The Foraker Act created a civilian government for Puerto Rico in 1900.
Officially called the Organic Act of 1900, the law was sponsored by Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio and signed by President William McKinley on April 12, 1900. It took effect on May 1, replacing the military government established after the United States occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.
The act created an executive branch led by a U.S.-appointed governor, a bicameral legislature, and a judicial system. Puerto Rican voters could elect members of the lower legislative chamber and a nonvoting Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives, but the President and Congress retained substantial authority over the island’s government.
The Foraker Act is often confused with the Jones-Shafroth Act, or Jones Act, of 1917. The earlier Foraker law established the first civilian territorial government under U.S. rule; the later Jones Act reorganized that government and granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. The Teller Amendment and Platt Amendment instead concerned Cuba and the broader war settlement.