PETEROTORIAE POLICY:
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
ae
Rs
Constitution does not specify in detail the poliaie:gerne.U followed by the federal government in administering
Article
Ee “territories.
states "The Congress shall
“yall* ‘needful
Rules
and
IV, section 3
have Power to
Regulations
of the
dispose
respecting
the
Constitution
of and make
Territory
or
other. Property belonging to the United States... ."
The courts
have interpreted the territorial clause of the Constitution to
permit broad congressional discretion in deciding questions of
territorial
status.
As a result,
the Congress
is largely
responsible for the policies under which the U.S. territories
are administered.
Although the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islands is administered under a 1947 U.N. Trusteeship Agreement,
the Congress exercises general legislative jurisdiction over
this area's political future as well.
Historically, U.S. territorial policy has evolved to accommodate changing national objectives.
The initial thrust of the
policy, which emerged against a background of rapidly expanding
frontiers, emphasized statehood as the ultimate objective for
the contiguous territories.
The 1787 Northwest Ordinance was
the nucleus of this traditional policy.
The U.S. Congress,
which has complete authority over the territories, established
general requirements
for evaluating whether a territory .was
ready for statehood.
Statehood, as contemplated in the Ordi-~
nance and recognized by Congress, was the common denominator
which bonded traditional territorial policy.
The acquisition of offshore territories at the turn of the
20th century altered traditional policy.
The newly acquired
insular areas, which possessed unique geographic and cultural
characteristics,
were
valued
primarily
for
their
strategic
importance.
They did not fit the traditional mold of states.
In a
series of decisions rendered by the U.S.
Supreme Court
in
the early 1900s, the offshore territories, except for Hawaii,
were classified as unincorporated, a term distinct from previous
territories destined to become states.
1787 NORTHWEST ORDINANCE:
GENESIS
OF TRADITIONAL TERRITORIAL POLICY
The matter of U.S.
American
Revolution.
territories first surfaced following the
Upon
conclusion
of
the
War
in
1783,
13
independent states were created, bound loosely through the Articles of Confederation.
States which had land claims to territorial areas not included in their boundaries ceded them to the
new central government.
To organize and administer these territories (the current states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
and Wisconsin), the Congress of the Confederation passed the
2000211