WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 Imagine fighting this brutal decades -long war 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.940 for your nation's independence. I mean, you sacrifice 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:09.960 your youth, your livelihood, countless lives 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.859 are lost. And then you finally win. Right. The 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:15.060 occupying colonial power actually surrenders. 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:17.839 Exactly. But before you are handed the keys to 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.980 your brand new country, the Allied army that... 00:00:19.870 --> 00:00:22.030 you know, helped you win, they hand you a pen. 00:00:22.350 --> 00:00:25.149 Which is never a good sign. No, not at all. They 00:00:25.149 --> 00:00:27.530 tell you that to get your actual independence, 00:00:28.050 --> 00:00:30.530 you have to write a very specific rule into your 00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:33.530 brand new constitution. Yeah. And this is the 00:00:33.530 --> 00:00:36.310 kicker. That rule gives their foreign military 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:39.090 the absolute legal right to invade your country 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:41.310 whenever they see fit. It just completely shatters 00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:42.850 the illusion of what a victory is supposed to 00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:44.929 look like. Oh, totally. We always tend to view 00:00:44.929 --> 00:00:47.929 national independence as this clean break, right? 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:51.659 Like a ribbon cut. ceremony. But in the realm 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:54.880 of geopolitics, the transition of power is just 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.759 rarely that neat. Often the chains of colonialism 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:01.060 are just swapped out for the invisible bindings 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:03.920 of international law. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:01:04.299 --> 00:01:07.200 Welcome to another deep dive. Today we are opening 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.359 up a massive stack of historical sources to examine 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:14.040 a single wild piece of United States legislation 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.439 from 1901. The Platt Amendment. Right, the Platt 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.920 Amendment. Our mission here is to really understand 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:25.420 a central, almost unbelievable core tension for 00:01:25.420 --> 00:01:27.920 you the listener. Like how does a country gain 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.959 its independence? Only to legally sign away its 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.400 sovereignty in its own foundational documents 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:35.459 and to unpack that tension We are going to rely 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.579 on a very specific analytical framework today. 00:01:38.659 --> 00:01:40.579 Yeah, how are we breaking this down? Well, we 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:43.040 will meticulously break down the actual mechanisms 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.959 of this amendment It took the form of eight really 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:48.920 stringent conditions placed upon Cuba eight specific 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.560 rules exactly Then we'll trace the long -term 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:53.540 honestly devastating impacts those conditions 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:56.409 had on the island's land. It's vital sugar industry 00:01:56.409 --> 00:01:59.129 and the social fabric of the people living there. 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:00.989 Right, because this isn't just some abstract 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:02.950 treaty gathering dust in an archive somewhere. 00:02:03.069 --> 00:02:05.590 Not at all. We are looking at how economic leverage 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:07.969 and legal architecture can entirely substitute 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:11.150 for outright imperial annexation. It is the literal 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:13.949 blueprint for how an industrializing superpower 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:17.210 managed to turn a neighboring island into a self 00:02:17.210 --> 00:02:19.210 -governing colony. Yeah, that's a perfect way 00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:21.129 to phrase it. But you know, before we dig into 00:02:21.129 --> 00:02:23.490 the specific rules the U .S. imposed on Cuba, 00:02:24.030 --> 00:02:26.530 we really We need to set the geopolitical stage 00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:29.389 here. Like, what made the United States feel 00:02:29.389 --> 00:02:31.750 they even had the authority to dictate these 00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:34.270 terms to a newly -forming nation? Right. Well, 00:02:34.270 --> 00:02:36.349 we have to go back to the aftermath of the Spanish 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:38.250 -American War. This is right around the turn 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:41.090 of the century, heading into 1899. OK, so the 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:44.229 war's fresh. Very fresh. Spain, you know, the 00:02:44.229 --> 00:02:47.590 old colonial power, has been defeated and forced 00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:50.469 out of Cuba. But the end of that conflict did 00:02:50.469 --> 00:02:53.150 not result in an empty island ready for immediate 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:54.979 Cuban self -rule. Because the US military was 00:02:54.979 --> 00:02:57.280 still there, right? Exactly. The United States 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.500 maintained a massive military arsenal and literally 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.520 tens of thousands of troops on the ground. Wow. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.900 Yeah. Their stated objective was to protect US 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:08.520 holdings, meaning investments that American businesses 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:10.479 had already made on the island and to sort of 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.919 mediate the complex transition away from Spanish 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:15.219 rule. So they basically set up shop. They did. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:19.479 The US established a formal military government 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.039 of Cuba. So you have a revolutionary Cuban government 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:25.819 forming. I mean, these are people who have literally 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:29.180 spent their entire lives fighting for this exact 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:31.300 moment. Right, true revolutionaries. And they're 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:34.139 looking across the table at an American military 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:37.840 occupation. And that occupation was deeply, deeply 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:41.699 influenced by a piece of legislation passed just 00:03:41.699 --> 00:03:44.759 before the war began. It's known as the Teller 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:46.879 Amendment. The Teller Amendment. OK, how does 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:48.800 that fit in? Well, the Teller Amendment was crucial 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:51.900 because it explicitly prohibited the United States 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:54.360 from annexing Cuba outright. Oh, interesting. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.120 Yeah, it legally bound the US government to leave 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:01.060 control of the island to its people once pacification 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:03.000 was achieved. OK, on the surface, that sounds 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.360 like a massive win for the anti -imperialist 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.659 movement. It really does. Because at the time, 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.620 There were these incredibly vocal expansionist 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:13.159 politicians in Washington who wanted to just, 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:16.519 you know, plant the flag, make Cuba a territory 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.540 and eventually a state. Oh, absolutely. The expansionist 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:23.000 lobby was huge. And the Teller Amendment seemingly 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.050 blocked that. It reads like a very noble, hands 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:28.870 -off approach, like, we'll help you win, and 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:30.949 then we'll leave. You'd think so, right, but 00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:33.990 the sources reveal a much more complicated set 00:04:33.990 --> 00:04:36.930 of motivations here. Naturally. Senator Henry 00:04:36.930 --> 00:04:38.949 M. Teller of Colorado, who was the author of 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:42.129 the amendment, is just a fascinating study in 00:04:42.129 --> 00:04:44.889 political contradictions. Oh, so. Well, while 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:47.430 he did later become a fierce critic of American 00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:50.310 imperialism in places like the Philippines, his 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:55.089 initial motivations regarding Cuba are are heavily 00:04:55.089 --> 00:04:58.029 debated by historians in our sources. Okay, what's 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:00.660 the debate? There is a very strong historical 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:03.160 argument that suggests the Teller Amendment wasn't 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:05.899 born purely out of respect for Cuban sovereignty. 