Abstract
On General Wood’s return from Washington, Cuban politicians met him with a storm of controversy over the terms of Civil Order 301. Radicals objected violently to considering relations with the United States simultaneously with their constitution, and many petitions flooded the Governor’s Palace requesting that the number of delegates to the convention be doubled. The imperturbable General moved ahead, preparing the Cubans for their Constitutional Convention.
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References
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Aug. 6, 1900.
Ibid., Wood to Root, Sept. 8, 1900, Sept. 14, 1900.
Ibid., Wood to Root, Aug. 13, 1900; Box 239, New York Evening Post, Aug. 9, 1900; New York Times, Aug. 6, 1900.
New York Times, Aug. 27, 1900; Wood papers, subj. file 253, St. Louis Republic, Aug. 27, 1900; Hagedorn, Wood, I, 322; Martinez Ortiz, quoted in Hagedorn, Wood, I, 321.
DIA 1947–4, Aug. 18, 1900, Cisneros Betancourt to McKinley, copy. DIA 1947–5, cablegram dated Aug. 17, 1900, from Juan Valenzuela, the Mayor of Guanabacoa, to McKinley.
New York Times, Aug. 19, 1900.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Sept. 8, 1900.
Root papers, Root to Wood, Aug. 18, 1900, cable; Wood to Root, Sept. 3, 1900, cable; DIA 1947–12, copies of Wood cables.
Wood papers, Wood to McKinley, Aug. 31, 1900; Wood to O. H. Platt, Dec. 6, 1900.
Root papers, Wood to Root, Sept. 15, 1900, enclosing Tamayo’s letter which was dated Aug. 25, 1900.
New York Times, Aug. 21, 1900.
Varona, De la colonia a la república, 205–8. The letter was dated Aug. 21, 1900 and addressed to General M. Ramos, President of the Republican Party of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey).
Martínez Ortiz, Los primeros años de independencia, I, 168.
Quesada, Epistolario, II, 53, Márquez Sterling to Quesada, Sept. 4, 1900; Porteil Vilá, Historia de Cuba, IV, 146–47; Havana Post, Aug. 21, 1900.
E. Casuso, Política cubana y sistema americano (La Habana, 1901), 1–36 ff. Also see Havana Post, Aug. 18, 1900, reporting the Havana Democratic Union party meeting as the biggest in years where businessmen and men of letters met for the first time since the occupation. Eliseo Giberga spoke against any ties to the United States and urged Cubans to stay away from the polls.
CDDC 4592, Sept. 15, 1900, report of Major George Dunn, JAG of Dept. of Western Cuba to the Adj. Gen. (Col. Scott).
New York Times, Sept. 5, 1900, Sept. 19, 1900, Sept. 17, 1900.
Ibid., Oct. 28, 1900.
Ibid., Sept. 28, 1900.
DIA 2229–5, list of delegates and alternates elected to the Cuban Constitutional Convention. For a table on the names of the delegates, their backgrounds, party, vote on the Platt Amendment and career under the Republic, see Appendix D.
Riera, Cuba política, 23–67.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Sept. 26, 1900.
Wood, Civil Report, 1900, III, Report of Sec. of State and Govt., (Tamayo) table 8, p. 14; Riera, Cuba política, 24.
Wood papers, box 239, New York Sun, Oct. 21, 1900; New York Times, Oct. 21, 1900.
Wood, Civil Report, 1900, II, C.O. 455 of Nov. 9, 1900 (italics mine).
Robinson, Cuba and the Intervention, 213, quoting the Havana Post.
Albert G. Robinson, who was present during most of the sessions, contends in his Cuba and the Intervention, 212–13, that order 455 changed order 301 in that it separated relations from the constitution. According to Robinson, Wood allowed them to do this, therefore the Cubans should not be blamed for violating instructions and not considering relations promptly. Robinson errs in thinking Wood held there was any intrinsic difference in the outcome intended and also in forgetting that the Cubans tried to delay the question of relations. He even says that Americans at home knew nothing of the order change and thus erroneously blamed the Cubans for delay. Actually, copies of all orders were in the hands of the War Department, Senate and House committees.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, telegram, Nov. 5, 1900; DIA 2229, Wood to Root, telegram, Nov. 5, 1900, “Convention opened promptly at two immense enthusiasm and cheering for United States absolutely harmonious every evidence that satisfaction of the people was entire and complete.”
