documents involved, the procedure followed for their approval, the understanding of the parties, and the historical circumstances which led to their adoption.

The terms of Public Law 600 alone suffice to show that both parties intended to form a binding instrument. Congress "fully" recognizes in it "the principle of government by consent" and the act is adopted “in the nature of a compact." The plain dictionary meaning of the term "compact" itself leaves no room for construction. A "compact," as defined in Webster's International Dictionary, is "an agreement between parties, a covenant, a contract." It is "a contract between parties, which creates obligations and rights capable of being enforced, and contemplated as such between the parties, in their distinct and independent characters," adds Bouvier's Law Dictionary, third revision, "citing Story on the Constitution," b.3, c.3. It can hardly be claimed that no enforcible rights and obligations were created by this compact and that, while one of the parties was bound, the other was entirely free to disregard it at will. It is indeed a "gross heresy, as remarked by Hamilton in The Federalist, No. 22, while addressing himself to the doctrine that a parliament cannot bind later parliaments, "to maintain that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact." 1

"

The distinction might be attempted that Public Law 600 was enacted "in the nature of a compact" and not as a true compact. It is indeed a strange argument, and one that does little honor to the parties, to say that this great document, so proudly proclaimed to the world, was meant just to resemble an agreement, but really not to be one. The explanation of the phrase "in the nature of a compact" is much simpler. Public Law 600, which of course was enacted in the first instance as a statute of Congress, was drafted in terms of an offer to the people of Puerto Rico, an offer to make a compact. Upon acceptance of this offer oy the people of Puerto Rico in the referendum of June 4, 1951, the compact was then perfected and was properly so referred to by the parties from then on. It is thus that in article I, section 1, of the constitution of the Commonwealth it is provided: "The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is hereby constituted. Its political power emanates from the people and shall be exercised in accordance with their will, within the terms of the compact agreed upon between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States of America." [Emphasis supplied.]

The Commonwealth constitution was the subject of the consideration of the Congress. In ratifying the constitution, Congress proposed the elimination of one section and the modification of two others. No change was proposed in article I, section 1, and as so approved by the Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico it was ratified by the Congress of the United States. Congress itself made the matter absolutely clear in Public Law 447, 82d Congress, by which the Commonwealth constitution was ratified. In Public Law 447, 82d Congress, Congress declared Public Law 600 to have been adopted "as a compact with the people of Puerto Rico to become operative upon its approval by the people of Puerto Rico." The procedure followed in the approval of the compact brings out the solemnity of this historic undertaking and further emphasizes the consensual nature of the instrument. Public Law 600 did not become applicable of its own terms, but was made subject to its acceptance or rejection by the people of Puerto Rico at a referendum to be held in accordance with the laws of Puerto Rico. The complete' terms of the compact were printed inthe ballot and the islandwide referendum was held on June 4, 1951. Upon acceptance of the compact by a vote of 387,016 to 119,169, a special election was held on August 27, 1951, for choosing delegates to the constitutional convention. The constitution was approved by the convention on February 4, 1952, after several months of debate. On March 3, 1952, another referendum was held for the acceptance or rejection of the constitution. The constitution was accepted by the people by an overwhelming vote. The acceptance of the constitution was officially proclaimed by the Governor, who then transmitted it to the President of the United States. The President of the United States found the constitution to conform with the applicable provisions of Public Law 600 and of the Constitution of the United States and accordingly transmitted it, pursuant to the terms of the compact, to the Congress of the United States. The Congress ratified the constitution on July 3, 1952, subject to a set of conditions.

1 Hamilton pointed out that the doctrine had, however, respectable advocates and he accordingly suggested that the foundations of the national government be laid upon the consent of the people, instead of upon just delegated authority. "The fabric of American empire," he wrote, "ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority." This is precisely what was done in the compact between the United States and the people of Puerto Rico and herein lies the significance of the formal recognition in the compact of the principle of government by consent. It can rightly be said that after the establishment of the Commonwealth, the true source of U.S. jurisdiction in Puerto Rico lies, better than in the treaty of cession from Spain, in the consent given to the present relationship by the people of Puerto Rico at the polls.

Note in this respect that the Congress did not enact these changes, but that, in keeping with its full recognition of the principle of government by consent, the changes were submitted to the consideration of the people of Puerto Rico. The constitutional convention met again and accepted the conditions of approval, whereupon the constitution became effective and the Commonwealth was established on July 25, 1952. Pursuant to the conditions of approval proposed by Congress and accepted by the constitutional convention, two amendments to the constitution were later submitted to the people at the general elections held on November of 1952 and were again adopted.

