"___________" (Micronesia): A New State for the Union.
The United States" offshore territories in Micronesia of Guam, the CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands), the FSM (Federated States of Micronesia), the Marshall Islands and Palau all have dependent relationships on the United States that are problematic for both the Micronesians and the United States. The problems of these relationships all stem from different and in almost all cases competing interests; a combination of the territories" natural preference to develop, their contradictory will to legislate the preservation of their respective cultures (to the discounting of others"), and the United States" military interests in governing Micronesia. The acquisition of these territories is a matter of incident and their maintained possession, a matter of confusion and indecision. In their current statuses, or more accurately the lack for clarity thereof, the people of Micronesia endure relationships of dependency on and governance by the United States.
The Unincorporated Guam; an Example of U.S. Benevolence.
The island of Guam was ceded to the United States as spoils of the Spanish-American War by way of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain of 1898, otherwise known as the Treaty of Paris. After which time, Guam became a cooling and watering station for U.S. naval vessels and is treated as mere property , with no distinction between the island of Guam and its inhabitants. .
In absorbing Guam as U.S. territory, the Federal government had not initially intended for the people of Guam to obtain U.S. citizenship. Despite that fact, the Guamanians, as they are now called (like Californians, New Yorkers, etc.), were granted a limited form of U.S. citizenship by Congress via the Organic Act of 1950. Guamanians and other U.S. citizens while residing on Guam do not pay Federal taxes, cannot vote for President and have only a non-voting representative in Congress (therefore having no representation in the Supreme Court).
