## Facts

- After the Spanish–American War, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States under the 1898 Treaty of Paris.
- Congress enacted the Foraker Act (1900), which imposed customs duties on goods moving between Puerto Rico and ports in the United States.
- Samuel Downes, a New York importer, brought oranges from Puerto Rico into New York.
- The Port of New York customs collector, George R. Bidwell, assessed duties under the Foraker Act.
- Downes paid the duties under protest and sued to recover them, arguing the duties violated Article I, § 8, cl. 1’s requirement that duties, imposts, and excises be uniform “throughout the United States.”
- The case reached the Supreme Court after federal court proceedings over the legality of the assessed duties.

## Issues

1. Whether Puerto Rico was “part of the United States” within the meaning of Article I’s Uniformity Clause, such that duties on Puerto Rico–U.S. trade had to be geographically uniform.
2. Whether the Constitution applies of its own force, and to what extent, to newly acquired territories under U.S. sovereignty.

## Decision

- The Court upheld the Foraker Act duties by a 5–4 vote.
- A controlling plurality concluded that Puerto Rico was not, for purposes of the revenue/uniformity requirement, part of the “United States,” so the Uniformity Clause did not bar the duties.
- Concurring justices agreed in the judgment, emphasizing a distinction between incorporated territories (fully within the constitutional system) and unincorporated territories (not fully subject to all constitutional provisions).
- Dissents argued Congress remains fully constrained by the Constitution when legislating for territories and warned against permitting governance outside constitutional limits.

## Legal Principles

- Congress may impose customs duties on trade between the United States and an unincorporated territory without triggering Article I’s Uniformity Clause in the same manner as between states.
- Not all constitutional provisions apply automatically in full to territories; some provisions are treated as limited to operation “throughout the United States” or “among the several states.”
- The incorporated/unincorporated territory framework distinguishes territories destined for statehood from those held under U.S. sovereignty without full constitutional incorporation.
- In unincorporated territories, only “fundamental” constitutional protections (especially concerning liberty and property) are understood to apply of their own force, while other structural or regulatory limits may depend on congressional extension.

## Conclusion

Downes sustained differential federal revenue treatment for Puerto Rico by treating it as an unincorporated territory outside the Uniformity Clause’s full reach, helping establish the Insular Cases approach that the Constitution does not automatically apply in the same way in all U.S.-controlled territories.


Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)