. The aim was to encourage, train and develop agriculture technicians.

PRRA – In full it is Pre-Removal Risk Assessment. It is a written application that explains the reason for one failing to return to their country and provides support documents for the person’s fear.

New Deal-Included government programs, financial reforms, and projects under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to improve the state of the economy during and after the great depression.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt- The 32nd president of the United States known for the New Deal an initiative for government to intervene in economic activities to achieve intended balance.

Downes v. Bidwell – It was among the Insular cases that were decided in the US Supreme Court on whether the US territories were subject to protection and provisions of the US constitution.

Resident Commissioner – It’s an official title for nonvoting representatives of a dependency in the US house of representatives. Also, a resident administrator to a British rule.

Federico Degetau- He was the first resident commissioner in the US House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. He was also a lawyer, writer, and politician.

Rio Piedras Massacre- The massacre occurred on October 24, 1935, at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras after local police got into an open fight and confronted the supporters of the Nationalist party where four were killed and a police officer wounded.

Massacre of Ponce – The massacre took place on a Palm Sunday in Ponce on March 21st, 1937 after a civilian march turned into a police shooting leaving 19 civilians dead, 200 injured and two policemen killed.

“Bread, Land, and Liberty”- It was a slogan used by the Public Democratic Party, and many decrees seemed to conform to it. The slogan took up masses during the July days as an uprising of military forces and workers.

Short Essay

Describe Puerto Rico’s government under Jones-Shafroth.

Under the Jones-Shafroth government, it was a republican form of government under his administration there was a separation of powers. The government was separated into executive, judicial ad legislative branches. Also, the government provided civil rights to citizens and created a bicameral legislature that was elected locally. The governance of Jones-Shafroth is important in the history of Puerto Rico because it marks the start of the separation of powers and providing civil rights to people.

What did the Insular cases achieve? Know the cases and the decisions.

The Insular cases allowed the United States to control and exploit the territories acquired by Spain. The first case in the series of cases was De Lima et al. vs. Bidwell which raised the question of whether territories acquired by the United States in foreign countries or domestic countries (Burgess, 1901). The decision showed that Puerto Rico was a domestic country. In another case, United States vs. Rice where police conducted a pat-down search. The totality of the circumstances allowed the officer to believe the defendant was carrying a weapon and failed to suppress the evidence of the gun (Burgess, 1901). The last case was Downes vs. Bidwell and the decision suggested the territories were not properly part of the US for revenues and administration matters (Burgess, 1901).

How did the Great Depression affect the island?

The great depression started around 1930 after the Island experienced cute infrastructural and public health crises (Devereux, 2019). As a result, there was a high unemployment rate and low wages at the start which led to labor unrest. The situation alarmed the business interest and the American administration.

What was the New deal? Understand its general ideas and programs.

After the great depression, Roosevelt promised America a new deal because of the ravaging great depression. The new deal required the government to intervene in the economy and regulate the activities to achieve balance in economic interest (Fishback, 2016). The major programs were through economic and industrial reforms. Work Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps were programs that employed the people.

Puerto Rico experienced a lot of violence in the 1930s. Describe these episodes and their background.

After the United States gained possession of the island, they gave the inhabitants American citizenship ad wanted to make English the official language (Valdez, 2016). That was faced by resistance by most people on the Island. In 1930, a nationalist movement resisted further US assimilation. That led to the invasion of the US army for colonial violence which was legitimate under counter-insurgency and political harassment of the members of the movement (Valdez, 2016). The major violent incidences included the Rio Piedras massacre where local police invaded the University of Puerto Rico and killed people ad one policeman was wounded. Another incident happed in Ponce where a civilian peaceful march turned into a police shooting leaving 19 civilians killed, 200 injured ad two policemen dead.

By the Second World War, Puerto Ricans were doing better economically, although this had a cost culturally. How so?

Before the Second World War, the country was dominated by Agriculture. Upon the US acquiring it, there was small-scale sugarcane and coffee production (Rodríguez, 2006). The island was neglected because of its low economic and natural resources. After the US acquired it, the inhabitants were poor. To assimilate the Island, the US opened extensive markets for Sugar and expanded the sugarcane operations. With extensive support from the US to the island, there was a better performance of the economy.

References

Burgess, J. W. (1901). The Decisions of the Supreme Court in the Insular Cases. Political

Science Quarterly, 16(3), 486-504. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140261Devereux, J. (2019). Arrested development? Puerto Rico in an American century. The Journal of

Economic History, 79(3), 708-735. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050719000329Fishback, P. V. (2016). New Deal. In Banking Crises (pp. 241-250). Palgrave Macmillan,

London.

Rodríguez, C. A. (2006). The economic trajectory of Puerto Rico since WWII.

Valdez, J. R. (2016). The battleground of metaphors: language debates and symbolic violence in

Puerto Rico (1930–1960). Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, 2(1), 1-25.