Almost citizens : Puerto Rico, the U.S. Constitution, and empire / Sam Erman, University of Southern California.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Erman, Sam, author.

Series:

Studies in legal history.

Studies in legal history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Citizenship--United States.

Citizenship.

Puerto Ricans--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Puerto Ricans.

Puerto Rico--International status.

Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico--Politics and government--1898-1952.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 275 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Almost Citizens lays out the tragic story of how the United States denied Puerto Ricans full citizenship following annexation of the island in 1898. As America became an overseas empire, a handful of remarkable Puerto Ricans debated with US legislators, presidents, judges, and others over who was a citizen and what citizenship meant. This struggle caused a fundamental shift in constitution law: away from 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 constitutional meaning for a quarter of a century. The result is a history in which the United States and Latin America, Reconstruction and empire, and law and bureaucracy intertwine.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. 1898: 'The constitutional lion in the path'; 2. The Constitution and the new US expansion: debating the status of the Islands; 3. 'We are naturally Americans': Federico Degetau and Santiago Iglesias pursue citizenship; 4. 'American aliens': Isabel Gonzalez, Domingo Collazo, Federico Degetau, and the Supreme Court, 1902-1905; 5. Reconstructing Puerto Rico, 1904-1909; 6. The Jones Act and the long path to collective naturalization; Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 Nov 2018).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-24473-4

1-108-23386-4

1-108-24645-1

OCLC:

1061761344