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The United States acquired the islands of Puerto Rico in 1898 after the Spanish–American War, and the archipelago has been under U.S. sovereignty since.In 1950, Congress enacted the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 or legislation (P.L. 81-600), authorizing Puerto Rico to hold a constitutional convention and, in 1952, the people of Puerto Rico ratified a constitution establishing a ...
On May 15, 2013, headed by non-voting Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, a group of 119 Democratic and 12 Republican members of Congress introduced H.R. 2000, the Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act to Congress, requesting a process for voting to admit Puerto Rico as a State to be approved and a vote to ratify Puerto Rico as a state.
The autonomous areas differ from federal units and independent states in the sense that they, in relation to the majority of other sub-national territories in the same country, enjoy a special status including some legislative powers, within the state (for a detailed list of federated units, see federated state).
Why isn’t Puerto Rico a state? Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory with a population of about 3.2 million people. It is officially known both as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and ...
The political status of Puerto Rico has ramifications into many spheres of Puerto Rican life, and there are limits to the level of autonomy the Puerto Rican government has. For example, the Island's government is not fully autonomous, and the level of federal presence in the Island is common place, including a branch of the United States ...
Unlike most towns, cities and states in the United States, Puerto Rico does not have local or state sheriffs; sheriff duties are instead performed by the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Marshal's Office. Many municipalities have established municipal police departments, although most law enforcement activity is carried out by the Puerto Rico Police (PPR).
The Territories Clause of the United States Constitution (Art.IV, Sec. 3, cl. 2) allows for Congress to "dispose of" Puerto Rico and allow it to become independent of the U.S. (in the same way as the Philippines did in 1945) or, under the authority of the Admissions Clause (Art.
Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, while the capital city was named Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("Rich Port City"). [21] Eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital ...