TR Transmits to Senate for Ratification the Treaty That Defined Relations Between the U.S. & Cuba

An amendment to the declaration of war against Spain in 1898 stated that the U.S. would not establish permanent control over Cuba. Nonetheless, at the end of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. found itself in control of several overseas territories, including Cuba, and the occupation of that island continued for a time after the war was over. Under the American military governor, Gen. Leonard Wood, a school system was organized, finances were set in order, and significant progress was made in eliminating yellow fever. In July 1900, the Constitutional Convention of Cuba started its deliberations and was notified that the U.S. Congress intended to attach an amendment to the Cuban Constitution.

In 1901, Secretary of War Elihu Root drafted a set of articles as guidelines for future United States–Cuban relations, and these passed Congress as the Platt Amendment to a military appropriations bill. These stipulated the conditions for U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs and permitted the U.S. to lease or buy lands for the purpose of establishing naval bases and coaling stations in Cuba. It barred Cuba from making a treaty that gave another nation power over its affairs, or going into debt with third parties. Article III required that the government of Cuba consent to the right of the U.S. to intervene in Cuban affairs for “the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba.”

In February 1903, the U.S. and Cuba signed a treaty effectuating that portion of the Platt Amendment that dealt with establishment of a naval base at Guantánamo. Then the parties set about dealing with the broader and more significant relationship issues that would govern Cuba’s sovereignty and independence. On May 22, 1903, the U.S. and Cuba signed a second treaty, one that contained all of the Platt Amendment requirements and specifically included an American recognition of Cuba’s independence. On November 10, 1903, in accordance with the United States Constitution, President Roosevelt submitted this treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification.

This is the letter in which he did so.

Typed Letter Signed as President, the White House, Washington, transmitting the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification. “I transmit herewith, with a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification, a treaty between the United States and Cuba, signed at Havana on May 22, 1903, and embodying the provisions defining the future relations of the United States with Cuba, contained in the Act of Congress approved March 2, 1901, entitled “An Act appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902.” November "9" has been replaced with "10" in Roosevelt’s hand. The Senate ratified the treaty on March 22, 1904, Cuba did so on June 20, it was signed by President Roosevelt five days later and proclaimed July 2.

This treaty, entitled Treaty between the United States and Cuba Embodying the Provisions Defining the Future Relations of the United States with Cuba, defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations for the following 33 years. It was bitterly resented by many Cubans as an infringement on their freedom and formed the basis for three American military excursions into Cuba in the following decades. It was repealed in 1934, when a new treaty with the U.S. was negotiated as a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s "Good Neighbor policy" toward Latin America. This is the first presidential submission of a request for ratification of an important treaty that we have handled.