Background
Luis Muñoz Rivera was born on 17 July 1859 in Barranquitas into a family of modest means.
Luis Muñoz Rivera was born on 17 July 1859 in Barranquitas into a family of modest means.
He reeived an elementary education in his hometown but expanded his learning through self-study.
By the late 1880s sentiment for political autonomy was growing, and Muñoz Rivera became one of its leading advocates. He joined an autonomist group in Ponce in 1887 and launched the newspaper La Democracia as its voice in 1890. His editorials soon brought the opposition of the Spanish authorities, but within a short time he was a leader of the new Autonomist Party.
Persecution by Spanish authorities resulted in fracturing the Autonomists. Some members, from exile in New York City, aligned themselves with José Martf’s Cuban Revolutionary Party, which advocated armed struggle for independence. Muñoz Rivera disagreed with that strategy, seeking instead agreement with Spanish Liberals.
Muñoz Rivera accepted American occupation hopefully. He traveled to Washington, where he argued for free trade between the United States and Puerto Rico and a charter of self-government. When the U.S. Congress passed the Foraker Act, which sharply limited Puerto Ricans’ political roles, Muñoz Rivera entered the opposition and organized the Federal Party. The Federalists remained a minority in opposition to the pro-statehood Republicans until 1904, when dissident Republicans joined with them to form the Unionist Party. It won the elections of that year on an autonomist platform. Two years later, Muñoz Rivera was elected to a four-year term in the House of Delegates. Following that, his party elected him resident commissioner in Washington.
In the U.S. capital Muñoz Rivera was a fervent advocate of Puerto Rican political rights. Through articles in La Democracia, he also kept Puerto Ricans informed of his activities. He was very influential in getting the Jones Act of 1917 passed, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, a Bill of Rights, and a popularly elected two-house legislature. Although he did not live to see the passage of the act, his role in its formulation gained wide-spread acclaim among his people.