- [Ben] What is a US territory?

- Uh huh.

- How many permanently inhabited US territories are there?

- Wow, I'm on vacation, so realistically, this is tough for my brain-- - You didn't think you'd be having a pop quiz.

Do you feel more of an identity as a US citizen, as a Puerto Rican, or a blend?

- A citizenship, I would say that I'm American.

But when people ask me where I'm from, I do say I'm Puerto Rican, I'm from Puerto Rico.

- If we become a state, right?

First of all, we're gonna lose our language, and more about our history.

- What do you think about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans not being able to vote for a president or for members of Congress?

- The decisions made in the US affect us as well, so why wouldn't we be able to have a voice on that?

- America has 50 states, you should know that.

But it also has territories, like these nine uninhabited islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean, or these two uninhabited islands that are disputed, where the US and Columbia can't agree whose country they're part of.

And then there are these five islands, which have between 50,000 and 150,000 people living on them, or in the case of Puerto Rico, more than three million.

What does it mean to be a US territory?

Why are these part of America and why aren't they states?

By the end of this episode, you'll hopefully have the answers to those questions, an idea of whether territorial status is even fair, and maybe get some travel that don't require a passport.

I'm Ben Sheehan, and this is "Civics Made Easy".

What are US territories?

A US territory is land that's part of America but isn't part of a state or Washington DC.

These territories are also called insular areas, a more formal term.

And like states, territories are subject to federal laws and the Constitution, mostly.

America has five permanently inhabited territories with a total of 9,200 square miles and 3.6 million people between them.

These are the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

In four of these five territories, the residents are American citizens, but in American Samoa, they're US nationals.

They can freely travel to the US mainland, but don't possess certain rights like being able to serve on a jury, hold federal office, or even own guns.

The main thing separating territories from states is that their residents don't pay certain federal taxes, and partly because of that, don't get voting representation in Congress or even electoral votes for President.

Residents can vote in presidential primaries, but few of them actually do.

So how did we get here, and why does one territory have more people living on it than 18 states?

A history of territories.

America has acquired territories beyond its continental borders, thanks to various agreements, purchases, and wars.

In fact, most states were previously US territories, as is the case with every state added since the Civil War, including Alaska and Hawaii.

And the Philippines was also a US territory before becoming independent in 1946.

We acquired Puerto Rico and Guam in 1898 during the Spanish American War.

We acquired American Samoa in 1899 from Germany and the UK.

We bought the US Virgin Islands in 1917 from Denmark for $25 million, and we got the Northern Mariana Islands from Japan in 1947.

As for our uninhabited territories, well the US just took them at various points in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

No one had claimed them, so we showed up and called dibs, which is pretty American.

Why did we do this?

Well, US territories, both inhabited and uninhabited, have been maintained for a variety of reasons, like military ones.

Island territories are strategic positions in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

We had military bases on them during World War II and the Cold War, and we still have some of those bases.

Or financial reasons.

Territories have natural resources that could be and have been bought and sold.

They also opened up America to new trade markets.

And lastly, influence.

Territories expanded America's global control, especially during a time of colonialism and imperialism across the world.

Puerto Rico has more than 3.2 million people who are US citizens.

The island is also a commonwealth and prefers that term, as it means Congress can't revoke Puerto Rico's right to self government.

So for more on these complex dynamics, I thought I'd ask an expert.

Eduardo Bhatia is the former president of Puerto Rico's senate.

He's also the former head of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, which is the branch of the Puerto Rican government that's basically the liaison between Puerto Rico and the US government.

How has Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States changed since it became part of the country in 1898?

- It's certainly a relationship that started as an unexpected arrival of US troops in Puerto Rico in 1898, part of the war, the Spanish American War.

Puerto Ricans then for the first 15 years were trying to define that relationship.

There were many economic terms which were very unfair to Puerto Ricans.

Many landowners lost their lands, those beginning years.

Then the horrible insular cases defined the relationship as being a part of, but foreign to the United States.

Nobody really understood that.

And in 1917, the United States unilaterally took a decision which was making Puerto Ricans US citizens.

That to this day still continues to be the greatest puzzle in American history in terms of defining what does it mean to be a US citizen within the context of Puerto Rico and the other US territories.

- Do the people of Puerto Rico consider themselves Americans first, Puerto Ricans first, a mix of the two?

What do you think their attitude is?

- I think Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans first is a nation, it's a concept of a nation.

And the identity politics plays a very strong role.

Even if you have been in the US for 30 years, Puerto Ricans are very proud of being Puerto Ricans.

- Well, on the heels of that, what do you think about Puerto Rico's current status as a US territory or commonwealth versus the other options that have been discussed in terms of its status changing to an independent country, a freely associated state, or even a United States state?

