Commonwealth (United States insular area)
- Commonwealth (United States insular area)
:"This article is about U.S. insular areas. For U.S. States that designate themselves as "Commonwealths", see
Commonwealth (United States) . For other uses of the term, seeCommonwealth . In the terminology of theUnited States insular area s, a Commonwealth is a type of organized but unincorporateddependent territory .There are currently two United States insular areas holding the status of commonwealth, the
Northern Mariana Islands andPuerto Rico .Of the current U.S. insular areas, the term was first used by Puerto Rico in 1952 as its formal name in English ("Commonwealth of Puerto Rico") since a strict translation of its name in Spanish would have been unacceptable to the U.S. Congress. The formal name in Spanish for Puerto Rico is "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico," which translates literally as "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico" or as Free Associated State (a state in "free association").
Despite the Spanish translation of the term "commonwealth", Puerto Rico's relationship with United States is not a
Compact of Free Association (which is the case for theFederated States of Micronesia ,Palau , and theMarshall Islands ). As sovereign states, these islands have full right to conduct their own foreign relations, while the Commonwealth ofPuerto Rico has territorial status subject to United States congressional authority under the Constitution's Territory Clause, “to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory…belonging to the United States.” [http://www.prfaa.com/eng/PuertoRicoBookletFinal.pdf December 2005 report of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status] ] .The territory was organized by the
Foraker Act in 1900, which was amended by theJones-Shafroth Act in 1917. The drafting of theConstitution of Puerto Rico by its residents was authorized by Congress in 1951, and the result approved in 1952. Puerto Rico does not have the right to unilaterally declare independence, but severalreferendum s have been held, with the option for full U.S. statehood or full independence. At the last referendum (1998) the narrow majority voted for "none of the above", which was a formally undefined alternative used by commonwealth supporters to express their desire for an "enhanced commonwealth" option. .In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated "Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States] " [" [http://www.cnmilaw.org/covenant.htm Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States] ".]
The
Commonwealth of the Philippines was an insular area that held commonwealth status fromNovember 15 ,1935 untilJuly 4 ,1946 . TheUnited States recognized the independence of the Philippines in 1935 but called for a transitional period from 1935 until 1946 when the Philippines became fully independent.References
ee also
*
Territories of the United States
*Politics of Puerto Rico
*Politics of the Northern Mariana Islands
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