Foundations of Social Studies
HISTORY
TERRITORIES
In the United States territories are political regions that are controlled by the US federal
government. They are different from states. States have certain powers that the federal
government does not have control over, whereas territories do not have that kind of power. As of
2013, the United States has a total of sixteen territorial land holdings. However, some of the land
holdings are small uninhabited islands and some land holdings are also claimed by other countries.
Types of Territories
Not all territories are the same. Although there are a couple of ways territories are classified, there
are two main types: incorporated and unincorporated.


Incorporated territories have the full protection of the United States Constitution. Its
inhabitants are entitled to US citizenship, trial by jury, and other constitutional rights.
Although they were common in the past, today there are no incorporated organized
territories of the United States. The last two territories of this status were Alaska and Hawaii,
and both gained statehood in 1959.
Unincorporated territories are still considered part of the United States by law, but all the
rights and protections of the constitution are only partially applied. Some examples of
unincorporated territories include Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the US Virgin
Islands.
Some territories have a special status known as a US Commonwealth. A commonwealth means that
the territory is self-governing under their own constitution. This means that they are technically
part of the United States, but they also can make their own laws. The two US Commonwealth
territories are Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.
How do territories become states?
At times the people who live in a territory desire statehood. There are specific steps for a territory
to become a state. First, the people in the territory have to petition the US Congress for permission
to be admitted to the United States as a new state. If Congress choses, they can require the
proposed state to draft a state constitution. At that point, a constitution is created and it is put to a
vote in the proposed state. After Congress reviews the proposed state’s constitution it can approve
the statehood request by passing an “Act of Admission.” When the President signs that act, the
territory becomes a state.
History of territories in the United States
Within a few decades after gaining independence from Great Britain, the United States began to
expand and acquire new land. The first expansion of territory began with the Louisiana Purchase in
1803. In that transaction the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land from France for
Copyright © 2013, Davis School District
$15,000. That works out to be approximately 3 cents per acre for the Louisiana Territory. The land
acquired from the Louisiana Purchase extends from present day Louisiana all the way north and
west to present day Montana.
The Louisiana Territory was eventually broken up into several smaller territories which all became
states. These are: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New
Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
The United States continued to expand at a rapid pace. The US gained Florida in the decade after
the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1840s Texas was acquired, the US signed an agreement with Britain
for the Oregon Territory, which encompassed much of the North West. The land included in this
territory would become Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana.
After the Mexican-American War, Mexico conceded to the US the territory that would become
Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. By the 1850s, the United States stretched from sea to sea,
having coasts on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The United States continued to grow. In the 1860s Alaska was purchased from Russia. It was needed
at the time for the refueling of ships. It cost the US government 7.2 million dollars, or two cents per
acre. And in 1900, the United States officially added Hawaii as a territory. Both Alaska and Hawaii
eventually became states.
As the twentieth-century began, the United States entered a new stage of expansion. The US began
to acquire islands in the Pacific Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. Though the reasons for acquiring
these islands are different, in each case, many of the islands in the Pacific served as strategic bases
during World War II.
In November 2012, sixty-one percent of Puerto Rican voters expressed that they would like to
become the United States’ fifty-first state. Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States for
about one hundred years. The island has over 3.5 million people and all Puerto Ricans are citizens of
the US. However they live in a territory, not a state, and so they are unable to vote in national
elections and do not receive all the privileges that citizens who live in states do. In order for Puerto
Rico or any other territory to become a state, Congress would have to pass an Act of Admission, and
the President would need to sign it.
Territories Summarized
In short, status as a territory is somewhat like a stepping-stone to statehood. Most states in the
United States today were once parts of territories which were acquired by purchase, war, or
negotiation and eventually applied for statehood. While territories are officially part of the US,
citizens living in those territories do not enjoy all the rights of citizens living in states. While the US
still has territories, applications for statehood seem unlikely at this time.
Copyright © 2013, Davis School District