A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states A federated state is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federal union. Such states differ from sovereign states, in that they have transferred a portion of their sovereign powers to a federal government. A federated state holds administrative jurisdiction over a defined geographic territory and is a form of regional of the United States of America ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language that share sovereignty Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day, with the federal government The federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States of America with the governments of the individual U.S. states. For official purposes in U.S. courts, the government is sued as the United States of America, and is referred to. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile In law, domicile is the status or attribution of being permanently resident in a particular jurisdiction. A person can remain domiciled in a jurisdiction even after they have left it, if they have maintained sufficient links with that jurisdiction or have not displayed an intention to leave permanently.[1] Four states use the official title of commonwealth Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a "government based on the common consent of the people" as opposed to one legitimized through their rather than state.[2] State citizenship State citizenship usually refers to citizenship of one of the states of the United States of America. The term “State” also includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands when used for this purpose. Citizenship was initially defined by Article 4 of the United States Constitution, and later is flexible and no government approval is required to move between states (with the exception of convicts on parole Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole, meaning " word". Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their word of honor to abide by).

The United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the allocates power between these two levels of government. By ratifying the Constitution, the people transferred certain limited Limited government is a government where any more than minimal governmental intervention in personal liberties and the economy is not usually allowed by law, usually in a written Constitution. It is closely related to free market libertarianism and some tendencies of classical liberalism and conservatism in the United States.[citation needed] The sovereign Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day, powers to the federal government from their states. Under the Tenth Amendment The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. The Tenth Amendment restates the Constitution's principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states by the Constitution of the United States are reserved to, all powers not delegated to the U.S. government nor prohibited to the states are retained by the states or the people The people of the United States, U.S. Americans, or simply Americans or American people, are citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Americans don't take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with both their. Historically, the tasks of public safety (in the sense of controlling crime), public education, public health, transportation, and infrastructure Infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, telecommunications, and so forth have generally been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all of these now have significant federal funding and regulation as well (based largely upon the Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". Courts and commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of, the Taxing and Spending Clause Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, is known as the Taxing and Spending Clause. It is the clause that gives the federal government of the United States its power of taxation. Component parts of this clause are known as the General Welfare Clause and the Uniformity Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause The clause provoked controversy during discussions of the proposed constitution, and its inclusion became a focal point of criticism for those opposed to the Constitution's ratification. While Anti-Federalists expressed concern that the clause would grant the federal government boundless power, Federalists argued that the clause would only permit of the Constitution).

Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation The incorporation of the Bill of Rights is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. In the past the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine certain provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the states, by virtue of the due, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a continuing debate over states' rights States' rights in U.S. politics refers to the political powers that U.S. states possess in relation to the federal government, as guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states' powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government as well as the rights of individual persons.

Congress may admit new states on an equal footing with existing ones; however, it has not done so since 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of whether states have the power to unilaterally leave, or secede from, the Union, but the Supreme Court has ruled[3][4] secession to be unconstitutional, a position driven in part by the outcome of the American Civil War.

Contents

List of states

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Delaware Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey Massachusetts Connecticut West Virginia Vermont Rhode Island

The following sortable table lists each of the 50 states of the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language with the following information:

