Territories of the United States are one type of
political division of the United States, administered by the U.S. government but not any part of a
U.S. state. These territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United States
were still evolving. Territories can be classified by whether they are
incorporated (part of the United States proper) and whether they have an
organized government (through an
Organic Act passed by the
U.S. Congress). The
organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959, through which 31 territories applied for and won
statehood. The U.S. had no
unincorporated territories (also called "overseas possessions" or "insular areas") until 1898 but continues to control several of them today.
An incorporated territory of the United States is a specific area under the jurisdiction of the United States, over which the United States Congress has determined that the United States Constitution is to be applied to the territory's local government and inhabitants in its entirety (e. g. citizenship, trial by jury), in the same manner as it applies to the local governments and residents of the U.S. states. Incorporated territories are considered an integral part of the United States, as opposed to being merely possessions.[1]
In contrast, an unincorporated territory is an area under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress has determined that only select parts of the U.S. Constitution apply. Unincorporated territories are essentially colonies, under the supremacy clause, receiving only whatever powers are offered by the U.S. Congress.[2] [3]
Incorporation as it applies to territories is regarded as a permanent condition. Once incorporated, a territory can no longer be de-incorporated; that is, it can never be excluded from the jurisdiction of the United States Constitution (with a few exceptions; some small adjustments to incorporated U.S. territory have been ceded to foreign powers as the result of border settlements (see Rio Rico, Texas). The term "incorporated", in this sense, does not refer to the act of creating a civil government entity (e.g. a city or a town).
