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U.S. territorial sovereignty

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"US territory" redirects here. For specific areas under direct federal jurisdiction, see Territories of the United States.

United States territory is the area under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States,[1] including all of its land and territorial waters near the mainland and islands. The United States asserts sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing a 200-nautical-mile (370 km; 230 mi) exclusive economic zone in neighboring ocean waters.[2]

Land

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The land area of the United States includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and inhabited and uninhabited insular areas known as territories. The states have subsidiary sovereignty and concurrent jurisdiction with the federal government. Under the United States Constitution, the federal government has exclusive sovereignty and Congress has full lawmaking power over the District of Columbia (per the Enumerated powers) and territories (per the Territorial Clause[3]). Congress has granted each inhabited jurisdiction some degree of home rule.[4] Uninhabited insular areas are administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, except for Palmyra Atoll, which is administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Inhabited territories are administered by local governments, with federal policy coordination and oversight by the Office of Insular Affairs, except for Puerto Rico. There is no federal agency with general oversight for Washington, DC or Puerto Rico, but there is program-by-program oversight and general points of contact such as the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The territories and district all have non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives.

Definitions of "United States"

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A Supreme Court ruling from 1945 stated that the term "United States" can have three different meanings, in different contexts:

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.

— Hooven & Allison Co. v. Evatt, 324 U.S. 652 (1945)

From 1901 to 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court in a series of opinions known as the Insular Cases established the doctrine of territorial incorporation. It said the Constitution applied fully in incorporated territories such as Alaska and Hawaii, but only applied partially in the then-new unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.[5][6]

Insular areas

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Locations of the insular areas of the United States, color-coded to indicate status
  The 50 states and the District of Columbia
  Incorporated, unorganized territory
  Unincorporated territory with Commonwealth status
  Unincorporated, organized territory
  Unincorporated, unorganized territory
Main articles: Insular area and Territories of the United States

The United States currently claims 16 insular areas as territories:[7][8]

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 unincorporated territories of the United States. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are styled as commonwealths.

Federal domestic exclaves and federally owned lands

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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 federal government also exercises property rights in addition to sovereignty, over land not owned by a state, tribe, local government, or private entity.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the original Thirteen Colonies ceded to the federal government after the American Revolution.[9] As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain, France and other countries, the United States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement.[9] During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies.[10] After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783, signed by the United States, the UK, France, and Spain, ceded territory to the United States.[11][12] In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio.[13] By this time, the United States needed revenue to function.[14] Land was sold so that the government would have money to survive.[14] In order to sell the land, surveys needed to be conducted. The Land Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors.[14] The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed.[15] In 1812, Congress established the United States General Land Office as part of the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands.[13] By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled.[16]

In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land.[9][16] Several different types of patents existed.[17] These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots.[17] A system of local land offices spread throughout the territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the corresponding Office of the Surveyor General of a particular territory.[17] This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States.[15] The laws that spurred this system with the exception of the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 have since been repealed or superseded.[18]

In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing the value of the assets on public lands and directed the Executive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands.[18] The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such as coal, oil, gas, and sodium to take place on public lands.[19] The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the United States Grazing Service to manage the public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees.[20][21] The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&C Act, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon.[22]

Currently, federal lands are about 640 million acres, about 28% of the total U.S. land area of 2.27 billion acres.[23][24] Federal lands are administered by a variety of departments, agencies, and quasi-governmental corporations.

Maritime territory

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The federal government of the United States has claims to the oceans in accord with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which delineates a zone of territory adjacent to territorial lands and seas. United States protects this marine environment, though not interfering with other lawful uses of this zone. The United States' jurisdiction has been established on vessels, ships, and artificial islands (along with other marine structures).

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.[25][26]

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.)

The Exclusive Economic Zones of the United States
The exclusive economic zones of the United States

Disputed territory

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The United States has international territorial disputes with:

Further information: List of territorial disputes

History

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Main articles: Historic regions of the United States and Territorial evolution of the United States

State cessions of land claims from 1780 to 1802 gave the federal government exclusive control of a large unorganized (no local government)[27][28] area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, to the international boundary set by the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The 1789 Northwest Ordinance passed by the Congress of the Confederation (before the current constitution was adopted) crated the first organized federal territory, the Northwest Territory.

Over time, more organized territories were created, each with a local legislature and a territorial governor and officers, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate of the United States. Unorganized territory was generally either unpopulated or set aside for Native Americans and other indigenous peoples in the United States by the U.S. federal government, until such time as the growing and restless population encroached into the areas.

As a result of several Supreme Court cases after the Spanish–American War, the United States had to determine how to deal with its newly acquired territories, such as the Philippines,[29][30] Puerto Rico,[31] Guam,[32][33] Wake Island, and other areas that were not part of the North American continent and which were not necessarily intended to become a part of the Union of States. As a consequence of the Supreme Court decisions, the United States has since made a distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories.[34][35][36] In essence, an incorporated territory is land that has been irrevocably incorporated within the sovereignty of the United States and to which the full corpus of the U.S. Constitution applies. An unincorporated territory is land held by the United States, and to which Congress of the United States applies selected parts of the constitution. At the present time, the only incorporated U.S. territory is the unorganized (and unpopulated) Palmyra Atoll.

