home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!darwin.sura.net!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Puerto Rico: THE STRUGGLE FOR INTERNAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
- Message-ID: <1992Sep3.021000.8081@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: PACH
- Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 02:10:00 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 60
-
- /** reg.puertorico: 33.0 **/
- ** Topic: Puerto Rico:Constitutional law **
- ** Written 6:58 pm Sep 1, 1992 by caribdoc in cdp:reg.puertorico **
- From: Proyecto Caribeno de Justicia y Paz <caribdoc>
- Subject: Puerto Rico:Constitutional law
-
-
- AUTHOR: Juan M. Garcia-Passalacqua
- TITLE: Puerto Rican Constitutional Law.
-
-
- [Excerpt]
-
- THE STRUGGLE FOR INTERNAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.
-
- In the years between 1902 and 1917 constitutional demands,
- reiterated once and again, included those for an elective legislature,
- separation of powers and authority over local matters, as well as the
- full protection of the federal constitution, including American citi-
- zenship.(1) A government crisis in 1909 precipitated the proposal in
- 1910, and the approval in 1917 of a new Organic Act that substantially
- granted those demans.
-
- The Jones Act of 1917 in granting a civil government for the
- island, established the basic insitututional foundations of the present
- Consititution. It also affected the constitutional relationship of the
- island to the island to the federal system, by granting U.S. citizenship
- to the Puerto Ricans.
-
- The decade of the 1930's brought a worsening of the economic pro-
- blems that had always plagued the island and the majority's rejection of
- the status question as a fundamental one for the people. After 1943,
- however, emphasis was put on improving the system of self-government,
- especialy by the obtention of an elective Governor. For the first time,
- the efforts of political leaders were mainly directed towards the inter-
- nal structure and functioning of government, the essential question of
- constitutionalism. This was to become a crucial turning point in the
- constitutional history of the island, since soon enough, an Elective
- Governor Act, enacted by Congress in 1947, gave virtual internal
- self-government to the Puerto Ricans for the first time in their
- history.
-
- The legitimation of the structure and institutions of local self-
- government by means of the peoples' consent came between 1948 and
- 1952. As a result of multiple political procedures, including an
- anthorization to that effect by Congressional statute and pursuant to
- a popular mandate in a referendum, a Constitutional Convention was
- called by local law on July 3, 1951. The Convention was in session from
- September 17, 1951 to February 6, 1952, on which day Constitution was
- approved by the elected delegates of the Puerto Rican people for the
- first time in their history, and subsequently ratified by the people.
- This constitution went into effect on July 25, 1952........
-
- (1) Munoz-Amato, "Major Trends in the Constitutional History of Puerto
- Rico, 1493-1917", 12 Rev. Col Abo. 242 (1949).
-
- [TAKEN FROM: Revista del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico, Vol. 35,
- Febrero, 1974, No. 1, p. 29-31]
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.puertorico **
-
-