On July 25, 1898, the United States invaded the Spanish-controlled island of Puerto Rico.
The invasion – led by General Nelson A. Miles – came during a ten-week war between the United States and Spain. American forces encountered little resistance and formally took control of the island by mid-August.
Despite its short length, the Spanish-American War had far-reaching consequences for the United States, Spain, and the people of Puerto Rico. Once American victory was achieved, the two-sides agreed to a peace treaty that ceded Spanish control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. Additionally, Spain was forced to grant Cuba its independence.
125 years later, the Philippines has become an independent country. However, America’s two other acquisitions – Puerto Rico and Guam – remain United States territories.
Along with Puerto Rico and Guam, the United States currently possesses three other territories: American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Put simply, a territory is a piece of land that belongs to the United States. Like states, the territories have their own Constitutions and elected governments. The residents of these territories are U.S. citizens (except for American Samoa) and pay federal taxes like Medicare and Social Security.
Despite the similarities between American states and territories, there exist significant differences as well. These differences are particularly prominent with regard to voting and political representation.
As outlined in Article I of the Constitution, each state has exactly two senators and a number of representatives in the House that is proportionate to its population. U.S. territories, however, have no voting representation in Congress. Rather, they each have a single non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives. While these delegates can write and introduce legislation, they ultimately have no input in what gets passed.
Territories also differ from states because they lack votes in the electoral college. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution establishes a unique system of electing the President where each state has a number of votes (called ‘electors’) equal to its number of total congressional representatives. Because U.S. territories have no voting representatives in Congress, they also lack voting power in the electoral college. As such, their residents cannot cast ballots in presidential elections.
Washington, D.C. was established in 1790 to serve as the permanent seat of the United States federal government. As its name suggests, D.C. is a district rather than a state or territory. Its level of autonomy falls somewhere between states and territories with regard to voting and political representation.
In 1961, the ratification of the Twenty-Third Amendment granted D.C. three votes in the electoral college. This means that residents of the District have the ability to vote in presidential elections – a right not afforded to those living in the five territories. However, like the U.S. territories, D.C. does not have true representation in Congress and only has a non-voting delegate.
The rights and autonomy granted to U.S. territories is a matter of controversy, particularly with regard to Puerto Rico. The island is home to over three million residents (a larger population than twenty-one states) and many argue that it should be conferred statehood.
Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution declares that only Congress has the power to admit new states into the union. Therefore, for Puerto Rico to become a state it would require a bill to be passed by both the Senate and the House and then signed into law by the President. Given the relative simplicity of this legal process, the real question is whether the people – and the United States government – are willing and ready to incorporate Puerto Rico into the union as the fifty-first state.
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