American Samoa, one of the 17 U.S. Overseas Territories, is a population of Americans who are not U.S. citizens due to the complex administrative divisions of the United States. To put it mildly, it is a second-class citizen of the United States.
Flag bearer of the Delegation of American Samoa
As we all know, the United States is a federal state, the so-called "federalism" is "everyone lives together", the first-level administrative unit of the United States is the state (State), the United States has 50 states, each state in addition to the national affairs to listen to the federal government and the Constitution, the rest are their own decisions, there is a considerable degree of autonomy. Police uniforms vary from state to state, and laws vary, for example, in the United States, some states require alcohol to be over 21 years old, and some states even stipulate that alcohol can be drunk at least 14 years old.
The United States has 50 states, 1 special administrative region, and 17 overseas territories
From a legal point of view, the governors and presidents of the United States are on an equal footing, not a relationship between the upper and lower levels, which is why when Trump was in office, the governor of New York directly confronted him and scolded him, completely without fear. Because the U.S. Constitution states that the governor is only accountable to the voters of the state, not to the federal government, to put it bluntly, the governor is just a jurisdiction that is not as big as your president.
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But the Overseas Territory is completely different, not belonging to any of the U.S. states, but directly subordinate to the federal government, much like Washington, D.C., but at a much lower level. The Overseas Territories of the United States are divided into two types, one is the formed territory (that is, it can form an autonomous government and manage its own affairs), such as Puerto Rico; One is unorganized territories (i.e., proper colonies administered by governors sent by the federal government), such as American Samoa.
Puerto Ricans
American Samoa is a strange existence, because it was not fought down by the Americans, but deceived by the United States, and the reason why it is called American Samoa is because there is also an independent Republic of Samoa, and the Americans deceive the world and even the territory, which is really disrespectful and disrespectful.
Flag of American Samoa
American Samoa is part of the Samoa Islands, is a small place, about 200 square kilometers, the population is only more than 46,000, every American Samoa is dreaming of the United States mainland, to be a real American. Born in American Samoa, he is considered An American, but not entirely American, and because he has no citizenship rights, he is defined by the United Nations as a "colony".
Samoa is located in the South Pacific Ocean
The Samoans are a polynesian tribe and usually have nothing else to do, either fishing or farming. Legend has it that samoa is rich in bread trees, and spending an hour planting 10 bread trees is enough for you to eat for a lifetime. The place was first discovered by the Dutch in the 18th century, and Samoa began as a transit point for the navies of various Western countries, providing food and drink, doing a small business, and living like this.
The flesh of the fruit of the breadfruit tree tastes like bread
In 1776, the thirteen states of British North America became independent, and by 1783, when the British withdrew, the United States was born. As soon as the United States was born, with greed in its bones, it began to expand rapidly, like a fat man who did not have enough to eat, and soon expanded from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast, in the process, the Indians in North America shrank from 30 million to 3 million, the United States is still not satisfied, and then to expand it has to go overseas, so the United States has its eyes on many islands in the Pacific.
A white American woman dressed as an Indian
In 1865, the American Civil War ended and the northern bourgeoisie won, and the United States began to embark on the road of imperialism. At that time, the world was basically divided up by the European powers, and for the newborn United States, it was unrealistic to go to the Atlantic Ocean to confront Britain and France, so the vast, ownerless Pacific Ocean became the favorite of the Americans.
The Americans were looking at the globe, searching for the last colony
To this day, the United States has always raised the "Asia-Pacific Strategy" very high, in addition to wanting to control the Pacific, is to curb the rise of China and Russia, the Americans have a deep "Pacific complex." The Pacific territories of Hawaii, Samoa, Guam, and so on are all fulcrums and keys for the United States to control the Pacific.
American Samoa
Samoa is a very primitive society, there are four chiefs on the island, are co-lords, in 1866 the British colonists directly supported the son of one of the old chiefs as the new leader, which caused the dissatisfaction of other chiefs. At the same time, like the United States, Germany was just reunified, very young, with no colonies, and both sides were invariably eyeing Samoa, which had not yet been annexed.
A cartoon ridiculing Roosevelt's stick policy
But the U.S. government is not interested in tiny Samoa, they are busy expanding into South America, but some private companies can't sit still, they see Samoa's hidden business opportunities. In 1872, an American shipyard owner and many land investors partnered with a company and began to lobby the U.S. government to interfere in the politics of Samoa, saying that Samoa is a good place, as long as it is taken, it can choke the necks of Australia and New Zealand, and even in time, the Pacific Ocean will belong to us in the United States.
U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
At that time, there was a U.S. Navy captain Mead, who heard the news, immediately ran to Samoa, and without saying anything to anyone, signed a treaty with the local chief, saying that the Americans were coming, and the blue sky was there. Samoa was struggling with Germany and Britain, and when it heard that the Americans were coming to protect itself, it immediately agreed. In this way, Mead took Samoa without the knowledge of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. government.
Samoa beauty
The news spread back to the United States, although the president is very happy, but the Congress is not willing to allocate funds to support the United States government to turn Samoa into a colony, here is to insert a sentence, the United States financial power in the hands of Congress, the United States Congress has always been very conservative, and the president always contradicted, when Bush Jr. persuaded the United States Congress to allocate funds to invade Iraq, but it took the old nose.
