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This was a tough one. We visited informative sites listed in Yahoo!'s U.S. Government category and found information on specific states but no general protocols for U.S. statehood -- neither constitutional amendments nor congressional legislation. Next, we spent quite a while drilling down through acronym-filled pages that we found through Govbot, FedWorld, and usgovsearch -- search engines dedicated to U.S. governmental documents and databases. We were getting pretty frustrated, but we finally discovered a link on Northern Light titled Lesson Five: Politics of Statehood. This simple tutorial on Arizona state history confirmed
our suspicions: Since the U.S. Constitution is relatively silent on how states are created, each state must seek admission into the union based on its own unique situation. The Northern Light search also returned a page from The Progressive Review, a source of "free range journalism" from Washington, D.C.. Editor Sam Smith's Statehood Papers advocate passionately for the creation of more new states to better represent U.S. citizens, especially in densely populated urban areas. A factsheet distills the mechanics of statehood, which "have been invoked 37 times since the first 13 colonies formed their union":
- A territory petitions Congress.
- The dependent area drafts a constitution with
a republican form of government.
- Congress must approve statehood by a simple majority.
- The President must sign the bill.
Alaska's 1958 decision to seek admission to the union as the 49th state was determined by a territorial election. Hawaii's status as the 50th state, admitted in 1959, remains a painful and controversial issue for many islanders who support Hawai'ian sovereignty and independence. The debate on the status of Puerto Rico continues to make news. Although the procedures may
vary, applying for statehood always seems to be an emotionally charged issue.
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