It is a somewhat curious illustration of the truth that history repeats itself that for ten years before the Continental Congress met in 1774, the British and Americans alike, with some few exceptions, discussed the question of the relationship between Great Britain and the American Colonies as one arising from the extension of the Constitution of the State of Great Britain over America, just as for the past eight years Americans, Porto Ricans and Filipinos alike, have, with few exceptions, discussed the question of the relationship between us and our Insular brethren as one arising from the extension of the Constitution of the United States over these regions. It was not until the Continental Congress had discussed the matter for two years that this theory was definitely abandoned and the rights of the Americans based upon the principles which our Revolutionary Fathers considered to be just. We have not yet attained to this broader 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.