US Territories

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Don't even know. Will they rule in the president's favor? Will they send it to the Supreme Court? You can't refer to a senator. Directly by their name. Congressional redistricting. Separation of Power. Executive order. National Security Council Services, Civics 101.

Virginia Prescott:
I'm Virginia Prescott and this is Civics 101, the podcast refresher course on some of the basics that you may have forgotten or slept through in school. There are 50 stars on the American flag, each representing a state with its own history and identity. And each one, a piece of a puzzle that makes up our country. But what about those outlying pieces that don't have a star on the flag? That is our question for today.

Robert Gardner:
Hi. My name is Robert Gardner of Chesapeake, Virginia. I was wondering, what exactly is a U.S. territory and what is the status of their citizens with regard to the Constitution and U.S. law? Thanks.

Virginia Prescott:
And the head of the class today is Doug Mack. He's author of The Not Quite States of America. Doug, welcome.

Doug Mack:
Hi. Thanks for having me.

Virginia Prescott:
Thanks so much for joining us. And let's start with the basics. What exactly is a U.S. territory?

Doug Mack:
Sure. So a territory is kind of like a state, but it doesn't have the same level of local autonomy or the same rights or the same access to certain federal services. So just for example, the territories don't have the full protection of the Constitution. They can't vote for president. They each have one congressperson who goes to D.C. and has an office and serves on committees but can't vote on the floor of the House. And then Congress has a say over pretty much everything that goes on in the territories. They can set up laws, they can veto local laws. So historically, being a territory was sort of a precursor to being a state, but that's not quite the way that it works out anymore.

Virginia Prescott:
You said they can't vote for president, but I remember hearing about primaries in Puerto Rico, I think.

Doug Mack:
Right. That's true. Right. So so they can vote in in the party primaries, which are run by the Democrat and Republican and the other parties. But they can't vote in the general election. So when it really counts, it's sort of like the congressperson, you know, the congressperson goes to Washington, D.C., but they can't vote on the floor of the House, which is where it really counts.

Virginia Prescott:
Okay, this is odd, but let's yes, let's go through how many there are, first off.

Doug Mack:
Sure. So there are five territories. The one that most people know, of course, is Puerto Rico, the big one and the Caribbean right next door to Puerto Rico are the U.S. Virgin Islands. And then on the other side of the globe and the Pacific Ocean, we've got American Samoa, which is in Polynesia, so south of the equator, and then in the western Pacific, north of the equator, there's Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and two of the territories actually Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are technically commonwealth as opposed to territories, which means that in theory they have a little bit more autonomy and Congress has less oversight. But in practice, in reality, a Commonwealth is basically the same as a territory.

Virginia Prescott:
So aren't there a bunch of islands? I mean, I remember hearing about atolls and that kind of thing in that are also U.S. territories, are they? Right.

Doug Mack:
It always gets more complicated. Right. So we have 11 minor outlying islands, which are possessions, but not technically territories because they're uninhabited, although, as you said, you might have heard of some of these things every now and then, particularly if people have paid attention during the World War two section in history class, Midway Island and Wake Island are two of the minor outlying islands that are American possessions. And there's actually one minor outlying island called Palmyra, which is in the Pacific, that technically has more rights than any territory due to a quirk of history. But no one lives there to take advantage of those rights.

Virginia Prescott:
I want to get to the quirks of history in a moment. But first of all, I mean, how does how does government work on a U.S. territory, obviously a different from one to the next.

Doug Mack:
And the superficial level, it's basically the same as in any state. So the territories have their own local legislatures, both the Senate and the House. They have their own courts, they have their own governor. And in most cases, historically, the governor was appointed by the president of the USA, although now they all elect their own. And then at the federal level, oversight for four of the territories is through the Department of the Interior. But Puerto Rico is under the purview of what's called the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Commission. And the federal government also operates, you know, the programs and services just like they do in the states. So the territories have U.S. post offices and national parks and Pell Grants and Veterans Affairs clinics and FEMA and all the many of the same things that you see in this states. But there are plenty of exceptions, like the fact that American Samoa runs its own immigration. But in the broad brush terms, the government kind of operates the same as in the States.

Virginia Prescott:
I'm glad you brought up immigration because I was wondering about citizenship. If you were born in one of these territories, would you be a U.S. citizen?