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:08.860 Right. Rather, it was born out of domestic economic 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:11.040 self -interest. Wait, domestic economics? You 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.259 mean like protecting American industries from 00:05:13.259 --> 00:05:15.439 having to compete with Cuban imports? You hit 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:17.720 the nail on the head, specifically the American 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:20.519 sugar beet industry. Sugar beets, really? Yes. 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.860 Senator Teller represented a state with significant 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:27.259 agricultural interests. If Cuba were annexed 00:05:27.259 --> 00:05:30.680 and became an official U .S. territory, its massive, 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.779 highly efficient sugar cane industry would suddenly 00:05:33.779 --> 00:05:36.420 have barrier -free access to the American market. 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:38.339 Oh wow, because there wouldn't be any tariff 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:41.709 if it was a U .S. territory. Exactly. And that 00:05:41.709 --> 00:05:44.910 flood of cheap Cuban sugar would have completely 00:05:44.910 --> 00:05:47.329 decimated domestic sugar beet growers in the 00:05:47.329 --> 00:05:51.050 US. That is wild. So preventing annexation was 00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:53.930 actually a very effective way to keep a tariff 00:05:53.930 --> 00:05:56.810 wall up against a major agricultural competitor. 00:05:57.129 --> 00:05:59.350 That completely reframes the entire narrative 00:05:59.350 --> 00:06:01.689 for me. It wasn't necessarily just about human 00:06:01.689 --> 00:06:04.189 rights or the grand principle of self -determination. 00:06:04.410 --> 00:06:07.069 For some, maybe. But definitely not for everyone. 00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:08.889 Right. For a significant political bloc, it was 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.550 just about making sure Cuban sugar didn't bankrupt 00:06:11.550 --> 00:06:13.670 farmers in the American Midwest and West. It 00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:15.829 perfectly illustrates how foreign policy is so 00:06:15.829 --> 00:06:17.990 often just domestic policy wearing a different 00:06:17.990 --> 00:06:20.990 hat, you know? Totally. So regardless of the 00:06:20.990 --> 00:06:23.209 underlying motives, the Teller Amendment created 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:26.310 this legal bind. The U .S. legally could not 00:06:26.310 --> 00:06:28.420 annex Cuba. Right. Their hands were technically 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:31.220 tied. But as the military occupation stretched 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:35.000 into 1900 and 1901, the McKinley administration 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.560 and its officials had to be getting anxious. 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:40.839 Oh, they grew doubly anxious. They looked at 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.540 the Cuban Constituent Assembly, which was busy 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:46.620 drafting a new constitution, and American officials 00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:50.699 possessed this profound, just incredibly paternalistic 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:52.519 mistrust of them. They didn't think they could 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:55.899 handle it. Exactly. The sources show they fundamentally 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:58.490 viewed the Cuban politicians as unfit for self 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:00.490 -governance. Right so they felt they needed to 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.920 manage them. They wanted the benefits of controlling 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.620 the island's strategic location and its economy 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:09.100 without the political burden of actually adding 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.939 a new star to the flag. That is the exact paradox 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:14.459 they were trapped in. So who steps up to solve 00:07:14.459 --> 00:07:17.500 this geopolitical puzzle? A very powerful trio 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:19.959 of American figures took the lead here. Okay, 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:22.259 who are the players? You have Senator Orville 00:07:22.259 --> 00:07:24.540 H. Platt, who chaired the Senate Committee on 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:27.279 Relations with Cuba. Then there's General Leonard 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.220 Wood, who was actively acting as the U .S. military 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:32.329 governor of Cuba at the time. Okay, so the guy 00:07:32.329 --> 00:07:35.389 in charge on the ground. Exactly. And finally, 00:07:35.790 --> 00:07:38.430 Elihu Root, who was the U .S. Secretary of War. 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:41.310 A heavy -hitting group. Very. And they needed 00:07:41.310 --> 00:07:44.769 a formula to maintain public order and protect 00:07:44.769 --> 00:07:48.009 American interests while still technically adhering 00:07:48.009 --> 00:07:50.649 to that non -annexation promise of the Teller 00:07:50.649 --> 00:07:52.990 Amendment. They needed to create a self -governing 00:07:52.990 --> 00:07:56.009 colony. Precisely. And the way they pushed this 00:07:56.009 --> 00:07:59.519 formula through Congress is Honestly, one of 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:01.560 the most revealing details in all the sources 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:03.800 we looked at. It really tells you everything 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.420 about their priorities. Yeah, because they didn't 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:09.939 introduce this as a grand standalone treaty to 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:12.579 be debated for months on the Senate floor. No, 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.379 because time was their absolute enemy here. Why 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:18.279 were they in such a rush? The 56th United States 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:20.519 Congress was scheduled to end its session on 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:23.339 March 4th, 1901. Oh, so the clock was ticking. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:25.980 Exactly. A standalone bill would have required 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.459 lengthy committee hearings, public debate, and 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:30.339 a really slow voting process. And they didn't 00:08:30.339 --> 00:08:33.159 have time for that. Right. So instead of a separate 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.860 diplomatic bill, they took this geopolitical 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:38.980 blueprint, this document that would literally 00:08:38.980 --> 00:08:41.659 dictate the future of a foreign nation, and they 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:44.779 attached it as a legislative writer to the Army 00:08:44.779 --> 00:08:48.419 Appropriations Act of 1901. Wait, wait. An appropriations 00:08:48.419 --> 00:08:50.580 act, isn't that literally just a routine budget 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:53.679 bill? Yes. It is the annual legislation that 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.399 literally funds the military. That is incredibly 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:59.200 sneaky. It authorizes the money to pay the soldiers, 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.799 buy the equipment, and keep the Army functioning 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.360 for the next fiscal year. So by attaching the 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.240 Platt Amendment to this critical funding bill? 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.500 They virtually guaranteed its passage. Yeah. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:11.700 Because voting against the Platt Amendment meant 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:14.460 voting to defund the entire U .S. Army. Wow. 00:09:14.830 --> 00:09:16.590 Think of what that means for the Cuban people. 00:09:16.789 --> 00:09:18.990 It's devastating. The foundational document of 00:09:18.990 --> 00:09:20.990 their independence wasn't debated in Havana. 00:09:21.490 --> 00:09:23.870 It wasn't carefully negotiated over months between 00:09:23.870 --> 00:09:26.070 equal sovereign states. Not at all. It was slipped 00:09:26.070 --> 00:09:28.330 into the margins of a foreign military's payroll 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:31.350 document because Washington politicians were 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.029 rushing to go home for the legislative recess. 00:09:34.529 --> 00:09:36.970 It perfectly underscores the unilateral nature 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:39.610 of this whole mandate. The United States was 00:09:39.610 --> 00:09:42.389 dictating terms to a captive audience. I mean, 00:09:42.490 --> 00:09:44.330 I was trying to think of an analogy for this. 