Government Of Puerto Rico
The government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since 1952, is a republican democracy modeled after the Federal Government of the United States. Under a system of separation of powers, the government is divided among three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. As a territory of the United States, the government of Puerto Rico is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the United States, which established a civilian government in the archipelago and island with the enactment of the Foraker Act in 1900 and granted American citizenship to its residents with the passing of the Jones–Shafroth Act in 1917. Article I of the Constitution of Puerto Rico defines the government of Puerto Rico as a republican form of government seated in San Juan with executive, legislative, and judicial powers within the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico. Article IV defines the executive branch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coat Of Arms Of Puerto Rico
The coat of arms of Puerto Rico was first granted by the Spanish Crown on November 8, 1511, making it the oldest heraldic achievement in use in the Americas. The territory was seized from Spain and ceded to the United States as a result of the Treaty of Paris that put an end to the Spanish–American War in 1899, after which two interim arms were adopted briefly. A law was passed in 1905 that reestablished the historical armorial bearings as the arms of the territory. Then in 1976, after numerous investigations and amendments, the current version was adopted. History The main element of the coat of arms of Puerto Rico is the Lamb of God. Despite Puerto Rico being a US territory, the shield continues to have elements reminiscent of Spain's presence in the New World. There have been different variations of the coat of arms throughout Puerto Rico's history. The current version was officially readopted by the government of Puerto Rico on 3 June 1976. Features Great Seal A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Judiciary Of Puerto Rico
The Judiciary of Puerto Rico is defined under the Constitution of Puerto Rico and consists of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, Court of Appeals, and the Court of First Instance consisting of the Superior Courts and the Municipal Courts. Courts The courts consist of the: * Supreme Court of Puerto Rico; * Court of Appeals; and * Court of First Instance. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico (') is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United States; being the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico the highest state court and the court of last resort in Puerto Rico. Article V of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the judicial power on the Supreme Court Court of Appeals The Court of Appeals of Puerto Rico (') reviews decisions of the Courts of First Instance in addition to the final decisions of administrative agen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Foraker Act
The Foraker Act, , officially known as the Organic Act of 1900, is a United States federal law that established civilian (albeit limited popular) government on the island of Puerto Rico, which had recently become a possession of the United States as a result of the Spanish–American War. Section VII of the Foraker Act also established Puerto Rican citizenship and extended American nationality to Puerto Ricans. President William McKinley signed the act on April 12, 1900 and it became known as the ''Foraker Act'' after its sponsor, Ohio Senator Joseph B. Foraker. Its main author has been identified as Secretary of War Elihu Root. The new government had a governor and an 11-member executive council appointed by the President of the United States, a House of Representatives with 35 elected members, a judicial system with a Supreme Court and a United States District Court, and a non-voting Resident Commissioner in Congress. The executive council was all appointed: five individu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geography Of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is an Archipelago, archipelagic island and Territories of the United States, unincorporated U.S. territory consisting of the Eponym, eponymous main island of Puerto Rico and List of islands of Puerto Rico, 142 smaller islands, including Vieques, Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Isla de Mona, Mona. It is located between the Greater Antilles, Greater and Lesser Antilles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of Hispaniola, west of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas, north of Geography of Venezuela, Venezuela, and south of the Puerto Rico Trench. Measuring 177 Kilometre, km (110 Mile, mi; 96 Nautical mile, nmi) in length and 65 km (40 mi; 35 nmi) in width with a land area of 8,868 Square kilometre, sq km (3,424 Square mile, sq mi), the main island is the List of Caribbean islands by area#Islands , 4th largest in the Caribbean, List of islands by area#Islands, 29th in the Americas, and List ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Territories Of The United States
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territory, dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations in that they are not sovereignty, sovereign entities. In contrast, each state has a sovereignty separate from that of the federal government and each federally recognized Native American tribe possesses limited tribal sovereignty in the United States, tribal sovereignty as a "dependent sovereign nation". Territories are classified by #Incorporated vs. unincorporated territories, incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government established by an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress. American territories are under American sovereignty and may be treated as part of the U.S. ''proper'' in some ways and not others (i.e., territories belong to, but are not considered part of the U.S.). Unincorpor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Separation Of Powers
The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishable and articulated, thereby maintaining the integrity of each. To put this model into practice, government is divided into structurally independent branches to perform various functions (most often a legislature, a judiciary and an administration, sometimes known as the ). When each function is allocated strictly to one branch, a government is described as having a high degree of separation; whereas, when one person or branch plays a significant part in the exercise of more than one function, this represents a fusion of powers. History Antiquity Polybius (''Histories'', Book 6, 11–13) described the Roman Republic as a mixed government ruled by the Roman Senate, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Federal Government Of The United States
The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: United States Congress, legislative, President of the United States, executive, and Federal judiciary of the United States, judicial. Powers of these three branches are defined and vested by the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution, which has been in continuous effect since May 4, 1789. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by Act of Congress, Acts of Congress, including the creation of United States federal executive departments, executive departments and courts subordinate to the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court. In the Federalism in the United States, federal division of power, the federal government shares sovereignty with each of the 50 states in their respective t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Democracy
Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive Election, elections while more expansive or maximalist definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections. In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to Deliberation, deliberate and decide legislation. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so. The definition of "the people" and the ways authority is shared among them or delegated by them have changed over time and at varying rates in different countries. Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, freedom of association, association, personal property, freedom of religion and freedom of speech, speech, citizenship, consent of the governe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Republic
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representative assembly, representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a republic is most often a single sovereign state, subnational state entities that have governments that are republican in nature may be referred to as republics. Representation in a republic may or may not be freely elected by the general citizenry. In many historical republics, representation has been based on personal status and the role of elections has been limited. This remains true today; among the List of countries by system of government, 159 states that use ''republic'' in their official names , and other states formally constituted as republics, are states that narrowly constrain both the right of representation and the process of election. The term developed i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory of the United States under the designation of Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth. Located about southeast of Miami, Miami, Florida between the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles and the United States Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands in the Lesser Antilles, it consists of the eponymous main island and numerous smaller islands, including Vieques, Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Isla de Mona, Mona. With approximately 3.2 million Puerto Ricans, residents, it is divided into Municipalities of Puerto Rico, 78 municipalities, of which the most populous is the Capital city, capital municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan, followed by those within the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commonwealth (U
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth or the common wealth – echoed in the modern synonym "public wealth"), it comes from the old meaning of "wealth", which is "well-being", and was deemed analogous to the Latin ''res publica''. The term literally meant "common well-being". In the 17th century, the definition of "commonwealth" expanded from its original sense of "public welfare" or "wikt:commonweal, commonweal" to mean "a state in which the supreme power is vested in the people; a republic or democracy, democratic state". The term evolved to become a title to a number of political entities. Three countries – Australia, the Bahamas, and Dominica – have the official title "Commonwealth", as do four U.S. states and two Territories of the United States, U.S. territories. Sin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |