President William McKinley Orders the Carrying out of a Key Peace Term of the Spanish American War, and the American Seizure of the Last Vestiges of Spain’s American Empire, Initiated by Christopher Columbus

This marked the end of four centuries of Spanish Imperial occupation, and resulted in exit of the last forces potentially hostile to the U.S. in the hemisphere

 

The beginning of U.S. sovereignty at the dawn of what has been called the American Century

Christopher Columbus reached the island that would become Puerto Rico, then home to the Taino people, in 1493, ushering in more than four hundred years of Spanish rule. It became a critical military outpost, allowing Spain to defend its New World colonies against other European powers. By the eighteenth century, Puerto Rico had become a major exporter of tobacco, coffee, and sugarcane. Yet discontent with colonial rule led to a growing independence movement on the island. So in 1897, in a desperate effort to hold on to its last two possessions in the Americas, Spain granted Cuba and Puerto Rico a broad array of rights including those under Title I of the Spanish Constitution, which bestowed all the rights of Spanish citizens and gave universal suffrage to all males more than twenty-five years old. Then on November 25, 1897, Spain an autonomy constitution, which gave Puerto Rico the right of self-government. The first elections under this new political arrangement were held in March 1898.

The United States had a long-term negative view of Spain and wanted it out of the Western Hemisphere. This was in part because of anti-Catholic feeling in the U.S. going back to colonial days. Then, in the War of 1812, the Spanish were allies of Britain, angering many Americans. The prospect of taking East and West Florida from Spain encouraged southern support for the war in the U.S. Moreover, the Spanish policy of supplying Creek Indians with arms and ammunition through their territories in Florida further strained relations with the Americans on the frontier, and made Spain a threat to American expansion. The U.S. obtained West Florida in 1819, and purchased East Florida from Spain in 1821. About that time Spain left Mexico, but there were colonies, such as Cuba and Puerto Rico remaining in Spain’s grasp. Americans wanted to obtain these possessions and Spain stood in the way.

Starting in 1895, Cuban revolutionaries fought to gain independence from Spanish colonial rule. From 1895–1898, the violent conflict in Cuba captured the attention of Americans because of the economic and political instability that it produced. The long-held U.S. interest in ridding the Western Hemisphere of European colonial powers and American public outrage over brutal Spanish tactics created much sympathy for the Cuban revolutionaries. By early 1898, tensions between the United States and Spain had been mounting for months. After the U.S. battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor under mysterious circumstances on February 15, 1898, U.S. military intervention in Cuba became likely.

On April 11, 1898, President William McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end the fighting in Cuba between the rebels and Spanish forces, and to establish a “stable government” that would “maintain order” and ensure the “peace and tranquility and the security” of Cuban and U.S. citizens on the island. On April 20, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence, demanded that the Spanish government give up control of the island, foreswore any intention on the part of the United States to annex Cuba, and authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures he deemed necessary to guarantee Cuba’s independence.

The Spanish government rejected the U.S. ultimatum and immediately severed diplomatic relations with the United States. McKinley responded by implementing a naval blockade of Cuba on April 22 and issued a call for 125,000 military volunteers the following day. That same day, Spain declared war on the United States, and the U.S. Congress voted to go to war against Spain on April 25.

On July 25 U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico. Military operations on the island lasted approximately three weeks. This was part of a broader effort to push Spain out of the Caribbean and Pacific. Spain lost the war in August, and the U.S. victory produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia. On October 18, 1898, the last Spanish troops left Puerto Rico, and according to the U.S. State Department Office of the Historian, this “marked the end of four centuries of Spanish Imperial occupation and the beginning of U.S. sovereignty” at the dawn of what has been called the American Century. It also was the end of the presence of significant numbers of potentially hostile foreign troops in the Western Hemisphere, as the only European nations who had any troops after this point were the Netherlands, France, and Britain, and these were small garrisons of nations allied with or friendly to the United States.

After two years of direct U.S. military rule, the Foraker Act reestablished a civilian government and specified Puerto Rico’s military status.

Puerto Rico is a political paradox: part of the United States, but distinct from it, enjoying citizenship, but lacking full political representation, and infused with its own brand of nationalism, despite not being a sovereign state.

The United States has just five permanently inhabited territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. And of these, Puerto Rico is the most populous. The Philippines won its independence in 1946.

Here President McKinley orders a U.S. commission to carry out the Treaty with Spain by overseeing the evacuation of Spain from Puerto Rico. It marked the end of four centuries of Spanish Imperial occupation in the Western hemisphere, and resulted in exit of the last forces potentially hostile to the U.S. in the hemisphere. This is one of the most significant documents we have ever carried.

“I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to the commissions and full powers of Major General John R. Brooke, U.S.A., Rear Admiral Winfield S. Schley, U.S.N., and Brigadier General W.W. Gordon, U.S.V., as United States Commissioners to arrange and carry out the details of the immediate evacuation by Spain of Porto Rico and the islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, except Cuba and adjacent Spanish islands. Dated this day and signed by me, and for so doing this shall be his warrant.” It is signed boldly by McKinley.

Thus began the American Century.