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:47.330 It's like a roommate who publicly promises they 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:49.289 won't take over your house. That's the Teller 00:09:49.289 --> 00:09:52.769 Amendment. But then they hand you this inescapable 00:09:52.769 --> 00:09:55.570 lease agreement detailing exactly who you can 00:09:55.570 --> 00:09:58.389 invite over and how you spend your money. Yes. 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:02.580 You own the house in name only. Right. And to 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:04.919 truly understand how tight that lease agreement 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:07.720 was, we really need to dive into the specific 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:10.080 mechanisms. Let's break down the actual text 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.200 because the architecture of this document is 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:14.820 just brilliant in its restrictiveness. OK, let's 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:17.120 get into it. The Platt Amendment consists of 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.779 eight specific conditions. It actually opens 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:21.919 with a preamble stating the U .S. will leave 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.179 the government and control of the island to its 00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:26.720 people. Ah, generous. Right. But only as soon 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.779 as a government is established under a constitution 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:30.820 that defines future relations with the U .S. 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.200 based on the following rules. It's a conditional 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:36.240 withdrawal. We will end the military occupation, 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:40.100 but only if you agree to this exact list of demands. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:43.399 Exactly. OK. So what is Condition I? So Condition 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.379 I isolates Cuba diplomatically. It states that 00:10:46.379 --> 00:10:48.299 the government of Cuba shall never enter into 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:50.759 any treaty or compact with any foreign power 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:53.899 that will impair its independence. Okay, that 00:10:53.899 --> 00:10:56.370 sounds okay at first glance. Well, crucially, 00:10:56.629 --> 00:10:59.429 it also dictates that Cuba cannot authorize any 00:10:59.429 --> 00:11:02.389 foreign power to obtain colonization or military 00:11:02.389 --> 00:11:05.370 or naval lodgement over any portion of the island. 00:11:06.450 --> 00:11:08.629 So they are building a diplomatic wall around 00:11:08.629 --> 00:11:10.730 the island. Exactly. Because if you are a newly 00:11:10.730 --> 00:11:13.470 independent nation, your very first instinct 00:11:13.470 --> 00:11:16.809 is to build global alliances, sign trade pacts, 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:19.250 and establish embassies. You want to participate 00:11:19.250 --> 00:11:21.690 on the world stage. Right. But Condition Eye 00:11:21.690 --> 00:11:24.570 tells Cuba, They cannot make treaties that the 00:11:24.570 --> 00:11:27.269 U .S. decides might, quote unquote, impair their 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:29.389 independence. And practically speaking, that 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:31.809 meant Cuba couldn't align with Britain, Germany, 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:34.690 France or any other global power that might challenge 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:36.909 American hegemony in the Caribbean. It effectively 00:11:36.909 --> 00:11:39.769 made the United States the absolute sole gatekeeper 00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:42.090 of Cuban foreign policy, which leads right into 00:11:42.090 --> 00:11:44.889 condition two, which closes another massive vulnerability 00:11:44.889 --> 00:11:48.210 economics. How so? It dictates that the Cuban 00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:51.250 government shall not assume or contract any public 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:53.570 debt that it's ordinary revenues cannot cover. 00:11:53.690 --> 00:11:56.789 Oh, wow. Yeah. And they had to make reasonable 00:11:56.789 --> 00:11:59.549 sinking fund provisions for the ultimate discharge 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:01.870 of any debt they took on. OK, for anyone listening 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:04.870 who is unfamiliar with the financial term, what 00:12:04.870 --> 00:12:07.690 exactly is a sinking fund provision in this historical 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:11.100 context? Good question. It means they had to 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.820 legally set aside a dedicated portion of their 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:16.120 regular government income every single year, 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.960 specifically to pay off the principal of their 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:20.960 debts. So they couldn't just pay the interest 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:22.799 and roll the debt over like most countries do? 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:25.559 No, they couldn't. They were forced onto a highly, 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:28.259 highly restrictive financial diet using only 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:31.159 regular tax revenues after paying all their normal 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:33.759 government expenses. It sounds like forced fiscal 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.120 responsibility, but I'm guessing the U .S. didn't 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.100 include this just because they wanted to balance 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:41.500 their books. No, the motivation was entirely 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:44.120 strategic. What was the strategy? Well, during 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.600 the turn of the 20th century, European powers 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.039 frequently used a diplomatic tactic known as 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.049 gunboat diplomacy. Gunboat diplomacy. Right. 00:12:52.269 --> 00:12:55.029 If a smaller developing nation defaulted on its 00:12:55.029 --> 00:12:57.870 loans to European banks, countries like Britain 00:12:57.870 --> 00:13:00.529 or Germany would use that default as a legal 00:13:00.529 --> 00:13:03.450 excuse to send warships, literally seize control 00:13:03.450 --> 00:13:06.350 of local customs houses, and basically take over 00:13:06.350 --> 00:13:08.889 the country's finances to extract the debt owed. 00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:11.549 Wow. So they would just show up with guns and 00:13:11.549 --> 00:13:15.750 take the tax money. Exactly. So by strictly limiting 00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:18.169 Cuba's ability to take on debt in the first place, 00:13:18.269 --> 00:13:20.769 the U .S. was eliminating the primary excuse 00:13:20.769 --> 00:13:24.090 any European power might use to physically intervene 00:13:24.090 --> 00:13:26.710 in the Caribbean. OK, I see. They closed the 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:29.370 diplomatic back door with Condition 1, and they 00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:31.070 closed the economic back door with Condition 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:33.590 2, which perfectly sets up the front door, Condition 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:36.370 3. Condition 3 is the true heart of the amendment. 00:13:36.889 --> 00:13:39.269 It dictates that the government of Cuba consents 00:13:39.269 --> 00:13:41.649 that the United States may exercise the right 00:13:41.649 --> 00:13:44.679 to interfere for the preservation of Cuban independence. 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:47.139 Wait, intervene for independence? Yes, and it 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:49.500 says, and the maintenance of a government adequate 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:52.039 for the protection of life, property, and individual 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.840 liberty. The Machiavellian brilliance of that 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.659 phrasing is staggering. It really is. They forced 00:13:57.659 --> 00:14:00.679 Cuba to give the U .S. the right to invade in 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:03.600 the name of preserving independence. It's Orwellian. 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:07.750 By embedding this clause, the United States legalized 00:14:07.750 --> 00:14:10.850 perpetual oversight. Because who defines what 00:14:10.850 --> 00:14:14.090 adequate means? Exactly. The standard of what 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:16.649 constituted an adequate government was entirely 00:14:16.649 --> 00:14:19.830 up to Washington. Right. So if there was a labor 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.710 strike threatening American sugar mills or a 00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:25.809 disputed local election, the U .S. could literally 00:14:25.809 --> 00:14:28.710 point to Condition III and declare they were 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:31.950 legally intervening to protect property just 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:34.389 as the treaty allowed. It completely nullifies 00:14:34.389 --> 00:14:37.190 the entire concept of internal sovereignty. Completely. 00:14:37.570 --> 00:14:39.509 The Cuban government would constantly operate 00:14:39.509 --> 00:14:41.370 under the looming threat that the Marines could 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:43.769 be legally dispatched if American interests were 00:14:43.769 --> 00:14:45.549 threatened. And what does Condition III demand? 