Commonwealth (United States insular area)

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This article is about U.S. insular areas. For U.S. States that designate themselves as "Commonwealths", see Commonwealth (United States). For other uses of the term, see Commonwealth.

In the terminology of the United States insular areas, a Commonwealth is an organized territory or colony that has established with the Federal Government a more highly developed relationship, usually embodied in a written mutual agreement. There are currently two United States insular areas holding the status of commonwealth, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States. In the case of Puerto Rico there is no such written mutual agreement. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was an insular area that held commonwealth status from November 15, 1935 until July 4, 1946, when the United States recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Philippines.

Of the U.S. insular areas, the term was first used by Puerto Rico in 1952 as its formal name in English ("Commonwealth of Puerto Rico") since a strict translation of its name in Spanish would have been unacceptable to the U.S. Congress. The formal name in Spanish for Puerto Rico is "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico," which translates literally as "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico." The name "Estado Libre Asociado" summarizes the aspirations of many of those who want to maintain and even "improve" the relationship with the U.S., with greater autonomy and perhaps sovereignty, albeit with a U.S. passport. It is noted that the Commonwealthers present their status as an association with the United States under common citizenship, common defense and common currency. As of November of 2004, roughly half of the voters appear to have a preference for Commonwealth, the other half being for statehood with the U.S. A small portion (roughly 3 %) seems to back independence^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Congress, President Harry S. Truman, and the people of Puerto Rico established the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in a multi-step process. First, in 1950, the 81st Congress enacted and President Truman approved legislation "adopted in the nature of a compact" that authorized the convening of a constitutional convention to develop the first constitution for the governance of Puerto Rico. Second, voters approved the initiation of the process through a referendum. Third, voters elected delegates to the constitutional convention in 1951; the delegates worked on the document throughout the year. Fourth, the product of the convention, a constitution that established the structure and operation of a republican form of self-government, was approved by the voters in Puerto Rico and submitted to Congress and President Truman early in 1952. Fifth, the 82nd Congress modified the constitution and voted its approval of the amended version in July 1952. Sixth, the Puerto Rican constitutional convention approved the modified document shortly thereafter and Governor Luis Muñoz Marín declared the constitution in effect on July 25, 1952. That constitution remains in effect.

The constitution establishes a republican form of local government; contains a bill of rights; sets out provisions related to municipal government, finance and revenue mechanisms; and outlines the following framework for local governance:

The Legislative Assembly consists of a 27-member Senate and a 51-member House of Representatives.
The executive branch is headed by a Governor elected to a four year term. The Governor makes executive appointments (with the advice and consent of the Senate), serves as commander-in-chief of the militia, and exercises emergency powers.
The authority for the judicial branch is vested in a Supreme Court (a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices), a U.S. district court, and other courts established by the Legislative Assembly. The Supreme Court adopts rules for other courts, and the Chief Justice directs the administration of the commonwealth courts.

While the approval of the commonwealth constitution marked a historic change in the civil government for the islands, neither it, nor the public laws approved by Congress in 1950 and 1952, revoked statutory provisions concerning the legal relationship of Puerto Rico to the United States. This relationship is based on the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The statutory provisions that set forth the conditions of the relationship are commonly referred to as the Federal Relations Act (FRA). While specified subsections of the FRA were "adopted in the nature of a compact", other provisions, by comparison, are excluded from the compact reference. Matters still subject to congressional authority and established pursuant to legislation include the citizenship status of residents, tax provisions, civil rights, trade and commerce, public finance, the administration of public lands controlled by the federal government, the application of federal law over navigable waters, congressional representation, and the judicial process, among others. While the commonwealth constitution provides for self-government by Puerto Ricans, Congress continues to exercise authority over at least one internal governance matter; urban development and slum clearance authority remains subject to federal limitations set out in the FRA."^[1]