Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the United States federal government. The various U.S. territories differ from the U.S. PDF

Preview

Summary

Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the United States federal government. The various U.S. territories differ from the U.S. states and Native American tribes in that they are not sovereign entities....

Description

Territories of the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search It has been suggested that Insular area be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2021.

This article is about the political entities currently (or formerly) called "United States territories". For the historic territories which became U.S. states, see Organized incorporated territories of the United States. For the forms of U.S. jurisdiction, see U.S. territory. For historical evolution, see Territorial evolution of the United States and Historic regions of the United States.

Territories of the United States

Flag

The 50 states and the District of Columbia Incorporated, unorganized territory Unincorporated territory with Commonwealth status Unincorporated, organized territory Unincorporated, unorganized territory Largest settlement San Juan, Puerto Rico Languages English, Spanish, Chamorro, Carolinian, Samoan Demonym(s) American Territories

5 populated territories American Samoa   Guam  Northern Mariana Islands  Puerto Rico  U.S. Virgin Islands 9 unpopulated territories 2 disputed territories Leaders • Head of state

Joe Biden

• Governors

List of current territorial governors

Area 22,294.19 km2 (8,607.83 sq mi)

• Total Population • Estimate Currency Date format

4,100,954 in 2010[1] 3,569,284 in 2020[2][3][4][5][6][7][note 1] United States dollar mm/dd/yyyy (AD)

a. "Commonwealth" does not describe a political status, and has been applied to states and territories. When used for U.S. non-states, the term describes a self-governed area with a constitution whose right of self-government will not be unilaterally withdrawn by Congress. [8]

This article is part of a series on Political divisions of the

United States

First level 

State (Commonwealth)

 

Federal district Territory (Commonwealth)



Indian reservation (list) / Hawaiian home land / Alaska Native tribal entity / Pueblo / Off-reservation trust land / Tribal Jurisdictional Area Second level

 

County / Parish / Borough Unorganized Borough / Census area / Villages / District (USVI) / District (AS)



Consolidated city-county

 

Independent city Municipality



Unorganized atoll



State-recognized tribes Third level



Township

 

Cities, towns, and villages Coterminous municipality



Census-designated place

 

Barrio Chapter Fourth level



Ward Other areas



Protected areas (Conservation district, National monument, National park)



Congressional district



Homeowner association



Associated state

 

Military base Federal enclave

 

Unincorporated area Ghost town

United States portal   

v t e

Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the United States federal government. The various U.S. territories differ from the U.S. states and Native American tribes in that they are not sovereign entities.[note 2] In contrast, each state has a sovereignty separate from that of the federal government and each federally recognized Native American tribe possesses limited tribal sovereignty as a "dependent sovereign nation".[9] Territories are classified by incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government through an organic act passed by the Congress.[10] U.S. territories are under U.S. sovereignty and, consequently, may be treated as part of the United States proper in some ways and not others.[11] Unincorporated territories in particular are not considered to be integral parts of the United States,[12] and the Constitution of the United States applies only partially in those territories.[13][14][10][15] The U.S. currently administers three[13][16] territories in the Caribbean Sea and eleven in the Pacific Ocean.[note 3][note 4] Five territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are permanently inhabited, unincorporated territories; the other nine are small islands, atolls and reefs with no native (or permanent) population. Of the nine, only one is classified as an incorporated territory (Palmyra Atoll). Two additional territories (Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank) are claimed by the United States but administered by Colombia.[14][18][19] Historically, territories were created to administer newly acquired land, and most eventually attained statehood.[20][21] Others, such

as the Philippines, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, later became independent.[note 5] Many organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959. The first were the Northwest and Southwest territories and the last were the Alaska and Hawaii territories. Thirty-one territories (or parts of territories) became states. In the process, some less-populous areas of a territory were orphaned from it after a statehood referendum. When a portion of the Missouri Territory became the state of Missouri, the remainder of the territory (the present-day states of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, most of Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana, and parts of Colorado and Minnesota) became an unorganized territory.[22] Politically and economically, the territories are underdeveloped. Residents of U.S. territories cannot vote in U.S. Presidential elections, and they have only non-voting representation in the U.S. Congress.[14] Territorial telecommunications and other infrastructure is generally inferior to that of the continental United States and Hawaii, and some territories' Internet speed was found to be slower than the least developed countries in Eastern Europe.[23] Poverty rates are higher in the territories than in the states.[24][25]