00:14:45.950 --> 00:14:49.009 we are halfway through. Condition 4 grants absolute 00:14:49.009 --> 00:14:52.070 retroactive immunity. Immunity for who? The U 00:14:52.070 --> 00:14:54.429 .S. It demands that all acts of the United States 00:14:54.429 --> 00:14:57.169 and Cuba during its military occupancy are ratified 00:14:57.169 --> 00:14:59.730 and validated, and all lawful rights acquired 00:14:59.730 --> 00:15:02.230 under that occupation shall be maintained and 00:15:02.230 --> 00:15:05.169 protected. Oh, wow. So everything the occupying 00:15:05.169 --> 00:15:07.789 force did, whether that's property transfers, 00:15:08.409 --> 00:15:11.330 legal rulings, infrastructure decisions, it was 00:15:11.330 --> 00:15:14.419 all permanently cemented into law. Yes. And the 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.039 new Cuban government could never, ever challenge 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:21.500 it in a Cuban court. That is ironclad. OK, that 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:23.879 brings us to condition V, which is the one that 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:25.840 always catches people off guard when they read 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.299 the actual document. It does seem out of place. 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:30.519 Because we go from military intervention and 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:35.389 sovereign debt straight into Yes. Condition V 00:15:35.389 --> 00:15:37.870 mandates that the government of Cuba will execute 00:15:37.870 --> 00:15:41.669 and, if necessary, extend plans already devised 00:15:41.669 --> 00:15:43.730 for the sanitation of the cities of the island. 00:15:44.389 --> 00:15:46.429 Wait, how does a public health mandate end up 00:15:46.429 --> 00:15:49.720 in a geopolitical treaty? Why is the U .S. Secretary 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:52.220 of War dictating local street sweeping and sewer 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:55.039 policies? Well, the document explicitly states 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.220 the rationale, actually. It says this sanitation 00:15:57.220 --> 00:15:59.279 is required to prevent the recurrence of epidemic 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.899 diseases, assuring protection to commerce, quote, 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:03.899 as well as to the commerce of the southern ports 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:06.000 of the United States and the people residing 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.820 therein. Ah. So it's about protecting the U .S. 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:12.179 again. Entirely. The primary fear was yellow 00:16:12.179 --> 00:16:15.429 fever. Epidemics frequently spread from the Caribbean 00:16:15.429 --> 00:16:18.389 to vital U .S. port cities like New Orleans. 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:20.529 Right, which would devastate trade. Exactly. 00:16:20.830 --> 00:16:23.850 During the occupation, General Wood had used 00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:26.370 Cuban treasury funds for aggressive sanitation 00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:29.509 campaigns. The U .S. wanted to ensure the Cuban 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:32.129 government was legally obligated to continue 00:16:32.129 --> 00:16:34.629 footing the bill for these incredibly expensive 00:16:34.629 --> 00:16:37.450 public health programs. Just to maintain a sanitary 00:16:37.450 --> 00:16:39.909 buffer zone for the American South. Exactly. 00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:42.370 Even the local health budget is subordinated 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:44.629 to the defense of American trade routes. That's 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:47.450 the reality of it. Now, Condition 6 moves back 00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:50.029 to geopolitics, dealing with physical territory. 00:16:50.250 --> 00:16:52.990 What's the territorial demand? Condition 6 declares 00:16:52.990 --> 00:16:55.789 that the Isle of Pines, which is a significant 00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:58.529 island off the southwestern coast of Cuba, known 00:16:58.529 --> 00:17:02.009 today as Isla de la Juventud, shall be omitted 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:04.230 from the proposed constitutional boundaries of 00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:06.609 Cuba. They just erased it from the map. Essentially. 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:09.230 The title to the island was left to, quote, future 00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:11.829 adjustment by treaty. They literally carved a 00:17:11.829 --> 00:17:14.710 piece of land off the map. and held it in geopolitical 00:17:14.710 --> 00:17:16.769 escrow. That's a great way to put it, escrow. 00:17:17.009 --> 00:17:20.509 Because it creates immediate leverage. If Cuba 00:17:20.509 --> 00:17:23.390 ever wanted that island recognized as their own 00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:25.970 territory, they would have to offer the U .S. 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:28.250 concessions somewhere else down the line. And 00:17:28.250 --> 00:17:31.049 that leverage ties directly into condition seven, 00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:33.529 which is perhaps the most infamous provision 00:17:33.529 --> 00:17:36.180 of the whole amendment. OK, lay it on us. It 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:38.799 states that to enable the U .S. to maintain the 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.980 independence of Cuba, the government of Cuba 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:44.180 will sell or lease to the United States lands 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.779 necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:50.160 specified points. Here's where it gets really 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.720 interesting, because this wasn't a minor request. 00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:54.819 The original demands from U .S. officials were 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:57.559 massive, weren't they? Oh, absolutely. They initially 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:00.559 wanted the right to build four separate permanent 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.019 military bases scattered all across the island. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.039 They essentially wanted control of the entire 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.440 Cuban waterfront. They did. But the Cuban representatives 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.240 pushed back fiercely on this point during negotiations. 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.400 It is actually one of the very few areas where 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.640 they managed to secure a compromise. Really? 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.599 Yeah. They negotiated it down, reducing the demand 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:21.359 from four bases down to two locations. Which 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.529 were? Guantanamo Bay on the southeast coast and 00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:27.390 Bahia Honda on the northwest. See, Bahia Honda 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:30.309 is a fascinating historical footnote to me. We 00:18:30.309 --> 00:18:32.630 all know the modern legacy of Guantanamo, but 00:18:32.630 --> 00:18:34.730 there was a second base originally. Yes, there 00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:38.369 was. Though in 1912, the U .S. and Cuba negotiated 00:18:38.369 --> 00:18:41.180 a swap. What kind of swap? The U .S. relinquished 00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:44.240 its rights to Bahia Honda in exchange for leasing 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.579 an expanded footprint of land around Guantanamo 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:49.819 Bay. Consolidating their presence. Exactly. But 00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.700 the underlying reality of Condition 7th remained. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.019 Cuba was formally forced to surrender sovereign 00:18:56.019 --> 00:18:58.400 territory to a foreign military indefinitely. 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:00.619 Which leaves the final lock on the cage, Condition 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:02.940 8. Condition 8 simply demands that the government 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:05.319 of Cuba embodies all the preceding provisions 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.319 in a permanent treaty with the United States. 00:19:07.460 --> 00:19:09.740 Make it legal forever. And furthermore, the U 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:12.319 .S. insisted that these exact conditions be written 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:15.720 directly into the 1901 Cuban constitution itself. 00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:17.859 So the very birth certificate of the nation, 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.140 the document that is supposed to enshrine their 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:24.039 freedom, has to literally include an eight point 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:26.200 list of how a foreign power can control them. 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.460 It's staggering. How did the Cuban constituent 00:19:29.460 --> 00:19:31.759 assembly react to being handed this ultimatum? 00:19:32.700 --> 00:19:34.579 I can't imagine they were happy. They reacted 00:19:34.579 --> 00:19:37.720 with deep division and profound outrage. I bet. 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:40.420 The sources show the assembly actually initially 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:42.480 rejected the amendment. They fiercely debated 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:44.579 it. But the reality of the American military 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:46.599 presence on the island was just overwhelming. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:48.799 The troops were right there. Right. And the US 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:50.779 made it abundantly clear the troops would not 00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:53.319 leave and Cuban independence would simply not 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:55.559 be recognized until the amendment was accepted. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.759 A literal gun to their heads. So finally, on 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:02.920 June 12, 1901, the assembly voted. It was the 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:06.039 tally. passed by a margin of 16 to 11 with four 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:10.319 abstentions. 16 people voting to accept a compromised 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:13.599 sovereignty just to get the occupying army to 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:17.359 leave. 11 refusing to bend and four unwilling 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.299 to cast a vote either way. That isn't a triumphant 00:20:20.299 --> 00:20:22.900 birth of a nation. It's a capitulation under 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:26.460 duress. And two years later in 1903 Cuba formally 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:28.920 entered into the Treaty of Relations making those 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:32.240 terms binding international law. Now, a casual 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:34.579 reading of those eight conditions might suggest 00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:37.400 the U .S. was primarily concerned with military 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.940 security and political stability. Sure, keeping 00:20:39.940 --> 00:20:42.640 European rivals out of the Caribbean and maintaining 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.779 a naval presence. Right. But the political cage 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:48.859 was really just the architecture needed to protect 00:20:48.859 --> 00:20:52.059 something. much more lucrative economics. Exactly. 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:54.740 Because once the Platt Amendment was firmly in 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:57.440 place, once the threat of European interference 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:00.480 was completely gone and the U .S. had the legal 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.440 right to send in troops to protect quote unquote 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.619 property, Wall Street realized their investments 00:21:06.619 --> 00:21:09.140 in Cuba were essentially backed by the United 00:21:09.140 --> 00:21:11.799 States military. It was a green light for investors 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.940 and that realization triggers an absolute tsunami 00:21:14.940 --> 00:21:17.440 of corporate cash. The economic stranglehold 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.150 begins immediately. Following the acceptance 00:21:20.150 --> 00:21:22.349 of the amendment, the U .S. and Cuba ratified 00:21:22.349 --> 00:21:25.220 a tariff agreement. OK, what did the tariff agreement 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:28.079 do? This gave Cuban sugar preferential access 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.779 to the massive U .S. consumer market. And in 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:33.799 return, American manufactured goods got preferential 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:36.420 access to Cuba. See, a tariff agreement sounds 00:21:36.420 --> 00:21:39.019 mutually beneficial until you consider the massive 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:42.380 disparity in economic power between an industrial 00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:45.819 giant and a war -torn agricultural island. Exactly. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:48.779 When American capital flooded into Cuba, it completely 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:51.980 distorted the local economy. The influx of money 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:54.680 was staggering. Historical sources indicate that 00:21:54.680 --> 00:21:58.539 between 1903 and 1913, American companies poured 00:21:58.539 --> 00:22:02.400 over $200 million into the Cuban sugar industry. 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:06.460 Yeah. In the early 1900s. It was an astronomical 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:09.079 sum. But that capital wasn't used to empower 00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:12.579 small local farmers. It was used to execute massive 00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:15.140 corporate consolidation. What does that consolidation 00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:17.160 actually look like on the ground? Because it's 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.460 not just a company buying a factory, right? No, 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:21.740 it is the wholesale acquisition of geography. 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:25.619 Wow. Enormous American -owned sugar mills use 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:28.579 that capital to just buy up vast tracts of land. 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:31.180 The estimates and the sources suggest that rapidly 00:22:31.180 --> 00:22:34.339 20 % of all Cuban land ended up being owned by 00:22:34.339 --> 00:22:37.140 these massive sugar syndicates. Imagine that. 00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:40.039 One out of every five acres in your entire country 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:43.019 owned by foreign corporations focus on a single 00:22:43.019 --> 00:22:45.579 export crop. It's hard to even conceptualize. 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:48.240 Right. If you are an independent Cuban farmer 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.299 growing diverse crops for your community, you 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:54.559 are suddenly surrounded by corporate monoculture. 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.400 And these syndicates didn't just buy the fields. 00:22:57.660 --> 00:22:59.759 They bought the infrastructure. For railroads. 00:23:00.299 --> 00:23:03.900 Yes. The major sugar mills built, owned, and 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:07.039 operated the railroads. And they didn't run these 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.759 trains as public utilities to connect Cuban towns. 00:23:09.819 --> 00:23:12.599 Of course not. They ran them as private logistical 00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:15.740 arteries. The trains existed purely to move sugar 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:18.660 from the fields to the mills and from the mills 00:23:18.660 --> 00:23:21.619 to the shipping ports. This is a crucial point 00:23:21.619 --> 00:23:24.519 about how monopolies work, too, because the American 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:27.460 mills own the only trains. An independent Cuban 00:23:27.460 --> 00:23:29.680 farmer who actually managed to hold onto his 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.579 land was essentially trapped. Completely trapped. 00:23:32.660 --> 00:23:34.539 He couldn't just ship his sugar to a competing 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:37.799 buyer in another province. The local mill dictated 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:40.220 the freight rates, and they dictated the purchase 00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:42.859 price. He held all the cards. If the farmer refused 00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:45.619 to accept their rock bottom offer, his sugar 00:23:45.619 --> 00:23:48.319 cane would literally rot on the platform. The 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:50.589 train just wouldn't pick it up. It is a closed 00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:54.109 loop of economic extraction. The mills control 00:23:54.109 --> 00:23:57.529 the land, the transport, and the market. Did 00:23:57.529 --> 00:24:00.430 the Cuban government try to stop this? Or were 00:24:00.430 --> 00:24:02.490 their hands tied by the debt and intervention 00:24:02.490 --> 00:24:04.710 clauses we just talked about? They were totally 00:24:04.710 --> 00:24:07.109 paralyzed from intervening. Because of the Platt 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:09.769 Amendment. Exactly. If the Cuban government attempted 00:24:09.769 --> 00:24:12.890 to pass antitrust legislation or redistribute 00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:16.069 land or heavily regulate those railroads, the 00:24:16.069 --> 00:24:18.109 U .S. could just point to condition third of 00:24:18.109 --> 00:24:20.089 the Platt Amendment. You are protecting property. 00:24:20.230 --> 00:24:22.369 Right. They declare the government was failing 00:24:22.369 --> 00:24:25.049 to protect property and deploy the military. 00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:27.609 So the local farmers are squeezed out. What happens 00:24:27.609 --> 00:24:30.230 to the thousands of rural Cubans who now have 00:24:30.230 --> 00:24:33.000 to work for these massive syndicates? The sources 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:35.480 describe a state of severe impoverishment and 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:38.599 deep insecurity for the rural masses. Mill workers 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:41.160 lived on corporate -owned land and faced constant 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:43.680 threat of eviction if they demanded better conditions. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:46.400 Yeah, it's brutal. Furthermore, to deliberately 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:48.579 crush any leverage the workers might have had 00:24:48.579 --> 00:24:51.339 to negotiate higher wages, the syndicates imported 00:24:51.339 --> 00:24:53.440 cheap labor from other parts of the Caribbean. