Self Determination of Guam
I. Introduction
Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies. Throughout the relatively brief history of Guam, the indigenous people have never had the opportunity to determine their political status or decide democratically which type of governmental system to implement. Since the island's earliest days the original inhabitants always had to endure whatever political system the current local leadership put into place. This meant the island's political status was in what seemed to be a never-ending carousel of change.
Weather it was the caste system of ancient Guam, Spanish, Japanese, or American rule, the people have never had the right to choose. The chamorros of the past have never had say in the way the island they call home would be run. Although, as the years passed some powers and essential rights were gained. The people of Guam still lacked the power to determine their own political and governmental standing.
The United Nations has finally recognized this age-old injustice, and on July 1, 2000 the people of Guam will finally have what past generations of chamorros could only dream of. A chance for Self --Determination. This opportunity is news to many, and unfortunately some think that this is the island's first attempt to achieve self-determination. Though, there are those locals who are aware of the long struggle that began with the earliest attempts by the local people to limit the powers of government. Then came the first Guam legislature, followed by the long hard struggle to gain American citizenship. This was achieved by the passing of the Organic Act, a document that serves as the island's constitution. The historic passi...
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...ment to promote the general welfare of the people.
The whole point of the uprising against our island's political status was that we wanted to limit the powers of government. Entering into the Union and becoming the 51st effectively limits the power that government has over us. This is done by gaining the right of popular sovereignty, and exercising the principal of limited government. Both of which are characteristics of a new state.
This limiting of government is done by finally giving us representation in Washington, and the right to elect the president. What our leaders and the people in general have wanted all along is to be heard and respected by our figurative big brother the U.S. . By choosing statehood we become a full-fledged member of the strongest world power. We also gain a voice and the respect of our 50 peers, who will be forced to see us as equal.
was created to make sure the sovereign power of the states was protected. The state
In Chapter 8 of Major Problems in American Immigration History, the topic of focus shifts from the United States proper to the expansion and creation of the so called American Empire of the late Nineteenth Century. Unlike other contemporary colonial powers, such as Britain and France, expansion beyond the coast to foreign lands was met with mixed responses. While some argued it to be a mere continuation of Manifest Destiny, others saw it as hypocritical of the democratic spirit which had come to the United States. Whatever their reasons, as United States foreign policy shifted in the direction of direct control and acquisition, it brought forth the issue of the native inhabitants of the lands which they owned and their place in American society. Despite its long history of creating states from acquired territory, the United States had no such plans for its colonies, effectively barring its native subjects from citizenship. Chapter 8’s discussion of Colonialism and Migration reveals that this new class of American, the native, was never to be the equal of its ruler, nor would they, in neither physical nor ideological terms, join in the union of states.
The intention of this essay is to demonstrate to a vision rational, concordant political leader to the Puerto Rican, American and worldwide reality. It responds to the necessity that to the statehood it is necessary to imagine it and to expose it with all the evidence available, since many Puerto Ricans, including many political leaders, do not know like defending it or exposing it before the peculiar ones or our adversaries.
State-building refers to the process of culturally distinct groups coming together to form a new state by accepting a single culture. The United States serves as a dominant example of this phenomenon. After winning their independence, the United States became a source of inspiration for many European countries. During the American Revolution, the people fought for democracy and the right to have a say in their government. The values of freedom, liberty, and rights drove their fight for independence, and they never gave up.
Upon continuing the discussion of what it means to be Puerto Rican, it is clear that the early US colonial rule fundamentally shaped the character of this definition. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States subject only to the privileges that the US was willing to grant it. The dichotomy between Puerto Rico’s expectations and what it actually became after 1898, helped to formulate elite definitions of what it meant to be Puerto Rican. This new Puerto Rican identity, which was in large part based upon historical myths, served as defense mechanisms to combat the elite’s dissatisfaction with the new political, social and economic relationships under US rule. Although Puerto Rico under early US colonial rule never met the elites’ expectations, this new emerging nationalist identity never served as an effective challenge to US capitalist hegemony.
During the 1800’s, if the states are sovereign then they have the right to secede from the Union (A...
The Pandora’s box of information that I have discovered about Puerto Rico under early U.S rule provide some fascinating details on the background of contradictions that characterize debates on the political, economic and social issues concerning the island. Since its invasion in 1898, the United States has shaped the policies of the island according to its own discretion in spite of the people of Puerto Rico. The country did not have time to shed the skin of Spanish colonial rule before the United States set foot on the island to add its own layer of imperial legacy. The island was taken as a compromise to end the Spanish American War. How the newly acquired territory would take shape, and some of the local and international influences that might have contributed to the evolution of the Puerto Rican political, social and economical structure are some of the issues that I hope to address. As is customary an attempted commentary of this sort cannot be complete without the subject of identity, after all, this issue seems to be at the core of the status of the island.
Many different groups today are seeking the sovereignty of Hawaii. The reason being that these mostly Native Hawaiian groups feel that they suffered a severe injustice when they were annexed into the United States against their own free will. They feel that since they were treated like objects rather than human beings with rights and emotions, they now deserve reparations. The intentions of the different groups vary. Some only want reparations in the form of money and acknowledgements of the inhuman acts that were committed against them and others want it in the form of independence for the island. However, restoring sovereignty to Hawaii would cause great injustices toward the non-natives living on the island today. So these groups should not be granted the sovereignty they are seeking.
In 1776 when the Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain with the Declaration of Independence they had one clear goal in mind: become a sovereign nation and avoid the tyranny of Great Britain. What they did not know, however, is that they had to face many more issues beyond simply cutting the ties with Great Britain; they also had to create and maintain a working system of rules which could guide them into becoming the United States of America. Once Independence was gained in 1783, the Articles of Confederation were created, but with many deep flaws in the system. The Federal government had no power, and the states were loosely held together and hardly acted as if they were a single united nation. After recognizing that these problems were too large to overcome easily, several of the greatest men in the nation gathered together to rectify these problems.
The final step in the preparation for a new government was separation from the old government. This was declared twice in the Declaration of Independence. In the beginning, “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, driving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and in the end, “that these united colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. In conclusion, the Declaration of Independence was able to motivate people, give them ambition, and make it simple for Americans to take action.
Christopher Schmidt-Nowara. "Politics and Ideas in Latin American Independence." Latin American Research Review 45, no. 2 (2010): 228-235. http://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed November 14, 2012).
This paper supports Thomas Flanagan's argument against Native sovereignty in Canada; through an evaluation of the meanings of sovereignty it is clear that Native sovereignty can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty. Flanagan outlines two main interpretations of sovereignty. Through an analysis of these ideas it is clear that Native Sovereignty in Canada can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty.
Originally the 13 states were weak and lacked power to the states at the time which evidently proved that nation to be weak. This made the states want a government that
A small archipelago off the northwest coast of Britsh Columbia is known as the “islands of the people.” This island is diverse in both land and sea environment. From the 1700’s when the first ship sailed off its coast and a captain logged about the existence, slow attentiveness was given to the island. Its abundance, in both natural resources physical environment, and its allure in the concealed Haida peoples, beckoned settlers to come to the island. Settlers would spark an era of prosperity and catastrophe for the native and environmental populations.
The book entitled Mariquita A Tragedy of Guam was written by author Chris Perez Howard in honor of her mother Mariquita Aguon Perez. The book covers the pain and sufferings of Guamanians through World War II from the perspective of one family. The book covers a period of time a little under a decade, beginning in 1938 while Guam was under Naval Administration.