Chapter 18 Section 3 Crtical Thinking # 3 & 4

3) How did American rule of Puerto Rico harm Puerto Ricans? How did it help Puerto Ricans? Do you think the benefits outweighed the harmful effects? Why or why not?

The Puerto Ricans suffered under American rule because they were oppressed. Under the Foraker Act, military rule was traded for a civil government, but the Puerto Ricans could only elect the members of the lower house of the legislature. The U.S. president had the right to chose the governor and members of the upper house of the government. In 1901, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not apply automatically to citizens of acquired territories. However, the benefits outweighed the harmful effects. The Supreme Court granted Puerto Ricans citizenship in 1917, and gave them the right to elect members of both houses of their legislature. Although many Puerto Ricans wanted independence, they still received help from the U.S. When Puerto Rico was under military control, it was, as General Nelson A. Miles said, to "bring you protection, not only to yourselves but to your property, to promote prosperity, and to bestow upon you the immunities and blessings of the liberal institutions of our government" (p. 559). For the most part, Puerto Ricans were protected by the U.S., and were much better off than they were under the rule of Spain.

4) How was U.S. policy toward China different from the U.S. policy toward the Phillipines? To what can you attribute the difference?

The U.S. policy toward China war different from the Philippines in how they dealt with rebellion. The U.S. shared China with other imperialist countries, and China did not actually belong to the U.S. as the Philippines did, so they dealt with them differently. When the Filipinos rebelled against America, Americans put them in barbed-wire concentration camps where thousands died as a result of disease, starvation and bad sanitation. When the Chinese rebelled in the Boxer Rebellion, the U.S. and the other countries with claims in China sent soldiers, who killed thousands in 2 months, crushing the rebellion. The Philippine-American War, however took nearly 3 years.