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Originally Posted by Kadath
See Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Nothern Mariana Islands.
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You forgot the Philippines. Ooops. Scratch that.
I'm unaware of any significant independence movements by any of the places you mentioned, particularly Puerto Rico.
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Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony for four centuries, with early military preoccupations replaced by agricultural and economic concerns by the 19th century. Puerto Rico was formally ceded to the United States on 10 December 1898 as part of the Treaty of Paris, which was signed at the close of the Spanish-American War. At first, the islanders were Puerto Rican citizens under American rule. In 1917 they were granted United States citizenship. Neither a state nor territory, Puerto Rico has a unique status as a Commonwealth of the United States.
Although Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States and have most of the rights, privileges and obligations of other citizens, they do not vote in national elections. Instead, they are represented in Congress by a Resident Commissioner who has a voice but no vote. Federal income taxes are not collected from residents, but because of its commonwealth status, Puerto Rico is eligible for many federal programs.
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Yeah, Puerto Ricans are really howling to give up THAT deal.