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For other uses, see 51st state (disambiguation).
51-star flags have been designed and used as a symbol by supporters of statehood in various areas. Above is an example of what a 51-star flag looks like.

"The 51st state", in United States political discourse, is a phrase that refers to areas either seriously or facetiously considered candidates for addition to the 50 states already part of the United States.

Most commonly, the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state is discussed as the outcome of a November 6, 2012 referendum where Puerto Rico decided to change the Island's political status by rejecting the current Territorial political status and requesting the Statehood of Puerto Rico by a majority electoral result.

The phrase "51st state" can be used in a positive sense, meaning a region or territory is so aligned, supportive, and conducive with the United States that it is like the "51st state". It can also be used in a negative sense, meaning an area or region is perceived to be under excessive American influence or control. In various countries around the world, people who believe their local and/or national culture has become too Americanized sometimes use the term "51st state" in reference to their respective countries.[1]

Legal requirements

Under Article IV, Section Three of the United States Constitution, which outlines the relationship among the states, Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, and criminal judgments. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also obliged by Article IV, Section Four, to "guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government."

New states are admitted into the Union by the precedents and procedures established by the Northwest Ordinance. Following the precedent established by the Enabling Act of 1802, an Enabling Act must be passed by Congress as a prerequisite to admission. The act authorizes the people of a territory to frame a constitution, and lays down the requirements that must be met prior to consideration for statehood.[citation needed]

Possible new states

By changes of status of U.S. land

Puerto Rico

Main article: Puerto Rico (proposed state)

Puerto Rico is a candidate to become the 51st state of the United States. In a 2012 status referendum a majority of voters, 54%, expressed dissatisfaction with the current political relationship. In a separate question, 61% of voters supported statehood. The United States Congress is now considering it and will decide between December 2012 and June 2013.

Puerto Rico has a large enough population to fulfill U.S. requirements for statehood.

Vote for statehood

In November 2012, Puerto Rico achieved a first clear electoral mandate rejecting the present form of territorial status, and also voted for statehood as the preferred change from the territotorial status quo to admit Puerto Rico as the 51st State of the United States of America. In all earlier referenda, votes for statehood were matched almost equally by votes for remaining an American territory, with a small balance of votes cast for independence. Support for U.S. statehood has risen in each successive popular referendum until a clear majority of 61.15% was attained on November 2012.[2][3] The most recent referendum process began in October 2011 when Governor Luis Fortuño proposed a bill, following the recommendation of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status to provide for self-determination. The proposed bill set the date of August 12, 2012 to hold the first part of a two-step status plebiscite. The first question on the plebiscite would ask voters whether they wanted to maintain the current commonwealth status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution or whether they preferred a non-territorial option. A second question on the plebiscite would offer three status options: statehood, independence or free association.[4] This bill was brought before the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, then the Senate of Puerto Rico in 2011 to effect the governor's proposal. The bill passed on December 28, 2011. The date was revised such that both steps were voted on in a single ballot on November 6, 2012. The statehood position was endorsed by the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico. As a result of that ballot, 54% of the population voted to change the status quo, with 61.2% of the population voting for statehood as the preferred change from the status quo. [5][6][7]

Washington, D.C.

Main article: District of Columbia statehood movement

Washington, D.C. often is mentioned as a candidate for statehood. In Federalist No. 43 of the Federalist Papers, James Madison considered the implications of the definition of the "seat of government" found in the United States Constitution. Although he noted potential conflicts of interest, and the need for a "municipal legislature for local purposes,"[8] Madison did not address the district's role in national voting. At the time, some believed that giving the district full voting rights would be like giving Congress its own separate vote, increasing its power at the expense of the citizens. However, the city's population has grown to over 600,000 (more than the state of Wyoming), and the calls for representation in Congress have increased.[citation needed] Legal scholars disagree on whether a simple act of Congress can admit the District as a state, due to its status as the seat of government of the United States, which Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution requires to be under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress; depending on the interpretation of this text, admission of the full District as a state may require a Constitutional amendment, which is much more difficult to enact.[9] However, the Constitution does not set a minimum size for the District. Its size has already changed once before, when Virginia reclaimed the portion of the District south of the Potomac. So the constitutional requirement for a federal district can be satisfied by reducing its size to the small central core of government buildings and monuments, giving the rest of the territory to the new state.

