The following started life as a paper I wrote in graduate school about Puerto Rican Identity through history. I myself am half Puerto Rican and was fascinated by the subject.

Puerto Rico:

A Paradox of Identity

By Stephen A. McCoy

From the very Beginning of its interaction with European powers Puerto Rico has had an issue of identity. The first major Spanish port settlement on the island of “Borinquen” (as the natives called it) was named “Puerto Rico.” This settlement, founded in 1521, had an excellent wide and defensible harbor. Unsurprisingly, “Puerto Rico” is Spanish for “Rich Port.” Columbus had “discovered” the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the new world and named the island San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist), and it was shortened to “San Juan.”  By the 1530s, the “Rich Port” township was known as San Juan and the island was now called Puerto Rico.[1]

Puerto Rico has never been able to truly define itself, and this struggle is very much prevalent within Puerto Rican politics, history, and culture.[2]  This constantly changing crisis of identity was most pronounced between the mid 1800’s and 1952. In these hundred years, the island changed significantly; the culture changed, the language changed, and the colonial master changed—to name just a few examples.

To better understand the idea of a “paradox of identity” it is worth giving a quick overview of Puerto Rican history during this period. In the 1800s, Spain began giving the island more and more rights, abolishing slavery in 1873 and giving Puerto Ricans a seat in the Spanish parliament in 1876.  In 1897, Spain had agreed to give the island full autonomy—a vital step toward national independence.  But war intervened. In 1898, Spain was drawn into war with the United States. Spain lost the Spanish-American War and, as a result, was forced to cede Puerto Rico to the United States. (Other surrendered territories were Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines.) Now, Puerto Rico had a new colonial master. The United States changed the Island’s name to the anglicized “Porto Rico,” dissolved their government, and instituted military rule until 1900.  After 1900, the American President would appoint Puerto Rico’s governor.  Over the next fifty years, Puerto Rico would again try to define itself in relation to the United States.  In one of the attempts to Americanize the island, the U.S. made English the national language. The United States also attempted to supplant Puerto Rican culture with American Culture. Puerto Rico clung to its heritage, and slowly gained rights for its people. By 1917, Puerto Ricans were made American citizens but could not vote for the U.S. president and had no voting representative in congress. Puerto Ricans have served in the United States military in every conflict since the World War I.  In 1922, the Supreme Court case Balzac v. Porto Rico declared that the U.S. Constitution did not apply to Puerto Rico.  It also emphasized that the island was a territory rather than part of the union.

In 1932, the United States Congress officially changed the name of Porto Rico back to Puerto Rico. In 1952, Puerto Rico was officially declared a “Commonwealth” and ratified its own constitution, which still governs the island today. Puerto Rico gained the right to govern itself locally.  Puerto Ricans vote for their own local representatives and governor, but the island is still part of the United States and its chief executive is the President of the United States, which Puerto Ricans cannot vote for.

In a “postcolonial” world, Puerto Rico is still a colony.[3] The modern paradox of Puerto Rico is the following:  Though it is a colony, it is culturally independent.   In national exhibitions (such as the Olympics), Puerto Rico represents itself. It is because of this cultural independence and the establishment of the Puerto Rican Commonwealth that the United Nations took Puerto Rico off its list of colonies in 1953.[4] There is a vibrant cultural heritage, and a deep pride in being a Puerto Rican. Yet, this cultural independence has not translated into a popular movement toward national independence.[5] Puerto Rico is unique in that somehow it treads a middle ground of being a dependent entity with an independent expression. This “dependent independence” marginalizes how outsiders perceive Puerto Rico. When looking up a map of the United States, more often than not, Puerto Rico is not on the map. When it is on the map it is most often in a corner.[6] In the continental United States, Puerto Rico is often considered an “other,” because even though they are American, Puerto Ricans are often viewed a foreigners. But what about Puerto Rico’s perception in Latin America, where it shares a deeper cultural connection? In a trip to San Paulo in the early Nineties, Jean Franco visited a folk museum dedicated to Latin Solidarity. In the museum she found a map of Latin America:

