Almost citizens Puerto Rico, the U.S. Constitution, and empire

294 Pages·2019·7.386 MB·English

by  Erman, Sam

AlmostCitizens
AlmostCitizenslaysoutthetragicstoryofhowtheUnitedStatesdenied
Puerto Ricans full citizenship following annexation of the island in
1898.AsAmericabecameanoverseasempire,ahandfulofremarkable
Puerto Ricans debated with U.S. legislators, presidents, judges, and
othersoverwhowasacitizenandwhatcitizenshipmeant.Thisstruggle
causedafundamentalshiftinconstitutionaljurisprudence:awayfrom
the post-Civil War regime of citizenship, rights, and statehood and
toward doctrines that accommodated racist imperial governance.
Erman’s gripping account shows how, in the wake of the Spanish–
American War, administrators, lawmakers, and presidents, together
with judges, deployed creativity and ambiguity to transform constitu-
tional law and interpretation over a quarter century of debate and
litigation. The result is a history in which the United States and Latin
America, Reconstruction and empire, and law and bureaucracy
intertwine.
Sam Erman is Associate Professor at the University of Southern
CaliforniaGouldSchoolofLaw.
SeetheStudiesinLegalHistoryserieswebsiteathttp://studiesinlegalhistory.org/
StudiesinLegalHistory
Editors
SarahBarringerGordon,UniversityofPennsylvania
HollyBrewer,UniversityofMaryland,CollegePark
MichaelLobban,LondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience
ReuelSchiller,UniversityofCalifornia,HastingsCollegeoftheLaw
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Almost Citizens
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Constitution,
and Empire
SAM ERMAN
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108415491
doi:10.1017/9781108233866
©SamErman2019
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andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2019
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Erman,Sam.
title:Almostcitizens:PuertoRico,theU.S.Constitution,andempire/SamErman,
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia.
description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,ny,USA:CambridgeUniversity
Press,2018.|Series:Studiesinlegalhistory|Basedonauthor’sthesis(doctoral–University
ofMichigan,2010),issuedunder title:PuertoRicoandthePromiseofUnitedStates
Citizenship:StrugglesaroundStatusinaNewEmpire,1898–1917.|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2018035531|isbn9781108415491(hardback)
subjects:lcsh:Citizenship–UnitedStates.|PuertoRicans–Legalstatus,laws,etc.–United
States.|PuertoRico–Internationalstatus.|PuertoRico–Politicsandgovernment–
1898–1952.|BISAC:HISTORY/UnitedStates/20thCentury.
Classification:lcckf4720.p83e762018|ddc342.7308/3097295–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018035531
isbn978-1-108-41549-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
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ForJoo

Contents
ListofFigures pageviii
Acknowledgments ix
ListofAbbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. 1898:“TheConstitutionalLioninthePath” 8
2. TheConstitutionandtheNewU.S.Expansion:Debating
theStatusoftheIslands 27
3. “WeAreNaturallyAmericans”:FedericoDegetau
andSantiagoIglesiasPursueCitizenship 47
4. “AmericanAliens”:IsabelGonzalez,DomingoCollazo,
FedericoDegetau,andtheSupremeCourt,1902–1905 74
5. ReconstructingPuertoRico,1904–1909 97
6. TheJonesActandtheLongPathtoCollectiveNaturalization 121
Conclusion 144
Afterword 160
Notes 162
Index 266
vii
Figures
1.1 ThePuertoRicanCommission,photographfromÁngelRivero,
CrónicadelaGuerraHispanoamericanaenPuertoRico
(Madrid,1922),270.CourtesyofHathiTrust. page26
2.1 LouisDalrymple,“SchoolBegins,”Puck,25Jan.1899.
CourtesyofLibraryofCongressPrintsandPhotographs. 32
3.1 PhotographofFedericoDegetauyGonzalez,Harper’sWeekly,
22Dec.1900. 48
3.2a DetailfromW.A.Rogers,“UncleSam’sNewClassintheArt
ofSelf-Government,”Harper’sWeekly,27Aug.1898,cover. 57
3.2b DetailfromVictorGillam,“TheWhiteMan’sBurden
(ApologiestoKipling),”Judge,1899.CourtesyofBillyIreland
CartoonLibraryandMuseum. 58
3.3 PassportofVicenteGonzalez,19Dec.1907.Courtesy
ofAncestry.com. 62
3.4 Detailfrom“RoadandBlockhousebetweenAibonito
andCoamo,”inWilliamS.Bryan,ed.,OurIslandsandTheir
People(NewYork,1899),408. 66
3.5 “UncleSam’sBurden,”NewYorkTimes,5July1903,A9. 72
4.1 LetterfromIsabelGonzaleztoFedericoDegetau,10Apr.1904,
CentrodeInvestigacionesHistóricas,Colección
ÁngelM.Mergal5/I/5. 90
4.2 DetailfromR.C.Bowman,“SheCan’tResistHim,”Minneapolis
Tribune(thirdquarter1898),asreproducedinCartoonsoftheWar
of1898withSpainfromtheLeadingForeignandAmericanPapers
(Chicago,1898),158.CourtesyofInternetArchive. 92
viii