The Politics of Occupation 147than tightening up the electoral laws and getting the economy
going. Writing Leonard Wood, Root stressed the limited goal
of the intervention: to make the minimum constitutional
changes necessary to insure orderly elections. The problem,
Root stated, was that the Cuban congress had not passed
the laws necessary to execute the Constitution of 1901, laws
which would provide for the peaceful transfer of political
power through "a reasonably fair sort of election." The
Cubans, of course, had forced the United States to intervene,
but Americans must be patient with them. After weighing
the alternatives, the United States realized that "... the
only thing to do was to go in and set them up and give them
another chance."
7
In replying to a letter from James H. Wilson (who again
advocated free trade as the way to stabilize Cuba), Root
wrote that he had been trying to arrange a more favorable
tariff for Cuba. From such a treaty, "I hope to get some ma
terial advance in the direction of greater freedom of reciprocal
trade." Root had found Congress stubborn: without annexa
tion there would be no free trade. Even a new tariff was un
likely. Root himself believed that annexation was out of the
question, and unwise: "I think it is much better for Cuba
to govern herself than it is for us to try to govern her. The
sooner we can get them going again and get out, the better
I shall be pleased."^8 To a wider audience Root emphasized
his opposition to annexation. In a speech on January 14, 1907,
to the National Convention for the Extension of the Foreign
Commerce of the United States, the Secretary of State denied
that annexation was the best policy for Cuba: "Never! So
long as the people of Cuba do not themselves give up the
effort to govern themselves."^9
The Roosevelt administration stressed the temporary nature
and the legality of the occupation. The official interpretation
was that Cuban sovereignty was unimpaired because Article
III made intervention part of Cuba's constitutional system.
Root believed the Provisional Government was, therefore, the
legitimate government of Cuba and should govern in ac
cordance with Cuban organic law.^10 Following Roofs rea