Summary
The Insular Cases are a series of around 23 cases decided by the Supreme Court from 1901 to 1922 that determined the way Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories acquired by the Spanish-American War should relate to the federal government and the states. Because of the way the insular cases treated Puerto Rico and the other unincorporated territories, they can be defined as American colonies.
Philippines (1898-1946) — Puerto Rico (1899-present) — Guam (1899-present) — Hawaii (1898–1900)
Downs v. Bidwell (1901) defined Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory of the United States, the first U.S. territory to be defined as such. All earlier territories that later became states had been designated as incorporated territories and followed a process for future statehood laid out in the Northwest Ordinance. Because Puerto Rico was labelled as unincorporated, the Constitution did not fully apply to residents of the territory, and there was no expectation of statehood or citizenship.
Gonzalez v. Williams (1904) continued the debate on citizenship status for the people of Puerto Rico. Isabel Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican woman, travelled to New York where she was detained as an alien (noncitizen) likely to become a public charge. She contested that designation and the case went to the Supreme Court where she was defined as a U.S. national, a noncitizen who owes their allegiance to the United States. This case redefined immigrants from Puerto Rico and the Philippines as U.S. nationals, affording them some rights but not full citizenship.
The Jones Act (1920) explored travel and trade regulations. The act defined Puerto Rico as part of the United States, and so coastwise laws applied to trade with Puerto Rico. As a result, only U.S. ships were allowed to travel between Puerto Rico and the United States, creating a shipping monopoly that caused the cost of goods in Puerto Rico to be artificially high. The Jones Act also regulated trade in Hawaii and the other unincorporated territories.
The unincorporated territories are the result of U.S. imperialism and colonialism. While Hawaii was eventually admitted as a state (after becoming an incorporated territory in 1900) and the Philippines were granted independence in 1946, Puerto Rico remains an unincorporated territory.
Suggested Reading
McGreevey, Robert C. Borderline Citizens: The United States, Puerto Rico, and the Politics of Colonial Migration. Cornell University Press, 2018.
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