September 29, 1994
Presidential Proclamation 6726
Placing into Full Force and Effect
the Compact of Free Association
With the Republic of Palau
Filed with the Federal Register on September 29, 1994. The entry contains a title. A date. Nothing else.
What does it mean
to proclaim freedom
into force?
The last United Nations Trust Territory. The Marshall Islands had gone. Micronesia had gone. Palau remained.
15 years of negotiations
8 referendums
1 constitutional ban on nuclear weapons
1 compact finally approved, 1993
The world's newest sovereign nation
born in a government archive
with no text
just a title
and a date
and the sound
of an administrative apparatus
letting go
Federal Register Vol. 59, No. 189 / September 29, 1994