In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under thesovereignjurisdiction of thefederal government of the United States,[1] including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its territory.[2] This extent ofterritory is all the area belonging to, and under the dominion of, the United States federal government (which includes tracts lying at a distance from thecountry) for administrative and other purposes.[1] The United States total territory includes a subset ofpolitical divisions.
The United States' territory includes any geography under the control of the United Statesfederal government. Variousregions,districts, anddivisions are under the supervision of the United States federal government. The United States' territory includes clearly definedgeographical area and refers to an area of land,air, orsea under jurisdiction of United States federal governmental authority (but is not limited only to these areas). The extent of territory is all the area belonging to, and under the dominion of, the United States of America federal government (which includestracts lying at a distance from thecountry) foradministrative and other purposes.
UnderArticle IV of the U.S. Constitution, a territory is subject to and belongs to the United States (but not necessarily within the national boundaries or any individual state). This includes tracts of land or water not included within the limits of any State and not admitted as a State into the Union.
The Constitution of the United States states:
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Congress possesses power to set territorial governments within the boundaries of the United States, underArticle 4, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. The first exercise of this power was theNorthwest Ordinance of 1789. The power of Congress over such territory isexclusive anduniversal, including the creation ofpolitical divisions, except as delegated to a territory's government by act of Congress.
All territory under the control of the federal government is considered part of the "United States" for purposes of law.[3] From 1901 to 1905, theU.S. Supreme Court in a series of opinions known as theInsular Cases held that the Constitution extendedex proprio vigore to the territories. However, the Court in these cases also established the doctrine of territorial incorporation. Under the same, the Constitution only applied fully in incorporated territories such asAlaska andHawaii, whereas it only applied partially in the new unincorporated territories ofPuerto Rico,Guam and thePhilippines.[4][5] ASupreme Court ruling from 1945 stated that the term "United States" can have three different meanings, in different contexts:
The term "United States" may be used in any one of several senses. It may be merely the name of a sovereign occupying the position analogous to that of other sovereigns in the family of nations. It may designate the territory over which the sovereignty of the United States extends, or it may be the collective name of the states which are united by and under the Constitution.
— Hooven & Allison Co. v. Evatt,324 U.S.652 (1945)
TheUnited States Department of the Interior is charged with managing federal affairs within U.S. territory.[6] The Interior Department has a wide range of responsibilities (which include the regulation of territorial governments and the basic stewardship for public lands, et al.). The United States Department of the Interior is not responsible for local government or for civil administration except in the cases of Indian reservations, through theBureau of Indian Affairs, as well as those territories administered through theOffice of Insular Affairs. The exception is the "incorporated and unorganized" (see below)United States Territory of Palmyra Island, the legal remnant of the formerUnited States Territory of Hawaii since 1959,[7] in which the local government and civil administration were assigned by theSecretary of the Interior to theFish and Wildlife Service in 2001.[8]
Thecontiguous United States,Hawaii, andAlaska aredivided into smaller administrative regions. These are calledcounties in 48 of the 50 states,boroughs in Alaska andparishes inLouisiana. A county can include a number ofcities andtowns, or just a portion of either type. These counties have varying degrees of political and legal significance. Atownship in the United States refers to a small geographic area. The term is used in two ways: asurvey township is simply a geographic reference used to define property location for deeds and grants; acivil township is a unit of local government, originally rural in application.
TheDistrict of Columbia and territories are under the direct authority of Congress, although each is allowed home rule.[9] The United States government, rather than individual states or territories, conductsforeign relations under the U.S. Constitution.
Federal enclaves, such as domestic military bases and national parks, are administered directly by the federal government. To varying degrees, the federal government exercisesconcurrent jurisdiction with the states where federal land is part of the territory previously granted to a state.
At times, territories are organized with a separate legislature, under a territorial governor and officers, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate of the United States. A territory has been historically divided intoorganized territories andunorganized territories.[10][11] An unorganized territory was generally either unpopulated or set aside forNative Americans and otherindigenous peoples in the United States by the U.S. federal government, until such time as the growing and restless population encroached into the areas. In recent times, "unorganized" refers to the degree of self-governmental authority exercised by the territory.
As a result of severalSupreme Court cases after theSpanish–American War, the United States had to determine how to deal with its newly acquired territories, such as thePhilippines,[12][13]Puerto Rico,[14]Guam,[15][16]Wake Island, and other areas that were not part of the North American continent and which were not necessarily intended to become a part of the Union of States. As a consequence of the Supreme Court decisions, the United States has since made a distinction betweenincorporated andunincorporated 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 applies. An unincorporated territory is land held by the United States, and to whichCongress of the United States applies selected parts of the constitution. At the present time, the only incorporated U.S. territory is the unorganized (and unpopulated)Palmyra Atoll.
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The United States currently claims 16 insular areas as territories:
Palmyra Atoll is the onlyincorporated territory remaining, and having no government it is alsounorganized. The remaining areunincorporated territories of the United States. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are styled ascommonwealths.
Several islands in thePacific Ocean andCaribbean Sea aredependent territories of the United States.[20][21]
TheGuantanamo Bay Naval Base,Guantanamo Bay, notionally under the sovereignty ofCuba, is administered by the United States under a perpetual lease, much as the Panama Canal Zone used to be before the signing of theTorrijos–Carter Treaties. Only mutual agreement or U.S. abandonment of the area can terminate the lease.