Of the potential candidates for statehood, citizens of the District of Columbia tend to be most supportive[citation needed] of their statehood movement. Washington, D.C. residents who support this movement sometimes use the Revolutionary War protest motto "Taxation without representation" denoting their lack of Congressional representation; the phrase is now printed on newly issued Washington, D.C. license plates (although a driver may choose to have the Washington, D.C. website address instead). President Bill Clinton's presidential limousine had the "Taxation without representation" license plate late in his term, while President George W. Bush had the vehicle's plates changed shortly after beginning his term in office.[10]

This position was carried by the D.C. Statehood Party, a minor party; it has since merged with the local Green Party affiliate to form the D.C. Statehood Green Party. The nearest this movement ever came to success was in 1978, when Congress passed the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment. Two years later in 1980, local citizens passed an initiative calling for a constitutional convention for a new state. In 1982, voters ratified the constitution of the state, which was to be called New Columbia. The drive for statehood stalled in 1985, however, when the Washington, D.C. Voting Rights Amendment failed because not enough states ratified the amendment within the seven-year span specified.

Statehood will likely remain a highly contentious political issue due to the political demographics of the city. Washington, D.C. has long voted overwhelmingly Democratic, and the addition of another state would likely guarantee two Democratic Senators in a closely divided Senate.[citation needed]

Another proposed option would be to have Maryland, from which the current land was ceded, retake the District of Columbia, as Virginia has already done for its part, while leaving the National Mall, the United States Capitol, and the White House in a truncated District of Columbia.[11] This would give residents of the city of Washington the benefit of statehood while precluding the creation of a 51st state.

Opponents, however, argue that the District of Columbia itself was never intended to have all the voting benefits of a state, simply because it is not a state. All Americans have the right to vote and can do so by living in any state, so those Americans choosing to reside in D.C. do so with the understanding that the district cannot vote in federal elections. A resident wanting voting rights in federal elections can simply move just outside the small 61 square miles of area that make up D.C.[citation needed]

By merger of current or former U.S. territories

A hypothetical merging of several former and current Pacific US territories into a single state.

Other less likely contenders are Guam and the United States Virgin Islands, both of which are unincorporated organized territories of the United States. Also, the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a commonwealth like Puerto Rico, and American Samoa, an unorganized, unincorporated territory, could both attempt to gain statehood. Some proposals call for the Virgin Islands to be admitted with Puerto Rico as one state (often known as the proposed "Commonwealth of Prusvi", for Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands, or as "Puerto Virgo"), and for the amalgamation of U.S. territories or former territories in the Pacific Ocean, in the manner of the "Greater Hawaii" concept of the 1960s. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands would be admitted as one state, along with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands (although these latter three entities are now separate sovereign nations, which have Compact of Free Association relationships with the United States). Such a state would have a population of 412,381 (slightly lower than Wyoming's population) and an area of 911.82 square miles (2,361.6 km2) square miles (slightly smaller than Rhode Island). American Samoa could possibly be part of such a state, increasing the population to 467,900 and the area to 988.65 square miles (2,560.6 km2). Radio Australia, in late May 2008, issued signs of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands becoming one again and becoming the 51st state.[12]

