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The Northwest Ordinance...in space?

With the GOP Presidential Primaries behind us and the candidates no longer courting votes from the US Territories in their quest for the nomination, the issue of statehood will probably disappear again from the campaign trail for another four years.

That is, unless, Mitt Romney bucks common sense and for some reason selects former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as his running mate.

You may remember that Gingrich made headlines when the primaries were in full swing for some remarks he made on statehood. It wasn’t his comments on Puerto Rico that grabbed headlines—that honor went to Rick Santorum who falsely claimed that the territory would have to adopt English (and only English) as its official language for Statehood to be a legal possibility.

Instead, Gingrich made headlines for his grandiose plan to colonize the moon and then admit Earth’s celestial cousin to the Union as the51^st state.

That’s right, Gingrich has taken up the cause of statehood for the moon—population zero—while places like Puerto Rico and the District of Columbiaprobably would actually welcome a serious national discussion on such aproposal.

Gingrich, who is known equally for his grandiose thoughts as he isfor his knowledge of US history, even went so far to propose a “Northwest Ordinance for Space” to guide the moon’s accession and other future spacecolonies into the Union.

For those who don’t remember this from US History class, theNorthwest Ordinance was the Congressional Act that first defined a process fororganizing territories and creating new states. Thomas Jefferson wrote it in the 1780's to outline a way for Congress to establish temporary federal control ofthe Northwest Territory--the frontier region east of the Mississippi andnorth of the Ohio River that the United States acquired from Great Britain in1783--and then create several new states from this sparsely populated land.

Under the process defined by the Ordinance, the President was toappoint a governor and other government officers to administer the NorthwestTerritory on the federal government's behalf. Once 5,000 “free male inhabitantsof full age" had settled in the area, a territorial legislature could beelected and a constitution drawn up. Finally, when 60,000 free inhabitants hadsettled in particular portions of the territory, Congress was to carve up theterritory further and admit the regions that met the above-mentioned criteriaas states to the Union “on an equal footing with the original States in allrespects...”

As states and new territories grew out of the old NorthwestTerritory, it soon became apparent that Congress had at its disposal a methodwith which to guide the country’s territorial growth as national leaders casttheir eyes west.

Unsurprisingly, the Northwest Ordinance guided the creation of allor parts of the 21 states that were carved out of the vast Louisiana Territory thatthe United States  obtainedfrom France in 1803. Congress followed these same steps to guide FloridaTerritory, ceded by Spain to the United States in 1819, on the path tostatehood. (In recent years, especially since the 2000 election fiasco,academics have scoured the text of the ordinance to see if there's a mechanismto devolve Florida’s statehood and give it back to Spain. Unfortunately, noneexists.) The same was done for done for the land that was carved out of OregonTerritory and turned into states after 1846.

By the late 19^th century,admitting new states to the Union under the process laid down in the NorthwestOrdinance had become ubiquitous. Some territories took longer to reachstatehood than others (New Mexico, portions of which were acquired via theLouisiana Purchase in 1803, wasn’t admitted to the Union until 1912, whereasCalifornia only spent about two years as a Territory), but all land acquired bythe United States between 1787 and 1852 was eventually transformed into thelower 48 states, more or less guided by the Northwest Ordinance.

However nowhere in the Constitution does it say that any of thisneed occur, or that newly-acquired territories ever be admitted to the Union asstates at all. Article IV of the Constitution grants sole responsibility fororganizing new possessions into territories, but there is nothing that says newterritories must at some point be transformed intostates. Congress, if it should so choose, could sit on its hands and do nothing aboutstatehood in newly-acquired territories, be they on the Moon or elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened when the UnitedStates began acquiring populated island territories thousands of miles fromAmerican shores in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War. Under theterms of the peace settlement with Spain, the United States acquired a handfulof Spanish colonial outposts, including Puerto Rico and Guam.

