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TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES

TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES are those dependencies and possessions over which the United States exercises jurisdiction. Until the turn of the nineteenth century, American experience was almost exclusively directed to the creation of territorial governments within the continental United States. The force of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set the precedent that territorial status was a step on the path to statehood, during which time residents of the territories maintained their citizenship and their protections under the Constitution. ALASKA and HAWAII, admitted in 1959, were the last of the territories to become states and the only exceptions to the pattern of contiguity with existing states and territories. Although new states were admitted, in the twentieth century the United States entered an era when the appropriate destiny of its territorial acquisitions was not necessarily statehood.

For the Spanish possessions ceded to the United States in 1898, the peace treaty did not include the promise of citizenship found in earlier treaties of annexation. Subject only to the limitations of the Constitution, Congress was free to determine the political status and civil rights of the inhabitants. In the INSULAR CASES, decided in 1901, the SUPREME COURT held that Congress could distinguish between incorporated and unincorporated territories and that the full guarantees and restraints of the Constitution need not be applied to the latter. Congress uniformly chose to treat its new acquisitions as unincorporated territories and so enjoyed a flexibility not present in the earlier pattern of territorial government.

In common with other dependencies PUERTO RICO was initially subject to military control, although this period was brief. Its inhabitants became U.S. citizens in 1917. Civil government with a gradual broadening of self-rule culminated in an act of Congress in 1950 that authorized Puerto Rico to formulate and adopt its own constitution, which came into effect in 1952. While commonwealth status is not the equivalent of statehood and did not terminate U.S. authority, the agreement that neither Congress nor the president should annul Puerto Rican legislation guaranteed the commonwealth the maximum degree of autonomy accorded to any of the territories.

The VIRGIN ISLANDS were purchased from Denmark in 1917 and citizenship was conferred in 1927. By the early 2000s, the islands had become a popular vacation destination.

GUAM did not attract significant attention until WORLD WAR II, after which it became the site of major military installations. Guamanians became citizens in 1950, framed and adopted a constitution in 1969, and since 1970 have elected their governor as well as members of the legislature.

American Samoa became a distinct entity in 1899 and remained under the administration of the U.S. Navy until 1951. In 1960 a constitution was formulated with Samoan participation and was then accepted and promulgated by the secretary of the Interior.

With the exception of Guam, islands of the Caroline, Marshall, and Mariana groups have been held by the United States as trust territories under the United Nations since 1947. The trust agreement charges the United States with the development of the islands toward "selfgovernment or independence."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carr, Raymond. Puerto Rico: A Colonial Experiment. New York: New York University Press, 1984.

Stevens, Russell L. Guam U.S.A.: Birth of a Territory. Honolulu: Tongg Publishing, 1956.

Taylor, Bette A. The Virgin Islands of the United States: A Descriptive and Historical Profile. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Library, Library of Congress, 1988.

Robert L. Berg/A. G.

See also Caroline Islands; Guantanamo Bay; Marshall Islands; Midway Islands; Paris, Treaty of (1898); Pribilof Islands; Samoa, American; Spain, Relations with; Spanish-American War; Teller Amendment.