When the IRS defines “the citizen of the United States” it is very clear that Congress is exercising Power that was delegated to them:
"The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States..." U.S. Const. art. IV, § 3, cl. 2.
And those “Rules and Regulations apply to the following:
Puerto Rico, acquired
from Spain, December 10, 1898
Virgin Islands, bought from Denmark, August 4, 1916
Guam, acquired from Spain, December 10, 1898
American Samoa, acquired by tripartite treaty with Germany
and Great Britain, December 2, 1899
Canal Zone, acquired by treaty with Panama, November 18, 1903
Philippine Islands, ceded by Spain, December 10, 1898
The above
mentioned article is in unambiguous language, it does not mention statutes. However, the statutes are also clear that a “citizen of the United States” in Chapter 2, 21, and 23 will direct the reader, by omission, to the regulations.
U.S. Code, Title 26, Subtitle A, Chapter 2, § 1402(b)(2)
An individual who is not a citizen
of the United States but who is a resident of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa shall not, for purposes of this chapter be considered to be a nonresident alien individual.
U.S. Code, Title 26, Subtitle C, Chapter 21, Subchapter C, § 3121(e)
An individual who is a citizen of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (but not otherwise a citizen of the United States) shall be considered, for purposes of this section, as a citizen of the United States.
U.S. Code, Title 26, Subtitle C, Chapter 23, §3306(j)
An individual who is a citizen of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands (but not otherwise a
citizen of the United States) shall be considered, for purposes of this section, as a citizen of the United States.
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions directly overseen by the United States federal government (unlike U.S. states, which share sovereignty with the federal government). The five major territories are self-governing with locally elected governors
and territorial legislatures. Each also elects a non-voting delegate (or resident commissioner) to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Territories of the United States do not participate in political power; they do not share in the government until if and when it becomes a state.
Below are the states listed as they came in pursuant to Article IV,
Section 3, Clause 1, of the Constitution, which provides that:
"New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed … by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress."
Fifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia signed the United States Declaration of Independence, a proclamation asserting that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire, and 37 states have been duly admitted into the Union on equal footing with the original thirteen states, in all respect whatsoever.
Rank State Admission Date
1 Delaware December 7, 1787
2 Pennsylvania December 12, 1787
3 New Jersey December 18, 1787
4 Georgia January 2,
1788
5 Connecticut January 9, 1788
6 Massachusetts February 6, 1788
7 Maryland April 28, 1788
8 South Carolina May 23, 1788
9 New Hampshire
June 21, 1788
10 Virginia June 25, 1788
11 New York July 26, 1788
12 North Carolina November 21, 1789
13 Rhode Island May 29, 1790
14
Vermont March 4, 1791
15 Kentucky June 1, 1792
16 Tennessee June 1, 1796
17 Ohio March 1, 1803
18 Louisiana April 30, 1812
19 Indiana
December 11, 1816
20 Mississippi December 10, 1817
21 Illinois December 3, 1818
22 Alabama December 14, 1819
23 Maine March 15, 1820
24
Missouri August 10, 1821
25 Arkansas June 15, 1836
26 Michigan Jan 26, 1837
27 Florida March 3, 1845
28 Texas December 29, 1845
29 Iowa
December 28, 1846
30 Wisconsin May 29, 1848
31 California September 9, 1850
32 Minnesota May 11, 1858
33 Oregon February 14, 1859
34 Kansas
January 29, 1861
35 West Virginia June 20, 1863
36 Nevada October 31, 1864
37 Nebraska March 1, 1867
38 Colorado August 1, 1876
39 North
Dakota November 2, 1889
40 South Dakota November 2, 1889
41 Montana November 8, 1889
42 Washington November 11, 1889
43 Idaho July 3, 1890
44 Wyoming July 10, 1890
45 Utah January 4, 1896
46 Oklahoma November 16, 1907
47 New Mexico January 6, 1912
48 Arizona February 14, 1912
49 Alaska January 3, 1959
50 Hawaii August 21, 1959
Important to note that Alaska and Hawaii when admitted to Statehood they were removed from the classification of territory see the attached.
