damein fisher
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What if in the American occupation of Haiti, the states annexed the country. What would be the response? Would Haiti eventually regain independence, remain a Territory or even become a state?
What is America annexed Haiti in 1915
- Thread starter damein fisher
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No chance of statehood, not with Haiti's demographics. The most likely outcome is independence under an American-installed dictator, much cheaper than trying to opress the natives yourself. If they really wanted to hold on to it, it would be as a colony or territory, with all power and offices in the hands of a small, (white) American colonial elite.
This would have been unnecessary (from the point of view of controlling Haiti), unpopular (both with idealistic anti-imperialists and with white southerners worried about Haitians potentially becoming US citizens [1]) and contrary to Wilson's celebrated vow in his 1913 Mobile speech that "the United States will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest." https://kr.usembassy.gov/education-...-democracy/woodrow-wilson-mobile-speech-1913/ So it is very unlikely to happen. By 1915, the era of enthusiasm for outright colonial annexations was long since over in the US.
[1] True, Haitians might have become US nationals without being US citizens, but given that Puerto Ricans, for example, would be granted US citizenship under the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones–Shafroth_Act citizenship coud hardly be ruled out.
[1] True, Haitians might have become US nationals without being US citizens, but given that Puerto Ricans, for example, would be granted US citizenship under the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones–Shafroth_Act citizenship coud hardly be ruled out.
Low-probability at best. You'd need TR or someone else in charge for it. ASB if Wilson.
Even TR as president never took any more territory in Latin America than was necessary for a US-controlled Panama Canal. He once said, "I want to do nothing but what a policeman has to do in Santo Domingo. As for annexing the island, I have about the same desire to annex it as a gorged boa constrictor might have to swallow a porcupine wrong- end-to." https://books.google.com/books?id=loMc5HzF-usC&pg=PA198
Hordes of black Haitians emigrating would certainly be worrying to some people in the period, a random thought I just had but would reverse emigration of black Americans to Haiti be a possibility? The idea of a state with an overwhelming black majority could be rather appealing for some nationalist groups.
Hmm... A boat to Hati, or a train to Harlem or south Chicago? Easy choice for most.