In White v. United States (1903), the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a case involving taxation of property owned by an American citizen in the Philippines, which had recently been acquired by the United States following the Spanish-American War. The plaintiff, S.C. White, argued that he was being unlawfully taxed because at that time, Congress had not yet passed legislation to extend U.S tax laws to these new territories. However, his argument was rejected by both lower courts and eventually reached the Supreme Court. The central issue before the court was whether or not constitutional protections extended automatically to newly-acquired territories prior to Congressional action specifically granting such rights. In a unanimous decision led by Justice Edward Douglass White Jr., it held that they did not; therefore Mr.White's property could be lawfully taxed under existing local laws until Congress decided otherwise. This ruling established what came to be known as "the doctrine of territorial incorporation," asserting that only fundamental constitutional rights are guaranteed in unincorporated territories unless explicitly granted through congressional legislation.

In the dissenting opinion for White v. United States, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a tax on exported cotton violated constitutional principles. The dissenting justices believed that this tax was an export duty, which is explicitly prohibited by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. They contended that just because Congress had labeled this charge as a "tax" rather than a "duty," did not change its fundamental nature or make it constitutionally permissible. Furthermore, they disagreed with the majority's assertion that this case was similar to previous cases in which taxes on exports were upheld; those cases involved indirect taxes while this one involved a direct tax on exporters simply for exporting goods overseas. Thus, they concluded that upholding such a tax would set dangerous precedent and undermine key constitutional protections against taxation without representation.