As I walked alongside the map tracing the waterways, cities and mountains from the Tierra del Fuego to Cuba I noticed something odd about the Caribbean—Puerto Rico was missing. It was not on the map of Latin America. . . . Both in Latin America and the United States, Puerto Rico stands for something which cannot be assimilated.[7]

Michelle Joan Wilkinson, after reading Franco’s story describes, “The cartographic exclusion of Puerto Rico pointedly captures its amorphous existence somewhere between the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean.”[8] Adding to this is the fact that almost just as many Puerto Ricans living in the United States, as they do on the island, in effect having more rights than Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico. Again, adding to this the language divide of mainland Puerto Ricans often making English their primary language, and island Puerto Ricans making their primary language Spanish.[9] Thus, even though there is an island called Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican “Nation” has transcended pure geography and has become not just a place but an idea. It is both physical and ephemeral. What I am interested in is how events in Puerto Rico’s past created this unique situation.

The debate on Puerto Rican identity is not new, and there have been various books and articles dedicated to studying the conception of identity on the island.[10] Also the concept of Puerto Rico as a paradox is not new and has also been the subject of much study.[11] Yet the vast majority of these works look at the modern paradox of Puerto Rico and the modern issue of identity in Puerto Rico, which often then turns into a commentary on the statehood debate. I aim to look at the events that created the paradox and events that helped shape Puerto Rican identity.  It is in the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century that this paradox of identity took shape. In looking at key moments of Puerto Rican history, we can begin to understand where these paradoxes of identity took root and how they manifested themselves.

 

Puerto Rico under the Spanish in the Nineteenth Century

In the nineteenth century, Spain was a shadow of its former self. Between the years 1833 and 1892, Spain had seventy-five governments.[12] By 1898, the year of the Spanish-American war, Spain had two colonies left in the New World, the belligerent Cuba, and the sedate, by comparison, Puerto Rico. With all their South American colonial possessions now independent states, Spain was desperate to keep hold of what was left of their once great empire. This is the recurrent theme of nineteenth-century Spanish rule.

In an action both ahead of its time and in part out of desperation, Spain granted major rights to its colonies in 1812. Free men were given Spanish citizenship. The colonies were officially made Spanish provinces with full voting representatives in the Cortes, Spain’s Parliament. A measure of true self-representation and freedom of expression came to the colonies. This lasted two years, and then the entire measure was reversed.[13] Then the Constitution was reenacted in 1820 and reversed again in 1823. After 1824, with Spain losing the last of its Latin American colonies, Spain resorted to despotic measures, hoping to crush and stifle any thoughts of independence. This would continue until 1869. When the First Republic was declared in Spain in 1873, the rights of 1812 were granted back to Puerto Rico. This new Constitution also abolished slavery on the Island. When the monarchy was restored 1874, rights were again curtailed, and when the republic was reinstated in 1876, these rights were again re-gifted to Puerto Rico, but the necessary Spanish legislation to fully put them in place was conveniently not pushed through until 1897.[14] With every major change in government, Spain would reconsider how to treat its colonies. Cuba and Puerto Rico suffered in the nineteenth century because of this Spanish indecision. How could the Spanish hope to run an overseas empire if they could not run their own domestic affairs?  Puerto Rico was a colony amidst Latin American nations becoming free and independent states. The rights given to the island in 1812 had briefly made Puerto Rico (and Cuba) among the freest places in the Caribbean. By the 1890’s, the Spanish territories were the most politically backward. In the Nineteenth century, the identity paradox is evident.

