Guam/Midway Islands

[moderate_devil_dog]

In other threads I've heard of the islands of Guam or Midway as possible future (although seems unlikely) considerations for statehood.  What are the requirements today for statehood in the US?

[Ebowed]

That's a good question.  I'd like to see Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia recieve statehood.  There was talk a few years of making Peurto Rico a state but I guess it never got anywhere.

[minionofmidas]

There was a referendum. Statehood lost.

I think the requirements are 50,000 inhabitants and Congress passing a law to admit the state.
But Midway? That's not even populated except for a small navy base. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the Northern Mariana Islands.

[Alcon]

The population of Midway Islands is 40, making statehood rather unlikely.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

There is no legal minimum population for a State to have (if there were, North Dakota might have to worry about reverting back to being a territory in a few decades)  but as a practical matter I can't see Congress granting Statehood to any territory that has less than half a Representative's worth of population.

Here's the current population estimate of US territories, commonwealths and associated states as of July 2004:
American Samoa: 57,902
Baker Island: 0
Guam: 166,090
Howland Island: 0
Jarvis Island: 0
Johnston Atoll: 396 (non-indigenous)
Kingman Reef: 0
Marshall Islands: 57,738
Federated States of Micronesia: 108,155
Midway Islands: 40 (non-indigenous)
Navassa Island: 0
Northern Mariana Islands: 78,252
Palau:  20,016
Palmyra Atoll: 20 (non-indigenous)
Puerto Rico:  3,897,960
Virgin Islands:  108,775
Wake Island: 200 (non-indigenous)

With the exception of Puerto Rico, none of these have enough population for Statehood to be a possibility.

Of the remainder, Johnston, Kingman, Midway, and Palmyra should really be annexed by Hawaii.  (All but semi-submerged Kingman were claimed by the Kingdom of Hawaii.)  Unihabited Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands could also be annexed by Hawaii but are remote enough and lack historic ties to Hawaii, so keeping them under the control of the Interior Department also makes sense.

A merged Mariana Islands (Guam & NMI) at 244,342 has an outside shot at becoming a State, but I don't think their economies could stand the strain at this time of no longer being exempted from some US labor and tax laws because of their terrirorial and/or commonwealth status. The Northern Marianas were the only portion of the old Trust Territory of the Pacific that opted for closer ties rather than free association status, so I wouldn't be surprised to someday see a united Mariana becoming the 51st or 52nd State in a couple of decades if their population and economy keep growing as they have been.

Given how the rest of the former Trust Territory (FSM, Marshalls, Palau) has fractured politically, I can't see them reuniting, even if it would gain them Statehood somehow, and they certainly wouldn't unite with the Marianas.  Wake was never part of the Trust Territory, but the Marshall Islands is trying to claim it.

American Samoa is too small and not in a good geographic position to merge with any other US territory.  A merger with Samoa if it is even politically possible would not likely lead to Statehood but rather to associated state status like that held by FSM, the Marshalls, and Palau.

As for the Virgin Islands, even a possible merger with the British Virgin Islands would only bring the population up to around 130,000 and I see no chance that any other of the Leeward Islands would even consider such an action.

[Hatman 🍁]

There is no legal minimum population for a State to have (if there were, North Dakota might have to worry about reverting back to being a territory in a few decades)  but as a practical matter I can't see Congress granting Statehood to any territory that has less than half a Representative's worth of population.

Here's the current population estimate of US territories, commonwealths and associated states as of July 2004:
American Samoa: 57,902
Baker Island: 0
Guam: 166,090
Howland Island: 0
Jarvis Island: 0
Johnston Atoll: 396 (non-indigenous)
Kingman Reef: 0
Marshall Islands: 57,738
Federated States of Micronesia: 108,155
Midway Islands: 40 (non-indigenous)
Navassa Island: 0
Northern Mariana Islands: 78,252
Palau:  20,016
Palmyra Atoll: 20 (non-indigenous)
Puerto Rico:  3,897,960
Virgin Islands:  108,775
Wake Island: 200 (non-indigenous)

With the exception of Puerto Rico, none of these have enough population for Statehood to be a possibility.

