Are All Americans Born Equal?

The story of how American citizens are prevented from voting based on where they live

5 min readApr 18, 2021

This is a photograph of the current American flag featuring fifty stars for each of the states which was updated in 1958 and represents the current understanding of American territory. The photograph is by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash.

The United States is traditionally understood to be made up of 50 states, but it is actually far larger. According to essayist Daniel Cotter, the United States has additional inhabited major territories which are Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. Furthermore, the U.S. also possesses uninhabited minor territories including Baker, Howard, Jarvis, and Navassa Islands; Johnson, Midway, Palmyra, and Wake Atolls; and Kingman Reef. All of the minor territories are located in the Pacific Ocean except for Navassa Island on the Caribbean Sea.

Of the inhabited territories and the District of Columbia the Washington Post reports, “These six non-states have more than four million residents combined, which is more than one percent of the U.S. total. That is roughly the same number of people who live in the six least-populous states.” Only inhabited “major” territories will be mentioned in this article as it deals with the inhabitants’ voting rights.

The Fourteenth Amendment

Americans are often familiar with the Fourteenth Amendment which offers birth citizenship to all Americans born in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment states,

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

With that in mind, one would expect that every person who was born in the United States was a citizen, but in reality, the answer is that it depends on where in the United States you were born. Despite the Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal,” it truly only applies to those Americans born in the fifty current states.

Puerto Rico

When the United States defeated the Spanish Empire during the Spanish-American War the island of Puerto Rico was one of the spoils. There was great consternation over what should become of the island and other captured territories.

At the beginning of Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States, the inhabitants were denied citizenship. In 1900, America enacted the Foraker Act which labeled the island as a territory. Professor Charles Venator-Santiago describes the relationship between the two states this way:

“Even though the United States had annexed Puerto Rico, Section Three of the Foraker Act treated Puerto Rico as a foreign territorial possession for purposes of imposing tariffs, duties, or taxes on merchandise trafficked between the island and the mainland.”

Puerto Ricans were allowed to apply for citizenship individually after an appearance on the mainland starting in 1906, but their treatment was similar to other groups immigrating to the United States.

This act was followed by the Jones Act of 1917 which was the first act that collectively nationalized a territory that was not set to become a state. Lastly, the Nationality Act of 1940 gave the right to birth citizenship to Puerto Ricans based on the 14th Amendment.

While Puerto Ricans are considered citizens, they are not allowed to vote for federal offices unless they move to a state. They are not allowed to vote for President, they lack senators, and only have a non-voting member of Congress. They are allowed to participate in presidential primaries and a person born in Puerto Rico could become president if they met all of the other qualifications.

Guam

Guam is in a similar situation to Puerto Rico in that both are unincorporated territories without a legal ability to vote for president and they were both won from the Kingdom of Spain during the Spanish-American War. They too have a non-voting member of congress who has fewer privileges than other members of congress. The Washington Post reminds us that “Delegates can speak and vote in committees, and they can speak, introduce bills and resolutions and offer amendments on the house floor, but they cannot vote on the house floor.” Guamanians were granted citizenship in 1950 with the Origin Act of Guam which transferred the island from Navy to civilian rule.

U.S. Virgin Islands

The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917. The islands were given American citizenship in 1927 and two different organic acts created a governance structure for the islands. The islands share the diminished voting capacities of Puerto Rico and Guam.

Northern Mariana Islands

The islands became a United Nations trusteeship after they were removed from Japan’s control during World War Two and were placed under the guardianship of the United States. They chose closer relations with the United States rather than independence and became a commonwealth. They attempted to have reunification with Guam which is in the same island chain, but Guam was uninterested due to their harsh treatment of the Guamanians during World War Two. Today the Northern Mariana Islands enjoy birthright citizenship but lack political freedoms other than a non-voting congressperson in Washington D.C.

American Samoa

American Samoa became part of the United States in 1900 after the islands were split between America and Germany. The islands lack an organic act so they are still an unincorporated territory. Therefore, the residents are considered nationals rather than citizens and are denied the right to vote or run for election possibly even if they come to the mainland. While they are offered a less rigorous naturalization process than foreign immigrants, they are denied the birthright citizenship of other U.S. territories.

Bonus: Washington D.C.

While Washington D.C. is an undisputed part of the continental United States, they too suffer from voter disenfranchisement. D.C. is considered a federal district and not a state, therefore they lack more than limited, non-voting federal representation and are unable to vote for president. Ironically, the likely most-well known D.C. resident, the President, is one that the local citizens have no role in selecting.

Conclusion

The United States is often considered a beacon for freedom and equal rights, but in many cases that is simply not true. Here too, the rights of U.S. citizenship are defined by the place you are born and the place you choose to live. While Washington D.C. proves that the aforementioned voter disenfranchisement occurs both inside and outside of the continental U.S., the fact that it still happens at all today shows we still have a long way to reach true equality in our nation.