In the 1880s and 1890s political parties became important factions in Puerto Rican Government. The Liberal Reformist Party advocated working with Spain to make life better in Puerto Rico by advocating that the island become a full Spanish province. The Unconditionally Spanish Party (Partido Incondicionalmente Español) advocated the official policies of the Crown. The Autonomist Party platform was working towards independence and total self-government.  Puerto Rican Historian José Trías Monge notes the irony that the major political issue in Puerto Rico in the last quarter of the nineteenth century is the same today, and further, the three political positions were the same: full integration into Spain/statehood, status quo/commonwealth, and independence.[15]

During the nineteenth century, The United States was investing heavily in business and trade, particularly in Cuba. Sugar had supplanted coffee and tobacco as the major cash crop by the mid-nineteenth century. Cuba was the single greatest exporter of sugar in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico was number two.  The United States was the single largest importer of this Caribbean sugar.[16] These sugar plantations were, in many cases, farmed with slave labor. It had been believed that the slave treatment in Puerto Rico had been better than in most other places in the Caribbean. The belief was that, even though they were slaves, they lived well, were treated well, and had a degree of freedom (perhaps considered more indentured servants rather than a traditional view of slaves). This view, which relied on skewed and incomplete documentation, has since been brushed aside as instances of many runaways and slave revolts were discovered. In the 1830s-1840s, major European powers like England and France abolished slavery. Pressure was put on Spain to do the same. In the 1840s, Spain ended its slave trade (but not slavery). English ships patrolled the Caribbean, and the British Navy emancipated any slaves found on ships. [17]   In 1873, slavery was abolished with the installation of a new government in Spain. Even though Puerto Rico’s 30,000 slaves gained their freedom, the new law required them to work a three-year “apprenticeship.”  Only then could they leave their masters. Only skilled artisans could legitimately take advantage of this.  Field workers were hesitant to uproot their families after the three years, only to continue working in someone else’s fields. Some had hoped emancipation of the slaves would begin a process of national independence. [18]  Even though emancipation was a moral triumph, for Puerto Rico, the political implications for revolution were negligible.[19]

In the 1890’s, with popular insurrections in Cuba hurting American trade and a sympathetic American perception of Cuba fighting for its own independence, the United States put pressure on Spain to end the conflict and support greater autonomy for its Caribbean territories. Wanting to avoid further conflict with Cuban revolutionaries and the United States, Spain granted autonomy to both Cuba and Puerto Rico on November 25, 1897, by decree and not by parliamentary vote. Puerto Rico accepted autonomy; Cuba did not. For Cuba, it was independence or nothing. Puerto Rico reorganized its government under the new Carta Autonómica, and held a popular election on March 27. The new government convened on April 25, 1898. That same day, The United States declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War over the events that occurred in Cuba.[20]

One question that seems to confuse most students of Puerto Rican history is in regards to its connection to Cuba. Cuba and Puerto Rico are cultural siblings. Both had very similar colonial experiences, both dealt with Spanish rule, and often the decisions made by the Spanish government dealt with both Cuba and Puerto Rico together. Even with plans of revolution, Cuban and Puerto Rican revolutionaries worked together. In 1867, a group of rebels met in New York under the name “La Sociedad Republicana de Cuba y Puerto Rico” (The Republican Society of Cuban and Puerto Rico).[21] This would not be the last time the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans would work for mutual independence, but it was in the following years that Puerto Rico and Cuba would take separate political paths.

In September 1868, an uprising called Grito de Lares, began in Puerto Rico aiming for independence. After very brief success, the uprising was violently crushed by the Spanish military.[22] The uprising was fully contained by December with 523 arrests. The Spanish government (which itself was in the mist of yet another reorganization) was oddly lenient with the orchestrators of the uprising. Within a year the remaining rebels were given their freedom and granted amnesty.

A convincing theory for this leniency once again involves Cuba. In October 1868, Cuba began its own uprising (The Puerto Rican and Cuban uprisings were coordinated to occur at similar times), which had more success than Puerto Rico’s and would last for ten years. When the “Ten Year’s War” ended, as it came to be called, Cuba was still part of Spain but with greater autonomy. The leftover tensions of this conflict led to another major uprising, which in turn would evolve into the Spanish-American War in 1898. By buying off the Puerto Rican rebels with an amnesty and following this with greater rights for the island (which was written in the same document that abolished slavery in 1873), the Spanish government successfully nipped the revolutionary movement in Puerto Rico. In contrast, Cubans now had a living memory of successful uprising. It was this that put Puerto Rico and Cuba, the two sibling colonies, on very different historical paths.

In 1895, Cuban revolutionaries in New York, called the Cuban Revolutionary Party (CPR), invited Puerto Ricans to their cause and formed the Puerto Rico Section (PRS) of the CPR. At this convention, the Cubans and Puerto Ricans designed a flag to represent their cause. Using the colors red, white, and blue, they aimed to call back the revolutionary image of the French revolution.[23]  The Cuban flag and the Puerto Rican flag created at this convention were inversions of each other. Each flag had a white star, in the center of a triangle and five strips, but the red and the blue inverted.[24] Clearly, the flags also represent the connected history and culture of these two Caribbean colonies. Both flags where immediately banned for their revolutionary meanings. In Puerto Rico, because the flag was a symbol of independence, it was also banned under the United States occupation. When Puerto Rico became a commonwealth in 1952, the flag finally returned as the official representation of the island and the people of Puerto Rico.

 

The Spanish-American War and American Rule

The 1897 autonomous government of Puerto Rico sat for a total of six days.[25] It is unknown how different the history of the island would be had this new government been allowed to function. By all rights, the Spanish-American war was not Puerto Rico’s conflict, nor was it the Philippines’s conflict, nor Guam’s. But they were all were made part of it by virtue of being Spanish colonial possessions. The United States saw an opportunity to expand its own empire. The impetus of the war was the sinking of the battleship U.S.S. Maine, which mysteriously exploded on the night of February 15, 1898 in Havana Harbor. Two hundred and seventy four American sailors died as a result. To this day, there is still speculation on whether the U.S.S. Maine was destroyed by a Spanish mine or because of an internal explosion.  The people of the United States firmly believed that the Maine had been attacked by the Spanish, and the war cry became “Remember the Maine, To Hell with Spain!” There was also a building sentiment and support for the Cuban rebels.

On April 19, 1898, The Unites States Congress passed a joint resolution recognizing Cuban independence. President McKinley signed the resolution the next day. In the next five days, Spain broke off diplomatic relations and War was officially declared.  The most important part of this bill was the “The Teller Amendment,” which stated:

“The United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over said island [Cuba] except for the pacification there of, and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and control of the island to its people.”

Though some American politicians came to hate this provision, it guaranteed that Cuba would be given its freedom after being taken over by the United States.  After the war, President McKinley was hesitant to give Cuba independence quickly. There was a consideration of Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” and the belief that Cuba was not ready for self-government and needed to be educated by the United States.[26] The next United States President, Theodore Roosevelt, had a very different position (possibly because of his fighting in Cuba with the Rough Riders), and granted Cuba independence in 1902.  In the case of Puerto Rico, there was no Teller Amendment. This was intentional. During the war, Roosevelt, who was Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the time, had even stated “I earnestly hope that no truce will be granted and peace will only be made on consideration of Cuba being independent, Porto Rico ours, and the Philippines taken away from Spain.” Senator Henry Cabot Lodge responded to Roosevelt by stating, “Porto Rico is not forgotten and we mean to have it.”[27] This sentiment could be found in other popular writings of the time. In a New York Times article by Amos K. Fiske, dated July 11, 1898 (two weeks before the American invasion of Puerto Rico) stated,

“There can be no question to perplex any reasonable mind about the wisdom of taking possession of the island of Puerto Rico and keeping it for all time. . . . But we shall free Puerto Rico from Spanish rule practically without any effort on the part of its own people, and at our own proper cost as an incident of the contest to expel it from Cuba. . . . We are not pledged to give Puerto Rico independence, and she shall have nothing to entitle her to it at our hands.”[28]

 

On July 21 (four days before the invasion of Puerto Rico began), the White House published a press release stating “Puerto Rico will be kept. . . That is settled, and has been the plan from the first. Once taken it will never be released . . . Its possession will go towards making up the heavy expense of the war to the United States.”[29]

