Approved on May 22, 1903, the Platt Amendment was a treaty between the U.S. and Cuba that attempted to protect Cuba's independence from foreign intervention. It permitted extensive U.S. involvement in Cuban international and domestic affairs for the enforcement of Cuban independence.
U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898 produced a peace treaty that compelled Spain to relinquish control of several overseas territories, including Cuba (see the de Lôme letter). In April of 1898, Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado proposed an amendment to the U.S. declaration of war against Spain, which stated that the United States would not establish permanent control over Cuba. The Teller Amendment asserted that the United States "hereby disclaims any disposition of intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island except for pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people." The Senate adopted the amendment on April 19.
Nonetheless, U.S. troops occupied Cuba for several years after the war ended. Under Gen. Leonard Wood, the military government organized a school system, ordered the finances, and made significant progress in eliminating yellow fever.
When the Constitutional Convention of Cuba started its deliberations in July 1900, it received notification that the U.S. Congress intended to attach an amendment to the Cuban Constitution. The following year, Secretary of War Elihu Root drafted a set of articles as guidelines for future United States–Cuba relations. This set of articles became known as the Platt Amendment, after Senator Orville Platt of Connecticut, who presented it. Platt was a U.S. senator from 1879 to 1905 and influenced the decision to annex Hawaii and occupy the Philippines. As chair of the Senate Committee with Relations on Cuba, he sponsored the amendment as a rider attached to the Army Appropriations Bill of 1901. Cubans reluctantly included the amendment, which virtually made Cuba a U.S. protectorate, in their constitution. The Platt Amendment was also incorporated in a permanent treaty between the United States and Cuba.
The Platt Amendment stipulated the conditions for U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs and permitted the United States to lease or buy lands for the purpose of establishing naval bases (the main one was Guantánamo Bay) and coaling stations in Cuba. It barred Cuba from going into debt, making a treaty that would give another nation power over its affairs, or stopping the United States from imposing a sanitation program on the island. Specifically, Article III required that the government of Cuba consent to the right of the United States to intervene in Cuban affairs for “the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba.”
The Platt Amendment supplied the terms under which the United States intervened in Cuban affairs in 1906, 1912, 1917, and 1920. By 1934, rising Cuban nationalism and widespread criticism of the Platt Amendment resulted in its repeal as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy toward Latin America. The United States, however, retained its lease on Guantánamo Bay, where a naval base remains in operation today.
January 1899: Senate Debate over Ratification of the Treaty of Paris
Home | Back | Next | Interactive Timeline
During the debate, Senator Hoar and Senator Vest were outspoken opponents of the treaty. Senator Hoar maintained, "This Treaty will make us a vulgar, commonplace empire, controlling subject races and vassal states, in which one class must forever rule and other classes must forever obey." Senator Knute Nelson exclaimed, "Providence has given the United States the duty of extending Christian civilization. We come as ministering angels, not despots." Henry Cabot Lodge declared that if the U.S. were to reject the treaty, "we are branded as a people incapable of taking rank as one of the greatest world powers!"
Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish born American industrialist, steel magnate, and philanthropist, was an outspoken member of the Anti-Imperialist League and vigorously condemned U.S. foreign policy during the war.
In the end, the Treaty of Paris was ratified by the Senate in a 57-27 vote. Under the terms of the treaty, the U.S. gained possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and for $20 million, the Philippines. Though the Senate debate over ratification may have ended, the debate over imperialism and the United
States' role abroad would continue. In fact, the issues grew more complicated and led the United States into war with the Philippines and a future of tension with Cuba.
Bibliography:
Beisner, Robert L. Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898-1900. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.Dyal, Donald H.. Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1996.