Caribbean Territories
Location Population Area (sq. mi.) Comments
Puerto Rico 3,725,789 3,514 2010 U.S. Census results
United States Virgin Islands 109,750 133.73 2010 U.S. Census results
Total 3,835,539 3,647.73 Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands
Pacific Territories
Location Population Area (sq. mi.) Comments
Northern Mariana Islands 53,883 184.17 2010 U.S. Census results
Guam 159,358 209.85 2010 U.S. Census results
Total Mariana Islands 213,241 394.02
American Samoa 55,519 76.83 2010 U.S. Census results
Total American Pacific 268,760 988.65
Marshall Islands 67,182 70 2011 estimate
Palau 20,958 177 2011 estimate
Federated States of Micronesia 111,000 271 2009 estimate
Total Former Trust Territories 199,140 518
Total 467,900 1506.65

Former U.S. territory

Philippines

The Philippines has a small grassroots movement for U.S. statehood. Originally part of the platform of the Progressive Party, then known as the Federalista Party, the party dropped it in 1907, which coincided with the name change.[13][14] As recently as 2004, the concept of the Philippines becoming a U.S. state has been part of a political platform in the Philippines.[15] Supporters of this movement include Filipinos who believe that the quality of life in the Philippines would be higher and that there will be less poverty there if the Philippines were an American state; or at the least, an American territory. Supporters also include Filipinos that had fought as members of the United States Armed Forces in various wars during the Commonwealth period. [16][17]

Various suggestions for Philippine statehood have included its entry as a whole or the partial entry of the westernized north, leaving the predominantly Muslim parts of Mindanao to form its own country (see Moro National Liberation Front) or join Indonesia. The movement initially had a significant impact during the early American colonial period;[14] It is no longer a mainstream movement,[18] but is a small social movement that gains interest and talk in that nation.[19][20]

From other states

Main article: List of U.S. state partition proposals

There exist several proposals, mainly from minority populations within large states, to divide states into two smaller, more homogeneous entities. The new creations would become a re-formed and possibly renamed 50th and new 51st state.

The Texas Constitution and the Texas Annexation Act both provide for the possibility of Texas voting to divide into up to four further sovereign States of the Union. While there is, contrary to popular myth, no provision for Texas to secede from the United States, there are claims that, according to the terms of the Annexation Act, Texas could divide into more States without Congressional sanction. Current Texas politics and self-image make any tampering with Texas's status as the largest state by land area in the contiguous United States unlikely.[21][22][23]

Proposals of new states by partition include:

The National Movement for the Establishment of a 49th State, founded by Oscar Brown, Sr. and Bradley Cyrus and active in Chicago in 1934–7, had the aim of forming an African American state in the South.[29][30]

For any state to split it would need to receive Congressional approval. Historically, three states have lost territory to new states:

The moon

In 2012, Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stated that "when we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon, they can petition to become a state," as a way of supporting American colonization of Earth's satellite.[31] However, under Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, the moon and other celestial bodies are permanently considered terra nullius and cannot be claimed by any country.[32] Additionally, under the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance, statehood requires a population of at least 60,000.

Use internationally

Some countries, because of their cultural similarities and close alliances with the United States, are often described as a 51st state. In other countries around the world, movements with various degrees of support and seriousness have proposed U.S. statehood.

Americas

Canada

Main article: Annexation movements of Canada

In Canada, "the 51st state" is an emotional trigger phrase generally used in such a way as to imply that if a certain political course is taken, Canada's destiny will be to become "the 51st state".

The implication is not without historical basis: The U.S. unsuccessfully invaded Canada during both the American Revolution (under the assumption that French-speaking Canadians' presumed hostility towards British colonial rule would make them natural allies to the American cause) and the War of 1812; the Hunter Patriots in the 1830s and the Fenian raids after the American Civil War were private attacks on Canada from the U.S.[33] Several U.S. politicians in the 19th century also spoke in favour of annexing Canada.[34] In 1949, during the last days of the Dominion of Newfoundland (at the time a dominion in the commonwealth and independent of Canada), there was mainstream support, although not majority, for the dominion to join the United States, thanks to the efforts of the Economic Union Party and significant U.S. investment in the dominion stemming from the U.S.-British alliance in World War II. The movement failed after the monarchy rejected the idea, and the dominion eventually joined Canada instead.[citation needed]

In modern times, becoming "the 51st state" is usually raised either as a potential consequence of adopting policies that propose greater integration or cooperation with the United States (such as the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988, or the current debate over the creation of a common defense perimeter), or as a potential consequence of not adopting proposals intended to resolve the issue of Quebec sovereignty (such as the Charlottetown Accord in 1992, or the Clarity Act in 1999). During the Meech Lake Accord crisis, several provincial governments went as far as to put in writing plans to apply for annexation to the United States in the event that the crisis resulted in the division of Canada. They were never used or officially acknowledged.[35]

The phrase is usually used in local political debates, in polemic writing or in private conversations. It is rarely used by politicians themselves in a public context, although at certain times in Canadian history political parties have used other similarly loaded imagery. In the 1988 federal election, the Liberals asserted that the proposed Free Trade Agreement amounted to an American takeover of Canada[36]—notably, the party ran an ad in which Tory strategists, upon the adoption of the agreement, slowly erased the Canada-U.S. border from a desktop map of North America.[37] Within days, however, the Tories responded with an ad which featured the border being drawn back on, as an announcer intoned "Here's where we draw the line."[38]

A few groups in Canada have actively campaigned in favor of joining the United States. These annexationist movements have not attracted large mainstream attention, although surveys have found that some Canadians expressed support for the concept in surveys done by Léger Marketing in 2001 [39] and in 2004. [40]

In the United States, the term "the 51st state" when applied to Canada can serve to highlight the similarities and close relationship between the United States and Canada. Sometimes the term is used disparagingly, intended to deride Canada, or make it appear as an unimportant neighbor. In the Quebec general election, 1989, Parti 51 ran for elections proposing secession of Quebec from Canada and having Quebec join the United States. The party attracted just 3,846 votes across the entire province, 0.11 per cent of the total votes cast, but this was more so viewed that Quebec wanted independence from Canada and was not seeking to join any nation.[citation needed]

Greenland

During World War II, the United States briefly controlled Greenland for battlefields and protection. In 1946, the United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000 but Denmark did not agree to sell.[41][42]

Central America

Due to geographical proximity of the Central American countries to the U.S. which has powerful military, economic, and political influences in the Americas, there were several movements and proposals by the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries to annex some or all of the 6 or 7 Central American republics (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras with the formerly British-ruled Bay Islands, Nicaragua, Panama which was the U.S.-ruled Canal Zone territory from 1903 to 1979, and formerly British Honduras or Belize since 1981). However, the U.S. never acted on these proposals from some U.S. politicians; some of which were never delivered or considered seriously.

Cuba

In 1859, Senator John Slidell introduced a bill to purchase Cuba from Spain.[43][44]

Cuba, like many Spanish territories, wanted to break free from Spain. A pro-independence movement in Cuba was supported by the U.S., and Cuban guerrilla leaders wanted annexation to the United States, but Cuban revolutionary leader José Martí called for Cuban nationhood. When the U.S. battleship Maine sunk in Havana Harbor, the U.S. blamed Spain and the Spanish-American War broke out. After the U.S. won, Spain relinquished claim of sovereignty over territories, including Cuba. The U.S. did not keep Cuba as an American territory and instead gave it independence. Several decades later in 1959, the Cuban government was overthrown by Fidel Castro. Castro erected a rival Soviet backed Marxist–Leninist government which has been in power ever since. Today Cuba and the U.S. have virtually no relations as Cuba allied itself with many U.S. rivals such as Russia and Venezuela.

