Knowing that most of the states on the mainland were once territories. Could someday soon one of these current territories become the 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, and/or 55th state of the union?
I heard Puerto Rico came closer than ever to becoming the 51st state, but would this happen in our lifetimes?
The District of Columbia is also an U.S. territory.
Why do American Samoa citizens not get auto-recognition as U.S. citizens?
>>56120505
Of those, only Puerto Rico has a large enough population to become a state.
>>56120835
No it isn't. It's a federal district.
>>56121002
Why is population a requirement for statehood?
Puerto Rico is the only one that could happen, the rest don't have enough people. All the rest combined (357,165 people) have a lower population than Wyoming (563,767), the least populous state. Puerto Rico has 3,726,157 people, perfectly fine for a state. DC has 601,767 people, so I think it could become a state too.
>>56121057
Basically ~590,000 or more, which is the population of Wyoming.
Guam ~ 165,000
Virgin Islands ~105,000
NMI ~54,000
American Samoa ~55,000
>>56121137
What happens if Wyoming dips well below 590,000? Will they continue being a state or will there be much debate in congress over rather or not to revoke their statehood? And is Wyoming really the state with the least population?
>>56121203
>What happens if Wyoming dips well below 590,000?
They won't.
>And is Wyoming really the state with the least population?
Mountains, everywhere.
>>56121227
What about North Dakota? Surely they have to have a smaller population than Wyoming.
>>56121203
They don't take away statehood. A shrinking Wyoming would just change the allocation of House Representatives every 10 years. The same is true for any state that grows or shrinks in population, but the lowest population state(s) is/are the baseline because they each get 1 Rep.
>>56121203
Even if a Plague wipes Wyoming out, it as a sovereign entity cannot be dissolved/"demoted". Besides, we have the precedent established by the civil war that a state can't leave even if it wanted to.
>>56121240
Just go on fucking Wikipedia. You're asking a question that can be instantly verified with no effort.
>>56121240
Almost. North Dakota has a population of 740,000. Fun fact, Nevada was the smallest before Vegas came along.
>>56121265
I thought Texas can leave if they so desired.
>>56121301
Not really, though it's probably the only state with the balls to. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/11/texas_secession_how_the_lone_star_state_could_mess_with_the_rest_of_us.html
>>56121301
No, that's a popular myth.
>>56121301
That's just a meme mostly. Then again, with liberals running the show Texas could probably get away with it.
>>56121343
Could Texan secession spark another civil war?
