Porto Rico Is the Usa, Not the Us.

White supremacy was a factor in the long resistance to statehood for hawaii and alaska, given their native populations that were not classified as white. Most people in those territories eventually came to want statehood to gain full rights as americans. And they offered economic assets, fishing and mining in alaska, sugar and fruit plantations in hawaii. Taking on hawaii in particular was seen as a racially progressive move, and, in fact, a strategic one, with the us.