Speech #620163475

This Government holds sovereign power over the Philippine Archipelago. and the title to the public lands in the archipelago is in the United States. Those islands were rescued from Sanish oppression by American valor. by the shedding of American blood. The Constitution of the United States declares that every person born within the United States or naturalized therein is a citizen of the United States and a citizen of the State where he resides. Territory within the jurisdiction of this Government is a State within the citizenship provision of the Constitution. and a citizen of the United States is a citizen of the islands under the flag while he resides in the islands. It is to me an absurd proposition to say that even the soldiers who fought under the flag in conquering Spanish authority in the archipelago do not possess the poor privilege of becoming residents of the islands and of taking up homesteads of 40 acres of land. on condition that they shall improve. cultivate. and live on the lands for five years. and upon the further condition that they shall not sell or encumber their holdings during that period.