repeats itself that for ten years before the Continental Congress met
in 1774, the British and Americans alike, with some few exceptions,
discussed the question of the relationship between Great Britain and
the American Colonies as one arising from the extension of the
Constitution of the State of Great Britain over America, just as for
the past eight years Americans, Porto Ricans and Filipinos alike,
have, with few exceptions, discussed the question of the relationship
between us and our Insular brethren as one arising from the extension
of the Constitution of the United States over these regions. It was
not until the Continental Congress had discussed the matter for two
years that this theory was definitely abandoned and the rights of the
Americans based upon the principles which our Revolutionary Fathers
considered to be just. We have not yet attained to this broader view.
At the present time the doctrine of the Supreme Court, and therefore
of the Government, is that all acts of the American Government in the
annexed insular, transmarine and transterranean regions, are acts of
absolute power, when directed toward communities, though tempered by
"fundamental principles formulated in the Constitution" or by "the
applicable provisions of the Constitution," when directed toward
individuals.

I shall ask the reader to follow me in trying to find out exactly what
this broader view of the Revolutionary Fathers was and to adjudge, on
the considerations presented, whether they did not discover the _via
media_ between the theory of the right of a State to govern absolutely
its annexed insular, transmarine and transterranean regions and the
right of a State to extend its Constitution over these regions,--regions
which, it is to be remembered, can never, from their local and other
circumstances, participate on equal terms in the institution or
operation of the Government of the State.