Contents  

 



1 Legal status of territories 2 Permanently inhabited territories o 2.1 History o 2.2 Statistics o 2.3 Governments and legislatures  2.3.1 Political party status o 2.4 Courts o 2.5 Demographics o 2.6 Economies 3 Minor Outlying Islands o 3.1 Disputed 4 Incorporated and unincorporated territories o 4.1 Supreme Court decisions about current territories o 4.2 Supreme Court decisions about former territories  4.2.1 Alaska Territory  4.2.2 Florida Territory  4.2.3 Southwest Territory  4.2.4 Louisiana Territory 5 Former territories and administered areas o 5.1 Organized incorporated territories o 5.2 Unincorporated territories o 5.3 Administered areas



 

   

o 5.4 Other zones 6 Flora and fauna o 6.1 Forests o 6.2 Birds o 6.3 Other animals o 6.4 Protected areas 7 Public image 8 Galleries o 8.1 Members of the House of Representatives (non-voting) o 8.2 Territorial governors o 8.3 Satellite images  8.3.1 Inhabited territories  8.3.2 Uninhabited territories (minor outlying islands) o 8.4 Maps 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

Legal status of territories See also: Political divisions of the United States and Insular area

The United States from 1868 to 1876, including nine organized and two unorganized territories The U.S. has had territories since its beginning.[26] In the chapter of U.S. federal law on immigration and nationality, the term "United States" (used in a geographical sense) is defined, unless otherwise specified, as "the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands".[27] A 2007 executive order on environmental, energy and transportation management defined American Samoa as part of the U.S. "in a geographical sense".[28] Organized territories are lands under federal sovereignty (but not part of any state) which were given a measure of self-governance by Congress through an organic act subject to the Congress's plenary powers under the territorial clause of the Constitution's Article Four, section 3.[29]

Permanently inhabited territories

The U.S. has five permanently inhabited territories: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, and American Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean.[note 6] American Samoa is in the Southern Hemisphere, while the other four are in the Northern Hemisphere.[30] About 3.56 million people in these territories are U.S. citizens,[2][3][4][5][6][7] and citizenship at birth is granted in four of the five territories (granted by Congress).[31][32][33][note 7] Citizenship at birth is not granted in American Samoa—American Samoa has about 32,000 non-citizen U.S. nationals.[33][34] Under U.S. law, "only persons born in American Samoa and Swains Island are non-citizen U.S. nationals" in its territories.[35] Because they are U.S. nationals, American Samoans are under U.S. protection, and can travel to the rest of the U.S. without a visa.[35] However, to become U.S. citizens, American Samoans must become naturalized citizens, like foreigners.[36][note 8] Unlike the other four inhabited territories, Congress has passed no legislation granting birthright citizenship to American Samoans.[31][note 9] In 2019, a federal court ruled that American Samoans are U.S. citizens, but the judge put the ruling on hold, and the litigation is ongoing.[40][41] Each territory is self-governing[15] with three branches of government, including a locally elected governor and a territorial legislature.[14] Each territory elects a non-voting member (a non-voting resident commissioner in the case of Puerto Rico) to the U.S. House of Representatives.[14][42][43] They "possess the same powers as other members of the House, except that they may not vote [on the floor] when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives";[44] they debate, are assigned offices and staff funding, and nominate constituents from their territories to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force and Merchant Marine academies.[44] They can vote in their appointed House committees on all legislation presented to the House, they are included in their party count for each committee, and they are equal to senators on conference committees. Depending on the Congress, they may also vote on the floor in the House Committee of the Whole.[14] As of the 117th Congress (January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023) the territories are represented by Aumua Amata Radewagen (R) of American Samoa, Michael San Nicholas (D) of Guam, Gregorio Sablan (I) of Northern Mariana Islands, Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PNP) of Puerto Rico and Stacey Plaskett (D) of U.S. Virgin Islands.[45] The District of Columbia's delegate is Eleanor Holmes Norton (D); like the district, the territories have no vote in Congress and no representation in the Senate.[46][47] Additionally, the Cherokee Nation has delegate-elect Kimberly Teehee, who has not been seated by Congress. Every four years, U.S. political parties nominate presidential candidates at conventions which include delegates from the territories.[48] U.S. citizens living in the territories cannot vote in the general presidential election,[14][46] and non-citizen nationals in American Samoa cannot vote for president.[31] The territorial capitals are Pago Pago (American Samoa), Hagåtña (Guam), Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Charlotte Amalie (U.S. Virgin Islands).[2][3][4][5][6][49][50] Their governors are Lemanu Peleti Mauga (American Samoa), Lou Leon Guerrero (Guam), Ralph Torres (Northern Mariana Islands), Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico) and Albert Bryan (U.S. Virgin Islands).

