Imperialism In American Samoa

According to the prompt, the definition of Imperialism requires a country to exercise control over a foreign country or to acquire or hold colonies or dependences. Because of the somewhat confusing situation surrounding United States territories, particularly America Samoa, there has been some question over whether or not the United States is Imperialistic. While it certainly met the definition during the early 19th century and into the 20th century, does it still meet the definition today? This paper will answer this question in two parts, one covering the U.S. territories with exception to American Samoa and the other focusing on American Samoa.

To begin, this paper will review the voting and citizenship rights of those living in Puerto
Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands.
Every resident of these territories has full U.S. citizenship from birth and although none of these territories have representatives in the Senate, each has one delegate in the House of Representatives (1). These delegates are considered to be non-voting, although they may serve on and vote in committees (2). Because of the lack of voting members in Congress, those living in U.S. territories are not represented by the Electoral College and are unable to vote in the presidential elections. If any resident of one of these territories were to move to one of the 50 states, they would be allowed to vote. Because they are not truly represented, they are not required to pay U.S. federal taxes with the exception of Social Security and Medicare. However, they do pay taxes to the territories’ respective government (3). All of that said, it is now a bit clearer why the U.S. should not be considered
Imperialistic in regards to these territories. These people are full citizens who only pay taxes to their own territories and they are only kept from voting in the presidential election because of their location, a situation that is very similar to the one residents of Washington use to have. While the voting system may not be fair, the residents cannot be considered foreign nor can the territories be considered colonies. They also cannot be considered “dependencies” of the U.S. as Merriam-Webster defines that as “a territorial unit under the jurisdiction of a nation but not formally annexed by it” (4), and all of these territories have been annexed by the U.S.

Those living in American Samoa have a somewhat different situation than the other territories. Like the other territories, American Samoa is represented by a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives (1) and their tax system is the same. However, unlike the other territories, they are considered to be U.S. nationals rather than U.S. citizens (5). This means that they may travel within the U.S. but “may not vote in federal elections or hold any federal elected office” (6). This raises some problems, as the U.S. is exercising control over a territory whose residents are expected to pledge loyalty to the U.S., but are not considered to be, or given the full rights of, U.S. citizens. They are a people who, unless they individually gain citizenship, have no say in their federal government.

Is the U.S.
imperialistic? If one were to consider any territory other than American Samoa, the answer would be a clear no. These other territories pay taxes that stay in the territory and they are all U.S. citizens from birth. But American Samoa makes thing more difficult. The residents are not U.S. citizens but neither are they foreign, they don’t pay taxes to the U.S. but they also can’t hold federal office. In the end, it all depends on whose definition of “colony” is used. While I say that American Samoa does not meet the definition and thus the U.S. cannot be considered to be Imperialistic, someone with a slightly different definition of the word might be able to argue the opposite. To summarize, while I do not think the U.S. can be considered Imperialistic, the country is walking a dangerous path in regards to American Samoa and it needs to be careful not to fall into old
habits.