The invasion of Puerto Rico by the United States lasted nineteen days, July 25-August 12. On August 12, armistice was signed, effectively ending the war. The whole war lasted roughly four months. The war came to be known as America’s “splendid little war.”[30]

An historiographical debate still rages on between historians.[31] Some argue that, in planning a war with Spain, the United States had always had a plan to take over Puerto Rico.[32] Others believe that once the conflict in Cuba began to escalate, the U.S. became opportunistic and saw an opportunity to go after Spain’s other colonies, including Puerto Rico.[33]

The reason why this debate is important for Puerto Ricans is a matter of national identity.  It has been argued that if the United States had always planned to take Puerto Rico, it meant the island was perceived as valuable. If Puerto Rico was taken on a whim, it meant that the island was merely war booty and had no preconceived value to the United States. In the very first action concerning Puerto Rico and its new colonial master, the question boils down to – did the United States believe Puerto Rico was important or was it casualty of opportunity? While Cuba was the main objective in the Spanish-American War, with the Teller Amendment, Cuba could never be annexed. Puerto Rico, though much smaller than Cuba, could have a similar worth. Because it was a Spanish possession, Puerto Rico was fair game in a war with Spain, yet the fact that Puerto Rico grew the same crops as Cuba (and in large quantities); it would make sense that Puerto Rico was considered a valid and even an important target for the United States.

This debate on Puerto Rico’s “value” also stems from the fact that there was no heroic narrative during the island’s invasion. Cuba, on the other hand, had many great revolutionary figures and battles they can be proud of. According to a primary account, when the U.S. military landed in Puerto Rico, a very short skirmish occurred be the town of Guánica, a couple hours after the incident, the towns people went back to the town.

The Porto Ricans showed their friendliness to the conquerors by selling horses to the officers at three times their value, and then volunteers made themselves at home on the doorstep of the village, and dandled the naked yellow babies on their knees, and held marvelous conversations with the natives for hours at a time, in a language entirely their own, but which seemed to be entirely satisfactory.[34]

Furthermore, as the Americans penetrated deeper into the island, they were most often met with cheers, even among Spanish government officials. During Puerto Rico’s invasion, three Americans died, and forty were wounded. In the United States press, the entire matter had become known as a “picnic” to the subsequent shame of Puerto Ricans.[35] In 1983, an article was published claiming documentation had been discovered that there had been a Puerto Rican town called Seva and in May 1898 this town had repelled a Unites States attack and had inflicted over a thousand casualties on the invading forces. As retribution the American military leveled the town the ground. Puerto Ricans immediately embraced the story of Seva as their great heroic myth. There was only one problem; Seva had never existed.[36] Puerto Ricans once again could not reconcile the paradox of the great pride they felt for their island, culture, and people and the ignominious situation that was a key factor in putting Puerto Rico on the path that led there.

For a modern Puerto Ricans the Spanish-American War is a frustrating topic, in part because the United States did not treat Puerto Rico in the same way it did Cuba. Also, the lack of a heroic myth hurts the formation of a proud historical identity. Just when it seemed the Puerto Ricans had begun to establish their own identity, the Spanish- American War destroyed it. Puerto Ricans had not been part of the war’s cause, yet they, more than a hundred years later, are still living with the war’s effects. What is fascinating is how Puerto Rico and Cuba, which had been considered so similar, became two very different entities after 1898.

Puerto Rico was ruled by the military for the next two years, officially beginning from October 18 1898. The first military governor to administer post-war Puerto Rico was General John R. Brooke.  Though he ruled for only two months, his actions in Puerto Rico had long standing consequences. He first abolished the majority of the pre-war government and put military commanders in their place. This completely ended any hope for reinstating the autonomous government. On October 26, he officially changed the name of the island from Puerto Rico to Porto Rico. (The United States had always spelled the name of the island “Porto,” but now with U.S. control of the island, official documents began referring to the island as “Porto Rico”) In this same decree, he also mandated that English be the national language of “Porto Rico.”[37]  Thus would begin an attempt to “Americanize” the island. Puerto Ricans were bitter at these attempts to change them. This is obvious in a letter from Anne Sullivan Mace to Helen Keller sent in 1917:

“Harry, who has lived here a year or so, says the people resent the American invasion. They hate our spelling of the name of the island. (They spell it Puerto Rico.) Very poor, quiet, smiling their hate, they wait and hope for the time when they will drive the Americans out. Disdainfully they give us more of the road than is necessary. They hasten to attend us in the shops, but their courtesy is stiff, and I surmise suspicious.”[38]

 

In 1900, the United States Congress enacted the Foraker Act, which created a civilian government on the Island. The new government had a U.S. appointed government, a U.S. appointed higher house and a popularly elected lower house. This act also made the U.S. dollar the official currency of Puerto Rico. United States Federal law also became law on the island. This would not change until 1917 when the United States Congress passed the Jones Act.

Puerto Ricans would attempt to assert themselves under these new rules. In 1909, the Lower House of Puerto Rico refused to pass the next year’s budget on the grounds that the U.S. government was wielding too much power in island affairs. After severely criticizing this issue, President William Howard Taft declared, “the present development is only an indication that we have gone somewhat too fast in the extension of political powers to them for their own good.”[39] As much as the United States tried, Puerto Rico was an “other.” The vast majority did not want to be American; they wanted to be Puerto Rican and be respected. There was resentment for the English schools.[40] Some Puerto Ricans highlighted the fact that in Puerto Rico it did not matter what color a person’s skin was; white or black, they were treated equally and with respect. This racial equality did not exist in the United States making Puerto Rico, more progressive than the United States.[41]

The 1917 Jones Act had two major consequences. First, Puerto Rico’s upper house became an elected assembly, and second, it granted Puerto Ricans American citizenship. While the Jones Act seems progressive, it also raised many issues for the island. In 1916, another act of Congress which was also titled “The Jones Act”, promised eventual independence to the Philippines. The two Jones Acts amounted to a declaration of Colonial intention. As the United States made headway in giving independence to parts of its new empire, Puerto Rico would not be considered for independence. But giving Puerto Ricans American citizenship, Congress “proclaimed the future of Puerto Rico to be something other than national independence.”[42] The Jones Act also did nothing to put Puerto Rico on a path to statehood.[43] The island was not to be independent, but there were no indications on the part of the United States that they wanted to incorporate the territory.

The Jones Act was passed on March 2, 1917. One provision of American citizenship meant that Puerto Ricans could serve in the United States Armed Forces.[44] In what amounts to one of the great historical coincidences, a month later on April 6, 1917, the United States officially entered the First World War. Twenty thousand Puerto Ricans were conscripted into the armed forces.[45]

Though American citizenship created issues that were difficult to assimilate into Puerto Rico’s national identity, many considered it a positive step for Puerto Ricans. World War I was the first major test of what citizenship meant for the island. Puerto Ricans seemed to have used the war to show the United States that they were willing to work in partnership with the mainland.[46] Though many subsequent historians have criticized the reason for giving U.S. Citizenship to Puerto Rico, it seems to have been widely accepted, if not appreciated. Of the million people that lived on the island, only 288 rejected American citizenship.[47]

Giving Puerto Ricans citizenship also caused major legal issues. Puerto Ricans were citizens without a state. Simply, Puerto Ricans were officially second-class citizens. The unknown question was to what extent were Puerto Rican’s rights protected? The answer came in 1922.