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.200 Pitting workers against each other. By flooding 00:24:56.200 --> 00:24:58.640 the labor market, they kept wages at an absolute 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:01.559 subsistence minimum. If the vast majority of 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:03.799 your population is working for poverty wages, 00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:07.680 they have no disposable income and that triggers 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:11.529 a devastating macroeconomic chain reaction. Exactly. 00:25:11.950 --> 00:25:14.269 Because the Cuban working class had virtually 00:25:14.269 --> 00:25:17.950 zero purchasing power, there was no domestic 00:25:17.950 --> 00:25:20.289 market for manufactured goods. Right. If you 00:25:20.289 --> 00:25:22.049 can't afford a shirt, no one's going to build 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:24.609 a shirt factory. Exactly. If your population 00:25:24.609 --> 00:25:27.450 can't afford to buy shoes, clothing, or basic 00:25:27.450 --> 00:25:30.710 tools, there is absolutely no incentive for entrepreneurs 00:25:30.710 --> 00:25:33.069 to build factories on the island to produce those 00:25:33.069 --> 00:25:35.750 goods. It stunts everything. The structural outcome 00:25:35.750 --> 00:25:38.089 was that Cuba's industrialization was completely 00:25:38.089 --> 00:25:41.069 stunted in the decade following the 1903 Wow. 00:25:41.630 --> 00:25:44.009 While the U .S. economy diversified and modernized 00:25:44.009 --> 00:25:47.569 rapidly, Cuba was frozen as an agricultural extraction 00:25:47.569 --> 00:25:50.289 zone. So all that immense wealth generated by 00:25:50.289 --> 00:25:53.069 Cuban soil and Cuban labor was simply exported 00:25:53.069 --> 00:25:56.569 to foreign bank accounts. And, you know, this 00:25:56.569 --> 00:25:59.559 economic marginalization... inevitably leads 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.220 directly to massive social exclusion. Because 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:05.519 when you design an economy that only benefits 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.599 a tiny elite, you have to design a political 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:11.019 system that prevents the majority from changing 00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:14.880 the rules. Which brings us to the profound social 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:17.599 fallout of the Platt Amendment era. Just as a 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:20.359 quick reminder to you, our listener, whenever 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:22.740 we hit politically charged history like this, 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:24.819 left -wing, right -wing, rebellions, policies, 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:27.500 We are strictly reporting what the historical 00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:30.019 sources say. We aren't endorsing any specific 00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:32.579 viewpoints. We're taking sides. We're just analyzing 00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:34.240 the documents. Right. We are just looking at 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.019 the facts on the ground. And to grasp the tragic 00:26:37.019 --> 00:26:39.759 irony of this social fallout, we have to look 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:41.819 at who actually fought the war for independence 00:26:41.819 --> 00:26:43.480 in the first place. OK. Who was on the front 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:45.839 lines? For decades, the grueling fight against 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.259 Spanish rule relied heavily on the Afro -Cuban 00:26:48.259 --> 00:26:51.799 population. Really? Yes. Nearly 40 % of the Cuban 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:53.539 fighting force was made up of people of color. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.400 40%. That is ma - They were the lifeblood of 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:58.839 the Revolutionary Army. These men spent years 00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:01.619 in the jungle fighting a guerrilla war. And they 00:27:01.619 --> 00:27:04.680 fought with the explicit expectation that a free 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:08.400 Cuba would mean an equal Cuba. Exactly. They 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.940 bled for a republic that would dismantle the 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:13.220 racial hierarchies of the old Spanish Empire. 00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.559 But the reality they got was very different. 00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:19.009 Very, because the U .S. military occupation, 00:27:19.329 --> 00:27:21.309 managed by figures like General Leonard Wood, 00:27:21.990 --> 00:27:24.809 prioritized conservative stability and the protection 00:27:24.809 --> 00:27:27.509 of investment over social justice. Shocking. 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:30.619 Under Wood's administration, the U .S. imposed 00:27:30.619 --> 00:27:33.680 strict new voting regulations for the upcoming 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:36.220 Cuban elections. What were the rules? To vote, 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:38.539 you had to be an adult male, you had to be literate, 00:27:38.660 --> 00:27:41.039 and crucially, you had to own property worth 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.079 $250 or more. Okay, the practical effect of that 00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:46.900 $250 property requirement had to be devastating. 00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:49.380 It was. Because a guerrilla fighter who has spent 00:27:49.380 --> 00:27:51.400 the last 10 years in the mountains fighting the 00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:54.480 Spanish Empire hasn't exactly been accumulating 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:56.940 real estate or saving cash. No, they were fighting 00:27:56.940 --> 00:27:59.299 revolution. The very act of fighting for their 00:27:59.299 --> 00:28:01.700 country's freedom is what economically disqualified 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:03.920 them from participating in its new democracy. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.160 It's a bitter irony. The requirement functioned 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:09.789 as a targeted disenfranchisement. Absolutely. 00:28:10.109 --> 00:28:13.150 The literacy and property qualifications effectively 00:28:13.150 --> 00:28:15.529 stripped the vast majority of the Afro -Cuban 00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:17.890 population of their right to vote. Just wiped 00:28:17.890 --> 00:28:20.269 out their political voice. Furthermore, the sources 00:28:20.269 --> 00:28:22.769 note they were systematically blocked from many 00:28:22.769 --> 00:28:25.789 civil service jobs and state institutions because 00:28:25.789 --> 00:28:28.890 those positions now required the exact same educational 00:28:28.890 --> 00:28:31.390 or property credentials they had just been denied. 00:28:31.529 --> 00:28:33.930 So you take combat veterans who know how to organize, 00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:36.470 you strip away their political voice, and you 00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:39.000 completely shut them out of the economy. Tensions 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:41.900 had to be boiling over. Oh, they were. The sources 00:28:41.900 --> 00:28:44.460 describe rife hot utility and even exchanges 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:47.539 of gunfire between Afro -Cubans and the stationed 00:28:47.539 --> 00:28:51.059 U .S. military officials. Wow. Facing total marginalization, 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:53.480 middle -class black Cubans attempted to channel 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:56.140 their frustration through the democratic process. 00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:59.259 In 1908, they formed the Independent Party of 00:28:59.259 --> 00:29:02.990 Color, or the PIC. OK, forming a political party 00:29:02.990 --> 00:29:05.549 to advocate for your rights is exactly what you're 00:29:05.549 --> 00:29:08.089 supposed to do in a functioning republic. Right. 00:29:08.430 --> 00:29:10.630 But the Cuban political establishment, which 00:29:10.630 --> 00:29:13.410 was terrified of any disruption to the precarious 00:29:13.410 --> 00:29:16.410 stability demanded by the U .S., view the PIC 00:29:16.410 --> 00:29:19.259 as a profound threat. Because instability brings 00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:22.880 the Marines. Exactly. So the Cuban Congress swiftly 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.599 banned the PIC and any other political party 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:28.000 based on race, basically accusing them of trying 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:31.000 to incite a race war. They close the ballot box. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:33.539 And when the disenfranchised try to organize 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:35.880 peacefully, they make the organization illegal. 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:38.859 They leave them with absolutely no peaceful avenues 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:41.680 for redress. The result was the tragic escalation 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:44.779 known as the 1912 Negro Rebellion. What happened? 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:47.380 The PIC called for limited armed protests to 00:29:47.380 --> 00:29:49.720 demand their political rights, and the Cuban 00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:52.720 army responded with overwhelming brutal force. 00:29:52.779 --> 00:29:55.259 How bad was it? The rebellion was crushed, resulting 00:29:55.259 --> 00:29:58.359 in the massacre of an estimated 3 ,000 to 6 ,000 00:29:58.359 --> 00:30:00.700 Afro -Cubans. Thousands of people slaughtered. 