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The territories of the United States are directly overseen by the United States federal government, in contrast to the states, which share sovereignty with the federal government. The five major territories are self-governing with locally elected governors, territorial legislatures and delegate Members of Congress.〔US General Accounting Office, (U.S. Insular Areas: Application of the U.S. Constitution ), November 1997, pp. 8, 14, 27, viewed September 3, 2015.〕〔US State Department, (Common Core Document of the United States of America ), report to the UN Committee on Human Rights, December 30, 2011, sec. 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, viewed September 3, 2015. American Samoa, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands appear on the (UN non-self-governing territories ) list, viewed September 3, 2015.〕 Historically, territories were created to govern newly acquired land while the borders of the United States were still evolving. Most territories eventually attained statehood. Other territories administered by the United States went on to become independent countries, such as the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Marshall Islands and Palau. FSM, Marshall Islands and Palau gained independence under the Compact of Free Association, which allows the U.S. full authority over aid and defense in exchange for continued access to U.S. health care, government services such as the FCC and United States Postal Service, and the right for COFA citizens to work freely in the United States and vice versa. Currently, there are sixteen territories of the United States, five of which are permanently inhabited: Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Ten territories are small islands, atolls and reefs, spread across the Caribbean and Pacific, with no native or permanent populations: Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Wake Island, Midway Islands, Navassa Island and Serranilla Bank. Uninhabited Bajo Nuevo Bank is administered by Colombia, but claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act. 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Definitions of Insular Area Political Organizations )〕 Many organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959 (the first being the Northwest and the Southwest territories, the last being the Alaska Territory and the Hawaii Territory), through which 31 territories applied for and achieved statehood. In the process of organizing and promoting territories to statehood, some areas of a territory demographically lacking sufficient development and population densities were temporarily orphaned from parts of a larger territory at the time a vote was taken petitioning Congress for statehood rights. For example, when a portion of the Missouri Territory became the state of Missouri, the remaining portion of the territory, consisting of the present states of Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas, most of Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana, and parts of Colorado and Minnesota, effectively became an unorganized territory. ==Current territories== Currently, there are a total of sixteen territories of the United States, five of which are inhabited: Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Marianas, United States Virgin Islands and American Samoa. The 11 uninhabited territories administered by the Interior Department are Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Wake Island, Midway Islands, and Navassa Island. While claimed by the US, Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo are disputed.〔U.S. General Accounting Office Report, (U.S. Insular Areas: application of the U.S. Constitution ), November 1997, p. 1, 6, 39n. viewed April 6, 2016.〕〔U.S. State Department, (Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty ) Chart, under “Sovereignty”, lists nine places under United States sovereignty administered by the Interior Department in Washington, D.C.: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island.〕 Territories have always been a part of the United States.〔Sparrow, Bartholomew H., in Levinson, S. and Sparrow, B. H., (The Louisiana Purchase And American Expansion, 1803–1898 ) 2005. ISBN 0-7425-4984-4 p.232. viewed December 2, 2012. “… At present, the United includes the Caribbean and Pacific territories, the District of Columbia and, of course, the fifty states.”〕 By Act of Congress, the term ‘United States’, when used in a geographical sense, means “the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States”.〔(State Department Foreign Affairs Manual ) (FAM) 7-Consular Affairs. 7 FAM 1112, p. 2–3. See “National v. Citizen” and What it is birth “in the United States”?, referencing Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) 101(a)(38)(8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(38)) p. 2–3. Viewed December 16, 2012.〕 Since political union with the Northern Mariana Islands in 1986, they too are treated as a part of the U.S.〔 An Executive Order in 2007 includes American Samoa as U.S. “geographical extent” duly reflected in U.S. State Department documents.〔(Executive Order 13423 ) Sec. 9. (l). “The 'United States' when used in a geographical sense, means the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and associated territorial waters and airspace.”〕 Inhabited United States territories have democratic self-government, in local three-branch governments, found respectively in Pago Pago, American Samoa; Hagåtña, Territory of Guam; Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; San Juan, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands.〔U.S. State Department, (Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty ) Chart, under “Sovereignty”, lists five places under United States sovereignty administered by a local ‘Administrative Center’, with ‘Short form names’, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, U.S.〕 Approximately 4 million islanders are U.S. citizens; about 32,000 U.S. non-citizen nationals live in American Samoa.〔(Nativity by Place of Birth and Citizenship Status ), United States Census, 2010.〕 Under current law among the territories, "only persons born in American Samoa and Swains Island are non-citizen U.S. nationals."〔(State Department Foreign Affairs Manual ) (FAM) 7-Consular Affairs. 7 FAM 1112, p. 2+. However, as reported in (Samoa lawsuit ), Newsweek, July 13, 2012. viewed December 16, 2012. Certain native Samoan objections arise opposing U.S. citizenship at birth as meaning all of the U.S. Constitution applies everywhere in American Samoa. That would prevent certain communal land ownership rules in American Samoa favoring those with Samoan blood.〕 American Samoans are under the protection of the U.S., with freedom of U.S. travel without visas.〔(State Department Foreign Affairs Manual ) (FAM) 7-Consular Affairs. 7 FAM 1112, p. 1–2.〕 The five inhabited U.S. territories have local voting rights, protections under U.S. courts, pay some U.S. taxes, and have limited representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. They popularly elect “Members of Congress”, who like the delegate from DC, “possess the same powers as other members of the House, except that they may not vote when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives.” They participate in debate, are assigned offices, money for staff, and appoint constituents from their territories to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine academies. .〔(House Learn ) webpage. Viewed January 26, 2013.〕 They can vote in committee on all legislation presented to the House of Representatives, they are included in their party count for each committee, and they are equal to senators on conference committees. Depending on the congress, they may also vote on the floor in the House Committee of the Whole.〔(Application of the U.S. Constitution ), GAO Report, U.S. Insular Areas, November 1997, (p. 26–28).〕 Members of Congress from the territories seated as of January 2015 are: Gregorio Sablan for the Northern Mariana Islands; Madeleine Bordallo for Guam; Amata Coleman Radewagen for American Samoa; Pedro Pierluisi for Puerto Rico; and Stacey Plaskett for the U.S. Virgin Islands.〔() viewed August 10, 2015.〕 Every four years, the Democratic and Republican political parties nominate their presidential candidates at conventions which include delegates from the five major territories.〔The Green Papers, (2016 Presidential primaries, caucuses and conventions ), viewed September 3, 2015.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Territories of the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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