The status quo was again altered in 1909 when the Foraker Act, due to weaknesses and a small crisis in Puerto Rico's government, was modified by the Olmsted Amendment. This Amendment placed the supervision of Puerto Rican affairs in the jurisdiction of an executive department to be designated by the president.[50] In 1914, the first Puerto Rican officers, Martín Travieso (Secretary) and Manuel V. Domenech (Commissioner of Interiors), were assigned to the Executive Cabinet, allowing islanders a majority. A 1915 delegation from Puerto Rico, accompanied by the Governor Arthur Yager, traveled to Washington, D.C. to ask Congress to grant the island more autonomy. This delegation and speeches made by Resident Commissioner Luis Muñoz Rivera in Congress, coupled with political and economic interests, led to the drafting of the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917 (Jones Act).

A 1915 delegation from Puerto Rico, accompanied by the Governor Arthur Yager, traveled to Washington, D.C. to ask Congress to grant the island more autonomy.