00:30:00.859 --> 00:30:02.859 Yes. And how did the United States respond to 00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:05.200 this massive domestic crisis under the Platt 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:07.039 Amendment? Condition 3 says they have the right 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:09.140 to intervene to protect life and liberty. Did 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:11.819 they send troops to stop the massacre? Well, 00:30:11.900 --> 00:30:14.940 the U .S. did intervene. Oh, they did. They deployed 00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:19.900 12 ,292 Marines to Cuba during the uprising. 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:22.940 OK. However, the historical sources are very 00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:25.819 explicit about their mission. The Marines were 00:30:25.819 --> 00:30:28.880 sent specifically to protect American owned companies, 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.619 copper mines, railroads and trains. Oh, not the 00:30:32.619 --> 00:30:35.829 people. No. They had only one minor skirmish 00:30:35.829 --> 00:30:39.109 with rebels, resulting in no casualties. Their 00:30:39.109 --> 00:30:41.369 deployment was entirely about securing corporate 00:30:41.369 --> 00:30:44.509 infrastructure, not mediating the conflict or 00:30:44.509 --> 00:30:46.849 protecting the vulnerable population. That is 00:30:46.849 --> 00:30:49.829 dark. And following the massacre, the PIC was 00:30:49.829 --> 00:30:52.630 completely dissolved. It is a stark, devastating 00:30:52.630 --> 00:30:54.869 illustration of what quote unquote stability 00:30:54.869 --> 00:30:57.430 actually meant in the context of the Platt Amendment. 00:30:57.490 --> 00:30:59.670 It really is. And it wasn't just Afro -Cubans 00:30:59.670 --> 00:31:02.230 who were marginalized either. Women who had been 00:31:02.230 --> 00:31:04.839 absolutely crucial to the revolution, found themselves 00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:07.039 completely shut out of the new political order 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.420 as well. Right. The sources highlight the deep 00:31:09.420 --> 00:31:11.779 disappointment of women activists. During the 00:31:11.779 --> 00:31:15.319 war, women known as mambisas were revered. Yes, 00:31:15.660 --> 00:31:17.619 they were warrior mothers who symbolized the 00:31:17.619 --> 00:31:19.740 profound struggle for independence and social 00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:22.859 justice. But despite their massive sacrifices, 00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:26.559 the new government, formulated under U .S. oversight, 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:29.789 denied them the right to vote. And if they tried 00:31:29.789 --> 00:31:33.650 to publicly advocate for female suffrage or equality? 00:31:34.470 --> 00:31:36.950 Any attempts by women to discuss equality were 00:31:36.950 --> 00:31:40.009 either ignored or aggressively dismissed. The 00:31:40.009 --> 00:31:42.210 sources note they were often labeled as radical 00:31:42.210 --> 00:31:45.049 nationalists for simply demanding a voice. Just 00:31:45.049 --> 00:31:47.690 for wanting to participate? Right. Female suffrage 00:31:47.690 --> 00:31:51.339 in Cuba would not be achieved until 1940. If 00:31:51.339 --> 00:31:53.779 we connect this to the bigger picture, the entire 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.740 political system was engineered to be exclusionary, 00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:59.500 relying on a very narrow elite to manage the 00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:01.339 country in accordance with American demands. 00:32:01.619 --> 00:32:03.619 But the paradox, and this is the crazy part, 00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:05.640 is that all of this engineering, all of these 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:08.420 strict rules and exclusionary voting laws designed 00:32:08.420 --> 00:32:10.680 to guarantee peace and protect investments, it 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:13.559 backfired. It ended up creating perpetual political 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:16.380 chaos. Totally. Because the threat of U .S. military 00:32:16.380 --> 00:32:18.720 intervention hung over every single political 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.660 dispute, legitimate constitutional rule became 00:32:21.660 --> 00:32:24.259 virtually impossible. You can't have a real debate 00:32:24.259 --> 00:32:27.059 if someone is holding a big stick. Exactly. A 00:32:27.059 --> 00:32:29.539 perfect example in the sources is the tenure 00:32:29.539 --> 00:32:32.220 of Tomás Estrada Palma. He was the first president 00:32:32.220 --> 00:32:35.640 of Cuba, taking office in 1902. Right. Interestingly, 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.359 he was a figure who had previously favored US 00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:41.500 annexation, which obviously made him highly agreeable 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:44.160 to Washington. But how was he viewed at home? 00:32:44.410 --> 00:32:46.829 Because that can't be a popular stance for a 00:32:46.829 --> 00:32:49.529 newly independent people. His rule was intensely 00:32:49.529 --> 00:32:52.750 contested. When he was re -elected in 1905, the 00:32:52.750 --> 00:32:55.170 election was marred by widespread accusations 00:32:55.170 --> 00:32:57.890 of massive fraud and violence against his liberal 00:32:57.890 --> 00:33:00.390 opponents. Typical rigged election stuff. Right. 00:33:00.769 --> 00:33:03.410 The opposition eventually launched an armed rebellion 00:33:03.410 --> 00:33:05.789 against his government. Okay, so a real crisis. 00:33:06.009 --> 00:33:09.309 The situation deteriorated so rapidly that Estrada 00:33:09.309 --> 00:33:11.950 Palma and his entire executive branch resigned, 00:33:12.390 --> 00:33:14.609 causing the complete collapse of the Cuban government. 00:33:14.829 --> 00:33:17.369 The government falls and Condition 3 is activated. 00:33:17.789 --> 00:33:19.509 Exactly. The United States invoked the Platt 00:33:19.509 --> 00:33:21.630 Amendment to initiate the second occupation of 00:33:21.630 --> 00:33:25.250 Cuba. Which lasted how long? From 1906 to 1909, 00:33:25.730 --> 00:33:28.930 U .S. Secretary of War William Howard Taft, who, 00:33:28.930 --> 00:33:30.869 of course, becomes the future U .S. president, 00:33:31.470 --> 00:33:33.970 arrived in Havana. Oh, wow. Taft went down there. 00:33:34.029 --> 00:33:36.960 He did. Relying on the legal authority granted 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:39.680 by Article 3 of the treaty, Taft essentially 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:41.759 declared himself the provisional governor of 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:45.099 Cuba. That is wild. A move that was ratified 00:33:45.099 --> 00:33:47.900 by President Theodore Roosevelt via executive 00:33:47.900 --> 00:33:50.799 order. Just a few years after the Cuban people 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:53.660 supposedly won their independence, an American 00:33:53.660 --> 00:33:56.380 cabinet member is literally sitting in the governor's 00:33:56.380 --> 00:33:59.150 chair. It shows how fragile the whole setup was. 00:33:59.490 --> 00:34:02.390 This pattern of instability became chromic. The 00:34:02.390 --> 00:34:05.049 sources point out a really critical legal synergy 00:34:05.049 --> 00:34:07.589 that undermined Cuban civil liberties. What was 00:34:07.589 --> 00:34:10.949 the synergy? Well, Article 40 of the 1901 Cuban 00:34:10.949 --> 00:34:13.050 Constitution, combined with Article 3 of the 00:34:13.050 --> 00:34:15.469 Platt Amendment, created this mechanism where 00:34:15.469 --> 00:34:18.010 fundamental constitutional rights could be easily 00:34:18.010 --> 00:34:20.710 and frequently suspended under emergency provisions 00:34:20.710 --> 00:34:23.929 whenever there was political unrest. Ah. So if 00:34:23.929 --> 00:34:26.329 the government faced a protest or a strike, they 00:34:26.329 --> 00:34:28.289 didn't have to resolve the underlying issues. 00:34:28.670 --> 00:34:31.050 They could just declare an emergency, suspend 00:34:31.050 --> 00:34:33.389 civil rights, and know the American military 00:34:33.389 --> 00:34:36.730 was legally authorized to back them up. It directly 00:34:36.730 --> 00:34:39.309 eroded the individual rights of the Cuban people. 00:34:39.969 --> 00:34:43.210 As historian Luis Perez Jr. argues in the sources, 00:34:43.789 --> 00:34:46.650 the Platt Amendment resulted in the exact opposite 00:34:46.650 --> 00:34:48.909 of its stated goal. Right. It was supposed to 00:34:48.909 --> 00:34:52.000 bring stability. Exactly. But By deeply undermining 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:54.679 genuine Cuban sovereignty and preventing the 00:34:54.679 --> 00:34:57.079 development of organic democratic institutions, 00:34:57.639 --> 00:35:00.940 it practically guaranteed continuous Cuban volatility. 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.820 When a nation isn't allowed to make its own mistakes, 00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:06.420 you know, when they can't forge their own political 00:35:06.420 --> 00:35:09.159 compromises or hold its leaders accountable without 00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:11.599 a foreign power stepping in. The pressure cooker 00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:13.780 just builds. It has to explode eventually. And 00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:15.659 eventually, that volatility forced a massive 00:35:15.659 --> 00:35:17.920 shift in U .S. foreign policy. Right. By the 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:20.559 early 1930s, the political philosophy in Washington 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:22.820 was evolving. The Great Depression era. Exactly. 