  • State land claims and cessions to the federal government (1782–1802)
    State land claims and cessions to the federal government (1782–1802)
  • Admission of states and territorial acquisition, U.S. Bureau of the Census
    Admission of states and territorial acquisition, U.S. Bureau of the Census
  • Territorial acquisitions of the United States
    Territorial acquisitions of the United States
  • States and incorporated territories of the United States, August 21, 1959, to present
    States and incorporated territories of the United States, August 21, 1959, to present

From July 8, 1947, until October 1, 1994, the United States administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, but the Trust ceased to exist when the last member state of Palau gained its independence to become the Republic of Palau. The Panama Canal, and the Canal Zone surrounding it, was territory administered by the United States until 1999, when control was relinquished to Panama.

Occupied territory

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The United States has occupied a number of countries in the Americas throughout its history, a number of European countries and Pacific islands related to World War I and World War II, and Iraq in the 2000s. The United States Constitution has not been applied to these jurisdictions, insofar as the Bill of Rights is not enforced by US courts, and these areas have had no voting rights in the federal government.

Further information: Territories of the United States § Former U.S. military occupations

Customs territories

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The fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico form the main customs territory of the United States. Special rules apply to foreign trade zones in these areas. Separate customs territories are formed by American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Extraterritorial jurisdiction

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The United States exercises extraterritoriality on military installations, American embassies and consulates located in foreign countries, and research centers and field camps in Antarctica. Despite exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction, these overseas locations remain under the sovereignty of the host countries (except Antarctica, where there is no host country). Because they are not part of any state, extraterritorial jurisdiction is federal, with Congress's plenary power under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

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 Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, notionally under the sovereignty of Cuba, is administered by the United States under a perpetual lease, much as the Panama Canal Zone used to be before the signing of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. Only mutual agreement or U.S. abandonment of the area can terminate the lease. The legitimacy of this arrangement is disputed by the government of Cuba.

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 Runnymede in England,[37] and 32 acres (13 hectares) around Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France.[38][39][40]

Airspace

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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.

Freely Associated States

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The three Freely Associated States of Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau are not under U.S. sovereignty, but each participates in federal programs under a Compact of Free Association.

References

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  1. ^ Hurd, John C. (1968) [1858]. The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States. New York: Negro Universities Press. pp. 438–439. OCLC 10955.
  2. ^ Smith, Robert W. (1986). Exclusive Economic Zone Claims: An Analysis and Primary Documents. Hingham, Mass.: M. Nijhoff. p. 467. ISBN 90-247-3250-6. OCLC 424143523.
  3. ^ Constitution of the United States, Article Four, Section 3, Clause 2
  4. ^ "District of Columbia Home Rule Act". abfa.com. November 19, 1997. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ The Insular Cases: The Establishment of a Regime of Political Apartheid" (2007) Juan R. Torruella (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016, retrieved February 5, 2010.
  7. ^ "Office of Insular Affairs". Archived from the original on June 17, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
  8. ^ Department of the Interior Definitions of Insular Area Political Types Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b c "The BLM: The Agency and its History". GPO. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ Black, Jeremy. British foreign policy in an age of revolutions, 1783–1793 (1994) pp 11–20
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ a b c Vernon Carstensen, "Patterns on the American Land." Journal of Federalism, Fall 1987, Vol. 18 Issue 4, pp 31–39
  15. ^ a b White, C. Albert (1991). A history of the rectangular survey system. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ a b "BLM and Its Predecessors: A Long and Varied History". BLM. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  19. ^ "Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 As Amended" (PDF). BLM. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  20. ^ Wishart, David J. (ed.). "Taylor Grazing Act". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  21. ^ Elliott, Clayton R. (August 2010). Innovation in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: Insights from Integrating Mule Deer Management with Oil and Gas Leasing (Masters Thesis) (Thesis). University of Montana. p. 45. hdl:2027.42/77588.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ Lipton, Eric, and Clifford Krauss, Giving Reins to the States Over Drilling, New York Times, August 24, 2012.
  24. ^ Carol Hardy Vincent, Carla N. Argueta, & Laura A. Hanson, Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data, Congress Research Service (March 3, 2017).
  25. ^ Andrew Rosenthal (December 29, 1988). "Reagan Extends Territorial Waters to 12 Miles". New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ "Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784–1894". The Library of Congress. 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  29. ^ "Philippines – United States Rule". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  30. ^ "Philippines – A Collaborative Philippine Leadership". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
  31. ^ "Treaty of Paris (1898)". Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  32. ^ Paul Carano and Pedro C. Sanchez, A Complete History of Guam (Rutland, VT: C. E. Tuttle, 1964)
  33. ^ 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)
  34. ^ FindLaw: Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901) regarding the distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories
  35. ^ FindLaw: People of Puerto Rico v. Shell Co., 302 U.S. 253 (1937) regarding application of U.S. law to organized but unincorporated territories
  36. ^ FindLaw: United States v. Standard Oil Company, 404 U.S. 558 (1972) Archived 2007-09-11 at the Wayback Machine regarding application of U.S. law to unorganized unincorporated territories
  37. ^ Evans, D. M. Emrys (1965). "John F. Kennedy Memorial Act, 1964". The Modern Law Review. 28 (6): 703–706.
  38. ^ "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.
  39. ^ "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)
  40. ^ "The American Battle Monuments Commission".

Notes

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