The law was designed to modify several perceived weaknesses in Puerto Rico's government at the request of President William Howard Taft and Governor Regis Henri Post.
It was the Foraker Act that established the United States controlled civilian government on the island of Puerto Rico after the Spanish–American War.
The act also placed the supervision of Puerto Rican affairs in the jurisdiction of an executive department to be designated by the president.
The discussions of the bill provoked the first Congressional debate on the island's form of government since 1900.
Although the Amendment's supporters in the Administration and Congress perceived it as a pragmatic step to deal with the failure to adopt a budget for Puerto Rico, many Puerto Rican political leaders considered it a retrograde step in the island's struggle toward greater self-government.