such resolution of acceptance has been formally adopted,
shall issue a proclamation to that effect."

On July 10, 1952, the Constitutional Convention of Puerto
Rico, in plenary session, adopted Resolution No. 34,
accepting the terms of approval of the constitution
contained in P.L. 82-447. On July 25, 1952, the Governor of
Puerto Rico issued the requisite proclamation and the
Puerto Rican Constitution went into effect. The Constitu-
tional Convention of Puerto Rico officially designated the
Puerto Rican body politic as "Commonwealth" in English
and "Estado Libre Asociado," ("Free Associated State"), in
Spanish, Resolution No. 22, February 4, 1952.

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands -- On
February 15, 1975, representatives of the Northern
Marianas, part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,
and the United States signed a "Covenant to establish a
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." The
preamble of the covenant states: 'This Covenant will be
mutually binding when it is approved by the United States,
by the Mariana District Legislature and by the people of the
Northern Mariana Islands in a plebiscite constituting on
their Dart a sovereign act of self-determination." Shortly
thereafter, Congress appropriated $1.5 million to aid in the
transition of the Marianas to "a new commonwealth status
as a territory of the United States," (P.L. 94-27, May 28,
1975.) Congress approved the Marianas "Covenant" in
1976, (P.L. 94-241, March 24, 1976). An accompanying
joint report filed by the Foreign Relations and Armed
Services Committees of the U.S. Senate outlined the scope
of the "Covenant" as follows: "Although described as a
commonwealth, the relationship is territorial in nature with
full sovereignty invested in the United States Congress,"
(Senate Report No. 94-596, January 27, 1976).

Ambassador F. Haydn Williams who negotiated the
Marianas Covenant for the United States, in response to a
question asked of him at the Senate Armed Services
Committee hearings in November 1975, before the
Covenant was approved by Congress, stated: "Actually, the
Northern Marianas, while it would be called a
commonwealth, would be an unincorporated territory of the
United States the same as Guam and the same as other
territories. The only real distinction between the Northern
Marianas and Guam would be that if the Senate approves