TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES

OF THE UNITED STATES

THEIR GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Periods of Expansion. Among the prime factors that have determined the character and history of the United States from the beginning of its existence, none has been of greater importance than the possession by it of a vast territory abounding in resources and fertility and suitable in every way for permanent occupation and settlement. As the nation grew, and before the pressure of increasing population scarcely had been felt, this area was constantly added to. At first, taking the form of successive pushings-forward of the boundaries, until there had been included all of the adjacent territory, which either was but partly settled or the ties of which to another country were not of sufficient strength to maintain it in its allegiance, this movement of expansion has at length leapt all barriers of distance and, as the result of rapidly moving events, has brought under the sovereignty of the United States, first, a great territory lying far to the north, then islands lying in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and finally, returning to the mainland, has added a valuable strip of land to the south,

where the two American continents are joined together..

Looking back over the course of these events, one cannot fail to be impressed with the slight extent to which this great movement has been consciously planned or directed by those having in charge the destinies of the nation; how largely, indeed, it has practically been beyond their powers to control. The United States, thus, though it has never deliberately or consciously pursued an imperialistic policy, yet to-day finds itself in fact possessed of a territory truly imperial-in its extent, in the variety of the people or races occupying it, and in the wide difference of the conditions that have to be met in its government and administration. Lying as a broad belt across the heart of a great continent, its main territory now comprehends forty-five self-governing commonwealths and four territories rapidly moving toward the same status of statehood, many of which in themselves alone possess the area, population and potential material resources for the making of a nation. As dependent territory to this, but none the less under the sovereignty of the United States, are the vast territories of Alaska and its adjacent islands to the north, Porto Rico in the West Indies, the Hawaiian, Guam and Samoan islands in the middle Pacific, the Philippine Archipelago in the Far East, the Midway, Wake, Howland and Baker islands lying almost as steppingstones in the ocean, and the ten-mile broad canal stríp across the Isthmus of Panama.

In the history of the acquisition of this vast territory it is possible to distinguish three fairly well

defined periods: the first beginning with the confirmation by the Treaty of 1783 with Great Britain of the claims of the original thirteen States to the territory stretching to the west as far as the Mississippi River, and ending, in 1853, with the addition of territory growing out of the admission of the Republic of Texas and the war with Mexico; the second covering the period of forty-five years, from the latter date to 1898; and the third beginning with the annexation of the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands in 1898 and terminating with the practical acquisition, in 1904, of the strip of land across the Isthmus of Panama through which the inter-oceanic canal is to be constructed. This division of the history of the expansion of the United States into these three periods is not one made arbitrarily for the purpose of facilitating its consideration. The periods represent events, motives and consequences so dissimilar in character that it is only by making the distinction between them as clear as possible that their fundamental significance can be appreciated.

The first period, covering the years from 1783 to 1853, may be said to represent the period of logical and inevitable growth during which a nation was finding itself and rounding out its boundaries. During this period the territory acquired was contiguous to that already possessed, conformed to the latter in general character, and was but sparsely settled and almost wholly undeveloped. It thus afforded every opportunity for settlement by emigrants from the old territory and the consequent extension to it of American institutions, political or otherwise. Great as was the

importance of this extension of the boundaries to the Pacific Ocean, it represented, however, no violent break with the political traditions or principles of the people, except as regards the one point of the right of a nation to acquire and govern new territory, and that point was definitely settled once for all at the very outset. There was involved only the steady extension of the control, and the spread of the unmodified political institutions, of the United States. The years from 1853 to 1898 were years of comparative inactivity, the only events of importance occurring during them being the annexation of the Howland and Baker islands in 1857, and the acquisition of Alaska and of Brooks islands in 1867. Howland and Baker islands are so small and unimportant that their annexation is without significance. The same, in so far as the matter of the government of dependent territory is concerned, may almost be said of Alaska, notwithstanding the great area and the present promising future of that territory. At the time of its acquisition Alaska was believed to be almost wholly unfit for permanent habitation, and was thus considered as a territory more for administration as a public domain than as one for which a scheme of government had to be devised. Its acquisition brought with it no new problem and its possession has, in fact, given rise to no questions differing in any essential respect from those presented by earlier additions. This period may, therefore, be said to be one during which the progress of expansion was largely suspended and the energies of the nation were being devoted to the development of the territory already possessed.

The third period, extending from 1898 to the present time, short as it is, is filled with events of great importance-events marking the development of an entirely new phase in the expansion of the United States and to a certain extent representing a direct breaking with precedent. By the acquisitions made during this period the United States has definitely entered the class of nations holding and governing over-sea colonial possessions. In all prior acquisitions, except those of the small islands, which were so unimportant that no form of government for them was required, the essential principle upon which the acquisitions were based was that of the incorporation of the new territory into the Union upon full equality with the other States as soon as their population and development should render such action feasible. The ultimate result always in view was that of a single union of commonwealths all enjoying the same general form of government, possessing the same political rights and privileges, and together embracing all territory in any manner under the sovereignty of the United States. By the acquisition of Samoa, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Guam and the Philippine Islands, the United States was for the first time confronted with the possibility, if not the certainty, that for an indefinite time to come the territory under its sovereignty would have to be divided into two classes having a different political status; the one constituting the United States proper and enjoying full political rights and privileges, and the other dependent territory in subordination to the former and having its form of government and the rights of its inhabitants.