Doug Mack:
Again, it depends. So in for the territories, you're a U.S. citizen by birth, just as in the states, in American Samoa, you are by birth a U.S. national. You're not a citizen of any country, which means you you don't have quite the same rights If your national your passport says that you're a national and there are some different distinctions. So, yeah, American Samoa is kind of the outlier there. But everyone else, you are a citizen by birth.

Virginia Prescott:
So that fantastic wrestler from American Samoa who led led the parade. He was glistening, I remember in Brazil, in Rio Olympics. He's not a citizen of the United States, even though he was born in American Samoa.

Doug Mack:
It's possible that he has become naturalized. You know, you can go through the same process that any immigrant would, but by birth, you are not a U.S. citizen. But it's interesting you bring up the Olympics because, yeah, all the territories have their own Olympic teams that separate from from the American Olympic team.

Virginia Prescott:
So what kind of rights do people living in U.S. territories have or even not have compared to us, like living in New Hampshire or Hawaii or California?

Doug Mack:
Right. So I mentioned the issue about. Congressional representation and presidential vote, right?

Virginia Prescott:
No direct representation or no vote on the floor.

Doug Mack:
Correct. And there's the citizenship thing with American Samoa. There are a bunch of Supreme Court cases known as the insular cases that began around 1900 1901, and they established the distinctions between the states and the present day territories. And these these cases are still on the books. And one of the famous ones said that the territories are, quote, foreign in a domestic sense, foreign and domestic sense. Try to wrap your mind around that. Right. And that constitution doesn't fully apply. So there's this open question about which parts of the Constitution apply in which territories. Now, there have been many cases and over the decades the Supreme Court has basically said, you know what, at least the Bill of Rights for the most part, applies in the territories.

Virginia Prescott:
Although freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, that kind of.

Doug Mack:
Thing. Exactly right to bear arms, all that stuff. Although again, there are exceptions like the Sixth Amendment, which is the right to a jury trial, doesn't apply in local courts in Puerto Rico. So it's this whole piecemeal thing that isn't even consistent across the territories.

Virginia Prescott:
So the U.S. began as a colony, as we know. When did it start acquiring territories?

Doug Mack:
Yeah, I mean, there's a certain irony there, right? Because, you know.

Virginia Prescott:
The U.S. has fought against colonialism.

Doug Mack:
Exactly. That was the whole thing. Right. And, you know, the founding fathers really bickered about this. You know, Thomas Jefferson was a big opponent of the idea of expansion until he was elected president. And then he signs off on the Louisiana Purchase. So there's a lot of mind changing over the years. But 1856, American agriculture is really struggling. Farmers desperately need more fertilizer. The good news is they know where to find it. But the bad news is that it's in all these little islands scattered across the oceans, covered in guano, petrified bird droppings.

Virginia Prescott:
Yeah. Bat droppings.

Doug Mack:
Yeah, exactly. And. And so.

Virginia Prescott:
Good fertilizer.

Doug Mack:
It's great. And has all the right minerals and stuff. And so in 1856, Congress passes the Guano Islands Act, and American ships just set out to basically claim these little islands for the USA and start mining and stuff. And that's sort of the precursor to to the rest of the overseas expansion, which doesn't really take off until the 1890s when American economy is doing very well. But we're still kind of lagging in terms of global power behind the European empires like the British and the Spanish and so on. And we really want that, you know, we want to have that swagger that that they have. And the way that we're going to do that is to follow their lead. We're going to become an empire. And again, there's this whole debate within the USA about whether or not this should happen. In fact, this was the central issue of the 1900 presidential election. But in 1898, which is really the key year here, the U.S. annexed Hawaii and the same year there's the Spanish-American War, which not only helps bring down the Spanish empire, but gives us Puerto Rico and Guam and the Philippines. And that's really where our overseas expansion and the acquisition of territories really begins.

Virginia Prescott:
Wow. It's fascinating. So we just could go on a ship, plant a flag and say this is the U.S. territory and start digging into their guano.

Doug Mack:
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. There's a wonderful book called The Great Guano Rush that that tells all these amazing stories about, you know, these mining towns that popped up on these little islands in the middle of nowhere.

Virginia Prescott:
Wow. So why have some of the U.S. territories gained independence while others have not?