But unlike thesparsely-populated lands of the American west that were added to the Americandomain throughout the 19^th century,the insular possessions that the United States acquired during theSpanish-American War were populated by thousands of non-white, non-Englishspeaking residents. Owing to the racial and cultural prejudices of the day,Congress undoubtedly believed that the inhabitants of these new Americanpossessions were unfit for American citizenship, and probably never seriouslyconsidered their islands and island groups as eventual candidates forstatehood. Former president Benjamin Harrison lamented the nature of Americanoverseas expansion, saying that the  UnitedStates had “done something out of line with American history, not in the matterof territorial expansion, but in the character of it.”

Congress’ decision to hold these places in perpetuity asterritories without setting them on the path to statehood was endorsed by theUS Supreme Court in a series of early 20^th century cases known as the InsularCases. Perhaps the most noteworthy concept to emerge from these cases was theidea that the US Constitution need not apply in full to possessions like PuertoRico or Guam, or, eventually, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, or theNorthern Mariana Islands. Instead, Congress has the ability to create lawwithin territories in certain circumstances—particularly pertaining torevenue—that the Constitution would not allow for for states within the Union.And so the situation has remained for the better part of a century.

So it was odd to hear Newt Gingrich talk about statehood for hisimaginary moon colony as millions of real, non-lunar Americans are todaywithout states of their own. To hear Gingrich propose reviving the NorthwestOrdinance for this task was especially troubling, given that Congress decidedto throw the Northwest Ordinance’s precepts out the window rather than face theprospect of admitting minority-majority territories into the Union on an equalfooting with the states.

At best, statehood advocates outside the continental US sawGingrich’s musings the way the media and most mainlanders did, as Gingrichespousing yet another ridiculous but ultimately dead-end idea. At worst, it wasa reminder of the horrible prejudice and racial policies that prevented thespirit of Manifest Destiny from being applied to the insular possessions in thefirst place.

Why does Puerto Rico have an Olympic Team?

When the American Samoa Olympic Team marched into Olympic Stadium at the start of the London games a few days ago—fifth in line behind Greece, Afghanistan, Albania, and Algeria—the Twitterverse erupted in disbelief. Those not commenting on team’s Polynesian garb seemed genuinely shocked that American Samoa was actually a real place. Most of the American Samoa-related Tweets I noticed inevitably mentioned Girl Scout Cookies in some way. One viewer asked whether “American Thin Mint” would be the next team to enter the stadium.  

Last night, when NBC aired Puerto Rican athlete Javier Culson’s bronze medal performance in the 400 Meter Hurdles, reactions from American viewers familiar with the island’s status as a US Territory ranged from confused to apoplectic. Some asked how Puerto Rico could compete if not an actual country. A few accused Puerto Rico of disloyalty and demanded that we start taxing the territory. Others simply asked whether Puerto Rico’s medals could be counted as US medals in the event of a tie with China.

You Didn't Build That (Midway Atoll Edition)

Well there must be a presidential election on this summer, because the media has been sensationalizing something other than shark attacks, missing white women, or Americans' obsession with fast food. 

Political Washington has spun itself dizzy in the last few weeks over some clumsy remarks that President Obama made in July on the role that government plays in supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses.

In a campaign event in Virginia, Obama remarked that government and the American people "helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed [small busineses] to thrive.” Pointing to the existence of roads, bridges, and even the Internet, Obama proclaimed that “If you've got a business--you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Republicans have seized on the remarks by launching the "you didn't build that" campaign meme, along with adds featuring American business icons like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs.

The Obama campaign has plenty of historical examples to support its case, from the Transcontinental Railroad to the Hoover Dam and NASA. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty proved last year that political ads spliced with stirring music and iconic American images can make even the most boring politicians look like they belonged in a Michael Bay movie.

But one great public work we’ll never hear about on the campaign trail was the effort to bridge the Pacific Ocean via steam transportation after the Civil War, an effort that took several years at the cost of millions of dollars in federal subsidies. US ownership of Midway Atoll—the first offshore possession annexed by the US government in 1867—is an enduring legacy of this enterprise.

