The Jones Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to inhabitants of this Caribbean island
... Their population dwindled rapidly from exposure to European diseases 
and the ... Spain thought of Puerto Rico as the gateway to the Caribbean and the 
rest of .... Perhaps most importantly, the Jones Act revoked Puerto Rican 
citizenship... [DOC] [TLE] Puerto Rico | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives [PAR] The island territory was neither fully part of the United States nor an independent 
country.