U.S. territorial sovereignty
In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the
Territory of the United States
The United States' territory includes any geography under the control of the United States
Constitution of the United States
Under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution, a territory is subject to and belongs to the United States (but not necessarily within the national boundaries or any individual state). This includes tracts of land or water not included within the limits of any State and not admitted as a State into the Union.
The Constitution of the United States states:
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
—United States Constitution
Congress of the United States
Congress possesses power to set territorial governments within the boundaries of the United States, under
Supreme Court of the United States
All territory under the control of the federal government is considered part of the "United States" for purposes of law.
The term "United States" may be used in any one of several senses. It may be merely the name of a sovereign occupying the position analogous to that of other sovereigns in the family of nations. It may designate the territory over which the sovereignty of the United States extends, or it may be the collective name of the states which are united by and under the Constitution.
United States Department of the Interior
The
United States divisions
States, territories, and their subdivisions
The
The District of Columbia and territories are under the direct authority of Congress, although each is allowed home rule.[9] The United States government, rather than individual states or territories, conducts foreign relations under the U.S. Constitution.
Federal enclaves, such as domestic military bases and national parks, are administered directly by the federal government. To varying degrees, the federal government exercises concurrent jurisdiction with the states where federal land is part of the territory previously granted to a state.
History of United States territory
At times, territories are organized with a separate legislature, under a territorial governor and officers, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate of the United States. A territory has been historically divided into
As a result of several
Insular areas
The United States currently claims 16 insular areas as territories:
- American Samoa
- Guam
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Puerto Rico
- United States Virgin Islands
- Minor Outlying Islands
- The italicized islands are part of a territory dispute with Colombia and are not included in the ISO designation of the USMOI. The United States does not administer these two territories.
Palmyra Atoll is the only incorporated territory remaining, and having no government it is also unorganized. The remaining are
Dependent areas
Several islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea are dependent territories of the United States.[20][21]
The
From July 8, 1947, until October 1, 1994, the United States administered the
The United States has made no territorial claim in Antarctica but has reserved the right to do so. American research stations in Antarctica—Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, McMurdo Station, and Palmer Station—are under U.S. jurisdiction but are held without sovereignty per the Antarctic Treaty.
The three Freely Associated States of
Maritime territory of the United States
The government of the United States of America has claims to the oceans in accord with the
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5030, claimed a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. In December 1988, President Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5928, extended U.S. territorial waters from three nautical miles to twelve nautical miles for national security purposes. However a legal opinion from the Justice Department questioned the President's constitutional authority to extend sovereignty as Congress has the power to make laws concerning the territory belonging to the United States under the U.S. Constitution. In any event, Congress needs to make laws defining if the extended waters, including oil and mineral rights, are under state or federal control.[22][23]
The primary enforcer of maritime law is the U.S. Coast Guard. Federal and state governments share economic and regulatory jurisdiction over the waters owned by the country. (See tidelands.)
International law
The United States is not restricted from making laws governing its own territory by
Under the
Customs territories
The fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico form the main customs territory of the United States. Special rules apply to
Other areas
U.S. sovereignty includes the airspace over its land and territorial waters. No international agreement exists on the vertical limit that separates this from outer space, which is international.
Federal jurisdiction includes federal enclaves like national parks and domestic military bases, even though these are located in the territory of a state. Host states exercise concurrent jurisdiction to some degree.
The United States exercises
The federal government also exercises property ownership, but not sovereignty over land in various foreign countries. Examples include the John F. Kennedy Memorial built at
History of U.S. federal lands
The
In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land.
In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing the value of the assets on public lands and directed the
Currently, federal lands are about 640 million acres, about 28% of the total U.S. land area of 2.27 billion acres.[42][43]
See also
- Territories of the United States
- Exclusive economic zone of the United States
- Tuaua v. United States
- Fitisemanu v. United States
References
- ^ OCLC 10955.
- OCLC 424143523.
- ^ See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(36) and 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(38) Providing the term "State" and "United States" definitions on the U.S. Federal Code, Immigration and Nationality Act. 8 U.S.C. § 1101a
- ^ CONSEJO DE SALUD PLAYA DE PONCE v JOHNNY RULLAN, SECRETARY OF HEALTH OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO Page 6 and 7 (PDF), The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2011, retrieved February 4, 2010.
- ^ The Insular Cases: The Establishment of a Regime of Political Apartheid" (2007) Juan R. Torruella (PDF), retrieved February 5, 2010.
