18-3 Critical Thinking #s 3 & 4

How did American rule of Puerto Rico harm Puerto Ricans? How did it help them? Do you think the benefits outweighed the harmful effects? Why or Why not?

After the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico became a temporarily owned by the United States. This worried some Puerto Ricans who feared that they would not have the freedom that Spain had given them. Some took the route of being a vocal advocate and tried to get Puerto Rico the self rule it deserved. However, our rule over the country helped some of the Puerto Ricans who wanted statehood. Although there were two groups of Puerto Ricans, there one group was affected the country's statehood. The US definitely caused more harm than benefits to the country. This was due to the fact that our military was in control of the area. Not to mention that, whether the Puerto Ricans wanted independence or statehood, the US wasn't going to help with either, but simply use the island as a strategic spot for their troops to patrol the coast. (558-559)
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How was U.S. policy toward China different from U.S. policy toward the Philippines? To what can you attribute the difference?

In the Philippines, there were some issues with revolt. Therefore, America, as well as Spain played to role of enforcing the law against the rebelling colonies fighting for freedom. Once they finished "suppressing the rebellion" they took control of the Filipino islands as they did with Puerto Rico. However, the Philippines actually earned independence 47 years later.(561)
The situation with China was quite different however. Instead of us helping stop a rebellion, we caused one. America saw the occupation of the Philippines as a "door" to the rest of Asia to sell their products to: namely China. Hoping China doesn't loose interest in the American products in their market, the US tried to address letters to the leaders of the nation, but at the same time not create a Monopoly. However, with European Countries controlling China's main cities, the Chinese started something called "the Boxer Rebellion" on the controlling countries such as Britain, France and Germany. After the rebellion, John Hay created another "open door note" which announced that America would "safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire."(562-563)