Do you think Puerto Rico should become the 51st state? 61% of Puerto Ricans say yes. Puerto Rico as a state of the United States could benefits both the US and PR. Through fixing both crime rate, to bringing more economic success. Although both the US and PR had their own pros and cons on whether Puerto Rico become the 51st state or not. Puerto Rico has been a commonwealth of the United States for over many years. Many Americans and Puerto Ricans think that Puerto Rico should not be the 51st state because it has their advantages and disadvantage. So, Should Puerto Rico become the 51 state of the US or stay as they are, as a commonwealth. The Island political status has been an issue over many years since Spanish-American War. Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth “Free Associated State of P.R” of the US. In fact, Puerto Rico became a US territory in 1898, when it was earned from Spain after the Spanish-American War. It gave Puerto Ricans the right Puerto Ricans will have more opportunities as a state and it would bring more federal help for PR. As a state, Puerto Rico will rise from the poverty since they are below the poverty line and American statehood could be the answer to many of the problems the Island is facing. Zach Patton, author of ¨Does Puerto Rico really want to be the next state?¨ writes, ¨Puerto Rico 's economy is in crisis. The territory of 3.7 million residents is now in the seventh year of a persistent downturn, a recession that 's much deeper--and broader--than the one on the mainland...Roughly 45 percent of Puerto Ricans live in poverty, three times the national rate. More than a third of the territory 's residents are on food stamps. Unemployment last year topped 15 percent¨. Proving that Puerto Rico could be beneficial not only financially but in many other aspects in which both Puerto Ricans and Americans can
Americans wanted to project their power to the entire hemisphere and the only way to exercise it is by acquiring a republic. Citizens of three countries did not fully acquire the independence they thought they were entitled to. Cuba got nominal independence because of the Platt Amendment, Puerto Rico became a territory but was not called as citizens of America, and instead they were called Puerto Ricans, while the Philippines were denied statehood.
In order to complicate the things, like not-incorporated territory, Puerto Rico never it was put in automatic route towards a possible statehood since it they have been all the other incorporated territories, as it they have not either been the other not-incorporated territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Marianas Islands of the North. Confused contradictory and, the situation have been evolving gradually to one of gradual integration of Puerto Rico with the U.S.A. The legal and constitutional evolution of the law and precedents that has been accumulated through the years from the promulgation of the Insulars Decisions have tended to treat to Puerto Rico more and more like a state federated in very many areas of their political and economic subjects, except in the most important subject of their last sovereignty.
Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States which makes it easy for natives to travel back and forth. Puerto Ricans first began to arrive in the United States to fill the work void left but those who went on to fight in World War I. Operation Bootstrap was a series of projects that attempted to turn Puerto Rico; a known agricultural economy to one that would concentrate on industrialization and tourism. Puerto Rico enticed many U.S companies with tax exemptions and differential rental rates on industrialized properties and so the shift in the economy had commenced. The shift however did not help the high unemployment rate on the island. Rather than having to deal with the droves of people seeking work they noticed the active recruitment of Puerto Rican workers by U.S. employers. The government began to encourage the departure of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. by requesting the Federal Aviation Administration to lower the airfares between Puerto Rico and the United States. This was an attempt to ch...
This means their government is the same as ours: Democratic Republic and they use the same currency as us as well. Its capital is San Juan, and its population is about 3.667 million (Rivera). Since Puerto Rico has been a U.S territory since 1898, they have embraced some U.S. customs, language being one of them. Citizens have learned to combine their national language, Spanish with the United States’ national language, English, “this is known as Spanglish” (Universia).
Puerto Ricans have a very distinct and complicated history. Their history is unlike any other immigrants who migrated at the United States at any time. Their island became a focus of the United States in 1898, when they won the island as booty in the Spanish-American war. Puerto Ricans residing in the United States have always had the dilemma of having to straddle both the American and Puerto Rican cultures and Spanish and English languages. In my opinion, Puerto Ricans have never had it easy living in the United States. So when I ask my grandparents, and other older generation Puerto Ricans why they decided to migrate from what I thought was "paradise" to the United States, they all give me the same answer. They wanted a better future for their families. They all felt that once they lived in the United States, opportunity would be knocking at the door.
