Primary Documents & Sources

All Legal Text Government Report Testimony Letter Decree Treaty News Article
Legal Text 1897

Carta Autonómica (Autonomous Charter) of 1897

Legal Text 1898

Treaty of Paris (1898)

Legal Text 1900

Foraker Act — Full Provisions Analysis (1900)

Legal Text 1900

Foraker Act (1900) — The First Organic Act

Legal Text 1900

Foraker Act (1900) - Organic Act of Puerto Rico

Legal Text 1901

Downes v. Bidwell (1901) — The Lead Insular Case

Legal Text 1901

The Insular Cases (1901-1922)

Legal Text 1901

Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)

Legal Text 1901

The Insular Cases: Constitutional Framework for American Colonialism (1901-1922)

Legal Text 1901

Justice Harlan's Dissent in Downes v. Bidwell (1901)

Legal Text 1917

Jones-Shafroth Act (1917)

Legal Text 1920

The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920): How Shipping Law Became Colonial Tax

Legal Text 1920

The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920): Cabotage Provisions

Legal Text 1920

Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act — Cabotage Law)

Legal Text 1920

Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act) — Section 27: Cabotage Provisions

Legal Text 1922

Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 298 (1922)

Legal Text 1948

Law 53 of 1948 (The Gag Law): Criminalizing Puerto Rican Identity

Legal Text 1948

Law 53 of 1948 (Gag Law / Ley de la Mordaza)

Legal Text 1948

Law 53 of 1948: The Puerto Rico Gag Law (Ley de la Mordaza)

Legal Text 1950

Public Law 600 — Federal Relations Act (1950)

Legal Text 1952

Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (1952)

Legal Text 1960

UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 — Declaration on Decolonization (1960)

Legal Text 1972

UN Special Committee on Decolonization: Resolutions on Puerto Rico (1972-present)

Legal Text 1974

ASPIRA Consent Decree (1974)

Legal Text 1987

Noel Colón Martínez v. Gobernador (1987) — The Carpetas Decision

Legal Text 2012

Puerto Rico Police Department Consent Decree (2012)

Legal Text 2015

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Marriage Equality Reaches Puerto Rico

Legal Text 2016

Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) — 2016

Legal Text 2016

PROMESA (2016): The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act

Legal Text 2016

Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle, 579 U.S. 59 (2016)

Legal Text 2016

PROMESA Act (2016)

Legal Text 2022

United States v. Vaello Madero: Supreme Court Upholds Colonial Inequality (2022)