Charles Edward Magoon

Charles Edward Magoon

Charles Edward Magoon (born December 5, 1861 in Owatonna , Minnesota , † January 14, 1920 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer , politician and diplomat . He was governor of the Panama Canal Zone , ambassador to Panama and governor of Cuba .

Life

His parents were Mehitable Wyman Clement († 1898) and Henry C. Magoon (1814–1862), members of the Parliament of Nebraska . His family moved to Nebraska with Charles Magoon when he was a young child. In 1876 he began a preparatory course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln , in 1878 a main course. In 1879 left the university to study law at a well-known law firm. In 1882 he was admitted to the bar. He was later admitted to the Lincoln Bar and a partner in a law firm.

He served as the Nebraska National Guard Syndicate and was called a Judge .

Activity in the War Ministry

In 1899 Magoon was hired as in-house counsel in the Division of Customs and Insular Affairs , founded in 1898 and renamed the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the United States Department of War in 1900 .

For Minister of War Russell Alexander Alger Magoon developed a principle for the occupation policy of the USA, according to the motto the Constitution follows the flag (The rights of the US Constitution apply to the people under the control of the US Army). According to this view, the residents of Puerto Rico and the Philippines had the civil rights of the United States from the transition of the territories under US sovereignty. This would have been the case with the territories that came under US sovereignty through the Spanish-American War with the signing of a treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. The policy concept was available as a draft and had not yet been published when Alger resigned.

Imperial policy of occupation

In August 1899, Elihu Root became Minister of War and Magoon developed a reason why the constitution should only apply to US jurisdiction after a resolution by parliament. He became his own diabolic advocate . Now he argued, coordinated with the US judiciary, with precedents: Since the US parliament was concerned with whether the constitution should be applied to the Northwest Territory and the Louisiana Purchase , the constitution cannot, conversely, automatically apply to US territory.

In 1902 the War Department published: Reports on The Law of Civil Government in Territory Subject to Military Occupation by the Military Forces of the United States, etc. (Reports on the Law for Civil Governments in Areas Under Military Occupation by the Armed Forces of the United States) . It has been reprinted several times and is considered a fundamental work on the subject.

Isthmian Canal Commission

In late 1903, Root announced that he would retire as Minister of War. Theodore Roosevelt appointed Magoon in June 1904 as General Counsel of the Isthmian Canal Commission , which coordinated the creation of the Panama Canal . As General Counsel , he served under the chairmanship of John Grimes Walker but had not been an agent.

On March 29, 1905, Roosevelt called on all members of the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, George Whitefield Davis, to resign. Minister of War William Howard Taft cited the Commission's clumsiness as a reason for this step, especially in connection with the sanitary situation in the canal zone and the lack of consensus in the commission. A change of commission was announced a few days later. Magoon became governor and a member of the commission. Magoon sat with Theodore P. Shonts (1856-1919), President of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company , the commission. The new commission had seven members. It was appointed by a law of parliament. The responsibilities in the new commission were regulated.

Governor of the Panama Canal Zone and Ambassador to Panama

Panama Canal Zone

At the initiative of the Theodore Roosevelt government, Panama seceded from Colombia on November 3, 1903. The Hay Bunau Varilla Treaty allowed the US government to build the Panama Canal and gave it free disposal over sovereign rights over the Panama Canal Zone .

As governor, Magoon had the laws of Panama translated into English by translators from the War Ministry and introduced as a law in the Canal Zone on May 9, 1904, so the laws had a quasi Spanish origin. In addition to financial difficulties, Ferdinand de Lesseps's first attempt to build the canal had failed due to yellow fever and malaria . Magoon was skeptical of the theory that these diseases were transmitted by the Anopheles . He argued that in this case the local population would have to be affected to a greater extent.

On July 2, 1905, Theodore Roosevelt appointed Magoon as US ambassador to Panama.

Our Mismanagement in Panama

Poultney Bigelow , son of the US consul in Paris, John Bigelow, published an article in The Independent Magazine on January 4, 1906, entitled Our Mismanagement in Panama . The report criticized the sanitary conditions under which the workers at the Panama Canal construction site in Colón had to live.

Magoon replied to this article that Bigelow spent less than two days on his on-site research, one of which was Thanksgiving Day .