Four separate times did the people of Puerto Rico go to the polls to execute the compact. Could it be maintained that this elaborate procedure, so faithfully patterned upon the procedure followed for the admission of new States to the Union, was chosen just to give the semblance of agreement to something which made no change in the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico and which left unimpaired all previous powers of unilateral decision by the Conress? As stated by the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in answering the contention that the constitution of the Commonwealth is just another organic act of the Congress, "We find no reason to impute to the Congress the perpetration of such a monumental hoax." Figueroa v. People of Puerto Rico (232 F. 2d 615, 620 (1st Cir. 1956)).

The historical circumstances leading to the adoption of the compact and the understanding of the parties of the meaning and significance of their action leave no doubt about the nature of the new relationship.

B. Antecedents of the compact

Public Law 600, embodying the compact between the Government of the United States and the people of Puerto Rico, is the result of a long historical process. The full recognition of the principle of government by consent and the achievement of complete self-government in local matters under a bilateral relationship was for many years the aspiration of political majorities in Puerto Rico. At the end of the last century, the Autonomist Party of Puerto Rico had actually obtained from Spain the approval of a charter in which the principle of a compact was clearly acknowledged. Additional article 2 of the Charter of Autonomy of 1897 reads as follows:

"When the present Constitution shall be once approved by the Cortes of the Kingdom for the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, it shall not be amended except by virtue of a special law and upon the petition of the insular Parliament."

After the change of sovereignty, the ideals of self-government represented by the Charter of Autonomy found expression in the platform of the Union de Puerto Rico, which was the majority party in the island from 1904 to 1924. In its program of February 11, 1922, the Union actually proposed the creation of the Free Associated State of Puerto Rico, although along lines different from the present Commonwealth status, as the proposal, for example, did not contemplate the adoption by the people of Puerto Rico of their own constitution.

The proposal that Puerto Rico should govern itself in local matters under a constitution of its own making was, however, formally made by the Alianza de Puerto Rico, the successor body to the Union, in its program of August 26, 1928. The Alianza was also the first party to request on April 2, 1928, from the President and the Congress of the United States that no changes be made in the organic legislation governing the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico without the consent of the people of Puerto Rico. Pagán, B.: 1 Historia de los Partidos Politicos Puertoriqueños, 304 (1959).

The political literature of the twenties in Puerto Rico is rich in suggestions for the development of Puerto Rico as a locally self-governing community associated with the United States under terms of compact. See: Soto, J. B.: Puerto Rico ante el Derecho de Gentes (1928); Tous, J.: El Status Politico de Puerto Rico, Ponce, n. d., 137 p.

Some of these ideas, in modified form, were adopted by the Committee appointed in 1943 by President Roosevelt to recommend changes to the Organic Act. The bill embodying these recommendations was not acted upon by the Congress, as was also the case with the Tydings-Pinero bill, S. 227, 78th Congress, 1st session, 1945, which contemplated, as one of the alternatives to be offered to the people of Puerto Rico for the solution of its problem of status, the establishment of a relationship which could not be changed except by mutual covenant and the adoption by the people of Puerto Rico of its own constitution.

The immediate precedent for Public Law 600 was an article by Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín, then President of the Puerto Rican Senate, which appeared on

June 28 and 29, 1946, in El Mundo. It was proposed there that the relationships between th United States and Puerto Rico should be based on a compact which, in the words of the Northwest Ordinance, cited in the article, was "forever to remain unalterable except by common consent." As a part of this compact, the people of Puerto Rico were to adopt their own constitution to rule their internal affairs.

The substance of this article was carried over into the 1948 program of the Popular Democratic Party and then translated into the provisions of H.R. 7674 and S. 3336 of the 81st Congress, 2d session, which became Public Law 600. C. The contemporary understanding

The legislative history of Public Law 600 proper, although perhaps unclear in some respects, leaves no doubt that it was the intention of the parties to do away with all possible remaining connotations of colonialism and to confirm full selfgoverning powers on local matters to the people of Puerto Rico. This clear expression is certainly incompatible with any remaining power in Congress unilaterally to change the relationship. The Senate report on S. 3336 states:

"This measure is designed to complete the full measure of local self-government in the island by enabling the 24 million American citizens there to express their will and to create their own territorial government * * *

"Thus, in the only Latin-American area under the American flag, which is a focal point or inter-American relations, the present measure would give rurther concrete expression to our fundamental principles of government of, by, and for the people. It is a logical step in the process of political freedom and economic development that was begun even in the days of our military occupation of the island at the end of the last century" (S. Řept. No. 1779, 81st Cong., 2d sess. (1950)).

The House report stated that the bill would "fulfill in a most exemplary fashion our obligations with respect to Puerto Rico under chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations." H. Rept. No. 2275, 81st Cong., 2d sess. (1950).

As the U.S. Court of Appeals subsequently stated in Figueroa v. People of Puerto Rico, supra:

"Public Law 600 offered to the people of Puerto Rico a 'compact' under which, if the people accepted it, as they did, they were authorized to 'organize a government pursuant to a constitution of their own adoption.'

Public Law 600 was an offer to the people of Puerto Rico to organize their own government in the manner specified in the bill. According to Public Law 600, this was to be "a government [organized] pursuant to a constitution of their own adoption," to function in conformity with the terms of relationship specified in Public Law 600 as the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act and the applicable provisions of the Constitution of the United States. (See sec. 3, Public Law 600.) Public Law 600 was not merely a delegation of power by Congress to a local government. The previous organic acts were legislation of this character. They authorized the establishment of a local legislature and local government with internal governmental powers. They were, however, governments organized and created by the Congress, not by the people of Puerto Rico. They represented the exercise by Congress of its sovereign power. They were not, nor did they pretend to be, acts authorizing the people of Puerto Rico to organize their own government. They were not submitted to the people of Puerto Rico for acceptance or rejection, they were not styled as "compacts"; and the local government was the creation of the Congress, not of the people of Puerto Rico.

In contrast, under Public Law 600, the government of the people of Puerto Rico was organized by them, as the law provided. As the preamble to their constitution recites, they "created" their government within their union with the United States; and they did so "in the exercise of their natural rights." The Commonwealth (Estado Libre Associado) that they organized, the constitution proclaimed, derives "its political power ***trom the people" (art. 1, sec. 1). As we hereafter discuss, this recital, along with the constitution as a whole, was submitted to and approved by the President and the Congress without change in or objection to the quoted statements.

The effect of Public Law 600 was not merely another but somewhat different kind of delegation of power, as in the prior organic acts, enabling the people to exercise local governmental powers by sufferance. It was a true liberation of the people of Puerto Rico to exercise their "natural" or sovereign powers in accordance with their agreement with the Federal Union. As the court of appeals stated in the Figueroa case, sup, a:

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"The answer to appellant's contention is that the constitution of the Commonwealth is not just another organic act of the Congress. We find no reason to impute to the Congress the perpetration of such a monumental hoax."

While the hearings on Public Law 600 do not caretully consider the legal effect of the compact, we believe that it is clear that the attention of the participants was focused upon the unprecedented authorization to the people of a territory to assume or reassume sovereign powers to organize their own government without moving toward independence or statehood. We further submit that it was recognized that the proposal involved terminating Puerto Rico's status as a territory or possession, and giving it "a peculiar status under the Constitution of the United States, and by an act of Congress, it being neither a state nor a possession." (Statement of the chairman of the House committee, Mr. Lemke. Hearings before the Committee on Public Lands, House of Representatives, 81st Cong. on H.R. 7674 and S. 3336, serial No. 35 [1950], pp. 19-20.)

The whole burden of these hearings, as well as those held by the Committee on Public Lands of the House of Representatives on July 12, 1949 (hearings before the Committee on Public Lands, House of Representatives on H.R. 7674 and S. 3336, serial No. 35 (1950)), well before presentation of the bills, is to the effect that a new kind of a status was being created, different from that of statehood or independence, but not less in dignity. Some time prior to the enactment of Public Law 600, the court of appeals for the first circuit had in fact indicated in Ruiz Alicea v. United States, 180 F. 2d 870 (1st Cir. 1950), that the Constitution of the United States did not preclude the possibility of creating new types of relationship with the Federal Government beyond the familiar state and territorial

norms.2

As the constitutional process unfolds after enactment of Public Law 600, the understanding of the parties about the binding nature of the compact becomes even more evident.

On the eve of the referendum on Public Law 600, June 3, 1951, the Governor of Puerto Rico stated in his closing radio speech his understanding of the compact, on the basis of which understanding he formally asked the people of Puerto Rico to vote for acceptance of the act. He stated: "The relationship from now on between the United States and Puerto Rico are derived from a compact freely agreed upon between our two peoples * * *. Such Federal relations may only be modified by mutual consent." Such understanding had been embodied in the actual program of the Popular Democratic Party, adopted in August 1951, for the election of members to the constitutional convention.

The debates of the constitutional convention in Puerto Rico abound in charges by a few of the members that no actual compact had been entered into, that Public Law 600 stated only that it was adopted "in the nature of a compact,' that Puerto Rico still remained a possession of the United States, and that any political authority held by the people of Puerto Rico derived from Congress and was subject to the plenary power of Congress. These debates furnish the background to the drafting of the preamble and of article I, section 1, of the constitution of the Commonwealth, which were meant to be the answer to these charges, as more fully shown by the report of the committee on the preamble. (See records of the convention, Diario de Sesiones, 458 et seq., 84 et seq.)

The preamble, together with article I, section 1, makes clear that the Commonwealth was created as the free and sovereign act of the people of Puerto Rico.. Puerto Rico as a body politic under the former organic acts was the creature of the Congress; its powers were powers delegated by the Congress. Article I, section 1, of the Commonwealth constitution, however, now provides that the political power of the people of Puerto Rico "emanates from the people and shall be exercised in accordance with their will, within the terms of the compact agreed upon between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States of America."

Resolution No. 23 of the constitutional convention is also of great importance in determining the understanding of the parties as to the nature of the new relationship. Resolution No. 23 reads, in part:

"(a) This Convention deems that the Constitution as approved fulfills the mission assigned it by the people of Puerto Rico.

2 The court in Ruiz Alicea stated: "Evolution in the direction of greater local autonomy is evident in the amendment of the organic act by the act of August 5, 1947 (60 Stat. 770, 48 U.S.C.A. secs. 737, 771-772, 775, 793b, 797), under which the people of Puerto Rico were given the right to choose their own Governor by popular suffrage-a right never before accorded to a territory of the United States. There is no reason to suppose that the evolutionary process is now at an end. Certainly nothing in the development to date would preclude the possibility of ultimate statehood. On the other hand, perhaps Puerto Rico will eventually achieve some unique status under the American flag more satisfactory to its people than statehood.'

"(b) When this Constitution takes effect, the people of Puerto Rico shall thereupon be organized in a Commonwealth established within the terms of the compact entered into by mutual consent, which is the basis of our union with the United States of America.

"(c) The political authority of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be exercised in accordance with its Constitution and within the terms of said compact. "(d) Thus, we attain the goal of complete self-government, the last vestiges of colonialism having disappeared in the principle of Compact, and we enter into an era of new developments in democratic civilization. Nothing can surpass in political dignity the principle of mutual consent and of compacts freely agreed upon. The spirit of the people of Puerto Rico is free for great undertakings now and in the future. Having full political dignity, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may develop in other ways by modifications of the Compact through mutual consent.

"(e) The people of Puerto Rico reserve the right to propose and to accept modifications in the terms of its relations with the United States of America, in order that these relations may at all times be the expression of an agreement freely entered into between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States of America" (1 Laws of Puerto Rico Anno. p. 130).

The emphasis on mutual consent as the basis of the new relationships between the United States and Puerto Rico is also to be found in the President's message to Congress, transmitting the recently adopted constitution. President Truman stated:

"Through the act of July 3, 1950, providing for the establishment of a constitutional government in Puerto Rico, the United States gives evidence once more of ts adherence to the principle of self-determination and its devotion to the ideals of freedom and democracy. The people of Puerto Rico have accepted the law as enacted by the Congress. They have complied with its requirements and have submitted their constitution for the approval of the Congress. With its approval, full authority and responsibility for local self-government will be vested in the people of Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will be a government which is truly by the consent of the governed. No government can be invested with a higher dignity and greater worth than one based upon the principle of consent.

"The people of the United States and the people of Puerto Rico are entering into a new relationship that will serve as an inspiration to all who love freedom and hate tyranny. We are giving new substance to man's hope for a world with liberty and equality under law. Those who truly love freedom know that the right relationship between a government and its people is one based on mutual consent and esteem.

"The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a proud document that embodies the best of our democratic heritage. I recommend its early approval by the Congress" (H. Doc. 435, 82d Cong., 2d sess. p. 9).

Upon transmission of the Constitution to the Congress, hearings were held at which the Governor of Puerto Rico again testified (hearings before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the U.S. Senate, 82d Cong., 2d sess., on S.J. Res. 151, April 29, 1952). He stressed that the last juridical vestiges of colonialism had been abolished in the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico by the principle of consent based on free agreement. He stated (id. at 12-13): "As representatives of the U.S. Congress and of the Puerto Rican people, when this process is completed we can proclaim to all our fellow citizens, to the American Hemisphere and to the world that the last juridical vestiges of colonialism have been abolished in the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico. It is a joint job of which we can all feel deeply proud. Although colonial status has been in practice gradually disappearing there has been lacking the basic moral element of freedom, which is consent based on free agreement. Kindness, or even justice, unilaterally bestowed, may denote an anticolonialistic spirit, but it does not finally and decisively create an anticolonial status. The principle of compact contained in law 600, specifically and in fact required approval by the Puerto Rican people, fully wipes out that moral lack. As we see it, we are not engaged in taking ‘another step in self-government' this is self-government. I do not say that the details of our relationship cannot be improved, from both the point of view of the American Union and that of Puerto Rico; but the principle that such relationship, however it may change, is one of free agreement, makes the step we are taking the definite one in self-government. Of this, I say, we can all feel very proud indeed.