Today we continued to present on Chapter 10. We started out talking about Puerto Rico.US Control of Puerto RicoI learned the U.S. got Puerto Rico from the Spanish-American War by the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The Foraker Act ridded Puerto Rico of military rule and established a government with a civilian power. Also in 1917, the Jones Act was passed. It granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship. I also learned that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States, which means they are citizens that can move freely in and out of the country, they can be drafted into the military, have to pay taxes, but they cannot vote for the president. Another thing I learned was that they have also voted to stay a commonwealth because they do not want to lose their heritage.US Control of CubaI learned that the Teller Amendment granted Cubans independence from Spain after Spanish-American War. The Cubans did not like us being in their country, but they eventually accepted that we were there. We gave them independence, but it had a couple strings attached. I also learned that the strings were cut two or three decades after they gained independence.The Platt Amendment had many conditions(strings attached):-Cuba could not make treaties with foreign countries-U.S. could intervene in Cuba when felt we had to-Cuba could not go into debt-Cuba had to give land to U.S. for naval base, which became G.B.Another thing I learned was why the United States was interested in Cuba. They wanted Cuba because of the oppurtunity of a naval base(eventually became Gantanamo Bay), the sugar and tobacco plantations, a place to build a canal in Central America, and a strategic location for military uses. Treaty of Relations was a treaty between Cuba and U.S. which was kind of like a good neighbor policy.Open Door Policy in ChinaI learned that Wake Island, Midway, American Somoa were stepping stones to China for the United States. America was looking for a country that they could trade with. They found the perfect solution in China because they had been weakenend by wars. I also learned that Another reason was because other countries were starting to set up settlements on the coast. The Open Door policy allowed free trade in China with other countries. Another thing that I learned was that it allowed all the countries in the world equal trading with China and it gave Chinese the Chinese people Independence.Boxer Rebellion in ChinaThe Boxers were a group of people that were very expierenced in martial arts so the foreigners called them boxers. The Boxer did not like that Europeans were coming into their country and trying to convert the people of China to Christianity. The Boxers killed a lot of people that included missionaries and Chinese converts to Christianity. The Boxers were beaten by armies from many countries. The Boxer Protocal made China pay the countries that helped them defeat the Boxers for their services.
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