Let’s Celebrate Federalism on July 25 – By Gregorio Igartua

Let’s Celebrate Federalism on July 25

American citizens residents of Puerto Rico are confused about the legal and political
status in their relation to their Nation. This confusion is complicated by several factors,
including the ignorance of many politicians; the conflicting opinions of local and federal courts;
and, particularly, by the insistence of some leaders of the Popular Democratic Party that Puerto
Rico has a political relationship with the United States that does not fit legally within the U.S.
Constitution. The answer to our political dilemma can be traced and found by evaluating and
comparing how Congress has legally and politically disposed of Puerto Rico with the
requirements it imposed on the former territories to qualify these as states.
In 1787, the United States Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which established
the requirements for territories west of the Ohio River to become states. These requirements
included: a defined geographic area, a minimum population, an organized republican form of
government, (legislature, judicial branch, and a governor), and the appointment of a Resident
Commissioner to Congress. (Incorporation). If one compares what Congress has done legally
and politically with Puerto Rico since 1898 with the above requirements, one can conclude that
Puerto Rico has gradually been moved by Congress to a federalist relationship equal to that of
the Northwest Territories. (Most assimilated territory ever to be like a state).
Puerto Rico was acquired in 1898 by the United States as a territory by the Treaty of
Paris, which provided in part that the civil and political rights of the native inhabitants of the
territories ceded to the United States would be determined by Congress. Since then, it has
gradually assimilated Puerto Rico, with the consent of its American citizens to be like a state. In
In 1898 99.9% of the citizens signed to become US Nationals, renouncing their Spanish citizenship.
In the year 1900, Congress approved the Foraker Law, which organized the government of
Puerto Rico into three branches: (the executive, the judicial, and the legislative), as in the states.
In 1917, through the Jones Act, American citizenship was granted to its residents. Fewer than
1,000 residents out of a total of 1 million declined American citizenship. In 1947 Congress
extended the “same privileges and immunities “clause to Puerto Rico” (U.S. Const. Art. IV-2).
In 1948, Congress authorized the first popular election of a governor. An Act of Congress in
1951 reaffirmed American citizenship by birth retroactive to 1941.

Que Seriamos Sin Ella

In 1952, the American citizens of Puerto Rico adopted a Constitution, as authorized by
Congress, provides for a government with an executive, judicial, and legislative branch, in

compliance with Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, as states have. The new
Constitution was adopted to govern our internal affairs. It was ratified by Congress through an
act signed by the President of the United States. In the Preamble, the American citizens of Puerto
Rico swear their allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, affirm their irreversible
permanent union with the United States, and freely and voluntarily submitted to the supremacy
clause of the US Constitution, as states are in a federalist relation. The U.S. Constitution is
applicable in all cases in local courts.
U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico are under the jurisdiction of the three branches of
the federal government. The National Census operates in Puerto Rico as in the states. The 2020
Census reflected three point three million inhabitants in Puerto Rico, which qualifies us to have
seven electors in presidential elections, two senators, and five representatives to Congress. The
citizens of Puerto Rico have demonstrated their loyalty to the Nation by serving with dedication,
distinction, and honor, in the Armed Forces, in all armed conflicts since 1917. All income from
sources outside of Puerto Rico is subject to federal taxes. Puerto Rico contributes more than five
million dollars annually to the Federal Treasury from various sources of income, an amount
greater than that of some states.

Estados Unidos sin Puerto Rico, no es Estados Unidos

All of the foregoing constitutes evidence that the American citizens of Puerto Rico have
exceeded the requirements of the Northwest Ordinance, in such a way that the United States
Congress can and must certify us as an incorporated territory in transit to statehood. (Consejo de
Salud, Opinion of Appellate Judge Gustavo Gelpi). (See also, R. Hernandez Colon, The
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico: Territory or State. P.R. Bar Journal 207. (1959).
We have more than enough reasons to celebrate federalism in Puerto Rico on July 25, the
day we completed all the requirements to be a state, and to claim all our rights as American
citizens, to be able to vote in federal elections, as in law and justice is our democratic right to
have government by consent.

By Gregorio Igartua
bufeteigartua@yahoo.com