Having been in revolution since 1899, Mexico came in 1913 under the rule of the counterrevolutionary General Victoriano Huerta, who clamped a bloody authoritarian rule on the country. Mexico posed a special problem for Wilsonian diplomacy. In 1916, Wilson practiced an old-fashioned form of imperialism by buying the Virgin Islands from their colonial master, Denmark, for $25 million. The military occupations that followed failed to create the democratic states that were their stated objective. In 1915, Wilson responded to chronic revolution in Haiti by sending in American marines to restore order, and he did the same in the Dominican Republic in 1916. In a statement issued soon after taking office, Wilson declared that the United States hoped “to cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence” of the Latin American states, but he also emphasized that he believed “just government” must rest “upon the consent of the governed.” Latin American states were hopeful for the prospect of being free to conduct their own affairs without American interference, but Wilson's insistence that their governments be democratic undermined the promise of self-determination. Working closely with Secretary of State Bryan, Wilson signed twenty-two bilateral treaties which agreed to cooling-off periods and outside fact-finding commissions as alternatives to war. In 1916, the Democratic-controlled Congress promised the residents of the Philippine Islands independence the next year, Puerto Rico achieved territorial status, and its residents became U.S. Convinced that democracy was gaining strength throughout the world, they were eager to encourage the process. Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan came into office with little experience in foreign relations but with a determination to base their policy on moral principles rather than the selfish materialism that they believed had animated their predecessors' programs.
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