The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico began its unique relationship with the United States when it became a U.S. commonwealth.
On July 25, 1952, the flag of Puerto Rico was raised in ceremonies marking the creation of the Associated Free State, or Commonwealth, of Puerto Rico. This was the culmination of more than fifty years of efforts to define the relationship between the Caribbean island and the United States. Luís Muñoz Marín, soon to become the first governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, had led efforts to establish the commonwealth. However, there was, and remains, opposition by Puerto Ricans who favor full independence and from others who wish Puerto Rico to become the fifty-first state in the Union. The plebiscite in 1952 and subsequent votes have continued to produce a majority that favors commonwealth status.
The United States obtained Puerto Rico from Spain as a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Previously, Puerto Ricans had urged Spain to reform its colonial administration, and some had sought independence from Spain. In 1900, the U.S. Congress passed the Foraker Act
The two most influential individuals in Puerto Rico’s search for political identity were Pedro Albizú Campos and Luís Muñoz Marín. Albizú Campos was educated in the United States and joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Muñoz Marín also was determined to bring self-government to Puerto Rico, but became convinced that this goal would be best achieved through continued association with the United States. Muñoz Marín and his Popular Democratic Party
Pro-independence supporters were angered by the Harry S. Truman administration’s collaboration with Muñoz Marín and the passage of Public Law 600, which amended the Jones Act and renamed it the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act
In June, 1951, Puerto Ricans went to the polls to elect members of a constitutional convention. Seventy delegates from Muñoz Marín’s Popular Democratic Party, fifteen supporters of statehood, and seven who favored independence were elected.
The constitutional convention met in 1951-1952 and produced a document that identified Puerto Rico as an Associated Free State, a unique relationship that allowed Puerto Ricans to benefit from U.S. citizenship but gave them the opportunity to elect their own island government. Falling somewhere between a state and a colony, Puerto Rico can elect its own governor, a twenty-seven- member senate, and a fifty-one-member house of representatives. Puerto Ricans may not vote in U.S. presidential elections, and their representative in Congress may not vote on legislation on the floor. This places restrictions on Puerto Rico, because any changes to the island’s status may be approved only by Congress.
When the Puerto Rican constitution was sent to the U.S. Congress for approval in 1952, there was much debate and changes were proposed to provisions that differed from the U.S. constitution. Eventually, Congress passed the legislation, and President Truman signed it into law, establishing Puerto Rico as a Commonwealth in Association with the United States.
The question of the island’s status was complicated by the continued migration of islanders to the United States. Approximately seventy thousand Puerto Ricans lived in the United States, mostly in New York, before World War II. Continued population growth on the island and cheaper transportation by air brought more Puerto Ricans to the United States in the years after the war. By 1987, there were more than two million Puerto Ricans in the United States, with more than half of that number in New York City and environs. By the 1990’s, there were more Puerto Ricans in New York City than in the island’s capital city of San Juan, a fact that was confirmed by the U.S. Census of 2000.
As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans may move freely anywhere within the United States mainland, as well as back and forth to the island. More and more Puerto Ricans have chosen to migrate to the mainland, but many, whose native language is Spanish, find that adaptation to the new language and culture is not easy. Many Puerto Ricans study English and speak it well, but those who first come to the United States often encounter a period of adjustment. In addition to language difficulties, Puerto Ricans often encounter racial discrimination in the United States.
Although the Puerto Rican community has transformed parts of New York City and many other cities of the Northeast, many Puerto Ricans maintain strong ties to their island. Their participation in both lands is part of the unique identity the island and its people feel, and is reflected by the reluctance of many Puerto Ricans to sever the bonds created by commonwealth status.
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Carr, Raymond. Puerto Rico: A Colonial Experiment. New York: New York University Press, 1984. Part 2 deals with the status of Puerto Rico, focusing on the policies and platforms of major Puerto Rican political parties. -
Carrion, Arturo Morales, ed. Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1983. A thorough evaluation of Puerto Rico’s history and a detailed account of Puerto Rico’s emergence in the mid-twentieth century as a commonwealth. -
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. 2d. ed. New York: Perennial, 2002. Chapter 12 compares the experiences of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in the United States. Contains many statistics regarding income. Discusses questions of race and religion. -
Fernandez, Ronald. The Disenchanted Island: Puerto Rico and the United States in the Twentieth Century. 2d ed. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996. Heavily footnoted, detailed account of political ties between Puerto Rico and the United States. Provides much information regarding the internal politics of Washington, D.C., and San Juan. -
Langley, Lester D. America and the Americas: The United States in the Western Hemisphere. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989. Contains a critical analysis of U.S. policy in Puerto Rico, especially pages 184-188, with a perspective of cultural imperialism. Discusses the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States through the Cold War. -
Meléndez, Edwin, and Edgardo Meléndez, eds. Colonial Dilemma: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Puerto Rico. Boston: South End Press, 1993. Claims Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States. Includes chapters on contemporary politics, the economy, and feminism. -
Picó, Fernando. A General History of Puerto Rico: A Panorama of Its People. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 2005. A leading Puerto Rican historian provides a rich and compelling history of Puerto Rico, from its earliest times to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Highly recommended. -
Wagenheim, Karl. Puerto Rico: A Profile. 2d ed. New York: Praeger, 1975. Provides an overview of Puerto Rico’s history and economy. Good chapters on the diaspora, society, and culture. Includes a chronology, many useful statistics, and a sympathetic understanding of the island and its people.
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