Degetau y González, Federico, 1862-1914

Federico Degetau y González (December 5, 1862 – February 20, 1914) was a Puerto Rican politician, lawyer, writer, author, and politician. A member of the Puerto Rican Insular Republican Party, associated with the Republican Party, he was the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1901 to 1905.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, he studied at universities in Granada, Salamanca, and Valladolid, Spain before receiving a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Universidad de Madrid in 1879. He later studied civil engineering but after a year switched to medicine, and by 1883 had decided to study law. In 1888, Degetau graduated with a doctor of laws degree from the Universidad de Madrid. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Madrid, Spain. Degetau had a fruitful career as an author and journalist, writing short novels and articles. His first novel, ¡Qué Quijote! (1883), was published in an anthology distributed in Puerto Rico and Spain. By 1895, Degetau had published five books ranging from short stories to an autobiography and a study of the pedagogical system of Froebel, a German educator who promoted kindergarten study.

Degetau ultimately returned to Puerto Rico, and was one of the four commissioners sent by Puerto Rico under Luis Muñoz Rivera to petition Spain for autonomy in 1895. Eventually, the petition was accepted by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta's government. He settled in San Juan, Puerto Rico and continued to practice law. Degetau was a member of the municipal council of San Juan in 1897, and mayor of San Juan in 1898. He was deputy to the Spanish Cortes Generales of 1898. After the Spanish–American War, he was appointed by the military governor General Guy Vernor Henry as the Secretary of the Interior in the first cabinet formed under American rule in Puerto Rico, in 1899. He was appointed by General Henry's successor, General George W. Davis, as a member of the Insular Board of Charities.

Degetau served as the first vice president of the municipal council of San Juan in 1899 and 1900, and was president of the Board of Education of San Juan in 1900 and 1901. He was elected as a Puerto Rican Republican to the Resident Commissioner post in 1900, and reelected in 1902. One of Degetau’s major goals was to put Puerto Rico on the path to statehood; he submitted a bill to grant United States citizenship to Puerto Rico residents, which failed. Though initially barred by House Rules from serving on committees, Degetau participated in hearings before Chairman Cooper’s Committee on Insular Affairs and would officially receive membership on the Committee on Insular Affairs as well as floor privileges in February 1904.

By August 1903, Degetau had split from the Republican Party, an action that contributed to his decision not to run for a third term. After his congressional term expired in 1905, Degetau resumed his law career, served as chancellor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico and continued his career as a lecturer. Degetau died in Santurce, Puerto Rico, at the age of 51, and was interred in the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.