Editing History of Cuba (section)

==U.S. occupation (1898&ndash;1902)==
{{Main|United States Military Government in Cuba}}
After the last Spanish troops left the island in December 1898, the government of Cuba was temporarily handed over to the United States on 1 January 1899. The first governor was General [[John R. Brooke]]. Unlike [[Guam]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Philippines]], the United States did not annex Cuba because of the restrictions imposed in the [[Teller Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.etsu.edu/cas/history/docs/teller.htm|title=The Teller Amendment|year=1898|publisher=East Tennessee State University|access-date=30 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113180555/http://www.etsu.edu/cas/history/docs/teller.htm|archive-date=13 November 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Political changes===
The U.S. administration was undecided on Cuba's future status. Once it had been pried away from the Spaniards it was to be assured that it moved and remained in the U.S. sphere. How this was to be achieved was a matter of intense discussion and annexation was an option. Brooke set up a civilian government, placed U.S. governors in seven newly created departments, and named civilian governors for the provinces as well as mayors and representatives for the municipalities. Many Spanish colonial government officials were kept in their posts. The population were ordered to disarm and, ignoring the Mambi Army, Brooke created the Rural Guard and municipal police corps at the service of the occupation forces. Cuba's judicial powers and courts remained legally based on the codes of the Spanish government. [[Tomás Estrada Palma]], Martí's successor as delegate of the [[Partido Auténtico|Cuban Revolutionary Party]], dissolved the party a few days after the signing of the Paris Treaty. The revolutionary Assembly of Representatives was also dissolved.<ref>Cantón Navarro, José. ''History of Cuba''. p. 74.</ref>

===Economic changes===
Before the United States officially took over the government, it had already begun cutting tariffs on American goods entering Cuba, without granting the same rights to Cuban goods going to the United States.<ref name="Cantón Navarro p. 75">Cantón Navarro, José. ''History of Cuba''. p. 75</ref> Government payments had to be made in U.S. dollars.<ref name="Cantón Navarro p. 77"/> The Foraker Amendment prohibited the U.S. occupation government from granting privileges and concessions to American investors, to appease [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialists]] during the occupational period. Despite this, the [[Economy of Cuba|Cuban economy]] was soon dominated by American capital.<ref name="Cantón Navarro p. 75"/> By 1905 nearly 10% of Cuba's land area belonged to Americans. By 1902, American companies controlled 80% of Cuba's ore exports and owned most of the sugar and cigarette factories.<ref>Cantón Navarro, José. ''History of Cuba''. p. 76</ref>

Immediately after the war, there were several serious barriers for foreign businesses attempting to operate in Cuba. The Joint Resolution of 1898, the Teller Amendment, and the Foraker Amendment threatened foreign investment. Eventually, [[William Cornelius Van Horne|Cornelius Van Horne]] of the Cuba Company, an early railroad company in Cuba, found a loophole in "revocable permits" justified by preexisting Spanish legislation that effectively allowed railroads to be built in Cuba. General [[Leonard Wood]], the governor of Cuba and a noted annexationist, used this loophole to grant hundreds of franchises, permits, and other concessions to American businesses.<ref>Juan C. Santamarina. "The Cuba Company and the Expansion of American Business in Cuba, 1898–1915". ''Business History Review'' 74.01 (Spring 2000): 41–83. pp. 52–53.</ref>

Once the legal barriers were overcome, American investments transformed the Cuban economy. Within two years of entering Cuba, the Cuba Company built a 350-mile railroad connecting the eastern port of Santiago to the existing railways in central Cuba. The company was the largest single foreign investment in Cuba for the first two decades of the twentieth century. By the 1910s it was the largest company in the country.<ref>Santamarina 2000, p. 42.</ref> The improved infrastructure allowed the sugar cane industry to spread to the previously underdeveloped eastern part of the country. As many small Cuban sugar cane producers were crippled with debt and damages from the war, American companies were able to quickly and cheaply take over the industry. At the same time, new productive units called centrales could grind up to 2,000 tons of cane a day making large-scale operations most profitable.<ref>Smith 1995, p. 33.</ref> The large fixed cost of these centrales made them almost exclusively accessible to American companies with large capital stocks. Furthermore, the centrales required a large, steady flow of cane to remain profitable, which led to further consolidation. Cuban cane farmers who had formerly been landowners became tenants on company land. By 1902, 40% of the country's sugar production was controlled by Americans.<ref>Smith 1995, p. 34.</ref>

