- Territorial Clause
Article IV, Section 3, Paragraph 2 of the
United States Constitution is known as the Territorial Clause. It states:The interpretation of this clause gives the
United States Congress the final power over every "territory" of the United States. However, the interpretation of the word "territory" is rather controversial.One of the best examples of the meaning of the territorial clause is the case of the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico . Puerto Rico, an archipelago, was ceded to the United States in 1898, becoming a territory of the United States. Therefore, Congress had the ultimate power over the island and effectively organized its governments in the first half of the twentieth-century. However, the question was whether the whole Constitution applied to the territories called "Insular areas" by Congress.In a series of opinions by the
Supreme Court of the United States , referred to as theInsular Cases , the court ruled that territories "belonged" to, but were not "part of" the United States. Therefore, under the Territorial clause Congress had the power to determine which parts of the Constitution applied to the territories.The meaning of the territorial clause continues to be a major dividing aspect of Puerto Ricans in the debate over their political status.
ee also
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Puerto Rico
*Insular Cases
*U.S. Virgin Islands
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