Of the remainder, Johnston, Kingman, Midway, and Palmyra should really be annexed by Hawaii.  (All but semi-submerged Kingman were claimed by the Kingdom of Hawaii.)  Unihabited Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands could also be annexed by Hawaii but are remote enough and lack historic ties to Hawaii, so keeping them under the control of the Interior Department also makes sense.

A merged Mariana Islands (Guam & NMI) at 244,342 has an outside shot at becoming a State, but I don't think their economies could stand the strain at this time of no longer being exempted from some US labor and tax laws because of their terrirorial and/or commonwealth status. The Northern Marianas were the only portion of the old Trust Territory of the Pacific that opted for closer ties rather than free association status, so I wouldn't be surprised to someday see a united Mariana becoming the 51st or 52nd State in a couple of decades if their population and economy keep growing as they have been.

Given how the rest of the former Trust Territory (FSM, Marshalls, Palau) has fractured politically, I can't see them reuniting, even if it would gain them Statehood somehow, and they certainly wouldn't unite with the Marianas.  Wake was never part of the Trust Territory, but the Marshall Islands is trying to claim it.

American Samoa is too small and not in a good geographic position to merge with any other US territory.  A merger with Samoa if it is even politically possible would not likely lead to Statehood but rather to associated state status like that held by FSM, the Marshalls, and Palau.

As for the Virgin Islands, even a possible merger with the British Virgin Islands would only bring the population up to around 130,000 and I see no chance that any other of the Leeward Islands would even consider such an action.

3 of those places listed are independent nations:
*Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia

[jimrtex]

There was a referendum. Statehood lost.

I think the requirements are 50,000 inhabitants and Congress passing a law to admit the state.
But Midway? That's not even populated except for a small navy base. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the Northern Mariana Islands.

If Hawaii were willing to adopt a form of (sub)-federal government, they could be annexed to Hawaii.  The US could offer statehood to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad&Tobago, and the Leeward and Windward Islands.

But other problems are that the status of American Samoa is such as to avoid full application of the Constitution so that authority of traditional chiefs is recognized; and NMI and Guam to a lesser extent have an extremely large non-citizen population.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

3 of those places listed are independent nations:
*Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia

They are associated states which is the modern politically correct term for protectorates.  All three have entered into a Compact of Free Association with the US which basically gives the US military some rights and privledges there in exchange for US financial aid.  However, as was made abundantly clear in the case of Palau, they were basically forced into those compacts in order to gain their so called independence.  Palau's economy is in the best shape of the former trust territory districts and they had originially intended to forego US aid in return for getting rid of the entire US military presence there, but we wouldn't let them do that, as we had planned on using Palau as the replacement for Subic Bay when the lease we required the Phillipines to agree to in exchange for independence ran out.  I wonder where the US Navy will go to in 2044 when the 50 year lease in Palau runs out.

[12th Doctor]

Isn't there a "so many people per square mile" clause, or something?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It possible that some of the territorrial Acts in the past may have included such language, but there in no population requirement in either current law or the Constitution.  In theory, if Congress so decided, it could admit all 78 municipios of Puerto Rico as seperate States.  That it would be never happen is purely a matter of politics, not law.

[Erc]

I could have sworn there was a 60,000 person limit in the Constitution...

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Among the first twelve  proposed Constitutional amendments (ten of which became known as the Bill of Rights) there was one dealing with apportionment of the House of Representatives that set a sliding scale of a minimum of 30K/Rep, 40K/Rep, or 50K/Rep deopending on how big the House became.  Even if it were to be passed (technically it could be passed just as the 27th was) it would have no practical effect.  The constitution does contain a floor of 30K/Rep and with our current population, all passing it would do would be to change the maximum size of the House based on the last census from 9380 to 5628.  However, even if a State has less than that floor figure of 30,000 people, it's still entitled to a Representative.

To expand on what I said earlier, it's quite possible that various terrtorial Acts required minimum populations before the territory could submit a proposed State constitution to Congress for admission as a State, but there is nothing in the Constitution or current law that sets a hard limit.

[jimrtex]

I could have sworn there was a 60,000 person limit in the Constitution...

The Northwest Ordinance, originally passed by the Continental Congress prior to the adoption of the Constitution provides that each of the 5 states in the territory could unconditionally join the United States under the Articles of Confederation when their population reached 60,000.  They could join the United States prior to that with the consent of the Congress.

It would not be surprising if similar language was added to legislation organizing other territories.