Puerto Rico Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====U.S. unincorporated organized territory==== The United States and Puerto Rico began a long-standing metropolis-colony relationship.<ref>Truman R. Clark. ''Puerto Rico and the United States, 1917–1933.'' 1975. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 129.</ref> This relationship has been documented by numerous scholars, including U.S. Federal Appeals Judge [[Juan Torruella]],<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/juan-torruella-groundbreaking-us-appeals-judge-dies-at-87.html ''Juan Torruella, Groundbreaking U.S. Appeals Judge, Dies at 87: He was the only Hispanic to serve on the First Circuit court in Boston. In July he moved to overturn a death sentence in the Boston Marathon bombing.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911004323/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/juan-torruella-groundbreaking-us-appeals-judge-dies-at-87.html |date=11 September 2021 }} Sam Roberts. The New York Times. 28 October 2020. Accessed 15 December 2020.</ref> U.S. Congresswoman [[Nydia Velázquez]],<ref>[https://thehill.com/latino/517921-hopes-for-dc-puerto-rico-statehood-rise ''Hopes for DC, Puerto Rico statehood rise.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819000559/https://thehill.com/latino/517921-hopes-for-dc-puerto-rico-statehood-rise |date=19 August 2021 }} Marty Johnson and Rafael Bernal. The Hill. 24 September 2020. Accessed 15 December 2020.</ref> Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court [[José Trías Monge]],<ref>José Trías Monge. ''Puerto Rico: The trials of the oldest colony in the world.'' Yale University Press. 1997. p.3. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07618-9}}</ref> and former [[Albizu University]] president Ángel Collado-Schwarz.<ref>Angel Collado-Schwarz. ''Decolonization Models for America's Last Colony: Puerto Rico.'' Syracuse University Press. 2012. {{ISBN|0-8156-5108-2}}</ref>{{efn|For additional references to Puerto Rico's current (2020) colonial status under U.S. rule, see Nicole Narea,<ref>[https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/live-results-for-puerto-ricos-statehood-referendum/ar-BB1aF94A ''Live results for Puerto Rico's statehood referendum.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914030428/https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/live-results-for-puerto-ricos-statehood-referendum/ar-BB1aF94A |date=14 September 2021 }} Nicole Narea. MSN Microsoft News. 5 November 2020. Accessed 15 December 2020.</ref> Amy Goodman and Ana Irma Rivera Lassén,<ref>[https://www.democracynow.org/2020/11/6/puerto_rico_ana_irma_rivera_lassen ''Puerto Ricans Vote to Narrowly Approve Controversial Statehood Referendum & Elect 4 LGBTQ Candidates.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908232158/https://www.democracynow.org/2020/11/6/puerto_rico_ana_irma_rivera_lassen |date=8 September 2021 }} Amy Goodman and Ana Irma Rivera Lassén. Democracy Now! 6 November 2020. Accessed 15 December 2020.</ref> David S. Cohen<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-political-travesty-of-puerto-rico-196852/ ''The Political Travesty of Puerto Rico: Like all U.S. territories, Puerto Rico has no real representation in its own national government.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908232211/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-political-travesty-of-puerto-rico-196852/ |date=8 September 2021 }} David S. Cohen. RollingStone. 26 September 2017. Accessed 15 December 2020.</ref> and Sidney W. Mintz.<ref>Sidney W. Mintz. ''Three Ancient Colonies: Caribbean Themes and Variations.'' Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2010. p. 134.</ref> Additional sources are available.}} In the early 20th century, Puerto Rico was ruled by the U.S. military, with officials including the governor appointed by the [[president of the United States]]. The [[Foraker Act]] of 1900 gave Puerto Rico a certain amount of civilian popular government, including a popularly elected [[House of Representatives of Puerto Rico|House of Representatives]]. The upper house and governor were appointed by the United States. [[File:First Supreme Court PR.JPG|thumb|The first [[Supreme Court of Puerto Rico]], appointed pursuant to the [[Foraker Act]]|alt=|left]] Its judicial system was reformed{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} to bring it into conformity with the [[Law of the United States|American federal courts system]]; a [[Supreme Court of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rico Supreme Court]]{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} and a [[United States territorial court|United States District Court]] for the unincorporated territory were established. It was authorized a nonvoting member of Congress, by the title of "[[Resident commissioner of Puerto Rico|Resident Commissioner]]", who was appointed. In addition, this Act extended all U.S. laws "not locally inapplicable" to Puerto Rico, specifying, in particular, exemption from U.S. Internal Revenue laws.<ref name=status>{{cite web |url=http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf |title=Report by the President's task force on Puerto Rico's Status |date=December 2005 |access-date=1 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925184244/http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf |archive-date=25 September 2007 }}</ref> The Act empowered the civil government to legislate on "all matters of legislative character not locally inapplicable", including the power to modify and repeal any laws then in existence in Puerto Rico, though the U.S. Congress retained the power to annul acts of the Puerto Rico legislature.<ref name="status"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Efrén Rivera Ramos |title=American Colonialism in Puerto Rico: The Judicial and Social Legacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5l55R3_mPoC |year=2007 |publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers |isbn=978-1-55876-410-1 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=J5l55R3_mPoC&pg=PA54 54–55] |access-date=18 October 2020 |archive-date=8 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208215204/https://books.google.com/books?id=J5l55R3_mPoC |url-status=live }}</ref> During an address to the Puerto Rican legislature in 1906, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] recommended that Puerto Ricans become [[Citizenship of the United States|U.S. citizens]].<ref name="status"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Porto Rico En Fete: President's Auto Tour Amid Shower of Roses: He Promises Citizenship |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=1 |date=22 November 1906 |id={{ProQuest|144628701}} }}</ref> In 1914, the Puerto Rican House of Delegates voted unanimously in favor of independence from the United States, but this was rejected by the U.S. Congress as "unconstitutional", and in violation of the 1900 [[Foraker Act]].<ref name="Gonzalez" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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