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:25.860 The heavy -handed, overtly interventionist approach 00:35:25.860 --> 00:35:29.400 of the early 1900s was generating immense resentment 00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:32.099 across Latin America. And honestly, it was proving 00:35:32.099 --> 00:35:35.039 too costly to maintain. So what changed? President 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:38.019 Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Good Neighbor 00:35:38.019 --> 00:35:41.670 policy. Oh, good neighbor. diplomatic pivot aimed 00:35:41.670 --> 00:35:44.570 at reducing direct military intervention in favor 00:35:44.570 --> 00:35:49.360 of soft power and economic influence. the U .S. 00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:52.239 and Cuba returned to the negotiating table. Yes. 00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:56.500 On May 29th, 1934, they signed a new Cuban -American 00:35:56.500 --> 00:35:58.820 Treaty of Relations. And did that fix things? 00:35:58.980 --> 00:36:02.039 Well, the very first article of this 1934 agreement 00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:06.079 explicitly overrode the 1903 treaty. It formally 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:08.639 dropped three of the seven original pledges, 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:11.420 effectively repealing the most egregious mechanisms 00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:13.619 of the Platt Amendment. Including condition three. 00:36:13.780 --> 00:36:15.780 Yes, particularly condition three, the right 00:36:15.780 --> 00:36:18.099 to military intervention. OK, so that's a huge 00:36:18.059 --> 00:36:20.639 step. And a few years later, the Cuban people 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:23.860 took the final constitutional step to erase the 00:36:23.860 --> 00:36:26.659 amendment from their own laws. Right. In 1940, 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:29.780 a Cuban constitutional convention convened featuring 00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:32.840 delegates like José Manuel Cortina. OK. They 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:35.639 drafted an entirely new constitution and officially 00:36:35.639 --> 00:36:37.880 purged the text of the Platt Amendment from their 00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.380 national charter. So the legal mechanisms of 00:36:40.380 --> 00:36:43.420 direct everyday control were finally dismantled. 00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:47.599 They were. But the 1934 treaty didn't erase everything. 00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:50.900 Right, because one very specific, very physical 00:36:50.900 --> 00:36:54.619 legacy of the 1901 negotiations remains entirely 00:36:54.619 --> 00:36:57.260 intact today. The lingering ghost of Condition 00:36:57.260 --> 00:37:00.780 7, the indefinite lease of the Guantanamo Bay 00:37:00.780 --> 00:37:04.179 Naval Base. Still there. Still there. That carve 00:37:04.179 --> 00:37:07.260 -out of sovereign territory persists, and it 00:37:07.260 --> 00:37:10.300 has evolved into a fascinating, highly complex 00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:13.360 dispute within modern international law. Break 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:15.719 down how the modern Cuban government challenges 00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:17.980 that lease, because it directly ties back to 00:37:17.980 --> 00:37:19.739 the coercion we discussed the very beginning 00:37:19.739 --> 00:37:22.000 of the deep dive. It absolutely does. Since the 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.800 1959 revolution, the Cuban government has adamantly 00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:26.980 refused to cash the annual lease checks from 00:37:26.980 --> 00:37:29.239 the U .S. government. Wow, really? Yeah, they 00:37:29.239 --> 00:37:31.280 argue the lease is fundamentally illegitimate. 00:37:31.659 --> 00:37:33.860 Their argument relies on modern legal frameworks, 00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:37.800 specifically Article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention 00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:39.920 on the Law of Treaties. OK, what does Article 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:42.699 52 dictate? It explicitly declares that it treaty 00:37:42.699 --> 00:37:45.260 is void if its conclusion was procured by the 00:37:45.260 --> 00:37:48.019 threat or use of force. That seems incredibly 00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:50.559 applicable here. We established that the U .S. 00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:53.139 military was occupying the island and the Cuban 00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:55.519 Constituent Assembly was flat out told their 00:37:55.519 --> 00:37:57.320 independence would not be recognized until they 00:37:57.320 --> 00:38:01.559 signed. Right. They voted 16 to 11 under the 00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:04.940 direct shadow of a foreign army. By the standards 00:38:04.940 --> 00:38:08.300 of the Vienna Convention that is textbook coercion. 00:38:08.349 --> 00:38:12.150 It is a very powerful historical and moral argument. 00:38:12.730 --> 00:38:15.809 However, international law is notoriously complex 00:38:15.809 --> 00:38:18.190 regarding jurisdiction and timing. There's a 00:38:18.190 --> 00:38:20.130 loophole. There is a counter argument, and it 00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:22.289 relies on another section of that exact same 00:38:22.289 --> 00:38:25.409 convention. Let's hear it. Article 4 of the 1969 00:38:25.409 --> 00:38:27.590 Vienna Convention states that its provisions 00:38:27.590 --> 00:38:30.909 shall not be applied retroactively. Ah. So because 00:38:30.909 --> 00:38:33.829 the treaty was signed in 1903, a law passed in 00:38:33.829 --> 00:38:37.150 1969 can't invalidate it. Precisely. The legal 00:38:37.150 --> 00:38:39.349 defense argues that at the turn of the 20th century, 00:38:39.570 --> 00:38:42.170 the threat of force by a major power to secure 00:38:42.170 --> 00:38:44.389 territorial concessions or favorable treaties 00:38:44.389 --> 00:38:47.610 was, unfortunately, a standard recognized practice 00:38:47.610 --> 00:38:49.630 in international relations. Basically everyone 00:38:49.630 --> 00:38:51.989 was doing it back then. Right. It wasn't codified 00:38:51.989 --> 00:38:55.010 as illegal then, so a modern court cannot retroactively 00:38:55.010 --> 00:38:57.869 void the contract now. It's a paralyzing legal 00:38:57.869 --> 00:39:00.980 stalemate. One side argues the contract is fundamentally 00:39:00.980 --> 00:39:03.039 invalid because a gun was held to their heads. 00:39:03.380 --> 00:39:05.780 Yep. The other side argues the contract stands 00:39:05.780 --> 00:39:08.139 because there were no international laws against 00:39:08.139 --> 00:39:11.219 holding guns to heads when the ink dried. It 00:39:11.219 --> 00:39:13.639 perfectly encapsulates how the echoes of 1901 00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:16.000 are still ringing today. So what does this all 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:19.000 mean? If we look at the entire arc of this history, 00:39:19.880 --> 00:39:22.079 studying the Platt Amendment offers a really 00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.300 profound lesson in the mechanics of modern imperialism. 00:39:25.469 --> 00:39:28.909 Absolutely. We saw how the intense mistrust following 00:39:28.909 --> 00:39:31.210 the Spanish -American War led U .S. officials 00:39:31.210 --> 00:39:33.949 to demand control. We examined how those eight 00:39:33.949 --> 00:39:36.809 specific legal conditions stripped Cuba of its 00:39:36.809 --> 00:39:39.130 diplomatic and financial autonomy. Right. We 00:39:39.130 --> 00:39:41.710 traced how that political cage allowed American 00:39:41.710 --> 00:39:43.969 corporate monopolies to buy up 20 percent of 00:39:43.969 --> 00:39:46.449 the land and dominate the railroad's stunting 00:39:46.449 --> 00:39:48.869 local industry. And we witnessed the tragic human 00:39:48.869 --> 00:39:51.869 cost, the disenfranchisement of the Afro -Cuban 00:39:51.869 --> 00:39:55.360 veterans. the massacre of 1912 and the marginalization 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.420 of women. You don't need to conquer a country 00:39:57.420 --> 00:40:00.780 if you can write its constitution. Man, that's 00:40:00.780 --> 00:40:03.780 a chilling thought. It forces us to ask deep 00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:06.440 questions about what sovereignty actually means 00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:09.659 when the foundational rules of a nation are dictated 00:40:09.659 --> 00:40:13.199 by an outside power. It challenges the very definition 00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:15.500 of national independence. I want to leave you, 00:40:15.579 --> 00:40:17.760 the listener, with a final thought to mull over. 00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:21.019 Think about the psychological toll on a nation's 00:40:21.019 --> 00:40:23.840 identity when its birth certificate, as a free 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:26.920 people, is forced to include a skeptical neighbor's 00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:29.440 demands. It's a heavy burden. When the x -ray 00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:31.579 of your independence shows that the bones were 00:40:31.579 --> 00:40:34.179 deliberately set crooked by a foreign doctor, 00:40:35.019 --> 00:40:37.860 how long does the phantom pain last? That's an 00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:40.260 incredible image. How does a country ever build 00:40:40.260 --> 00:40:43.860 deep internal trust or a unified national identity 00:40:43.860 --> 00:40:46.260 when generations of citizens know that their 00:40:46.260 --> 00:40:48.820 constitution was co -authored by an occupying 00:40:48.820 --> 00:40:51.380 army? It is a legacy that shapes the political 00:40:51.380 --> 00:40:53.739 consciousness of a nation for over a century. 00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:56.039 Thank you for taking this deep dive with us today. 00:40:56.380 --> 00:40:58.480 Keep questioning the historical documents that 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:00.860 shape our world because as we've learned, the 00:41:00.860 --> 00:41:03.219 fine print matters immensely. We'll see you next 00:41:03.219 --> 00:41:03.420 time.