Dominica

In 1898, one or more news outlets in the Caribbean noted growing sentiments of resentment of British rule in Dominica, including the system of administration over the country. These publications attempted to gauge sentiments of annexation to the United States as a way to change this system of administration.[45]

Dominican Republic

In 1869, the president of the Dominican Republic Buenaventura Báez tried to persuade the United States to annex his debt-ridden, war-torn nation.[citation needed] U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant supported this plan, but the annexation treaty failed in the 74-member Senate 28–28, not gaining the two-thirds vote required by the Constitution.[46]

Over 100,000 U.S. Citizens currently live in the Dominican Republic[47] and 1,508,871 Dominican-Americans live in the United States plus 64,958 in Puerto Rico (1.74% of the country's population).[48][49] With the increasing population abroad, there is future potential of political activities promotion the admission of Dominican Republic as a territory or state of the United States.

Guyana

There is an organization dedicated to the integration of Guyana with the United States.[50] Their claim is based on the idea that Guyana has strong connections with the United States in terms of people (100,000 people have joint Guyanese-American citizenship and 350,000 Guyanese live in the U.S., half as many remain in Guyana). It is the only South American country with English as its official language. Guyana, however, appears to have partly committed itself to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)[citation needed] and also the South American integration organization, becoming a founding member of the Union of South American Nations in 2008.

Haiti

Time Magazine columnist Mark Thompson suggested that Haiti had effectively become the 51st state after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The widespread destruction from the earthquake prompted a quick and extensive response from the United States and the U.S. military utilized Haitian air and sea ports to facilitate foreign aid.[51]

Mexico

A hypothetical merging of United States and Mexico as 82 states.

The idea of incorporating Mexico as several new states of the United States has existed ever since the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, when the All Mexico Movement proposed annexing Mexico. Today, this idea stresses the strong economic and political connections between the United States and Mexico and the high recurring cost of defending a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) border. In 1853, filibuster William Walker conquered the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora on the Mexican peninsula with the intent of adding new slave states to the Union. Within three months he had incorporated both those states into the independent Republic of Sonora. But a lack of support from the U.S. government and increasing pressure from the Mexican government led him to abandon this action.[citation needed]

Asia and Pacific

Australia

The US and Australia share cultural roots, as well as major joint military and government interests, being members (with New Zealand) of the ANZUS Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951. Australia is an English-speaking country and is regarded as a close ally to the USA. The USA and Australia also have, remarkably, very similar governments, political systems and histories. While Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, with Elizabeth II as sovereign and head of state in her role as Queen of Australia, and the Governor-General as her representative, both governments are federal, have a House of Representatives and a Senate that are elected in similar fashions, and State governments that operate in similar fashion. Australia has also put referendums forward regarding potential conversion into a republic (the most recent time being in 1999), although all to date have failed. The United States and Australia were also both largely formed from British subjects who were disgruntled, albeit for differing reasons, resulting in a common frontier mentality and self-image in which the nations were carved out of a wilderness and formed into a free, prosperous nation. The similarities in both politics and culture between Australia and the United States have been remarked upon throughout history, and can be seen reflected in the close relations between the two nations at virtually every level and type of relationship that exists between them.

In Australia, the term '51st State' is used as a disparagement of a perceived invasion of American cultural or political influence.[52]

Iraq

A resident of Seattle mockingly declares Iraq the 51st U.S. state.

Several publications suggested that the Iraq War was a neocolonial war to make Iraq the 51st state, usually a tongue-in-cheek statement.[53][54][55][56][57]

Israel

Several websites assert that Israel is the 51st state due to the annual funding and defense support it receives from the United States. An example of this concept can be found in 2003 when Martine Rothblatt published a book called Two Stars for Peace that argued for the addition of Israel and the Palestinian Territories as the 51st and 52nd states in the Union. The American State of Canaan, is a book published by Prof. Alfred de Grazia, political science and sociologist, in March 2009, proposing the creation of a 51st from both Israel and Palestine.

Japan

Despite the United Nations guarantee of the protection and preservation of Japanese sovereignty, some American congressmen insisted they should annex a war-defeated Japan. The U.S. armed forces rejected such a plan during the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the USS Missouri.

