From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 22-Jun-14 17:58, Nobody wrote:   
   > On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 21:28:25 +0000 (UTC), John Levine   
   >  wrote:   
   >> American Samoa is part of the US.  People from AS are US nationals   
   >> rather than citizens, but it's a pretty minor difference.  They get   
   >> US passports and can live and work in the US.  Its largest employer   
   >> other than the government is the Starkist tuna cannery.   
   >   
   > But of the American territories, residents of American Samoa are the   
   > only ones not citizens -- a distinction not visited upon Puerto   
   > Ricans, Guamians (?!), or US Virgin Islanders...   
   >   
   > I would propose that as US Nationals, not being allowed to vote or   
   > hold public office within the 50 states/DC is a tad more than just a   
   > "pretty minor difference"?   
      
   Nit: non-citizen nationals.  (All citizens are also nationals.)   
      
   That status currently only applies to those who acquire US nationality   
   via American Samoa, Swains Island or the US Minor Outlying Islands; it   
   formerly applied to Guam until 1950, the Philippines until 1935, Puerto   
   Rico until 1917, and the US Virgin Islands until 1927.   
      
   Anyone born in the US is a US national.  Those born _in a State_ get US   
   citizenship as well.  Those not born in a State may get citizenship as   
   well if an Act of Congress specifically grants it to them, but it   
   doesn't happen by default like nationality does.  (Those born outside   
   the US to a US citizen or non-citizen national also inherit the same   
   status by law, with certain exceptions.)   
      
   > American Samoans elect a delegate to your Congress, but that person   
   > cannot vote in the business of the House of Representatives AIUI.   
      
   That has nothing to do with their status as non-citizen nationals; it is   
   because the Constitution only allows Representatives and Senators for   
   States, not territories or other possessions.  For instance, DC also   
   only has a "delegate", and it's filled with citizens.   
      
   If American Samoa wanted to get real representation in Congress, all   
   they'd have to do is hold a referendum on statehood.  Puerto Rico does   
   so every few years--and it is soundly defeated each time.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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