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.

In trying to rediscover this _via media_ of the Fathers I shall accept
the Declaration of Independence as the final and complete exposition
of their theories, and in interpreting that great document I shall
conform to the established rules of law governing the interpretation
of written instruments.

Let me first, however, call attention to the well known, but very
interesting fact that the American people throughout this period of
eight years since the Spanish war during which the question has been
discussed by experts almost exclusively as one which relates to the
application of the Constitution outside the Union, have always had an
idea that it was the Declaration of Independence, rather than the
Constitution, to which we were to look for the solution of our Insular
problems. In 1900, the Democrats, in their platform, "reaffirmed their
faith in the Declaration of Independence--that immortal proclamation
of the inalienable rights of man and described it as "the spirit of
our Government, of which the Constitution is the form and letter." The
Republicans in their platform declared it to be "the high duty of
Government ... to confer the blessings of liberty and civilization
upon all rescued peoples," and announced their intention to secure to
these peoples "the largest measure of self government consistent with
their welfare and our duties." The Populists in their platform in the
same year, insisted that "the D