In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

The newspaper La Lucha put it bluntly in 1899:“In Washington they believe that in order to devise a political constitution and an election law for Cuba, it is unavoidable to have a precise knowledge of the ethnic elements that form its population.”1 That a Cuban newspaper with a fairly large circulation chose to comment on this particular issue and on Washington’s “beliefs” was of course not fortuitous. This was one of those areas in which Cubans and Americans were more or less clearly delineated in two separate, antagonistic blocs. When it came to issues of race and politics, of elections and definitions of the suffrage, differences between Cubans and Americans were significant: an easy target for journalists and politicians. There was not a single unified view on these important matters on either side of the divide, but the editorialist of La Lucha knew quite well that this diversity was politically inconsequential. What truly mattered were the differences between Cubans and Americans regardless of gradations: “in Washington they believe.” Implicit in the text was the notion that Cubans, in turn, had a very different set of beliefs on issues of race, electoral politics, and the future constitution of the Republic. This, of course, was not true. Planters, merchants, and property owners had supported colonialism to the bitter end precisely because they feared the rule of popular sectors. The prospect of humble Cubans—the stuff the Liberation Army was made of—controlling government and public affairs terrified them.When it appeared that Spain would no longer be able to defend their properties and interests, they deserted the old metropolis and called on a new one for protection and support, petitioning for annexation to the U.S. government after 1896. They did not have to wait for any census count to know that the Cuban population was utterly incapable of building a responsive and prosperous republic in which their interests and properties would be protected. Race and the Suffrage Controversy in Cuba,– alejandro de la fuente and matthew casey 220 But this group found itself isolated, as even its long-term allies, the Spanish colonial authorities, moved to accept the notion of universal manhood suffrage. Cuba’s peculiar political history during the late nineteenth century forced political actors of various persuasions and ideological preferences to agree, however reluctantly, on two basic premises: first, that despite their undeniable importance , racial differences should not be codified in law and should not preclude participation in civic life. From this it followed that all male citizens, regardless of race, social status, and even literacy, were entitled to participation in civic rituals , particularly in elections. By 1898, when American troops landed in eastern Cuba, this was one of the few areas in which the insurgents of Cuba Libre and at least some of the defenders of the colonial compact agreed: all adult males were entitled to vote. It is then possible to think about the American occupation of the island, as the editorial in La Lucha somehow suggested, as a cultural clash in which two different worldviews, informed by different experiences, expectations, and bodies of knowledge, collided. In many other areas there was significant overlap and agreement between the occupation forces and some sectors of the population on the island. In the area of electoral rights, however, the contrast seems to have been particularly crisp and sharp. This is not to suggest, of course, that propertied Cubans did not think it was a good idea to limit the suffrage. It is to indicate that in this area the experiences and expectations of the North Americans and the Cubans, including those who supported independence or the colonial status, differed considerably. These conditions, in turn, limited considerably what the occupying forces could do.As North American economic, political, and military actors moved into foreign territories such as Cuba and began to build a modern empire, they discovered that their power was not without limits. Imperial agents were forced to negotiate with local actors who had their own interests and networks of influence . As the controversy over universal manhood suffrage in Cuba shows, the building of the empire was a contested and negotiated process. Race and Suffrage by 1898 The principle of universal manhood suffrage was incorporated into the legal documents of Cuba Libre as early as the late 1860s. As the leadership of the revolutionary movement...

Share