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The first Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, established in 1900

The military government in Puerto Rico was short lived; it was disbanded on April 2, 1900, when the U.S. Congress enacted the Foraker Act (also known as the Organic Act of 1900), sponsored by Senator Joseph B. Foraker.[46] This act established a civil government and free commerce between the island and the United States. The structure of the insular government included a governor appointed by the president, an executive council (the equivalent of a senate), and a legislature with 35 members, though the executive veto required a two-thirds vote to override. The first appointed civil governor, Charles Herbert Allen, was inaugurated on May 1, 1900.[46] On June 5, President McKinley appointed an Executive Council which included five Puerto Rican members and six U.S. members.[47] The act also established the creation of a judicial system headed by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and allowed Puerto Rico to send a Resident Commissioner as a representative to Congress.[46] The Department of Education was subsequently formed, headed by Martin Grove Brumbaugh (later governor of Pennsylvania). Teaching was conducted entirely in English with Spanish treated as a special subject. However, both Spanish and English were official languages in the island. On November 6, the first elections under the Foraker Act were held and on December 3, the first Legislative Assembly took office. On March 14, 1901, Federico Degetau took office as the first Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico in Washington. The Foraker Act, (with the influence of a fearful progressive) placed a limit of 500 acres (2.0 km2) as the amount of land that any one person was allowed to own. This part of the Act was not enforced.