In February, Magoon was summoned to a hearing before the Senate Committee on Sewer Management. The topic was the Bigelow article and Magoon's legislation in the Canal Zone. The adoption of the penal legislation of Panama meant that US citizens could not be brought to justice in the Canal Zone either, which deprived the legal structure of the Panama Canal Zone from a significant part of the judiciary.

There was no official result of this hearing. The parliament passed a reform of the consular law, which in future prevented embassy staff from exercising further government functions. Instead of releasing Magoon from one of his two functions as Ambassador to Panama and Governor in the Canal Zone, he was appointed Deputy Governor General of the Philippines. Before he took office, he was appointed governor of Cuba.

Governor of Cuba

Tomás Estrada Palma , who came to the presidency of Cuba with the Platt Amendment , saw his second term in office endangered due to protests in 1906 and asked the USA to intervene. William Howard Taft took over the government of Cuba on October 1, 1906 with the support of two warships and 5,600 marines .

On October 13, 1906, Magoon became governor of Cuba. Magoon announced in a newspaper article about his rule in Cuba that he would fulfill the tasks assigned to him to preserve the constitution and the independence of Cuba.

In the United States, Magoon's task was perceived as keeping the peace and disarming the militia in Cuba. The second intervention in Cuba was considered an early humanitarian peace mission in the United States.

On January 29, 1909, the government was handed over to José Miguel Gómez .

After serving as governor of Cuba, Magoon retired and spent a year traveling in Europe. He died of appendicitis .

Publications

• Informe de la administración provisional, desde 13 de octubre de 1906 hasta el 1 ° de diciembre de 1907 by Charles E. Magoon, gobernador provisional (Havana, Imprenta y Papelería de Rambla y Bouza, 1908).

literature

• Gustavo A. Mellander, Nelly Maldonado Mellander: Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Editorial Plaza Mayor, Río Piedras 1999, ISBN 1-56328-155-4 ( limited preview in Google book search).

Individual evidence

1. ^ The New York Times , January 15, 1920, CE MAGOON DIES; ONCE RULED CUBA; Provisional Governor from 1906 to 1909 Expires in Washington After an Operation. COLONIAL LAW AUTHORITY Former Governor of Canal Zone and Minister to Panama Was a Nebraska Lawyer . pdf
2. ^ Reports on the law of civil government in territory subject to military occupation by the military forces of the United States. Submitted to Hon. Elihu Root .. (1903)
3. ↑ Alexander Missal, Seaway to the Future: American Social Visions and the Construction of the Panama Canal (Studies in American Thought and Culture) , p. 46.
4. ↑ Journal of the American Medical Association , 1906; XLVI (5): 366. , SENSIBLE SANITARY MEASURES ON THE ISTHMUS  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ The New York Times , January 12, 1906, PANAMA .; Poultney Bigelow Reaffirms His Criticisms of the Canal Work. , pdf
6. ↑ November 30, 1905 10:00 with the steamer Trent in Colon to December 1, 1905 14:10 with the steamer Christobal
7. ^ The New York Times , January 29, 1906 MAGOON HERE, REPLIES TO POULTNEY BIGELOW; Canal Zone Governor Tells Conditions as He Sees Them. 45,000 MEN ARE AT WORK Mr. Bigelow Was There on a Holiday, Mr. Magoon Declares, and So Saw Little Activity. MAGOON HERE, REPLIES TO POULTNEY BIGELOW , pdf
8. ↑ Cuba en la mano. Enciclopédia popular ilustrada. La Habana 1940, p. 1197.
9. ^ The New York Times , October 14, 1906, CUBANS CHEER TAFT AS HE SAILS AWAY , pdf
10. ^ The New York Times , January 29, 1909, GOMEZ INSTALLED, MAGOON QUITS CUBA; Retiring Governor Gives Warning That Obligations Must Be Observed. ISSUE OF BONDS BARRED Ceremonies Are Brief and Simple - Havana Celebrates at Night - Last Troops Leave April 1st , pdf .

predecessor	Office	successor
John Barrett	US Ambassador to Panama August 7, 1905-25. September 1906	Herbert G. Squiers
William Howard Taft	Governor of Cuba October 13, 1906–28. January 1909	José Miguel Gomez