Question

how come puerto rico is not a state

Answer 1

LOCATED ABOUT A thousand miles from Florida in the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico is a United States territory—but it's not a state. But they can't vote in presidential elections. Why? The answer lies in the island's long colonial history—one that arguably continues to this day. By the 19th century, an independence movement sprang up on the island. Then, in 1950 the United States gave the territory permission to draft its own constitution, provided it didn’t change Puerto Rico’s territorial status. In response, Puerto Rico held a constitutional convention, establishing its own republican form of government and bill of rights.