March 2nd, 1954

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The morning after the deadly attack by Puerto Rican Nationalists on the U.S. Capital that left two congressmen dead and 59 others wounded, the city of San Juan awoke to the sounds of explosions and gunfire. The 106th Infantry Division of the United States military, which was already in Puerto Rico as a strategic reserve, quickly swept over the city in conjunction with Insular Police, establishing marshall law and raiding the homes of known Nationalist Party members and leadership. These raids were conducted with extreme prejudice, with the aging party leader Pedro Albizu Campos seeing his home bombarded by gunfire, tear gas, and concussion grenades. By the time he was quite literally dragged from his home, he was barely conscious and half-asphyxiated.

Official reports claimed that the attack on the U.S. Capital was a coordinated effort by the Nationalist Party to resurrect their paramilitary wing, the Cadets of the Republic, which had been virtually destroyed after the failed uprisings they instigated in the late 40s and early 50s. Despite no remaining Cadets taking credit for the attack, and the testimony of the arrested attackers explicitly denying this accusation, it would continue to be the official line by both American and Puerto Rican officials. The resulting crackdown on the Nationalist Party saw their membership reduced to a miniscule fraction of their previous strength, and with a lack of remaining leadership to rebuild coordination, it was expected that the party itself would never recover.

Within a week, all four perpetrators of the attack - Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andrés Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez - as well as Campos and seven other Nationalist Party leaders, were charged with sedition, treason, violation of Puerto Rico Law 53 of 1948, and the attempted violent overthrow of the U.S. government. By mid-May, all were found guilty. Lebrón was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, with the rest sentenced to death by electric chair. As Puerto Rico had outlawed the death penalty two years previous, all were sent to the US Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for fulfilment of their sentences. Unconfirmed rumors swirled that AG Nixon had pushed to allow this to be a public execution by firing squad in Florida, owing to the character and national impact of their crimes, only for President Disney to step in and overrule him in favor of a more traditional, private affair, not wishing to draw any further attention to the perpetrators over the victims.

April 5th, 1954

Washington, DC

The first, and least controversial political response to the Capital Shootings was a complete overhaul of multiple levels of security for American political officials. Between this attack, the 1950 Truman assassination attempt, and the attempt on the life of UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., it was clear that American politicians were in greater danger than ever before. To account for this, a series of orders and legislative bills were issued and passed to greatly extend the existing political security apparatus.

For the Capital itself, the U.S. Capital Police are to be expanded and better funded, granting them a separate chief than that of the existing DC Metropolitan Police. Such funding and reorganization will allow for an increase in the number of active-duty officers, providing manpower for increased foot patrols, baggage and ID checks at every Capital entrance, and better incident response times.

For Federal buildings in general, the General Services Administration is to be given increased funding, and ordered to coalesce their existing property security activities into a new Office of Physical Security. This new OPS is to be immediately tasked with the review and expansion of physical security operations at all Federal buildings, including baggage and ID checks, armed security guards, and other security policies they believe to be beneficial in their review.

For high-profile public officials, the United States Secret Service are to be given increased funding for an expanded mandate. Alongside their existing protection duties, 24/7 security is to be provided to all cabinet-level officials and their immediate families, as well as the Speaker of the House, the President pro-tempore of the Senate, and the Majority and Minority leaders of both chambers. These protection duties are to last for the duration that these individuals are in office, and for an additional 60-day period following their departure.

The combination of these measures is hoped to bring both an increased feeling of security for American political officials, as well as a genuine degree of protection for the men and women in charge of running the nation.

May 18th, 1954

Washington, DC

The second major political response to the attack, however, was far more controversial. The administration of President Disney had decided that the issue of Puerto Rican nationalism had to be addressed in a two-pronged attack. The first was the immediate destruction of the existing Nationalist Party apparatus - which was quickly achieved by the 106th and Insular Police. The second prong, however, was far more political - the destruction of the primary political motivators for the Nationalist Party through limited but public political concessions, allowing for greater autonomy for the island alongside a flood of investment from the mainland.