Among the inhabited territories, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is available only in the Northern Mariana Islands;[note 10] however in 2019 a U.S. judge ruled that the federal government's denial of SSI benefits to residents of Puerto Rico is unconstitutional.[51] American Samoa is the only U.S. territory with its own immigration system (a system separate from the United States immigration system).[52][53] American Samoa also has a communal land system in which ninety percent of the land is communally owned; ownership is based on Samoan ancestry.[54] Overview of populated American territories Populatio n Name Capital Largest (2021 [2][3][4][5][6] (Abbreviatio Location Area town n) est.)

Status

Acquire d

[2][3][4][5][6]

America Polynesia 197.1 km 46,366 n Samoa (AS) (South (76 sq mi) Pacific) 2

Pago Pago

Tafuna

Unincorporate April 17, 1900 d, [not unorganized e 11]

Guam (GU)

Micrones ia (North Pacific) Northern Micrones Mariana ia (North Islands (MP) Pacific) Puerto Rico (PR)

Caribbea n (North Atlantic)

Caribbea U.S. Virgin Islands n (North Atlantic) (VI)

543 km2 168,801 (210 sq mi)

Hagåtña Dededo[3 Unincorporate April 11, ] d, organized 1899

463.63 km2 51,659 (179 sq mi)

Saipan[not Saipan[not Unincorporate Novemb e 12] e 13] d, organized er 4, (commonwealt 1986[note 14][56][55] h) 9,104 km2 3,142,779 San Juan San Juan Unincorporate April 11, d, organized 1899[57] (3,515 sq m (commonwealt i) h) 346.36 km2 105,870 Charlott Charlott Unincorporate March e e Amalie d, organized 31, (134 sq mi) [6] Amalie 1917[58]

History 

American Samoa: territory since 1900; after the end of the Second Samoan Civil War, the Samoan Islands were divided into two regions. The U.S. took control of the eastern half of the islands.[59][30] In 1900, the Treaty of Cession of Tutuila took effect.[60] The Manuʻa islands became part of American Samoa in 1904, and Swains Island became part of American Samoa in 1925.[60] Congress ratified American Samoa's treaties in 1929.[60] For 51 years, the U.S. Navy controlled the territory.[37] American Samoa is locally self-governing under a constitution last revised in 1967. [30][note 15] The first elected governor of American Samoa was in 1977, and the first non-voting member of Congress was in 1981.[37] People born in American Samoa









