Puerto Rico’s Tennessee Plan
Introduction On July 10th, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló announced three new appointments to the newly formed Democracy Commission. Those three appointees join four others who were appointed earlier this year. The commission is tasked with lobbying Congress to approve Puerto Rico’s request for statehood. Puerto Rico’s latest push for statehood resembles the strategy Tennessee used in 1795 to become a state, known as the Tennessee Plan. But what exactly is the Tennessee Plan and how could it help Puerto Rico achieve statehood? What is the Tennessee Plan? The Tennessee Plan refers to the strategy that Tennessee used in 1795 to gain membership into the Union. The territory of Tennessee, then known as the Southwest Territory, was under the jurisdiction of North Carolina from 1777-1788. In 1789, North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution and ceded its Tennessee territory to the federal government. The territory was governed under the Northwest Ordinance, whic...
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