Doug Mack:
Right. So the one territory that gained independence was the Philippines, and they became independent shortly after World War Two. And the short version is that they they fought for very, very hard from from the beginning there was bloodshed and they were never particularly happy to be part of the USA. They wanted independence. Now, certainly other territories have had independence movements, most notably Puerto Rico, but they haven't been quite as widespread and obviously independence still hasn't happened in other territories.

Virginia Prescott:
What are some of the arguments for independence versus statehood, for example, and some of the pros and cons?

Doug Mack:
Right. So it all kind of boils down to three things. So there it's self-governance, economics and cultural pride. So there are people in each territory who are actually fine with with the current setup because it allows them to have this sort of dual identity of being partly the U.S.A. and partly their own cultural thing, right? So people who want to change the status to either statehood or independence typically want more self-governance. And the question is the path forward. Supporters of independence generally think that they have you know, we have a unique culture that's threatened by American colonialism, and that's sort of what it's all about. You know, we're a separate place. We should have our own separate government statehood supporters kind of fall into two camps. So the first says, you know what, despite all of its flaws, the USA has brought a lot of great stuff here and we're proudly American. Let's continue to strengthen that relationship by becoming a state. And, you know, we can hold on to our distinct cultural identity just as the South has. It's. Staying in New England has this thing. And you know, people here where I am in Minneapolis have have their own, you know, cultural pride as well. The other group of statehood supporters are what I call the jaded realists. And they say, look, you know, we're dependent on the USA at this point. If we tried to become our own nation, we'd still have this economic reliance on the USA, but would have even less of a political voice. And, you know, cultural change is inevitable. So, you know, that's going to happen no matter what the political status is. But again, there are these vast disagreements within each territory about the path forward.

Virginia Prescott:
In a recent referendum in Puerto Rico, an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans who voted said they did want Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. So So what would it take for that to happen? What is the process?

Doug Mack:
Yeah, So ultimately, it's it's up to Congress. Congress says either you stay a territory or you become a state. And so you have to kind of rely on them to to figure it out and to to vote on it, which again, is kind of tricky.

Virginia Prescott:
I have to say there are probably very few Americans who could name all five. I mean, we mainlanders and those in Alaska and Hawaii, do they think about the territories?

Doug Mack:
No, I don't think so. And I mean, the thing is, I have a degree in American studies, but but I didn't know I didn't really think about the territories at all before I started this project, which is kind of the reason I started this book, because I thought, you know, if I don't know about these places, probably most people don't. And, you know, in the years since I started working on this, I've had hundreds of conversations and and only I think one person could name all five, not even not tell me anything about him or his name, Capital cities or anything like that. But just just name all five territories. Even if you look at the presidents, you know, there's only one president who has been to more than two territories. So Lyndon Johnson went to three territories and he holds the record. So no president has been to all territories, which is a pretty remarkable thing, I think.

Virginia Prescott:
Doug, what is the one thing that you think people should know about the U.S. territories?

Doug Mack:
I mean, the basic thing is, you know, they exist, right? And they've played an important role in American history and in making the USA the global power that it is today. But I really want people to also understand that, you know, these aren't just places in history books. These are places with ongoing issues, but also people who live there and who love it and really interesting cultures, you know? Guam has amazing barbecue for for an example. And you can go to the Virgin Islands and celebrate Carnival. There are all these really cool things you can go and do and see and learn about in these territories. So I would encourage people to to go and do their own research on the ground.

Virginia Prescott:
Doug, thank you very much.

Doug Mack:
Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Virginia Prescott:
Doug Mack, he is the author of The Not Quite States of America. All right. Before class ends today, let's run through the list of U.S. territories one more time. We have Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. There's no shame in coming up with tools to help recall a list of names. It's how we learn the planets, write in the capitals and the periodic tables and goodness knows what else. So we're asking you to come up with a good mnemonic device or maybe a song or some other way to remember these US territories. Email your idea to Civics 101 at npr.org. That's Civics 101 at npr.org. Because knowing the people and places that make up the entire American experience today is probably more important than knowing the exact date of the Stamp Act, for example. Just sayin. Anyway, we will pick our favorites and put them in our newsletter slash study guide, which is called Extra Credit. And if you're not already signed up for it, I encourage you to do so. It's the easiest and most visually interesting way to get brownie points. This episode was produced by Taylor Quimby. Music From Broke for Free. I'm Virginia Prescott and Civics 101 is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio. Class Dismissed.

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