With American corporate interests firmly rooted in Cuba, the U.S. tariff system was adjusted accordingly to strengthen trade between the nations. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1903 lowered the U.S. tariff on Cuban sugar by 20%. This gave Cuban sugar a competitive edge in the American marketplace. At the same time, it granted equal or greater concessions on most items imported from the United States. Cuban imports of American goods went from $17 million in the five years before the war, to $38 million in 1905, and eventually to over $200 million in 1918. Likewise, Cuban exports to the United States reached $86 million in 1905 and rose to nearly $300 million in 1918.<ref>Smith 1995, p. 35.</ref>

===Elections and independence===
Popular demands for a Constituent Assembly soon emerged.<ref name="Cantón Navarro p. 77"/> In December 1899, the U.S. War Secretary assured the Cuban populace that the occupation was temporary, that municipal and general elections would be held, that a Constituent Assembly would be set up, and that sovereignty would be handed to Cubans. Brooke was replaced by General Leonard Wood to oversee the transition. Parties were created, including the [[Cuban National Party]], the [[Federal Republican Party of Las Villas]], the [[Republican Party of Havana]] and the [[Democratic Union Party (Cuba)|Democratic Union Party]].

[[Cuban local elections, 1900|The first elections]] for mayors, treasurers and attorneys of the country's 110 municipalities took place on 16 June 1900, but balloting was limited to literate Cubans older than 21 and with properties worth more than $250. Only members of the dissolved Liberation Army were exempt from these conditions. Thus, the number of about 418,000 male citizens over 21 was reduced to about 151,000. The same elections were held one year later, again for a one-year-term.

Elections for 31 delegates to a Constituent Assembly were held on 15 September 1900 with the same balloting restrictions. In all three elections, pro-independence candidates won overwhelming majorities.<ref name="diwapu">Cantón Navarro, José. ''History of Cuba'', p. 79.</ref> The Constitution was drawn up from November 1900 to February 1901 and then passed by the Assembly. It established a republican form of government, proclaimed internationally recognized individual rights and liberties, freedom of religion, [[separation of church and state|separation between church and state]], and described the composition, structure and functions of state powers.

On 2 March 1901, the U.S. Congress passed the [[Army Appropriations Act of 1901|Army Appropriations Act]], stipulating the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba. As a [[rider (politics)|rider]], this act included the [[Platt Amendment]], which defined the terms of Cuban–U.S. relations until 1934. The amendment provided for a number of rules heavily infringing on Cuba's sovereignty:

* That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty with any foreign power which will impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner permit any foreign power to obtain control over any portion of the island.
* That Cuba would contract no [[foreign debt]] without guarantees that the interest could be served from ordinary revenues.
* That Cuba consent that the United States may intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, to protect life, property, and individual liberty, and to discharging the obligations imposed by the treaty of Paris.
* That the Cuban claim to the Isle of Pines (now called [[Isla de la Juventud]]) was not acknowledged and to be determined by treaty.
* That Cuba commit to providing the United States "lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon".

On 6 April 1901, the Constituent Assembly rejected the Platt Amendment by a vote of 24 to 2. The United States demanded that this amendment be approved fully and without changes by the Constituent Assembly as an appendix to the new constitution. US Secretary of War [[Elihu Root]] told Governor Wood to convey to the Cuban delegates that “they never can have any further government in Cuba, except the intervening Government of the United States, until they have [approved the Platt Amendment].” On 12 June 1901, after heated debate, the Constituent Assembly approved the appendix by a margin of four votes. Wood later admitted privately to [[Theodore Roosevelt|US President Roosevelt]]: "Little or no independence had been left to Cuba with the Platt Amendment and the only thing appropriate was to seek annexation".<ref name="diwapu" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferrer |first=Ada |title=Cuba: An American History |publisher=Scribner |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-5011-5457-7 |edition=1st |location=New York; London |chapter= 14: Island Occupied}}</ref>

In the presidential elections of 31 December 1901, [[Tomás Estrada Palma]], an American still living in the United States, was the only candidate. His adversary, General [[Bartolomé Masó]], withdrew his candidacy in protest against U.S. favoritism and the manipulation of the political machine by Palma's followers. Palma was elected to be the Republic's first President.