Balzac V. Porto Rico was a 1922 Supreme Court case that defined Puerto Rican’s second-class citizenship.  In 1918, Jesús Balzac published two articles in his newspaper El Baluarte that were heavily critical of U.S. appointed governor Arthur Yager. Balzac was brought up on charges of seditious libel and was convicted on two counts (one for each article). Though Balzac could face two years in prison and a fine of $500, his crime was still considered a misdemeanor. Under Puerto Rican law at the time, a jury would only be called in the case of a felony but not for misdemeanor offences.  Balzac appealed the case to the Supreme Court citing that, as a citizen of the United States, his speech was protected under the First Amendment, and he was guaranteed a trial by jury in accordance with the Sixth Amendment. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was former President Taft.  The decision came back unanimous. The court reasoned that because Puerto Rico had been given citizenship by an Act of Congress and not through the Constitution, “The Constitution does not, without legislation and of its own force, carry such right to territory so situated.”[48] Further Chief Justice Taft reasoned that because jury duty was an indication of self-government, and the territories the United States held were unfit for self-government, a Puerto Rican jury did not make much sense.[49] It seems unbelievable that Balzac V. Porto Rico has never been officially overturned. While never overturned, Balzac V. Porto Rico was rendered moot by the Nationality Act of 1940, which granted Constitutional rights to who lived in U.S. territories. Two major rights still denied Puerto Ricans are the right to vote for the island’s chief executive (the President of the United States) and have a voting representative in Congress. Thus the paradox of Puerto Ricans as American citizens still remains. What is truly confounding is if Puerto Ricans leave the island and move to the mainland, they suddenly have the full rights due to an American citizen.

One seemingly odd addition to the 1917 Jones Act was a clause initiating Prohibition in Puerto Rico, if it passed a referendum.  Prohibition had never been an issue in Puerto Rico; in fact, prohibition would kill one of the island’s most profitable industries, the making of rum. When the referendum went to a vote on March 2, 1918, prohibition passed by a two to one margin. In the same way military service was seen as partnering with the United States, passing Prohibition also was felt to be an expression of loyalty to the United States.[50] Over time, prosecuting Prohibition cases was pushed from the local level to the federal level. Prohibition was ended on the local level in 1933, just as the twenty-first amendment nullified the eighteenth amendment. This also meant that even though the Constitutional Amendment and Prohibition on the island ended at roughly the same time, they were not linked. This is another example that, though Puerto Ricans are Americans, their rights were not protected under the Constitution.

From 1917 through the 1920s, Puerto Rico attempted to please the United States. Puerto Ricans are shown as Americanizing, to an extent. They outwardly embraced what the United States gave them, but inwardly held fast to what made them Puerto Ricans. While there was bitterness in Puerto Rico of being made second-class citizens, often and somewhat paradoxically, Puerto Ricans were grateful for new opportunities that became available through the United States. For example, a career in the military was now a new mode of advancement for Puerto Ricans. It was in the 1930’s that Puerto Rico began to reestablish itself as connected but apart from the United States, though a difficult decade for both the island and the mainland.  While suffering through the depression, both sides began to be more honest with each other (for better and for worse).  And for its part, the United States began to marginally respect Puerto Rican culture.

On May 17, 1932, the U.S. Congress voted to change the name of “Porto Rico” back to Puerto Rico. Some were hesitant to do so, considering the bill meaningless. Others were more circumspect, citing that this was “investing in friendship.”  Oscar Keller of Minnesota made the simple and compelling argument that by calling the island “Porto Rico” the United States was insulting the people that lived there because “Porto Rico” was not the name of the island. He made the astute comparison that it was the equivalent of naming New York “Naw York.”[51]  In 1934, Spanish was allowed to be the primary language of education up to the 8^th grade, and in 1946, Spanish was the language of education in Puerto Rico.

In 1940, the United States passed the Nationality Act of 1940, which held that anyone born in a U.S. territory before the act’s ratification was a naturalized U.S. citizen and anyone born in a U.S. territory after the act’s ratification was a natural born citizen of the United States and protected under the 14^th amendment.[52] After the end of the Second World War, the United States granted more local rights to the island. In 1946, Harry Truman appointed Jesús T. Piñero, a Puerto Rican, to be Governor of Puerto Rico. In 1947, Puerto Rico was allowed to elect its own Governor and elected Luis Muñoz Marín, as the islands first popularly elected Governor. In 1950, Truman allows Puerto Rico to establish its own local government and draft a constitution, which then would be ratified by a popular vote.

