December 18th, 1954

Washington, DC

Following the passage of the Commonwealth Codification Act, the territories of Alaska, Hawai'i, and Puerto Rico were officially offered status as Incorporated Commonwealth Territories by the United States Congress. Pursuant to the language of the Act, each of these territories responded by organizing referendums within their borders, requiring a majority of the voting population to approve ascension to Commonwealth status.

The first of the three territories to hold their referendum was the Territory of Alaska, which had long been pressuring DC to grant them additional rights within the United States, especially in relation to cabotage laws. Their referendum was held on November 23rd, at which point voters were presented with three options they needed to agree with:

1. "Shall Alaska immediately ascend to the status of Incorporated Commonwealth Territory?"

2. "The boundaries of the Commonwealth of Alaska shall be as prescribed in the Act of Congress approved June 4th, 1954 (the same delineated borders as the Territory of Alaska) and all claims of this Commonwealth to any areas of land or sea outside the boundaries so prescribed are hereby irrevocably relinquished to the United States."

3. "All provisions of the Act of Congress approved June 4th, 1954, reserving rights or powers to the United States, as well as those prescribing the terms or conditions of the grants of lands or other property therein made to the Commonwealth of Alaska, are consented to fully by said Commonwealth and its people."

Turnout was very high, and represented nearly 88% of the Alaskan voting population. While exact numbers differed slightly for each of the three questions, the first, approving ascension to Commonwealth status, was passed by a vote of 42,371 in favor, and 6,392 against.

The next day, November 24th, 1954, Alaska officially became a Commonwealth Territory of the United States.

The second of three territories to hold their referendum was the Territory of Hawai'i, which was slightly more controversial due to some internal opposition to previous pushes from statehood. The most prominent of these was former Territorial Senator Alice Kamokila Campbell, who continued to reiterate a push for Hawai'ian independence instead of further integration with the United States. Much of these calls would be even more muted than they were during statehood discussions, as Commonwealth status would leave them with even more autonomy than before, while also exempting them from cabotage laws.

The Hawai'ian referendum was held on December 5th, and listed questions virtually the same as the Alaskan referendum. The key difference resulted from the Act offering Hawai'i Commonwealth status in the first place, and revolved around the delineation of the borders of the Commonwealth:

The Commonwealth of Hawaii shall consist of all the islands, together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, included in the Territory of Hawaii on the date of enactment of this Act, except the atoll known as Palmyra Island, together with its appurtenant reefs and territorial waters, but said Commonwealth shall not be deemed to include the Midway Islands, Johnston Island, Sand Island (off-shore from Johnston Island), or Kingman Reef, together with their appurtenant reefs and territorial waters.

This would be the point of most contention, but the referendum would nevertheless tilt heavily in favor of ascension. Turnout ran around 90%, the highest in a recorded election on the islands. Of the approximately 140,000 votes cast, fewer than 8,000 rejected the ascension, and on December 6th, 1954, Hawai'i officially became a Commonwealth Territory of the United States.

The third, and most "controversial" of the three territories to host their referendum was the Free Associated State of Puerto Rico, who's nationalist attack on Congress had been the impetus for the Commonwealth Codification Act in the first place. Puerto Rico had just hosted a status referendum just two years ago, and so the rapid turnaround on a new one was, for many Puerto Ricans, somewhat confusing. However, many in the San Juan government were quick to point out that this referendum was far more clear than the original, and granted officially many of the unclear pieces of the 1952 referendum, especially an exemption of Puerto Rico from U.S. cabotage laws.

The new referendum was held on December 17th, and had mainly the same questions as the previous two. Turnout was slightly lower than the '52 referendum - reaching just above 78% of the electorate - though this could be explained due to some lingering fears of violence and sporadic demonstrations in San Juan. However, like the other two referendums, approval was extremely high, with only around 70,000 of the nearly 500,000 votes cast expressing disapproval of ascension. Thus, on December 18th, 1954, Puerto Rico officially became a Commonwealth Territory of the United States.