Tennessee and the Tennessee Plan

After North Carolina joined the other future states during the American Revolution, it gave up its territory west of the Appalachian mountains to the new American government. Those lands became… Read more »

Statehood for Ohio

Ohio was the second territory admitted to the Union — or was it? After the first thirteen original states ratified the U.S. Constitution, Vermont, an area claimed by the State… Read more »

Statehood for Louisiana

There may be no statehood admission story more relevant to Puerto Rico’s quest for admission to the Union than that of Louisiana. That is because, like Puerto Rico today, in… Read more »

Governor of Puerto Rico Changes His Mind

The Governor of Puerto Rico recently reversed tactics openly obstructing a federally recognized follow up vote to confirm the results of a locally sponsored 2012 referendum on the future political… Read more »

Puerto Rico, the 51st State

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. What does that mean? Under the U.S. Constitution, there are two possible relationships a piece of land belonging to the… Read more »