American Intervention in Cuba and Puerto Rico Essay -- American Histor

End notes are missing from the paper. To Secretary of State John Hay, the Spanish-American War was a "splendid little war", one that would bring tremendous benefit to those fortunate colonies liberated from Spain. For those places where the Spanish were forcibly expelled, there was nothing splendid about either about the war or its aftermath. To state simply that war is hell and that change is disruptive is merely to state the obvious. Beyond this, many U.S. historians have characterized the results of U.S. intervention and subsequent occupation of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as a bequest, an opportunity to enjoy previously unknown individual liberties, political self-determination and potential economic prosperity. Other historians have characterized the actions of the United States as nothing short of exploitative imperialism, designed to subjugate those who it considered inferior to a state of political and economic servitude. What is clear is that, in Cuba and Puerto Rico, many viewed the American involvement initially as a positive development. What is equally apparent is that after the war and over time, these pro-American attitudes soured considerably. There were many reasons for this development. Leaving the economic, sociological, and psychological examinations of this large issue to other more ambitious endeavors, this paper aims to explore the way in which the intervention and occupation disrupted and complicated the normal political construction of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Also, in an effort to avoid the larger historiographical debate, political developments will be presented simply in response to conditions. The premise of this paper is that, intentionally or otherwise, the U.S. intervention and subseque... ...s E., Cuba 1933†¦Prologue to Revolution. 1972 Cornell University Press, N.Y. Carrion, Arturo Morales, Puerto Rico, A Political and Cultural History., 1983 WW Norton, N.Y., N.Y. Foner, Philip S., The Spanish-Cuban-American War and the Birth of American Imperialism, Volume 2, (1898-1902), 1972 Monthly Review Press, N.Y., N.Y. Knight, Franklin W., The Caribbean, The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. 1990 Oxford University Press, N.Y., N.Y. Maldonado-Denis, Manuel, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation. 1972 Random House, N.Y., N.Y. Perez, Louis A., Cuba Under The Platt Amendment, 1902-1934. 1986 University of Pittsburgh Press, Pa. Suchlicki, Jamie, "The Political Ideology of Jose Marti" from: Beckles, Hilary and Verene Shepherd, Caribbean Freedom: Economy and Society from Emancipation to the Present. 1996 Marcus Wiener, Princeton, N.J.