- OCLC 60723860.
- ^ "GAO/OGC-98-5 – U.S. Insular Areas: Application of the U.S. Constitution; Appendix II:0.3, footnote 22". U.S. Government Printing Office. November 7, 1997. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ Secretary of the Interior Order No. 3224, January 18, 2001.
- ^ "District of Columbia Home Rule Act". abfa.com. November 19, 1997. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ^ Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (July 14, 2008). "Official Name and Status History of the several States and U.S. Territories". The Green Papers. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
- ^ "Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784–1894". The Library of Congress. 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
- ^ "Philippines – United States Rule". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
- ^ "Philippines – A Collaborative Philippine Leadership". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
- ^ "Treaty of Paris (1898)". Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ Paul Carano and Pedro C. Sanchez, A Complete History of Guam (Rutland, VT: C. E. Tuttle, 1964)
- ^ Howard P. Willens and Dirk Ballendorf, The Secret Guam Study: How President Ford's 1975 Approval of Commonwealth Was Blocked by Federal Officials (Mangilao, Guam: Micronesian Area Research Center; Saipan: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Division of Historical Preservation, 2004)
- ^ FindLaw: Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901) regarding the distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories
- ^ FindLaw: People of Puerto Rico v. Shell Co., 302 U.S. 253 (1937) regarding application of U.S. law to organized but unincorporated territories
- ^ FindLaw: United States v. Standard Oil Company, 404 U.S. 558 (1972) regarding application of U.S. law to unorganized unincorporated territories
- ^ "Office of Insular Affairs". Archived from the original on June 17, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Department of the Interior Definitions of Insular Area Political Types Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Andrew Rosenthal (December 29, 1988). "Reagan Extends Territorial Waters to 12 Miles". New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
- ^ Carol Elizabeth Remy (1992). "U.S. Territorial Sea Extension: Jurisdiction and International Environmental Protection". Fordham International Law Journal. 16 (4): 1208–1252. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
- ^ Evans, D. M. Emrys (1965). "John F. Kennedy Memorial Act, 1964". The Modern Law Review. 28 (6): 703–706.
- ^ "The American Battle Monuments Commission". Retrieved October 29, 2012.
The site, preserved since the war by the French Committee of the Pointe du Hoc, which erected an impressive granite monument at the edge of the cliff, was transferred to American control by formal agreement between the two governments on 11 January 1979 in Paris, with Ambassador Arthur A. Hartman signing for the United States and Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Maurice Plantier signing for France.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The American Battle Monuments Commission".
- ^ a b c "The BLM: The Agency and its History". GPO. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- ^ "Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files (p. 7)" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration (1974). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- ^ "British-American Diplomacy Treaty of Paris – Hunter Miller's Notes". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Archived from the original on May 16, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Black, Jeremy. British foreign policy in an age of revolutions, 1783–1793 (1994) pp 11–20
- ^ a b A History of the Rectangular Survey System by C. Albert White, 1983, Pub: Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management: For sale by G.P.O.
- ^ a b c Vernon Carstensen, "Patterns on the American Land." Journal of Federalism, Fall 1987, Vol. 18 Issue 4, pp 31–39
- ^ a b White, C. Albert (1991). A history of the rectangular survey system. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b "Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files (p. 3)" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration (1974). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Records of the Bureau of Land Management [BLM] (Record Group 49) 1685–1993 (bulk 1770–1982)". National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- ^ a b "BLM and Its Predecessors: A Long and Varied History". BLM. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- ^ "Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 As Amended" (PDF). BLM. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Archivedfrom the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
- hdl:2027.42/77588.
- ^ "O&C Sustained Yield Act: the Law, the Land, the Legacy" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
- ^ Lipton, Eric, and Clifford Krauss, Giving Reins to the States Over Drilling, New York Times, August 24, 2012.
- ^ Carol Hardy Vincent, Carla N. Argueta, & Laura A. Hanson, Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data, Congress Research Service (March 3, 2017).
Notes
- Fleury Graff, Thibaut (2013). Etat et territoire en droit international. L'exemple de la construction du territoire des Etats-Unis (1789–1914) (State and Territory in International Law. The case of United States' Territory (1789–1914)). Paris, France: Pedone. ISBN 978-2-233-00686-8.
- Lalor, John J. (1899). "Territories". OCLC 221087006.
- McFerson, Hazel M. (1997). The Racial Dimension of American Overseas Colonial Policy. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. OCLC 36301430.
- OCLC 180533376.