ipl-logo

Puerto Rico And Us Relationship Essay

2459 Words10 Pages

The relationship between the United States of America and Puerto Rico has long been complicated and confusing, ultimately leading to Puerto Rico being deemed a territory of the United States. However, as society has progressed the real question comes to mind: how does the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US affect Puerto Ricans and how will this relationship continue to change? After reviewing the past of both Puerto Rico and the United States individually and holistically, as well as understanding the present conditions of their relations it is clear that the future relationship between the two has exceeded its standstill period due to the unjust and hypocritical treatment of Puerto Rican citizens and will rapidly evolve into a relationship …show more content…

In all honesty, the direction for Puerto Rico's status could go in a multitude of different directions. It’s clear that after everything that Puerto Rico has been through and continues to go through due to their actions that the relationship will always be strained. In whole Puerto Ricans are left with a difficult decision when deciding whether the benefits are worth it or not. For example, residents pay most federal taxes; their contributions amounted to more than 4 billion dollars in 2021. However, Puerto Ricans generally do not pay federal income tax, and they continue to enjoy the tax exemptions that have historically incentivized outside investment. So while Puerto Ricans are aware they are being exploited it’s more so an issue of “what’s next”. Separating from the United States would be a lengthy process as would becoming a state leaving Puerto Rico at a standstill. This is what creates such polarizing views between Puerto Ricans and is the cause for this question dominating Puerto Rican politics. Puerto Ricans’ positions on status can be grouped into 5 major categories: Status quo, Enhanced commonwealth, Statehood, Independence, and Free association. To begin the first main position is titled Status Quo which directly mirrors what it is titled. Some Puerto Ricans believe that the relationship with the United States doesn’t need to change and prefers to stay as a commonwealth. This ideology is mainly dominated by the island's “democratic” party. As trivial as it may seem this is most likely the reality for Puerto Ricans for a while as the US and PR continue to dispute over what to do. The next group is titled the Enhanced Commonwealth. Similar to our previous group the Enhanced Commonwealth doesn’t completely disagree with the idea of staying in a similar cycle to the one they are in as of now. However, this group hopes to enact slight changes in the system in place including

Show More
Related

  • Puerto Rico In The Late 1800s

    222 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a Puerto Rican citizen, I do not fit in to that part of our history very much. In the late 1800’s, Puerto Rico was not a U.S. territory; instead, it formed part of the Spanish empire. It wasn’t until the end of the Spanish-American war that Puerto Rico became a U.S. property. Even then (after being conquered by the U.S. in the year 1900), the common American belief was that Puerto Ricans weren’t inherently equal any more than they thought that blacks were racially equal to whites. Rather, because the American public wouldn’t consent to treating Puerto Ricans as equals or granting them citizenship, the U.S. had trouble keeping the island as an imperial possession.

    Read More

  • How Successful Was The Progressive Movement In The United States Chapter 11

    594 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many Cubans defied this policy and control strategy because they saw it as a violation of their independence, but they felt obligated for cooperation because they relied on American sugar markets. The Spanish-American War led to Puerto Rico becoming a U.S. territory. The strategy towards Puerto Rico was different from Cuba's in that it implemented initiatives aimed at "Americanizing" Puerto Rico, such as encouraging the study of American culture and teaching English in education systems. As a result of Puerto Rico's status as an unincorporated territory of the United States, residents were still considered citizens of the country but lacked the same political freedoms as those residing on the US mainland.

    Read More

  • Cultural And Cultural Beliefs Of Puerto Rican Culture And Health

    1385 Words  | 6 Pages

    Puerto Rico, an unincorporated island of the United States, have their own set of cultural beliefs. The foundation of the Puerto Rican structure is family. The word “familismo” is a Puerto Rican word that means close family connections, and it emphasizes the concern for the well-being of the family (Maria de Lourdes B. Serpa, Ed. D, 2005). Although I was born in the United States, my family is from Puerto Rico (Kay, 2018).

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Puerto Rico And The United States

    1503 Words  | 7 Pages

    Puerto Rico and the United States The debate on whether or not Puerto Rico should become a US state has been going on since 1898, after the U.S. defeated Spain in the Spanish-American war. Factors such as the country's relationship, how it might benefit the United States, and our laws, all affect the outcome. This is a complex topic, and there are many sides to it. There are numerous different opinions that people have, both in the United States and in Puerto Rico. “In November 2020, 53 percent of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a U.S. state” (“Could” 1).

