The United States' control of Puerto Rico. America gained control of Puerto Rico. The Foroker Act established civilian government in Puerto Rico.The President of the United States the power to elect people for high government positions. The people of Puerto Rico could elect people for the lower government positions. Over time, the U.S. gave more and more power to the people of Puerto Rico. Today, Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth. They are officially U.S. citizens, can join the military, pay taxes, are in the Miss USA pagaent, and can travel freely from each country. About the only thing that Puerto Ricans cannot do is vote for the U.S. president.US control of Cuba. The Teller Amendment garenteed Cuban independence after the Spanish-American War. After the war, part of the military stayed to aid the people. At first, the Cubans were resentful of the Americans because they were afraid that the U.S. were just going to take over all of Cuba after the Spanish left. Once the Cubans realized the Americans were there to help, they were a bit more accepting. The aid groups helped cure people of Malaria and Yellow Fever, cleared swamps to be used for farming, and built infrastructure.The Platt Amendment. Cuba could not make treatise with other countries other than the US. Cuba cannot go into debt or borrow from other countries. American citizens can buy Cuban land, and the U.S. military can build a naval base. The Cubans were given the option to accept that amendment and gain freedom. They grudgingly accepted and the U.S. gained some control over the newly freed Cuba.U.S. control of the Philipeans. The Filippians hoped that after America had won the Spanish-American war, the U.S. would help secure independence for the Filipeans. They realized that America would not really be helping them. An ally of ours was Amillio Auguinago. He and the Fillippians declared war on the United States to earn their freedom. A vast majority of the U.S. troops were African Americans. Some of the Fillipeans convinced some of the African Americans to fight for them against the white oppressors.It did not take long for America to crush the Fillippian military. The war cost over $420 million. This war did not go over well with many people in America. These people were mostly anti-imperialists who did not think that it was very fair that America should control these territories when we made such a big deal about getting our own independence from the British.Around this time, European powers were looking at China in a similar way that they were looking at Africa. The European powers were all clamoring to establish colonies in Africa. They wanted to begin to establish colonies in Chine.America was looking for better trade relations with the Chinese. We were concerned that China would be taken over by these countries and that we would be unable to get in and trade. The Open Door Policy of China allows for free trade for all countries through China. John Haye establish Open Door Notes which were policies that granted this. The open door policy eventually led to the independence of China.The Boxers were a highly trained group of Chinese troops who made it their goal to rid China of the foreign invaders. They were successfull in killing thousands of foreign troops and traders. They killed the Russians, Europeans, Japanese, Americans, and others. It took over two months to eradicate the Boxers. The other countries wanted to make this an opportunity to take control of China. America steeped in and enforced the Open Door Policy. This ensured that China would remain Independent.This was all a big mess right from the beginning. If it wasn't for the stupid yellow press, the Spanish American War would most likely never have happend and thousands of lives could have been spared.
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