Okla-homey
7/25/2007, 06:22 AM
July 25, 1898: Puerto Rico invaded
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/24193/2000974075587492149_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000974075587492149)
109 years ago today, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/24193/2000905663456651450_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000905663456651450)
Hitting the beach on July 25.
With little resistance and only seven deaths, U.S. troops under General Nelson A. Miles able to secure the island by mid-August. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, American troops raised the American flag over the island, formalizing U.S. authority over its one million inhabitants.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/21869/2000920872178103556_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000920872178103556)
General Miles. The celebrated Civil War leader and Indian fighter was pulled out of retirement for the Span-Am War
In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico by Spain to the United States.
http://aycu08.webshots.com/image/24407/2000904687840784757_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000904687840784757)
US invasion troops parade through the streets amid little local resistance
In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island's official language.
However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won wide support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship.
The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952, the 54th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/24486/2000963908269794211_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000963908269794211)
Movements for Puerto Rican statehood, along with lesser movements for Puerto Rican independence, have won supporters on the island, but popular referendums in 1967 and 1993 demonstrated that the majority of Puerto Ricans still supported their special status as a U.S. commonwealth and did not want statehood.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/22101/2006234498818274222_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006234498818274222)
Isis Marie Casalduc, Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Universe contestant. I'm not quite sure why P.R. gets to compete in Miss Universe, being part of the US and all, but...who cares?
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/22755/2000949981900205724_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000949981900205724)
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/24193/2000974075587492149_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000974075587492149)
109 years ago today, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/24193/2000905663456651450_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000905663456651450)
Hitting the beach on July 25.
With little resistance and only seven deaths, U.S. troops under General Nelson A. Miles able to secure the island by mid-August. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, American troops raised the American flag over the island, formalizing U.S. authority over its one million inhabitants.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/21869/2000920872178103556_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000920872178103556)
General Miles. The celebrated Civil War leader and Indian fighter was pulled out of retirement for the Span-Am War
In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico by Spain to the United States.
http://aycu08.webshots.com/image/24407/2000904687840784757_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000904687840784757)
US invasion troops parade through the streets amid little local resistance
In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island's official language.
However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won wide support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship.
The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952, the 54th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/24486/2000963908269794211_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000963908269794211)
Movements for Puerto Rican statehood, along with lesser movements for Puerto Rican independence, have won supporters on the island, but popular referendums in 1967 and 1993 demonstrated that the majority of Puerto Ricans still supported their special status as a U.S. commonwealth and did not want statehood.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/22101/2006234498818274222_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006234498818274222)
Isis Marie Casalduc, Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Universe contestant. I'm not quite sure why P.R. gets to compete in Miss Universe, being part of the US and all, but...who cares?
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/22755/2000949981900205724_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000949981900205724)