BIA Library, Box 208A, “Record of Sessions of the Constitutional Convention of the Island of Cuba,” vol. I, sessions 1–8, Nov. 6 to Nov. 22, 1900. The seven volumes, covering only the public sessions, are probably the only complete, verbatim records in English that exist. Miss Jane F. Smith, Chief, Social and Economic Branch, National Archives, to author, March 18, 1963. See also, Mención histórica, 172–73. This volume is especially valuable because it contains summary minutes of the thirty secret sessions held during the debate on the Platt Amendment. No stenographers were allowed in the sessions and the two secretaries, Villuendas and Zayas, kept a summary record. The Library of the Department of State has a copy of Mención histórica.
Mención histórica, 702.
Robinson, Cuba and the Intervention, 214.
BIA Library, Box 204 A, “Record of Sessions” 9–15, Nov. 23, 1900 to Jan. 22, 1901.
E. Hernández Corujo, Los fundamentos históricos y filosóficos de la constitución de 1901 (La Habana, 1953), stating that it was a product of the principles of 18th century bourgeois law and natural rights. 1–32, ff. See Ramon Infiesta, Historia constitucional de Cuba (La Habana, 1942). He states that the Constitution of 1901 was liberal, hard to amend, codified, protective of property and individual liberty through separation of powers, habeas corpus and judicial review, 332–42.
Porteil Vilá, Historia de Cuba, IV, 161, who maintains that the 1901 constitution reflected the will of the people and was thought out with patriotism, serenity and judgment; Martínez Ortiz, I, 192–93 of Los primeros años de independencia, said that the United States Constitution, separation of powers and the principles of Montesquieu appealed most to Cubans.
Méndez Capote, Trabajos, I, 127–28, e.g., defining territory of Cuba, citizenship, immunity of congressmen, individual rights, universal suffrage, suspension of civil liberties in time of war.
BIA Library, Box 205 A, III, 16–20, Jan. 25 to Jan. 30, 1901.
DIA 1947–25, the official translation of the proposed constitution of the Republic of Cuba, Feb. 21, 1901. Copies are also printed in the reports of the Secretary of War and of the Military Governor of Cuba for 1901.
BIA Library, “Record of Sessions,” Box 205 A, Jan. 27, 1901.
Ibid., Jan. 28, 1901.
Ibid., Jan. 30, 1901, February 9, 1901. The vote against women’s suffrage was 17–9.
Ibid., Feb. 5, 1901, Feb. 6, 1901. During January and February, they were holding two sessions a day as they debated the proposed clauses.
Ibid., Jan. 30, 1901. The convention voted 15–10, to allow minority representation on ayuntamientos, provisional councils and in House of Representatives.
Ibid., Jan. 30, 1901; Box 205 A3, vol. V, sessions 28–35, Feb. 12, 1901.
Ibid., New York Times, Jan. 27, 1901.
BIA Library, Box 205 A3, vol. V, “Record of Sessions,” Feb. 24, 1901; Robinson, Cuba and the Intervention, 221, says the hall was fairly filled, but not overcrowded and that it was not a day of national demonstration, but merely another day to Cubans. Many did not know the new constitution was being signed that day, many doubted American good faith and thought the constitution a meaningless act; Fitzgibbon, Cuba and the United States, 74, says Cubans were not elated because they thought the constitution would be rejected by Root.
Martínez Ortiz, Los primeros años de independencia, I, 269.
Wood papers, Box 253, New York Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1900.
A Cuban, “A Plea for the Annexation of Cuba,” Forum, XXX (Oct. 1900), 202–214.
C. W. Currier, “Why Cuba Should be Independent,” Forum, XXX (Oct., 1900), 139–146.
Nation, “Distrustful Cuba,” LXXI (Oct. 25, 1900), 324.
J. I. Rodríguez, “Can There Ever be a Cuban Republic?” Forum, XXX (Dec. 1900), 437–441.
W. Wellman, “The Cuban Republic — Limited,” Review of Reviews (American), XXII (Dec, 1900), 708–712.
Mención histórica, 191–93.