However, in Article 3 of the Treaty of San Francisco between the Allied Powers and Japan, which came into force in April 1952, the U.S. put the outlying islands of the Ryukyus, including the island of Okinawa—home to over 1,000,000 Okinawans related to the Japanese—and the Bonin Islands, the Volcano Islands, and Iwo Jima into U.S. trusteeship.[58] All these trusteeships were slowly returned to Japanese rule. Okinawa was returned on May 15, 1972, but the U.S. stations troops in the island's bases as a defense for Japan.

New Zealand

The 51st State Party is a political party in New Zealand. It advocates New Zealand becoming the 51st state of the United States of America. The party's secretary is Paulus Telfer, a former Christchurch mayoral candidate.[59][60] On February 5, 2010, the party applied to register a logo with the Electoral Commission.[59] The logo – a US flag with 51 stars – was rejected by the Electoral Commission on the grounds that it was likely to cause confusion or mislead electors.[61]

Taiwan

Further information: Taiwan independence, Political status of Taiwan, and Legal status of Taiwan

A poll in 2003 among Taiwanese residents aged between 13 and 22 found that, when given the options of either becoming a province of People's Republic of China or a state within the U.S., 55% of the respondents preferred statehood while only 36% chose joining China.[62] A group called Taiwan Civil Government, established in Taipei in 2008, claims that the island of Taiwan and other minor islands are the territory of the United States.[63] See 美屬台灣群島方案 and 台灣民政府 (Taiwan Civil Government).

Europe

Albania

Albania is often[citation needed] cited as the 51st state due to its perceived strongly pro-USA positions mainly because of the Kosovo policy of the U.S. In reference to President George W. Bush's 2007 European tour, Edi Rama, Tirana's mayor and leader of the opposition Socialists, said: "Albania is for sure the most pro-American country in Europe, maybe even in the world ... Nowhere else can you find such respect and hospitality for the President of the United States. Even in Michigan, he wouldn't be as welcome." At the time of ex-Secretary of State James Baker's visit in 1991, there was even a move to hold a referendum declaring the country as the 51st American state.[64][65]

Denmark

In 1989, the Los Angeles Times proclaimed that Denmark becomes the 51st state every Fourth of July, because Danish citizens in and around Aalborg celebrate the American independence day.[66]

Italy

The Party of Reconstruction in Sicily, which claimed 40,000 members in 1944, campaigned for Sicily to be admitted as a U.S. state.[67] This party was one of several Sicilian separatist movements active after the downfall of Italian Fascism. Sicilians felt neglected or underrepresented by the Italian government, especially after the annexation of 1861 when Sicily was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies based in Naples. The large population of Sicilians in America and the American-led Allied invasion of Sicily in July–August 1943 may have contributed to the sentiment.

Following the Second World War there was also the Italian Unionist Movement, which called for Italy to become the 49th U.S. state.[68] The party was able to elect one member of parliament, Ugo Damiani.[69]

Poland

Poland is staunchly pro-American, dating back to General Tadeusz Kościuszko's and Kazimierz Pułaski leading American revolutionaries, and reinforced following favorable American intervention in World War I (leading to the creation of an independent Poland) and the Cold War (culminating in a Polish state independent of Soviet influence), and contributing a large force in the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq. A quote referring to Poland as "the 51st state" has been attributed to James Pavitt, then CIA Deputy Director for Operations, especially in connection to extraordinary rendition.[70] This prompted Bogdan Klich, then Poland's defence minister to respond angrily that the remark was "unacceptable".[71]

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has sometimes been called the 51st state due to the close and "special" relationship between the two countries which began with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II, and more recently continued during the premierships of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.[72] "Just Another Star" (1988) is a serious attempt to analyse Anglo-American relations.

Related terms have been used in books and film. In Americathon (1979), set in a fictional 1998, Britain (renamed as Limeyland) has become the 57th state, and the logo of the Safeway grocery chain hangs on the Palace of Westminster. In the novel 51st State (1998) by Peter Preston, Britain leaves the European Union and becomes the 51st state of the USA. In The Light of Other Days (2000), a novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, Britain joins the United States, with the Prime Minister serving as governor and the Royal Family exiled to Australia. The British film The 51st State (2001), set in Liverpool, makes fun of Anglo-American relations. The film was released under the title Formula 51 in the United States and Canada, in view of sensitivity to the term "51st state" there.