are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens.[31][30] American Samoa is technically unorganized,[30] and its main island is Tutuila.[30] Guam: territory since 1899, acquired at the end of the Spanish–American War.[62] Guam is the home of Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base. It was organized under the Guam Organic Act of 1950, which granted U.S. citizenship to Guamanians and gave Guam a local government.[62] In 1968, the act was amended to permit the election of a governor.[62] Northern Mariana Islands: A commonwealth since 1986,[56][55] the Northern Mariana Islands together with Guam were part of the Spanish Empire until 1899 when the Northern Marianas were sold to the German Empire after the Spanish– American War.[63] Beginning in 1919, they were administered by Japan as a League of Nations mandate until the islands were captured by the United States in the Battle of Saipan and Battle of Tinian (June-August 1944) and the surrender of Aguigan (September 1945) during World War II.[63] They became part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) in 1947, administered by the United States as U.N. trustee.[63][55] The other constituents of the TTPI were Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.[64] Following failed efforts in the 1950s and 1960s to reunify Guam and the Northern Marianas,[65] a covenant to establish the Northern Mariana Islands as a commonwealth in political union with the United States was negotiated by representatives of both political bodies; it was approved by Northern Mariana Islands voters in 1975, and came into force on March 24, 1976.[63][4] In accordance with the covenant, the Northern Mariana Islands constitution partially took effect on January 9, 1978, and became fully effective on November 4, 1986.[4] In 1986, the Northern Mariana Islands formally left U.N. trusteeship.[56] The abbreviations "CNMI" and "NMI" are both used in the commonwealth. Most residents in the Northern Mariana Islands live on Saipan, the main island.[4] Puerto Rico: unincorporated territory since 1899;[57] Puerto Rico was acquired at the end of the Spanish–American War,[66] and has been a U.S. commonwealth since 1952.[67] Since 1917, Puerto Ricans have been granted U.S. citizenship.[68] Puerto Rico was organized under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 (Public Law 600). In November 2008, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a series of Congressional actions have had the cumulative effect of changing Puerto Rico's status from unincorporated to incorporated.[69] The issue is proceeding through the courts, however,[70] and the U.S. government still refers to Puerto Rico as unincorporated. A Puerto Rican attorney has called the island "semi-sovereign".[71] Puerto Rico has a statehood movement, whose goal is to make the territory the 51st state.[47][72] See also Political status of Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands: purchased by the U.S. from Denmark in 1917 and organized under the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands in 1954. U.S. citizenship was granted in 1927.[73] The main islands are Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix. [6]

Statistics

Except for Guam, the inhabited territories lost population in 2020. Although the territories have higher poverty rates than the mainland U.S., they have high Human Development Indexes. Four of the five territories have another official language, in addition to English.[74] [75]

Statistical overview of American territories Life Pop. Are expecta chang Povert ncy in a e Official Traff Territo Time cod Largest y 2018– HDI[79] GDP language(s) (2021 ic [80] ($)[81] rate[76] 2020 ry zone e ethnicity [74][75] est.) flow [77] (+1 (years) [2][3][4][5] [78][2][3][4][5] ) [6] [6]

Americ an Samoa

English, Samoan

Guam

English, Chamorro

65% –2.1% (2017)

74.8

[note 16]

+0.18 22.9% (2009) %

Norther n English, – 52.3% Marian Chamorro, 0.36% (2009) Carolinian a Islands

79.86

$0.63 Pacific Samoa 6 Islander n Time 0.827 684 Right (UTC− (Samoan) billio [83] 11) n Chamo Pacific rro $5.92 Islander 0.901 billio Right Time 671 (Chamorro (UTC+ n )[84] 10)

76.1

$1.32 Chamo 3 Right rro 670 Asian[85] 0.875 billio Time n

Puerto Rico

English, Spanish

– 43.1% 1.46% (2018)

79.78

Hispanic / $104. Atlanti 787 Latino 98 c Time 0.845 Right , (Puerto (UTC− billio Rican)[note 939 4) n 17][86]

U.S. Virgin Islands

English

– 22.4% 0.42% (2009)

79.57

$3.85 AfricanAtlanti 0.894 billio Left 340 American[8 c Time 7] n

The territories do not have administrative counties.[note 18] The U.S. Census Bureau counts Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities, the U.S. Virgin Islands' three main islands, all of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands' four municipalities, and American Samoa's three districts and two atolls as county equivalents.[88][89] The Census Bureau also counts each of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands as county equivalents.[88][89][90] For statistical purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau has a defined area called the "Island Areas" which consists of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (every major territory except Puerto Rico).[1][91][92] The U.S. Census

Bureau often treats Puerto Rico as its own entity or groups it with the states and D.C. (for example, Puerto ...