Colonial Status Quotes

I can never suppose this country so far lost to all ideas of self-importance as to be willing to grant America independence; if that could ever be adopted I shall despair of this country being ever preserved from a state of inferiority and consequently falling into a very low class among the European States.

Puerto Rico is complicated. The people are complicated. The history is complicated. The story of the United States' relationship to Puerto Rico is complicated.

We are a possession of the United States. Congress has full authorization power over Puerto Rico.

In Puerto Rico, we continue to see the perpetuation of second-class citizenship in the United States.

Internal self-government under a local constitution was authorized by Congress and approved by the residents in 1952, but federal law is supreme in Puerto Rico and residents do not have voting representation in the Congress.

The citizens of Puerto Rico pay taxes with no representation every day, because Puerto Rico is not a state. And the rules only became more confusing the more I looked into them during my time there.

Yet, Puerto Rico's economic convergence and political integration with the rest of the nation is in a state of arrest - even though the island has been within the national borders, political system and customs territory of the U.S. for a century.

Without question, so many people, throughout my life, never think of Puerto Rico as part of the United States.

I'm always talking about the issue of Puerto Rico.I also spoke about it on the Senate floor, and I think it should be given the importance, the priority it deserves.

On you, it primarily rests whether Ireland shall remain an integral portion of a great empire, sharing in its glory … or whether … Ireland shall become the focus and the center of foreign intrigue and deadly conspiracy.