    Read More

  • Puerto Rico Research Paper

    1044 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sentiment goes up and down, toward and away from statehood and independence, but roughly half (45% this time) of Puertoricans always seem to want everything to stay the way the have

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of US Colonial School

    171 Words  | 1 Pages

    United States goal for Puerto Rican students was to Americanize their institutions, not only did they want students to learn English they also wanted Puerto Ricans to have the same nutrition as Americans and hygiene as well. United States colonial officials were focused in using the institution of schools to create “tropical Yankees” (Del Moral, 27) United States wanted to create people who supported US colonialism on the island. The creations of tropical Yankees was concentrated more in Puerto Rico schools than in U.S schools as Del Moral discusses “ Colonial school became an important and highly contested site for Americanization in Puerto Rico, where competing agendas and political projects were carried out. ”(Del Moral, 27). Most of the

    Read More

  • Puerto Rico Should Be A State Essay

    2718 Words  | 11 Pages

    Puerto Rico: To Be A State Or To Not Be A State, That Is The Question Puerto Rico is one of many small islands found in the Caribbean. Numerous debates have been held on whether or not it should become the fifty-first state of the United States. There are some positive impacts correlated with this theory. However, becoming a state would make Puerto Rico lose some of its charm and culture, mess up the political structure already set up in the United States, and be unfair to all the Puerto Rican people that were horribly mistreated by the United States of America in the past. Puerto Ricans fought hard to earn the little bit of independence they have, and it would not be right to take that from them.

    Read More

  • Ending Poem: The Struggle Of Puerto Rican Identity

    1273 Words  | 6 Pages

    In my opinion, this island has grown from where they started but are not fully ready to become an independent nation. The people may feel “whole” because they have built their culture from all of these different types of people that have taken over their island these past hundreds of years, but they still heavily lean on America’s government. Why would Puerto Rico choose to become independent anyway? People born on the island are automatically born as United States citizens and have all of the rights of a natural born, U.S. citizen. Puerto Rico is ruled by our government, has the same rights as Americans, and even use the U.S. dollar as their currency.

    Read More

  • Informative Speech On Puerto Rico

    881 Words  | 4 Pages

    Conclusion = Summary of important facts reviewed during the main points of the speech • Puerto Rico took a break from Spain in 1898 claiming some independence • United States did not hesitate to step in and kick Spain out • Years later the US and PR were engaged under the Jones Act making. No wedding date has been set. 8.

    Read More

  • Puerto Rico Should Become A State Essay

    896 Words  | 4 Pages

    They have been loyal for 117 years. They have asked to make it to become a state and it has good reason. They want to join the government and become apart of the legal system. Although it has a lot of debt it can bring a lot of money into the states that can be put to good use. Puerto Rico can be trusted to uphold the morals of the US government because they have as a territory.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Puerto Rico

    1390 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many Puerto Ricans have always dreamed of seeing their beautiful commonwealth become its own country. American laws today are imposed on the territory, but by leaving Puerto Rico to make its own choices, the citizens could design their government whichever way they would like. This choice has the support of many current Americans, from former inhabitants of Puerto Rico wishing for independence to politicians not wanting to support the island in times of need. On the contrary, Puerto Rico has been the colony of a nation for hundreds of years. They have not had independence since before Spain took over the island in the 1500s, and because of that, it could be disastrous to simply cut all ties with the nation.

    Read More

  • Treaty Of Paris Puerto Rico Dbq

    469 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Dec 10, 1898 the Treaty of Paris was signed which put an end to the Spanish-American war. Among the conditions in the treaty was that the Philippines and Puerto Rico to the United States (in the treaty Cuba was granted independence) in return, Spain would receive $20 million dollars from the United States. How the United States handled these situations are subject to much scrutiny and negatively looked upon. Another area of discussion is if the United States abandoned things from the Declaration of Independence and essentially what the country stood for. Under the Treaty of Paris Puerto Rico became an American Provence.

    Read More

  • Puerto Rican Immigration Pros And Cons Essay

    137 Words  | 1 Pages

    However, the legal opinions known as the Insular Cases plagued Puerto Rican immigrants. These cases argued that Puerto Rico was full of “alien races”. This meant that Puerto Rican Immigrants would not be covered by the United States constitution. America treated Puerto Ricans unfairly by not allowing them to have passports or any legal standing in the United States until 1917. In 1917 Puerto Ricans became United States citizens under the Jones-Shafroth act.

    Read More

  • Chick Fil A Executive Summary

    1506 Words  | 7 Pages

    Chemicals, machinery and equipment, clothing, food, fish, and petroleum products are among the main items constituting Puerto Rico imports. Import duty and taxes are due when importing goods into Puerto Rico whether by a private individual or a commercial entity. The valuation method is Free on Board which means that the import duty payable is calculated exclusively on the value of the imported goods. However, some duties are based part in value and part in quantity.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Philippe Bourgois's In Search Of Respect: Selling Barrio

    1297 Words  | 6 Pages

    These things she would have prevented to do in her homeland (2003: 241). The lack of community did affect Primo’s mother despite her success as she still desired the sense of community that she would have had if she were in Puerto

    Read More

More about Puerto Rico And Us Relationship Essay

Open Document