<P> The Guano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 § § 1411 - 1419) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits . The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of another government . It also empowers the President of the United States to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States in these territories . </P> <P> Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other Government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other Government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States . </P>

What law allowed the us to claim uninhabited islands