“Puerto Rico is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States and is not subject to the imposition of tax levies by the continental United States except for Social Security, workman’s compensation and several additional labor benefits” (Sennholz). So, the apparent question is, why is Puerto Rico such a poor country? To be perfectly honest, their lack of...
Through the Spanish colonial era briefly describe above, it is evident that Puerto Rican society was a very culturally diverse island. Despite this there has always been heavy emphasis placed on the whiteness of the society by the white elite that dominate the island. José Luis González wrote a controversial article titled Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country in which he expressed his view that Puerto Rican society was not predominately white but rather black because of the thousand of slaves that were taken to the island to work on Sugar plantations. Gonz...
. Describe your culture. Include things like place of birth, where you were raised, family structure, educational experiences, and career history. What else needs to be included?
The Puerto Rican population has been continually experienced death by disease and tribal warfare; this has raised issues dealing with their language use, political affiliation and social construction of race. Due to Puerto Rico being under the control of different countries and nations in the past, they have had issues with continuing their heritage language. When the commonwealth period began in 1948, Spanish was reintroduced as the language of classroom instruction, while English was also required. Many Puerto Ricans feared that if Spanish-speaking traditions weren’t continued, their language would be lost. Thankfully, in the 1980s the popularity of music groups, such as Menudo, showed that Puerto Rican young people still wanted to maintain
Although Puerto Rico is a beautiful place it is a highly expensive place to live. The cost of living in Puerto Rico has increased a great amount over the past decade. San Juan's, in particular, is higher than Atlanta, Dallas, and Seattle but lower than Boston, Chicago, and New York City. One factor is housing prices which comparable to Miami and Los Angeles, although property taxes are considerably lower than most places in the United States.
The statue of liberty is one of America’s famous icons. It stands 305 feet above Liberty Island looking at New York’s historic harbor and enshrining the idea of freedom from oppression. The Lady Liberty has been welcoming millions of immigrants seeking a better life in the United States, however illegal immigration is becoming a much larger issue than when she was built in 1886. With over 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, the question frequently arises, What should be done about them? Now is the best time to figure that out! The illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States of America. The illegals assist in balancing out demand for low wage workers and continue to boost the American economy. They benefit our local and state governments by paying taxes and dividends
have the chance of living life to the fullest. About 24 months ago, Puerto Rico was
Texas should be allowed to secede from the Union. In the Constitution, it was legal originally. Thomas Jefferson in his First Inaugural Address said, “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left to combat it.” Fifteen years later, after the New England Federalists attempted to secede, Jefferson said, “If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation … to a continuance in the union …. I have no hesitation in saying, ‘Let us separate.'” (Walter Williams, 2002) Therefore, it shouldn’t be treason by the Constitution, if a state decides to be separate from the nation. Texas is bigger than some other countries and
Although it was never intended to be, the acquisition of Puerto Rico resulted in Puerto Rico becoming a colony of the United States, vis-a-vis the laws Congress passed and the nature in which the United States tried to "Americanize" the island. Puerto Rico was a colonial government in the hands of Spain, and although the Puerto Ricans hoped that with American invasion, more freedom would be granted. Unfortunately that did not change when the United States assumed control of the island. The social, economic, and political atmosphere greatly changed as well, and those changes were not necessarily for the better or better than what the Puerto Ricans had while under the control of Spain.
While reading the article I came across one piece of information that made me question the governments intentions with the island. Millions of people were without power and due to outstanding bills, the power companies are not repairing the power grid. I found this to be absurd because this island is in a state of crisis therefore I believed that any bills would be funded by the government until the island could repay it. In addition, Trump made the storm seem like a category one by comparing it to Hurricane Katrina and therefore made the decision that the government could not keep FEMA on the island. One important question asked by Milligan was why Puerto Rico is being treated differently than other locations in the U.S that received help from the government. One main factor was that due to the territory status with the U.S Puerto Ricans are not seen as Americans. According to a survey only of Americans surveyed knew that Puerto Ricans were U.S citizens from