Platt Amendment

Platt Amendment
Long title	An Act making appropriation for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and two.
Enacted by	the 56th United States Congress
Effective	1901
Citations
Statutes at Large	Chapter 803, 31 Stat. 895, 897
Legislative history
	Introduced in the House as H.R. 14017 by Orville H. Platt (R-CT); Passed the Senate on February 27, 1901 (43–18); Passed the House on March 1, 1901 (161–136); Signed into law by President William McKinley on March 2, 1901;

The Platt Amendment was a piece of United States legislation enacted as part of the Army Appropriations Act of 1901 that defined the relationship between the United States and Cuba following the Spanish-American War.^[1] It stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish–American War, and an eighth condition that Cuba sign a treaty accepting these seven conditions. It defined the terms of Cuban–U.S. relations essentially to be an unequal one of U.S. dominance over Cuba.

On June 12, 1901, the Cuban Constitutional Assembly approved the Platt Amendment, which had been proposed by the United States of America. The document came with a withdrawal of U.S troops from Cuba after the Spanish-American War. It amended its constitution to contain, word for word, the seven applicable demands of the Platt Amendment.^[2]

On May 22, 1903, Cuba entered into a treaty with the United States to make the same required seven pledges: the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations of 1903.^[1] Two of the seven pledges were to allow the United States to intervene unilaterally in Cuban affairs, and a pledge to lease land to the United States for naval bases on the island. (The Cuban-American Treaty of Relations of 1934 replaced the 1903 Treaty of Relations, and dropped three of the seven pledges.)

The 1903 Treaty of Relations was used as justification for the Second Occupation of Cuba from 1906 to 1909. On September 29, 1906, Secretary of War (and future U.S. president) William Howard Taft initiated the Second Occupation of Cuba when he established the Provisional Government of Cuba under the terms of the treaty (Article three), declaring himself Provisional Governor of Cuba.^[3]^[4] On October 23, 1906, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 518, ratifying the order.^[3]

On May 29, 1934, the United States and Cuba signed the 1934 Treaty of Relations that in its first article abrogates the 1903 Treaty of Relations.^[5]

^ ^a ^b 1901 Platt Amendment commentary at the US Archives online
^ US archives online Archived 2015-04-23 at the Wayback Machine, Date of ratification by Cuba
^ ^a ^b Records of the Provisional Government of Cuba, National Archives and Records Administration. "Established: By a proclamation of the Secretary of War, September 29, 1906, under general authority of the Permanent Treaty of 1903 between the United States and the Republic of Cuba, with oversight responsibilities assigned to the Bureau of Insular Affairs (War Department) by EO 518, October 23, 1906. ... History: Military Government of Cuba established by Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, December 28, 1898, as a consequence of U.S. invasion and occupation of Cuba in the Spanish–American War, in accordance with Presidential order published in General Order 184, Headquarters of the Army, December 13, 1898. Spanish colonial administration formally terminated, January 1, 1899. Republic of Cuba established by transfer of sovereignty, May 20, 1902. Domestic unrest in Cuba led to the proclamation of September 29, 1906, which designated Secretary of War William H. Taft as Provisional Governor of Cuba. Taft succeeded as Provisional Governor by Charles E. Magoon, October 13, 1906. EO 518, October 23, 1906, ordered Governor Magoon to report to the Secretary of War through the Bureau of Insular Affairs. Military government terminated January 28, 1909."
^ "William H. Taft in Cuba". www.historyofcuba.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
^ Sklar, Barry, Hagen, Virginia (1972). "Treaty between the United States and Cuba May 29th 1934". Yale Law School – The Avalon Project.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[commentary-1] 1901 Platt Amendment commentary at the US Archives online

[2] US archives online Archived 2015-04-23 at the Wayback Machine, Date of ratification by Cuba

[archives199-3] Records of the Provisional Government of Cuba, National Archives and Records Administration. "Established: By a proclamation of the Secretary of War, September 29, 1906, under general authority of the Permanent Treaty of 1903 between the United States and the Republic of Cuba, with oversight responsibilities assigned to the Bureau of Insular Affairs (War Department) by EO 518, October 23, 1906. ... History: Military Government of Cuba established by Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, December 28, 1898, as a consequence of U.S. invasion and occupation of Cuba in the Spanish–American War, in accordance with Presidential order published in General Order 184, Headquarters of the Army, December 13, 1898. Spanish colonial administration formally terminated, January 1, 1899. Republic of Cuba established by transfer of sovereignty, May 20, 1902. Domestic unrest in Cuba led to the proclamation of September 29, 1906, which designated Secretary of War William H. Taft as Provisional Governor of Cuba. Taft succeeded as Provisional Governor by Charles E. Magoon, October 13, 1906. EO 518, October 23, 1906, ordered Governor Magoon to report to the Secretary of War through the Bureau of Insular Affairs. Military government terminated January 28, 1909."

[4] "William H. Taft in Cuba". www.historyofcuba.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

[:0-5] Sklar, Barry, Hagen, Virginia (1972). "Treaty between the United States and Cuba May 29th 1934". Yale Law School – The Avalon Project.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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