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.
Tells the tragic story of Puerto Ricans who sought the post-Civil War regime of citizenship, rights, and statehood but instead received racist imperial governance.
Sam Erman is Associate Professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
'More than a century after the United States announced its rise to
world power by vanquishing Spain in the 'splendid little war' of
1898 and acquiring distant island possessions, the American
colonial experiment in Puerto Rico endures as a test of the promise
of American citizenship. Sam Erman reconstructs the first years of
this experiment, exploring the understandings and misunderstandings
that led Congress to grant citizenship and an elected legislature
to the people of Puerto Rico in 1917. His deeply researched
narrative sheds new light on how the destinies of the United States
and its new colony became intertwined - a process that prefigured
the continuing clamor for full and equal United States citizenship
for the Puerto Ricans.' José A. Cabranes, United States Circuit
Judge and author of Citizenship and the American Empire
'Erman's exploration of debates over the annexation and governance
of Puerto Rico tells a powerful and long-overlooked story of
constitutional transformation.' Christina Duffy Ponsa-Kraus, author
of Foreign in a Domestic Sense
'Erman tells the story of Puerto Rico and the invention of a new
constitutional category - 'unincorporated territories' - in a
compelling narrative that interweaves politics, constitutional
controversy, and the lives of Puerto Rican activists.' John Witt,
Yale University, Connecticut
'Sam Erman's superb book illuminates the political and
constitutional origins of the world's largest colony, Puerto Rico.
His deep research and lively writing provide a ready, and
altogether chastening, explanation for the fact that, a full
century after the Jones Act awarded citizenship to all Puerto
Ricans, all too many mainlanders, including the President, scarcely
credit the reality that the island and its beleaguered citizens are
truly part of a united American community with equal entitlement to
our solicitude.' Sanford Levinson, author of An Argument Open to
All: Reading 'The Federalist' in the 21st Century
'Almost Citizens shows off both [Erman's] range and his substantial
chops as a historian: the book is deeply researched and densely
footnoted, but Erman's writing is also lively and lucid, and he has
an eye for catchy stories and compelling characters. Most
importantly, he has recovered a crucial history of the struggle
over democracy, rights, race, and gender in America, a set of
conflicts we have not left behind.' Andrew Lanham, The New
Republic
'This book by a US law professor about the fate of Puerto Rican
aspirations to citizenship and then to statehood after the 1898
annexation up until this day, proves revealing … 'The empire that
dared not speak its name' - as Erman says, with a certain grace -
was characterized by ambiguity and inconsistency, sending equivocal
signals and resisting the constitutional provisions for equal
rights and the calls for statehood. US triumphalism and racism has
prevailed at the expense of inclusive, democratic impulses.' El
Nuevo Dia
'Erman melds meticulous archival research with the acuity of a
serious constitutional lawyer in tracing his constitutional history
of empire.' Jedidiah Kroncke, The Journal of Things We Like
(Lots)
'In the US, citizenship is almost meaningless, and Constitutional
protections are even less significant. In 1899, access to the
benefits of the US was controlled by those in power rather than
guaranteed by American founding documents. Almost Citizens traces
the development of legal thought and application in the US
transition from post-Civil War recovery to imperial power. … the
American civilizing mission was undergirded by Democrats' racism;
Republicans' hollow commitments to liberty; varying Puerto Rican
goals of protection, citizenship, statehood, and independence; and
American insecurity in the face of new imperial opponents. This
toxic mixture enabled lawmakers to promise and reject citizenship
almost simultaneously, while the Supreme Court actively carved a
trail of ambiguity, leaving Congress and the executive branch to
craft a piecemeal imperial policy. Erman's detailed analysis of
American colonial administration and legal argument makes for a
distressing, fascinating read. Recommended.' J. L. Meriwether,
Choice
'… Almost Citizens makes an important contribution to the study of
the history of the extension of US citizenship to Puerto Rico and
the debates over the development of a new expansionist tradition.'
Charles R. Venator-Santiago, Journal of American Ethnic History
'Sam Erman's superb book ... Almost Citizens thoroughly succeeds in
its 'key goal' of 'illuminating how modestly situated individuals,
powerful actors, and large struc-tural forces all interacted to
bringabout historical change'.' Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus, Michigan
Law Review
'Almost Citizens provides the most detailed discussion yet of the
politics and maneuvers that formed part of the definition of the
legal status of Puerto Ricans during first 20 years of US colonial
rule … The book is well documented with detailed footnotes.' Aldo
Lauria Santiago, CENTRO Journal
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