- Independence is one option, and it's there.

And people know what independent country country is, look at Dominican Republic, look at Jamaica or Panama.

However, within the context of Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans are more adjusted to being part of the United States.

So I would say very few until now have supported the idea of independence.

Then comes the idea of statehood, and more than 50% of Puerto Ricans support the idea of becoming the 51st state of the Union.

Now that runs in afoul with the United States.

I mean, the political circles of the United States, it has never been offered.

Officially, it has never been offered to Puerto Rico.

So what remains is this sort of in-between relationship where Puerto Ricans are proud of being Puerto Rican and have been crafting a relationship with the United States.

It's an unfinished business of American democracy.

At the end of the day, people of Puerto Rico should be given that right, the right to vote.

And it's not just the people of Puerto Rico.

I will throw in the Virgin Islands, I will throw in Guam, I will throw in other territories that really deserve the right to participate actively.

- Let's talk about voting representation.

As I mentioned, Puerto Ricans do pay federal tax, just not on income generated here on the island.

In 2023, these residents paid about five billion in social security, Medicare, and other types of federal tax, about the same that Vermont paid.

And it's true that Puerto Rico receives more money in federal benefits than it pays in federal tax, but that's also the case with 37 states.

Puerto Rico also has more residents living on it than North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming combined.

But those states have eight senators and four representatives between them, while Puerto Rico has none.

Again, people born in Puerto Rico are US citizens.

Many of them serve in our military, but can't actually choose the Congress people or President who are sending them off to fight.

That's actually the same reason that 18-year-olds fought for the right to vote in the 26th Amendment.

This lack of voting representation in Congress is kind of ironic.

After all, America fought a war over taxation without representation.

So I wanted to speak to an expert who really understands this.

Gabriela Bofelli is the former chief of staff for Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico's current governor and former US House representative.

Gabriela is also the current executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, the same position Eduardo Bhatia once held.

Puerto Rico has a member of Congress who is a resident commissioner or a non-voting delegate who cannot actually vote on laws.

How can that member of Congress represent Puerto Ricans in the House without that ability to vote on legislation?

- They're able to present legislation in Congress.

And that's a good way to highlight some of the needs that Puerto Rico has.

- So there have been many referendums held in the past several decades where Puerto Ricans have voted on whether or not to become a state, remain a territory/commonwealth, even become an independent country or a freely associated state.

How have those attitudes changed over the past several decades towards those different options?

- Support for statehood has grown.

There's been four plebiscites in the past 12 years.

In each one of those four plebiscites, statehood has won.

There is clearly a consensus that the current territorial status does not work and is unsustainable.

And part of the issues that we have right now fiscally and the reason why people are leaving the island is because of those issues.

- What would a fair relationship look like between the United States and Puerto Rico?

- The only thing that guarantees equality is statehood.

We are larger, including than even 20 states.

So we are bound to become a statehood.

- If you could pass any law yourself, just you, wave a wand and pass any law affecting Puerto Rico, what would that law be?

- That law would be a federally binding plebiscite, where Puerto Rico gets the same opportunity as the other territories that became states.

To ask us the question, would you like Puerto Rico to become a state?

Yes or no?

- What is the statehood process?

Article Four, Section Three of the Constitution gives Congress the power to make new states.

If a state is being created within an existing state or by combining two or more states or parts of states, then Congress and the affected states' legislatures must approve.

But since all of our current territories are islands that don't touch other states, congressional approval is enough.

But the most important question is what do the residents think?

Beginning in 1493 with Columbus's arrival, Puerto Rico underwent 405 years of Spanish rule.

When America took possession of the island in 1898, American businessmen gravitated to Puerto Rico's abundance of sugar.

In fact, the American Sugar Refining Company, which largely built its empire off of Puerto Rico later became Domino Sugar.

And a complicated relationship with sugar is also pretty American.

Puerto Rico has also been used by the US as a military outpost.

In fact, it wasn't until 2003 that the Navy fully left the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where it had been conducting weapons tests since 1941.

And the Puerto Rican towns of Utuado and Ayuda experienced the only times the US government has ever bombed its own citizens to squash a nationalist movement in 1950.

Four years later, partly in response, a group of Puerto Rican nationalists entered the visitors' balcony of the US House of Representatives and began shooting at members on the floor.

Nobody died, but five representatives were wounded.

My point is that relations between the US government and Puerto Rico have been rocky, as have our relations with Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and even states like Hawaii.

Unsurprisingly, colonialism, extracting resources like sugar and oil and even ruled by the US military have occurred in these places at various points.

So what do you think?

Should territories become countries, freely associated states, US states, or should they stay territories?

Comment below with your thoughts.

My name is Ben Sheehan and I hope you learned something.