Colonial Constitutionalism: The Tyranny of United States' Offshore Territorial Policy and Relations

(Paperback)

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This text exposes one of the great failures of American constitutional democracy. The creation of an American empire over the 20th century has violated the fundamental philosophical meaning and political purpose of constitutionalism. A modern expansionist American republic has annexed offshore territories but contradicted the spirit and letter of the Founding Fathers by failing to admit these acquisitions into the Union. The text's focused case studies analyze each of America's quasi-colonies, revealing how the perpetuation of a now anachronistic foreign policy has rendered the inhabitants second-class citizens. It illustrates the pressing need for a nation fundamentally incompatible with imperialism and colonialism to grant full US statehood to its overseas possessions or face the growing demands for sovereign independence.

Reviews

Drawing on an interpretation of the Declaration of Independence based upon classical natural law philosophy, Colonial Constitutionalism provocatively examines the constitutional tensions between the founding philosophy of the United States and current governance arrangements with U.S. territories. This is an important contribution to discussions about territorial status that have only recently begun to receive the attention they deserve from constitutionalists. -- Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Robert Statham has written a provocative and stimulating analysis of a truly important and fascinatingand almost grotesquely understudiedtopic, the continuing impact and implications of America's venture into imperialism. The United States is now perhaps the major colonialist in the world today, and Statham reviews the contemporary issues presented by our colonies in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere. Statham reminds us of significant constitutional issues raised by this imperialism; he also treats the issue within a challenging framework of a Straussian political philosophy. -- Sanford Levinson, co-author (with Jack Balkin) of Democracy and Dysfunction

Author Bio

E. Robert Statham, Jr. is Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Guam.