From July 8, 1947, until October 1, 1994, the United States administered theTrust Territory of the Pacific Islands, but the Trust ceased to exist when the last member state of Palau gained its independence to become theRepublic of Palau. ThePanama Canal, and theCanal Zone surrounding it, was territory administered by the United States until 1999, when control was relinquished toPanama.
The United States has made no territorial claim inAntarctica but has reserved the right to do so. Americanresearch stations in Antarctica—Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station,McMurdo Station, andPalmer Station—are under U.S. jurisdiction but are held without sovereignty per theAntarctic Treaty.
The three Freely Associated States ofFederated States of Micronesia,Republic of the Marshall Islands, and theRepublic of Palau are not under U.S. sovereignty, but each participates in federal programs under aCompact of Free Association.
The government of the United States of America has claims to the oceans in accord with theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which delineates a zone of territory adjacent to territorial lands and seas. United States protects thismarine environment, though not interfering with other lawfuluses of this zone. The United States' jurisdiction has been established on vessels, ships, andartificial islands (along with other marine structures).
In 1983 PresidentRonald Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5030, claimed a 200-mileexclusive economic zone. In December 1988, President Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5928, extended U.S.territorial waters from three nautical miles to twelve nautical miles for national security purposes. However a legal opinion from the Justice Department questioned the President's constitutional authority to extend sovereignty as Congress has the power to make laws concerning the territory belonging to the United States under the U.S. Constitution. In any event, Congress needs to make laws defining if the extended waters, including oil and mineral rights, are under state or federal control.[22][23]
The primary enforcer of maritime law is theU.S. Coast Guard. Federal and state governments share economic and regulatory jurisdiction over the waters owned by the country. (Seetidelands.)
The United States is not restricted from making laws governing its own territory byinternational law. United States territory can includeoccupied territory, which is a geographic area that claimssovereignty, but is beingforciblysubjugated to the authority of the United States of America. United States territory can also includedisputed territory, which is a geographic area claimed by the United States of America and one (or more) rival governments.
Under theHague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, United States territory can include areas occupied by and controlled by theUnited States Armed Forces. When de facto military control is maintained and exercised, occupation (and thus possession) extends to that territory. Military personnel in control of the territory have a responsibility to provide for the basic needs of individuals under their control (which includes food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, law maintenance, and social order). To prevent systematic abuse ofpuppet governments by the occupation forces, they must enforce laws that were in place in the territory prior to the occupation.
The fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico form the main customs territory of the United States. Special rules apply toforeign trade zones in these areas. Separatecustoms territories are formed by American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
U.S. sovereignty includes theairspace over its land and territorial waters. No international agreement exists on the vertical limit that separates this from outer space, which is international.
Federal jurisdiction includesfederal enclaves like national parks and domestic military bases, even though these are located in the territory of a state. Host states exerciseconcurrent jurisdiction to some degree.
The United States exercisesextraterritoriality onmilitary installations, Americanembassies andconsulates located in foreign countries, andresearch centers andfield camps inAntarctica. Despite exercise ofextraterritorial jurisdiction, these overseas locations remain under the sovereignty of the host countries (except Antarctica, where there is no host country). Because they are not part of any state, extraterritorial jurisdiction is federal, with Congress'splenary power underArticle IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of theU.S. Constitution.
The federal government also exercises property ownership, but not sovereignty over land in various foreign countries. Examples include theJohn F. Kennedy Memorial built atRunnymede in England,[24] and 32 acres (13 hectares) aroundPointe du Hoc inNormandy, France.[25][26][27]
TheLand Ordinance of 1785 and theNorthwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the originalThirteen Colonies ceded to the federal government after theAmerican Revolution.[28] As additional lands were acquired by the United States fromSpain,France and other countries, theUnited States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement.[28] During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies.[29] After the war, theTreaty of Paris of 1783, signed by the United States, theUK,France, andSpain, ceded territory to the United States.[30][31] In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-dayOhio.[32] By this time, the United States needed revenue to function.[33] Land was sold so that the government would have money to survive.[33] In order to sell the land, surveys needed to be conducted. TheLand Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors.[33] The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed.[34] In 1812, Congress established theUnited States General Land Office as part of theDepartment of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands.[32] By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled.[35]
In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land.[28][35] Several different types of patents existed.[36] These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots.[36] A system of local land offices spread throughout the territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the correspondingOffice of the Surveyor General of a particular territory.[36] This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States.[34] The laws that spurred this system with the exception of theGeneral Mining Law of 1872 and theDesert Land Act of 1877 have since been repealed or superseded.[37]
In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing the value of the assets on public lands and directed theExecutive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands.[37] TheMineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such ascoal,oil,gas, andsodium to take place on public lands.[38] TheTaylor Grazing Act of 1934 established theUnited States Grazing Service tomanage the public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees.[39][40] TheOregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&C Act, required sustainedyield management of the timberlands in western Oregon.[41]
Currently,federal lands are about 640 millionacres, about 28% of the total U.S. land area of 2.27 billion acres.[42][43]
The site, preserved since the war by the French Committee of the Pointe du Hoc, which erected an impressive granite monument at the edge of the cliff, was transferred to American control by formal agreement between the two governments on 11 January 1979 in Paris, with Ambassador Arthur A. Hartman signing for the United States and Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Maurice Plantier signing for France.
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