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Incorporated territories are considered to be integral parts of the U.S., rather than possessions. [5] [132] In unincorporated territories, "fundamental rights apply as a matter of law, but other constitutional rights are not available", raising concerns about how citizens in these territories can influence politics in the United States. [133]
As a consequence of the Supreme Court decisions, the United States has since made a distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories. [17] [18] [19] In essence, an incorporated territory is land that has been irrevocably incorporated within the sovereignty of the United States and to which the full corpus of the U.S. Constitution ...
Unincorporated insular areas can be ceded to another nation or be granted independence. [18] The U.S. has one incorporated insular area, Palmyra Atoll. Incorporation is regarded as perpetual by the U.S. federal government; once incorporated, the territory cannot be disincorporated. [17]
[a] A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions known as the Insular Cases created a distinction between "incorporated territories", where the full Constitution of the United States applies, and "unincorporated territories", where only basic protections apply. The only current incorporated territory, Palmyra Atoll, is uninhabited.
The concept of "territorial incorporation" is that the United States can be proprietor of a territory without having actually incorporated that territory into the United States. Unincorporated territories are not due the full benefits of the US Constitution, as noted from Justice White's decision above.
The line drawn by the Supreme Court created "incorporated territories", those destined to be states, and "unincorporated territories", which were not on the path to statehood. In 1901 and the era of the Insular Cases, the areas that became unincorporated territories were Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirect page. Redirect to: Territories of the United States#Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories
An incorporated town or city in the United States is a municipality that is incorporated under state law. An incorporated town will have elected officials, as differentiated from an unincorporated community, which exists only by tradition and does not have elected officials at the town level.