The term has also been used in music. The 1986 album The Ghost of Cain by the English rock band New Model Army features a track called "51st State", which refers to Britain under Margaret Thatcher who herself proclaimed Britain to be the 51st state of America in one of her speeches [citation needed]. The song "Heartland" on the 1986 album Infected, by the British band The The, ends with the refrain "This is the 51st state of the U.S.A."

On Thursday December 29, 2011, David Aaronovitch in jest, said in The Times that the UK should consider joining the USA, as the British population cannot accept union with Europe and the UK would inevitably decline on its own. He argued that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be four separate states of the USA.[73]


Ireland

After World War II Irish people thought of becoming 51st state of The United States.

Use in other organizational contexts

Frequently, organizations (NGOs, etc.) based primarily in the United States have smaller branches elsewhere. These branches may often be called the group's "51st state."[citation needed]

The Democratic National Committee recognizes each state for electoral purposes; however it also gives Democrats Abroad delegate votes to represent the approximately seven million U.S. citizens living abroad. In the context of the DNC, Democrats Abroad is often considered the "51st state."[citation needed]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Sverige var USAs 51a delstat" "EU kritiserar svensk TV", Journalisten (Swedish)
  2. ^ "An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate". Let Puerto Rico Decide. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  3. ^ Puerto Ricans favor statehood for first time
  4. ^ Puerto Rico’s Political Status and the 2012 Plebiscite: Background and Key Questions
  5. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57546260/puerto-rico-votes-for-u.s-statehood-in-non-binding-referendum/
  6. ^ http://www.ceepur.org/REYDI_NocheDelEvento/index.html#en/default/OPCIONES_NO_TERRITORIALES_ISLA.xml
  7. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Puerto-Rico-vote-could-change-ties-to-U-S-4014733.php
  8. ^ "The Federalist No. 43". Constitution.org. October 18, 1998. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  9. ^ D.C. Statehood: Not Without a Constitutional Amendment, August 27, 1993, The Heritage Foundation.
  10. ^ James, Randy (February 26, 2009). "A Brief History of Washington D.C". Time. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  11. ^ Richards, Mark David (Spring/Summer 2004). "The Debates over the Retrocession of the District of Columbia, 1801–2004" (PDF). Washington History. Historical Society of Washington, D.C. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Guam ponders Northern Marianas reunification". Radio Australia. May 27, 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  13. ^ "Facts about Nationalist Party: place in Philippine history, as discussed in Philippines: The period of U.S. influence:". eb.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  14. ^ a b "A Collaborative Philippine Leadership". U.S. Library of Congress. countrystudies.us. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  15. ^ Marco Garrido (January 29, 2004). "An American president of the Philippines?". Asian Times. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  16. ^ Soberano, Rawlein G. (1976). "The Philippine Statehood Movement: A Resurrected Illusion, 1970–1972". The southeast asian studies. 13 (4): 580–587. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  17. ^ Francisco, Luzviminda (1973). "The First Vietnam: the U.S.-Philippine War of 1899". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 5 (4): 15. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  18. ^ Lawson, Gary (2004). The constitution of empire: territorial expansion and American legal history. Yale University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-300-10231-4. Retrieved December 21, 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)[dead link]
  19. ^ Jim Nach (1979–1980). "The Philippine Statehood Movement of 1971–1972". Cornell University Library. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  20. ^ Guillermo Gomez Rivera (December 10, 2008). "A national language lesson from Puerto Rico". EMANILA. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Footnotes to History- U to Z". Buckyogi.com. January 1, 1994. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  22. ^ "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Texas Dividing into Five States". Snopes.com. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
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