E. Roig de Leuchsenring, La enmienda Platt, I, 54–57. Roig devotes many pages to discussing a motion which was defeated. The significant fact is that the convention voted against Gómez and for obeying orders 301 and 455. Gómez was an ex-slave, had been imprisoned in Spain, was very popular in Cuba, one of the leaders closest to Martí. See Roig’s edition of Por Cuba Libre (La Habana, 1954).
BIA Library, “Record of Sessions”, Box 205A3, vol. V, Feb. 12, 1901.
Mención histórica, 393.
Jessup, Root, I, 308; New York Times, Nov. 11, 1900.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Dec. 22, 1900.
Root papers, Wood to Root, Jan. 4, 1901.
Root papers, Box 130 rough draft, nd. ns. Pencilled changes placed pt. one in the 3rd spot, pt. 2 in one, 3 in 5 and 4 left as it was. A debts clause was added later. Portell Vilá, Historia de Cuba, IV 163–64, found an interview by the Colorado Springs Gazette of December 3, of Senator Henry M. Teller, in which he called for a free Cuba with responsible institutions of courts and customs, and foreign relations to be limited by Washington, U.S. Army to remain in Cuba for some time, and a constitutional limitation on the Cuban tariff. Portell maintains these points influenced Root. This is doubtful, given the earlier timing of the Root-Wood conversations. What they really indicate is that the father of the Joint Resolution had doubts about Cuba and shared the views of most congressional and administration leaders about safeguards in Cuba.
Wood papers, Root to Wood, Jan. 9, 1901. Portell on pp. 164–65 of vol. IV, Historia de Cuba, says that Wood interfered with the Constitutional Convention in December, by telling certain members the Root desires on relations. Yet Méndez Capote had told Wood that he could not have left the convention more alone “if we were on the moon.” Wood papers, Wood to Root, Feb. 8, 1901. Wood of course did talk with various convencionales from time to time, stressing the time factor and apprising them of the U.S. interests in relations.
Leech, Days of McKinley, 566–67, showing the cabinet did not meet from 8 January to 22 January. Cf. Dawes, Journal of the McKinley years, 260–61.
Wood papers, Root to Wood, Jan. 9, 1901.
Wood also wrote to Senators, urgently requesting tariff reduction of 50 percent or even of 25 percent. Among the correspondents were H. C. Lodge, O. H. Platt, H. M. Teller, Redfield Proctor. Letters from Wood of Jan. 12, Jan. 12, Jan. 12, Jan. 18 respectively.
Wood papers, Root to Wood, Jan. 9, 1901.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Jan. 19, 1901.
Wood papers, Wood to Root, Jan. 31, 1901.
Wood papers, Root to Hay, Jan. 11, 1901, copy; McKinley papers, Root to Hay, Jan. 11, 1901, showing the President’s close attention to the issue. The points read as follows: (1) That in transferring the control of Cuba to the Government established under the new constitution, the United States reserves and retains the right of intervention for the preservation of Cuban independence and the maintenance of a stable government, adequately protecting life, property and individual liberty. (2) That no government organized under the constitution shall be deemed to have authority to enter into any treaty or engagement with any foreign power which may tend to impair or interfere with the independence of Cuba, or to confer upon such foreign power any special right or privilege without the consent of the United States, and that the United States shall be entitled to be a party, in the first instance, to any negotiations having in view any such provision. (3) That to facilitate the United States in the performance of such duties as may devolve upon her under the foregoing provisions and for her own defense, the United States may acquire and hold the title to land, and maintain naval stations at certain specified points. (4) That all the acts of the Military Governor, and all rights acquired thereunder, shall be valid and be maintained and protected.
Jessup, Root, 1, 310.
New York World, Jan. 3, 1901; Robinson, Cuba and the Intervention, 227–28; New York Times of Feb. 16, 1901 quoting La Nación of Feb. 1, 1901.
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© 1971 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Holland
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Hitchman, J.H. (1971). The Constitutional Convention, August, 1900 Through January, 1901. In: Leonard Wood and Cuban Independence, 1898–1902. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0749-3_6
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