ABSTRACT
The United States began to develop a 'Large Policy' or global form of expansionism premised on the annexation of territories strategically situated throughout the world. For global expansionists, Spanish territories like Puerto Rico and the Philippines imbued their inhabitants with alien mores, values, and cultural traditions, differences that barred these inhabitants from assimilating US Anglo-American traditions and institutions. The Foraker Act replaced the military dictatorship in Puerto Rico with a civil government based on the military's territorial institutions and policies. The Foraker Act became the first law to normalize the War Department's territorial policy. Justice White summarized the basic status of the unincorporated territory in the following language: The Fleming precedent was developed to rule either occupied sovereign countries or parts of their territories. The work of Jose A. Cabranes, Natsu Taylor Saito concludes that the unincorporated status enabled the US government to exert a plenary authority to colonize Puerto Ricans.
