An examination of American Samoa's political status

The purpose of this study was to describe and critically examine American Samoa's political status. The general research question was, "what are the conditions, issues and challenges involved in American Samoa's political status?" To answer the general research question, six subsidiary research questions were developed. These were, "what are the conditions, issues, and challenges involved in: (1) American Samoa's Deeds of Cession, (2) Applying the United States Constitution to American Samoa, (3) American Samoa's Constitution, (4) American Samoa's relationship with the Department of Interior, (5) stablishing a federal court in American Samoa, and (6) American Samoa's political status options?"; To answer these questions, a three-fold methodology was employed. Method one consisted of six interviews of government leaders. Method two consisted of four interviews of Community College instructors in government. The interview response format for methods one and two was designed to be open-ended and to provide a framework so that the respondents could express their views in their own terms. Method three consisted of a comprehensive and descriptive review of applicable laws.; The results were displayed in tables and narrative combining the findings from all three methodologies. The conclusions suggest that actions can and should be taken to continue research in international law, U.S. Constitutional law, the U.S. insular areas, on native peoples, on American Samoa's communal lands and matai system. Finally, the recommendations included the need for public education programs.