Jones–Shafroth Act

The impetus for this legislation came from a complex of local and mainland interests. Puerto Ricans lacked internationally recognized citizenship, but the local council was wary of "imposing citizenship." Luis Muñoz Rivera, the Resident Commissioner in Washington, argued against US citizenship, giving several speeches in the House of Representatives.^[1] On 5 May 1916 he demanded:

Give us now the field of experiment which we ask of you... It is easy for us to set up a stable republican government with all possible guarantees for all possible interests. And afterwards, when you... give us our independence... you will stand before humanity as a great creator of new nationalities and a great liberator of oppressed people. ... as you know, the final aspiration of my party is nationalism with or without American protectorate, and as the Puerto Rican people understand it, the granting of (US) citizenship will interfere with their aspirations for independence.

Rep. William Atkinson Jones, (D-Virginia), chairman of the House Committee on Insular Affairs, and Sen. John Shafroth, (D-Colorado), chairman of the Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico, sponsored the legislation which bears their names.^[2][3]

This Act made all citizens of Puerto Rico U.S. citizens^[4] and reformed the system of government in Puerto Rico. In some respects, the governmental structure paralleled that of a state of the United States. Powers were separated among executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The law also recognized certain civil rights through a bill of rights to be observed by the government of Puerto Rico (although trial by jury was not among them).

According to Public Law 414 of June 27, 1952 SEC.302:

§1402. Persons born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899

All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899, and prior to January 13, 1941, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, residing on January 13, 1941, in Puerto Rico or another territory over which the United States exercises rights of sovereignty and not citizens of the United States under any other Act, are declared to be citizens of the United States as of January 13, 1941. All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are citizens of the United States at birth.

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 1, §302, 66 Stat. 236.)^[5][6]

The Act abolished racial restrictions found in United States immigration and naturalization statutes going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790. The 1952 Act retained a quota system for nationalities and regions. Eventually, the Act established a preference system that determined which ethnic groups were desirable immigrants and placed great importance on labor qualifications. The Act defined three types of immigrants: immigrants with special skills or who had relatives of U.S. citizens, who were exempt from quotas and who were to be admitted without restrictions; average immigrants whose numbers were not supposed to exceed 270,000 per year; and refugees.

It expanded the definition of the "United States" for nationality purposes, which already included Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to add Guam. Persons born in these territories on or after December 24, 1952, acquire U.S. citizenship at birth on the same terms as persons born in other parts of the United States.^[7]

Residents of the island were granted United States citizenship and allowed to reject it voluntarily within six months of the act being established. Of the almost 1.2 million residents on the island, only 288 rejected it.^[8]

Presently, Puerto Rico lacks voting representation in Congress, and residents of the island aren't qualified to participate in general elections but can only vote in primaries. Puerto Ricans residing on the U.S. mainland, however, have the option to register and vote in their respective states.^[9]

The Act created a bicameral local legislature composed of a Senate with 19 members and a House of Representatives with 39 members. The legislature was to be elected by universal male suffrage for a term of four years. Bills passed by the legislature could be vetoed by the governor, but his veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote, in which case the President of the United States would make the final decision.

Matters relating to franchises and concessions were vested in a Public Service Commission, consisting of the heads of the executive departments, the auditor, and two elected commissioners. A Resident Commissioner representing Puerto Rico as a non-voting delegate of the U.S. House of Representatives was elected by popular vote to a four-year term.

Under the Act, six executive departments were constituted: Justice, Finance, Interior, Education, Agriculture, Labor, and Health. The governor, the attorney-general, and the commissioner of education were appointed by the President with the approval of the U.S. Senate; the heads of the remaining departments were appointed by the governor of Puerto Rico, subject to the approval of the Puerto Rican Senate.

The Governor of Puerto Rico was to be appointed by the President of the United States, not elected. All cabinet officials had to be approved by the United States Senate, and the United States Congress had the power to veto any law passed by the Puerto Rican Legislature. Washington maintained control over fiscal and economic matters and exercised authority over mail services, immigration, defense, and other basic governmental matters. Puerto Rico was not given electoral votes in the election of U.S. President, because the Constitution of the United States of America allows only full-fledged states to have electoral votes.

Section 3 of the act also exempted Puerto Rican bonds from federal, state, and local taxes regardless of where the bondholder resides.^[b] This has made Puerto Rican bonds extremely attractive to municipal investors as they may inure from holding a bond issued by a state or municipality different from the one where they reside. This is because municipal bonds that enjoy triple tax exemption are typically granted such exemption solely for bondholders that reside in the state that issues them.^[10][11]

Before the Jones–Shafroth Act, insular Puerto Ricans were not citizens of the United States. Subsequent to the Act, they immediately became U.S. citizens. The act also extended almost all U.S. laws to have the same force and effect in Puerto Rico as in the United States (the only laws excepted were those concerning internal revenues) including the National Defense Act of 1916 which established the composition of the U.S. military. Two months after Congress passed the Jones–Shafroth Act, that same Congress enacted the Selective Service Act of 1917 which based conscription "upon liability to military service of all male citizens." Through its passage, the Jones–Shafroth Act – via a combination of citizenship and the expansion of U.S. laws to Puerto Rico, including the aforementioned National Defense Act – imposed mandatory conscription into the U.S. military on Puerto Ricans, precisely at the moment that the United States entered World War I. As a result, around 20,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. armed forces during World War I, and 65,000 fought in World War II.^[12]

The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 spurred significant migration to the U.S. mainland, particularly to New York State, as it granted citizenship. Around 42,000 Puerto Ricans relocated to the U.S. throughout the 1920s.^[13]

Portions of the Jones Act were superseded in 1948, after which the Governor was popularly elected. In 1948, U.S. Congress mandated Puerto Rico to draft its own Constitution which, when ratified by the electorate and implemented in 1952, provided greater autonomy as a territorial Commonwealth.

• Jones–Shafroth Act as enacted (details) in the US Statutes at Large
• Jones-Shafroth Act - The Library of Congress
• Spanish text