Summary
The U.S. ‘s continued expansion overseas not only added territory but also diverse populations of peoples, raising the issue of whether such newly colonized subjects received equal rights of U.S. citizenship. Victory in the Spanish-American War (1898) brought under U.S. sovereignty Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, Cubans, Guamanians, Samoans, Virgin Islanders, and Chamorros of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The U.S.’s earlier acquisition of noncontiguous Alaska and Hawaii as incorporated territories (1867; 1893) had followed the process established for mainland territories so that they received pathways to eventual statehood and all locally-born residents held birthright citizenship. Hawaii’s majority Asian and indigenous residents were perceived as racially unsuitable, fueling U.S. decisions to develop alternative approaches for newer colonies.
Through the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court decided that the U.S. Constitution did not necessarily follow the flag, thereby authorizing unequal legal statuses and rights for newly conquered territories and subjects. The noncontiguous territories added in 1898 would not necessarily receive a pathway to statehood, nor would their residents automatically acquire US citizenship. Puerto Ricans received citizenship but their commonwealth status precludes eventual statehood while Filipinos became US nationals able to migrate but were ineligible for citizenship. Cubans gained independence but remained subject to US supervision. These colonial relationships fueled migration to the U.S. across the twentieth century.
Source
Opinion of the Court in Downes v. Bidwell Delivered by Justice Henry Billings Brown, 1901
A false step at this time might be fatal to the development of what Chief Justice Marshall called the American Empire. Choice in some cases, the natural gravitation of small bodies towards large ones in others, the result of a successful war in still others, may bring about conditions which would render the annexation of distant possessions desirable. If those possessions are inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation and modes of thought, the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-Saxon principles, may for a time be impossible; and the question at once arises whether large concessions ought not to be made for a time, that, ultimately, our own theories may be carried out, and the blessings of a free government under the Constitution extended to them. We decline to hold that there is anything in the Constitution to forbid such action. We are therefore of opinion that the Island of Porto Rico is a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States within the revenue clauses of the Constitution…
Puck Cartoon: “School begins” by Louis Dalrymple, 1899
