From Porto Rico to Puerto Rico: Citizenship, Race and the Politics of Worthiness

Abstract

The English-language text of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the accord conceding Puerto Rico to the United States, misspelled the island's name as Porto Rico. The treaty's ratification entrenched the error in US law and prompted a decades-long campaign to restore the territory's original name. More than a comedy of errors, this incident exposes conflicting interpretations of US citizenship and the worthiness of different sets of citizens. Puerto Ricans discovered that the statutory citizenship they acquired was attenuated by their perceived worthiness: a status limited by their membership of the so-called Spanish race.

“She Must Be Experimental, Resourceful, and Have Sympathetic Understanding”: toxic white femininities as a Persona and Performance in School Social Work

“… 5. In 1898 the Treaty of Paris, the English language document that ceded Puerto Rico to the United Stated, Puerto Rico was spelled as Porto Rico. This spelling was reproduced in other documents such as the Bulletin (see Barreto, 2022). …”