In his 2014 book Surpassing the Sovereign State: The Wealth, Self-Rule, and Security Advantages of Partially Independent Territories, David Rezvani writes, “In 1952, through mutual agreement, US and Puerto Rican representatives brought into being a new constitutional order for the territory…. It had become a partially independent territory (PIT) that had all and ultimate control over most of its domestic affairs, while many foreign policy and all military powers were left to the US.”
Referring to the 1954 attack on the House of Representatives by Puerto Rican separatists, Rezvani writes, “By the time the aforementioned shots echoed through the Capitol building, however, Puerto Rico was no longer a colony ultimately ruled by technocrats in Washington. Nor, however, was it fully independent.”
“Before this relationship with the US began in 1952, much like its other neighbors, Puerto Rico was destitute, weak, and insecure,” he continues. “Today, by contrast, Puerto Rico possesses a sophisticated and modern democracy. It has a GDP per capita that is more than five times higher than the average Latin American sovereign state and three times higher than its Caribbean sovereign state neighbors.”
What happened in 1952?
Rezvani says that “US and Puerto Rican representatives brought into being a new constitutional order.” On July 25, 1952, Puerto Rico’s territorial constitution was implemented. Like other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico had been given permission to draft a constitution by an enabling act, Public Law 600. Congress reviewed the draft, required some changes, and only then approved the updated version of Puerto Rico’s constitution. President Truman approved it and — like dozens of U.S. territories before it and a couple after — Puerto Rico had its own constitution.
This is something to celebrate, and July 25th is celebrated as Constitution Day in Puerto Rico.
But did this new constitution bring a new order into being? By no means. Puerto Rico was and continues to be an unincorporated territory of the United States, subject to the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Puerto Rican constitution did not change that relationship or status at all. This was true for all the territories.
A territory must have a constitution approved by Congress before it can be admitted as a state. Approval of a constitution is usually a sign that statehood is near, but in no case does it change the political status of the territory. It is a prerequisite to statehood but not a guarantee. Saying that Puerto Rico had been an insecure colony before its Constitution was passed but that it was no longer a colony the day after passage is simply false.
Is Puerto Rico a colony now? All three branches of the federal government have stated and demonstrated that Puerto Rico continues to be an unincorporated territory of the United States. The constitution did not affect that fact at all.
When Rezvani said in 2014 that Puerto Rico “had all and ultimate control over most of its domestic affairs, while many foreign policy and all military powers were left to the US,” he could not have known that in 2016 the federal government would place an unelected fiscal oversight board over the elected territorial government. He also did not know that in 2016 the Supreme Court would rule that Puerto Rico is indeed, to use Rezvani’s words, “a mere territory.”
Then why say so?
Surpassing the Sovereign State is not a book about Puerto Rico. It is a book intended to prove that being a “partially independent territory” is better than being an independent nation. Puerto Rico was chosen as an example, along with Catalonia, Scotland, Greenland, and a number of other places which might or might not accept that description.
As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico is indeed better off than its independent neighbors. But it is not better off than any state in the Union. Puerto Rico is better off now, 74 years after implementing its constitution, than it was before that time. Its political status, however, is unchanged.