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Congress did not support it, and the president could not do it, so then-US President Grant sent a confidant of his own, Steinberg, to Samoa. Although this Steinberg was a "minister of Chincha", he had no organization and no salary, and he went to Samoa not for the United States at all, but to make money for himself, but to make money, he first had to turn Samoa into the United States.
Steinberg, the first Prime Minister of Samoa
Steinberg is indeed a capable man, in order to make money, he actually established a modern government in the primitive Samoa, and also set up a parliament, and most importantly, he successfully made the Germans abandon Samoa through three inches of uncorrupted tongue, and attracted a lot of investment from Europe. The king of Samoa felt, eh, you Americans can, you can, so although Steinberg did not turn Samoa into the United States, in 1875 he became the first prime minister of the kingdom of Samoa.
American Hollywood movie star Dwayne Johnson is a Samoan
Steinberg's mood is estimated to be very similar to the undercover in "Infernal Affairs", Asir, I will become the boss without closing the net. Every day, he hoped that the U.S. government would swallow Samoa directly, but he couldn't wait. The most interesting thing came, at that time, the largest company in Samoa was opened by the Germans, mainly to sell coconut oil and dried coconuts to Europe, Steinberg made an agreement with the Germans, 2 dollars per ton of coconut, he soon became rich and oily, and lived the dream life.
But Steinberg and the Germans got too close, causing the dissatisfaction of the local British, the British went to the Americans to complain, the United States pressed the King of Samoa to fire Steinberg, and as a result, the Samoans looked at it, oh, such a capable prime minister, how can he be fired? Parliament deposed the king and Samoa became a republic.
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Because of Steinberg's ability, the Samoans developed a favorable interest in the Americans, and in 1877 they took the initiative to ask the United States to annex themselves, which was rejected by the United States Congress. But at that time, the Pacific Ocean was also divided, Germany annexed the Marshall Islands, Britain took New Guinea, France annexed Tahiti, and the Americans were in a hurry.
Spanish-American War
In 1879, Britain and the United States jointly divided Samoa, but civil war soon broke out on the island, and the great powers did not care, only about making money in Samoa. However, when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, the United States beat down the dying Spain, and its self-confidence was greatly enhanced, so it sent troops to annex Hawaii, the Philippines, and Cuba, followed by a confrontation with the Germans in Samoa.
Pearl Harbor
Seeing that the Americans were really coming, the Germans were afraid, so in 1899 the British and Americans held a meeting in Berlin, Samoa was divided into two, Western Samoa belonged to the Germans (German Samoa), Eastern Samoa belonged to the Americans (American Samoa), and the British took the German Solomon Islands and stopped interfering in Samoa.
Qingdao laborers in Samoa
It is worth mentioning that at that time, our Shandong Qingdao was also a German colony, samoa population is too small, the Germans from Shandong to catch more than 2,000 zhuangding to work in Samoa plantations, there are some local Chinese descendants. After the defeat of Germany in World War I in 1914, German Samoa was administered by New Zealand and became independent in 1962, and American Samoa has since become a U.S. territory.
At that time, Jiaozhou Bay Qingdao was occupied by Germany
And American Samoa soon embarrassed, hawaii at that time was also a colony of the United States, but Hawaii has a large population, good geographical location, soon no longer a colony, but became a state of the United States, but the American Satsuma Asia-Pacific is small, the location is not prominent, the original was fooled into saying that the rich products, geographical prominence, are false, so the U.S. government soon forgot about American Samoa.
Japanese-American American troops in Hawaii. There are 150,000 Japanese Americans in Hawaii
The United States treats American Samoa only as a military base, which has no use except military functions, and like Puerto Ricans, many men in American Samoa regard joining the U.S. military as the only opportunity to escape Samoa and become real Americans. You see, the United States does not treat Samoans as Americans, but never forgets to recruit.
American Samoans understand that their best way out is to become true U.S. citizens, and joining the U.S. military is the easiest and most dangerous way to get a green card, and the death rate of Samoan soldiers in the U.S. military is always above average.
In addition to being soldiers, American Samoans will choose to engage in sports, they are known as "the strongest race in the world", just as black Americans play basketball well, American Samoans play rugby is also a must, the famous Dwayne Johnson is a rugby player, he is also a Samoan. Today, there are more Samoans in Hawaii than in The total population of American Samoa.
With the saturation of the coconut industry, American Samoa set up a tuna canning factory, and more than 46,000 Samoans on the island either became soldiers, civil servants, farmers and fishermen, or went to the canning factory as workers. The two largest canneries in American Samoa directly account for 80 percent of jobs in the entire American Samoa, with an average income of less than 20 percent of the U.S. mainland.
Tuna meat
As a result, every American Samoan thinks only one thing every day, when the United States can change the law and turn Samoa into a state, then they can become American citizens, or whether they have the opportunity to live in the United States and then never go back. For every American Samoan, the best thing to do is to be truly American.
Today's American Samoans are very embarrassed, their passports still say American Samoans, obviously regarded as "Americans", but they do not have any American rights and status, oppressed, and have to laugh. American Samoa has repeatedly applied to the United Nations to remove the "colonial" label, but each time without success. The sadness of the small place is unmistakable, sad, and helpless.
American Samoa beauty
If it weren't for the United States, would they have lived a different life?