Non-States at the White House

A few months ago, my girlfriend and I had the chance to attend the welcome ceremony for UK Prime Minister David Cameron on the South Lawn at the White House.

While the Prime Minister and President Obama were swapping jokes about the British burning Washington in 1814, I snuck over to the side to snap a picture of the non-States' flags lined up just underneath the East Room.

American Samoa Dragged Into Israel-Palestine Debate

An ongoing disagreement between the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg and the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto over the legal status of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories has ensnared American Samoa. 

The beef started when Goldberg criticized an Israeli government report that classified the West Bank as sovereign Israeli territory, rather than occupied territory. Goldberg argued that if the West Bank is in fact Israeli territory, then Israel should treat people living there--Jewish or Muslim--as Israeli citizens, and extend to them full voting rights.

Taranto took issue with this, demanding that Goldberg be packed off to American Samoa, an American territory where the native population lacks US citizenship and federal voting rights. 

And now, the Commuter Tax! (again)

A consequence of DC's unique status as the federal district is our inability to raise taxes ourselves without Congressional approval.

A 2003 Government Accountability Office study found that DC loses between $470 million to $1.1 billion annually in potential tax revenue because of the federal government's presence in DC. Not only is the city unable to collect property taxes from federal buildings and embassies, some estimates say that only 28% of the federal employees whose offices are located within the District actually live in the city, depriving government coffers of much-needed tax revenue.

DC leaders have long argued that a commuter tax could help make up lost revenue. Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee that has legislative jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, said recently that after the election Congress should "start to think about how...how to deal with the only place that doesn't have the ability to tax people who earn their income in that place."

Prologue

You may be surprised to know that there’s more to these United States than the 50 multi-colored shapes you’d find on a classroom wall map. Uncle Sam, always careful to disavow any interest in seeking empire, nevertheless claims ownership of dozens of islands, atolls, reefs, and rocks that dot the Caribbean and Pacific, as well as a federal district wedged between Maryland and Virginia. We, the 4.4 million Americans who inhabit these non-States, lack full representation in the US Congress.  

Growing up in Indiana, I never considered what it meant to have actual representation in Congress. I took it for granted. Spotting my Senator sleeping during the State of the Union was always a thrill. I didn’t consider that people in other parts of the country would never know the joy or embarrassment of seeing one’s Senator threaten a cable news anchor to a duel or be embarrassed for marriage infidelity or some intern scandal.

Even when I moved to the DC, I didn’t give the matter much thought. The “Taxation Without Representation” license plate that I slapped on the front of my Volkswagen seemed like a gimmick. I saw it more as a conversation starter on return trips to Indiana than a city’s cry for political rights.

But then the 112^th Congress arrived in town. With the new House Republican majority came rule changes. The media focused on the important ones, like the reintroduction of Styrofoam plates to the House cafeteria. Mostly ignored was the rescinding of a rule that had given non-States—DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands—a vote on House committees.

Weeks later Congress found itself unable to pass a federal spending bill. As a federal employee, Congressional dithering meant the possibility of an unpaid vacation. But, as a resident of DC—the only city whose budget requires Congressional and Presidential approval—a federal shutdown also meant a suspension of city services, from trash collection to pothole repair. DC’s 600,000 residents became hostages to Republic-shattering battles such as devoting .0001% of the federal budget to public broadcasting.

All of this coincided with a trip my girlfriend and I took to the Virgin Islands. Rather than devote our first day there to the beach, I dragged my girlfriend to the territory’s legislature—a former Danish military barracks—for a civics lesson. There we swapped stories with a local about life outside the bounds of statehood.

Eventually, Congress passed a spending bill, and trash collection continued in DC. Over the ensuring months, as Congress explored ways to drive its approval rating ever downward, 4.4 million Americans remained without a vote in the body that has a great deal of power over our communities.

Maybe our plight is due to the fact that the rest of the country seems wholly ignorant to our existence. Though small in size and number, we do have interesting stories to tell. This blog will shed some light on life in the non-States, the small slice of America that the rest of the country has forgotten about.