It was this second prong that caused the primary debates on the Hill and in the White House. Primarily, there were two camps; the first believed in Disney's idea that neutering the issues that gave the nationalists support in the first place would effectively end their position on the island, removing nationalist and independence concerns permanently. This camp saw Disney as a pragmatist, who endeavored to genuinely address situations in a fashion that would solve them, rather than kick them down the road. The second was more directly concerned with the issues raised by FBI Director Hoover, who believed that such political concessions granted as a response to violent attacks would legitimize the use of political violence in the eyes of the American public. This camp saw Disney as a reactionary, who would simply jump on the most significant of reactions following any sort of crisis or pressure, pointing not just to this stance, but also to his reaction to the Chicago Massacre and his immediate and total foreign policy shift after the Saltonstall Hearings.

Eventually, however, these two camps were able to find an accord - a de facto granting of more autonomy and addressing of the issues raised by the nationalists through the general codification of Commonwealth status within the United States. The term "Commonwealth" - despite having multiple uses throughout the U.S. (namely being the official title for a number of states as well as the self-styled title for Puerto Rico) there was no codified, legal meaning of what a Commonwealth was in relation to the United States. In this way, not only could the issues raised by the Puerto Ricans be addressed, but it could be done so in a way that did not have to be a direct response to the attack, and would also provide much-needed clarity and options for the number of non-state territories currently governed by the United States.

The resulting bill, known as the "Commonwealth Codification Act", covered the long list of legalese needed to create an entire category of non-state territories that would still be governed by the United States. In practice, the status of an official Commonwealth would be very similar to that of Puerto Rico as it was currently - a state or territory who has chosen to become freely associated with the United States in confederation. They would have control over their own constitution, organizing local governance, law enforcement, and all other local governance decisions, while the United States would take control of high-level organization such as citizenship, currency, the postal service, foreign policy, military defense, commerce, and finance. Importantly, however, this relationship would classify Commonwealth territories as being unbound to cabotage laws in U.S. Code Section 46, especially from those known colloquially as the Jones Act, which has long been an issue that Puerto Ricans have pointed to as stifling their economic potential.

One issue, however, was quickly raised by Congressmen from Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, who all refer to themselves officially as "Commonwealths" and wished to keep this term of art without causing legal issues with the Act. A further thought was raised by Alaskan territorial delegate Bob Bartlett, who worried that such a designation would be used to keep certain regions, like Alaska, as unincorporated territories, and further deny them certain rights. This saw some pushback from other Congressmen, especially those from the South, who worried that this would be used to incorporate territories which would not side with them on issues such as civil rights, as being an incorporated territory carried with it a responsibility for some level of official government representation.

As such, to satiate both sides, the Act would create two new classes of territories, only applicable to territories not presently designated as States within the Union, with which its jurisdiction would be limited to: Unincorporated Commonwealth Territories and Incorporated Commonwealth Territories. Territories must first be offered either Commonwealth status by a 2/3rds majority of the U.S. Senate, and then approved by a free and open referendum of the territory seeking Commonwealth designation. The Senate bill authorizing Commonwealth status must include a number of specific details, including the ascension terms and the defined borders of the territory, which must also be agreed upon in the referendum.

These new Commonwealth Territories would include limited representation in the federal government - Unincorporated Commonwealth Territories would be assigned one non-voting representative in both chambers of Congress, while Incorporated Commonwealth Territories would be given one non-voting representative in the Senate, and two in the House of Representatives, as well as a single elector for Presidential elections. The selection process for these representatives is to be determined by the local constitution of these territories, though they must conform to the requirements set out by the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Commonwealth Codification Act was passed fairly bipartisanly in both chambers of Congress, and was signed by President Walt Disney on May 26th, 1954. Over the following weeks, three successive bills would be written and passed by Congress, officially offering the new status of Incorporated Commonwealth Territory to the territories of Alaska, Hawai'i, and Puerto Rico. Each of these territories has scheduled local referendums on the ascension to this status for the end of 1954.