While Puerto Rico was being given more and more local autonomy, there were groups who advocated more freedom, and popular movements for independence began to appear. In 1948 “Law 53” was passed, also known as the “Gag Law.”  It was enacted to curb rebellion and inciting to overthrow the government.  This law also outlawed symbols of independence. Among the things emphasized as banned were the 1895 flag and patriotic songs. This meant that two of Puerto Rico’s most important songs, La Borinqueña and Precioca, would have been banned. La Borinqueña was written in response to the Spanish-American war and became popular in the early 1900s and would later become the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s national Anthem (with edited lyrics). Precioca, written in the 1930’s, is often considered a second Puerto Rican national anthem.[53]  These two songs play a major role in expressing Puerto Rican identity in popular culture. There is always a sub text of a want for true freedom. Even though Puerto Rico was gaining more rights under the United States, true freedom still eluded Puerto Rico.

In 1952, the new government was elected under the new Puerto Rican made Constitution, which was written in both English and Spanish. It gave Puerto Ricans full autonomy over local affairs, but not international affairs. Luis Muñoz Marín would be reelected and thus become Puerto Rico’s first governor under the 1952 Constitution. In Spanish this new entity became El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, which literally means “The Free Associated State of Puerto Rico.” But this was not how the document was written in English; in English “Estado Libre Asociado” was translated as “Commonwealth.”[54] The choice of the word “commonwealth” is odd within the context of the United States, because four States also call themselves “Commonwealths”: The Commonwealth of Virginia, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The Commonwealth of Kentucky, and The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thus, within the United States, the word “commonwealth” denotes both incorporated states, and unincorporated territories. This paradoxical use of the “Commonwealth” is even evident in the dictionary. In the Encarta Dictionary, Commonwealth has two definitions in relation to the United States:

1. territory associated with United States: a self-governing territory voluntarily associated with the United States. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are Commonwealths.2. title for some states: an official title used by the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia[55]

 

With the declaration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 1895 revolutionary flag became the official flag of the island. It contained one small alteration: the blue triangle was altered from sky blue to dark blue matching the shade of blue of the American Flag. The flag represented both Puerto Rico’s local independence and recognition of its connection to the United States.[56]

How does someone define Puerto Rico? This is the one ongoing question concerning Puerto Rico from the start. First, in 1493 with Columbus: Was the island San Juan or Puerto Rico? And in the present: How does one perceive “Commonwealth”—an incorporated State or a Free Associated State? It is precisely this inability to define what Puerto Rico is, which leads to an impulse to make Puerto Rico a definable entity causing the Statehood/ Commonwealth/Independence debate. A major part of Puerto Rico’s paradox of identity is that it still does not know what it is. Becoming the fifty-first state would define Puerto Rico as fully American, with a true national voice. Independence would allow Puerto Rico to truly become part of the community of nations and make its own connection with the Latin American neighbors with whom Puerto Ricans share a bond. Puerto Ricans are, for the most part, proud to be Americans, but are more proud of being Puerto Rican. It was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century where the events, which caused this “inability to be defined” took place.

Puerto Rico is unique.  It straddles two worlds—Latin America and the United States of America. Some would say that Puerto Rico is an amalgamation of the best of both worlds. Puerto Rico is an important contributor to Hispanic culture.[57] And because of its association with the United States, it is also the most prosperous entity in the Caribbean, but there are very real negatives to Puerto Rico’s unique position.  When compared to the wealth of the individual States in the U.S., Puerto Rico is by far the poorest and least modernized. Puerto Rico is also not an international political entity and thus is often not thought as a real part of the Latin world.  Puerto Rico’s vibrant and independent culture is checked by its subordinate political status to the United States. As stated earlier, Puerto Rico is still a colony in a post-colonial world, and what could be more paradoxical to defining one’s national identity?

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