Objectives
- Distinguish citizenship from the presidential vote
- Name how each territory came under the flag
Lesson
Territorial status is live law. It still decides citizenship, federal taxes and whether a resident may vote for president. Territories have no electors, so citizens living there do not vote in the presidential general election; the District of Columbia votes through the 23rd Amendment.
Cession, purchase and covenant each brought a jurisdiction under the flag. American Samoa is the inhabited jurisdiction where birth does not automatically confer citizenship.