To the Editor:    

Flag Day celebrates the day the Deed of Cession for Tutuila and Aunuʻu was signed in 1900. The U.S. Navy first marked the day in 1900, and the tradition continues to this day. Along with the 1904 Deed for Manuʻa, it began our political relationship with the United States.

Some now point instead to the 1899 Tripartite Convention.

The Tripartite Convention was an agreement between the United States, Germany, and Great Britain to divide the Samoan islands among the three powers. The agreement makes no mention of the Samoan people, nor of any governing relationship with them.

Soon after, the United States entered into agreements with the Samoan people themselves: with Tutuila and Aunu‘u in 1900, and with Manu‘a in 1904.

These agreements are known as the Deeds of Cession. They are formal agreements where Samoan leaders gave authority to the United States, with clear conditions to protect land, customs, and the people.

The agreements were later accepted, ratified, and confirmed by Congress in 1929, recognizing them as a central part of the legal foundation of American Samoa’s relationship with the US.

The Tripartite Convention’s role was limited: it divided claims among foreign powers. It did not establish consent. Consent entered through the Deeds of Cession — not through the Tripartite Convention.

If we treat the Tripartite Convention as the founding document, we start in the wrong place. Our political relationship was formed through agreement — not conquest or purchase — within the limits of that time.

Because dividing the islands among themselves — east and west — is one thing. Forming a relationship with the people is another. That is what the Deeds of Cession represent.

Does the Tripartite Convention explain the strong role of Samoan villages and ItuMalo in governance today?  No.

Does it account for the protection of family lands?  No.

The Deeds of Cession do.

The Deeds are where it begins — and they still matter.

For your wise consideration,

Tapaau Aga