  1. The state name Altogether, there are an estimated 85,000 extant political entities in the United States. Political units and divisions of the United States are a subset of the total United States territory
  2. The preferred pronunciation of the common state name as transcribed with the International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet [note 1] is a system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, singers, (see Help:IPA for English for a key)
  3. The United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the "Post Office", "Postal (USPS) two-character state abbreviation As early as October 1874, the United States Post Office recognized common abbreviations for states and territories. However, abbreviations were only accepted because of their popularity; the Post Office preferred all names spelled out in full to avoid confusion[5] (also used as the International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO (pronounced /ˈaɪsoʊ/ EYE-soe), is an international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards. It has (ISO) Standard 3166-2 ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions country subdivision code ISO 3166-2:US is the subset of the International Organization for Standardization sub-national region code standard ISO 3166-2 that pertains to the United States of America. It covers the 50 states, 1 federal district, 5 territories, and a collection of 9 minor outlying islands. The first part of the code is the 2-character ISO 3166-1 country code)
  4. An image of the official state flag The flags of the U.S. states exhibit a wide variety of regional influences and local histories, as well as widely different styles and design principles. Modern state flags date from the 1890s when states wanted to have distinctive symbols at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Most state flags were designed and adopted between 1893
  5. The date the state ratified This is a list of U.S. states by date of statehood, that is, the date when each U.S. state joined the Union. Although the first 13 states can be considered to have been members of the United States from the date of the Declaration of Independence – July 4, 1776 – they are presented here as being "admitted" on the date each ratified the United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the or was admitted to the Union ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language
  6. The United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as a leading source of data about America's people and economy estimate of state population as of 02009-07-01 July 1, 2009[6]
  7. The state capital Washington, D.C., has been the capital of the United States since 1800. Eight other cities have served as the meeting place for Congress and are therefore considered to have once been the capital of the United States. In addition, each of the 50 U.S. states and the five principal territories of the United States maintains its own capital
  8. The most populous incorporated place The United States Census Bureau defines the term place as a concentration of population. The types of places defined by the Census Bureau are incorporated place, such as a city, town or village, and census designated place , which resembles a city, town or village but lacks its own government. The concentration of population must have a name, be or Census Designated Place A census-designated place is a type of place (a concentration of population) identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages. CDPs are populated areas that lack separate municipal within the state as of 02008-07-01 July 1, 2008, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as a leading source of data about America's people and economy[7]
The 50 United States of America
Name IPA USPS Flag Date 2009 Pop Capital Most populous city
Alabama From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were /ˌæləˈbæmə/ AL 01819-12-14 December 14, 1819 4,708,708 Montgomery Montgomery is the capital, second most populous city, and the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. The city population was 201,568 as of the 2000 census. Montgomery is the primary city Birmingham Birmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates, has a population of 1,198,932. It is also the
Alaska Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre . The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959 /əˈlæskə/ AK 01959-01-03 January 3, 1959 698,473 Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-Alaska Territory was moved from Sitka. The municipality unified in 1970 when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the Anchorage Anchorage is a consolidated city-borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. With an estimated 279,243 municipal residents in 2008 (359,180 residents within the Metropolitan Statistical Area), it is Alaska's largest city and constitutes more than 40 percent of the state's total population; only New York has a higher percentage of residents who live in
Arizona Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912 - the 50th anniversary of Arizona's recognition as a territory of the United States. Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters, however it also features pine forests and mountain /ˌærɪˈzoʊnə/ AZ 01912-02-14 February 14, 1912 6,595,778 Phoenix Phoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to approximately 1.5 million people, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as the Valley of the Sun), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with Phoenix Phoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to approximately 1.5 million people, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as the Valley of the Sun), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with
Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR 01836-06-15 June 15, 1836 2,889,450 Little Rock Little Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas and also the county seat of Pulaski County. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 685,488 people, according to 2009 census estimates. The MSA is in turn included in the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area, Little Rock Little Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas and also the county seat of Pulaski County. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 685,488 people, according to 2009 census estimates. The MSA is in turn included in the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area,
California California's geography ranges from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, to Mojave desert areas in the southeast and the Redwood–Douglas fir forests of the northwest. The center of the state is dominated by the Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. California is the most /ˌkælɪˈfɔrnjə/ CA 01850-09-09 September 9, 1850 36,961,664 Sacramento Sacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2008 estimated population of 463,794, it is the seventh-largest city in California. Sacramento is the core cultural and Los Angeles
Colorado /ˌkɒləˈrædoʊ/ CO 01876-08-01 August 1, 1876 5,024,748 Denver Denver
Connecticut /kəˈnɛtɪkət/ CT 01788-01-09 January 9, 1788 3,518,288 Hartford Bridgeport[8]
Delaware /ˈdɛləwɛər/ DE 01787-12-07 December 7, 1787 885,122 Dover Wilmington
Florida /ˈflɒrɪdə/ FL 01845-03-03 March 3, 1845 18,537,969 Tallahassee Jacksonville[9]
Georgia /ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ GA 01788-01-02 January 2, 1788 9,829,211 Atlanta Atlanta
Hawaii /həˈwaɪ.iː/ HI 01959-08-21 August 21, 1959 1,295,178 Honolulu Honolulu
Idaho /ˈaɪdəhoʊ/ ID 01890-07-03 July 3, 1890 1,545,801 Boise Boise
Illinois /ɪlɪˈnɔɪ/ IL 01818-12-03 December 3, 1818 12,910,409 Springfield Chicago
Indiana /ˌɪndiˈænə/ IN 01816-12-11 December 11, 1816 6,423,113 Indianapolis Indianapolis
Iowa /ˈaɪ.ɵwə/ IA 01846-12-28 December 28, 1846 3,007,856 Des Moines Des Moines
Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ KS 01861-01-29 January 29, 1861 2,818,747 Topeka Wichita
Kentucky[10] /kɪnˈtʌki/ KY 01792-06-01 June 1, 1792 4,314,113 Frankfort Louisville
Louisiana /luːˌiːziˈænə/ LA 01812-04-30 April 30, 1812 4,492,076 Baton Rouge New Orleans
Maine /ˈmeɪn/ ME 01820-03-15 March 15, 1820 1,318,301 Augusta Portland
Maryland /ˈmɛrələnd/ MD 01788-04-28 April 28, 1788 5,699,478 Annapolis Baltimore[11]
Massachusetts[10] /ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɪts/ MA 01788-02-06 February 6, 1788 6,593,587 Boston Boston
Michigan /ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ MI 01837-01-26 January 26, 1837 9,969,727 Lansing Detroit
Minnesota /ˌmɪnɪˈsoʊtə/ MN 01858-05-11 May 11, 1858 5,266,214 Saint Paul Minneapolis
Mississippi /ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpi/ MS 01817-12-10 December 10, 1817 2,951,996 Jackson Jackson
Missouri /mɪˈzʊəri, mɪˈzʊərə/ MO 01821-08-10 August 10, 1821 5,987,580 Jefferson City Kansas City[12]
Montana /mɒnˈtænə/ MT 01889-11-08 November 8, 1889 974,989 Helena Billings
Nebraska /nəˈbræskə/ NE 01867-03-01 March 1, 1867 1,796,619 Lincoln Omaha
Nevada /nəˈvædə/ NV 01864-10-31 October 31, 1864 2,643,085 Carson City Las Vegas
New Hampshire /nuː ˈhæmpʃər/ NH 01788-06-21 June 21, 1788 1,324,575 Concord Manchester[13]
New Jersey /nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/ NJ 01787-12-18 December 18, 1787 8,707,739 Trenton Newark[14]
New Mexico /nuː ˈmɛksɪkoʊ/ NM 01912-01-06 January 6, 1912 2,009,671 Santa Fe Albuquerque
New York /nuː ˈjɔrk/ NY 01788-07-26 July 26, 1788 19,541,453 Albany New York City[15]
North Carolina /ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ NC 01789-11-21 November 21, 1789 9,380,884 Raleigh Charlotte
North Dakota /ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/ ND 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 646,844 Bismarck Fargo
Ohio /ɵˈhaɪ.oʊ/ OH 01803-03-01 March 1, 1803 11,542,645 Columbus Columbus[16]
Oklahoma /ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/ OK 01907-11-16 November 16, 1907 3,687,050 Oklahoma City Oklahoma City
Oregon /ˈɒrɪɡən/ OR 01859-02-14 February 14, 1859 3,825,657 Salem Portland
Pennsylvania[10] /ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnjə/ PA 01787-12-12 December 12, 1787 12,604,767 Harrisburg Philadelphia
Rhode Island[17] /rɵˈdaɪlənd/ RI 01790-05-29 May 29, 1790 1,053,209 Providence Providence
South Carolina /ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ SC 01788-05-23 May 23, 1788 4,561,242 Columbia Columbia[18]
South Dakota /ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/ SD 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 812,383 Pierre Sioux Falls
Tennessee /ˌtɛnɪˈsiː/ TN 01796-06-01 June 1, 1796 6,296,254 Nashville Memphis[19]
Texas /ˈtɛksəs/ TX 01845-12-29 December 29, 1845 24,782,302 Austin Houston[20]
Utah /ˈjuːtɔː/ UT 01896-01-04 January 4, 1896 2,784,572 Salt Lake City Salt Lake City
Vermont /vərˈmɒnt/ VT 01791-03-04 March 4, 1791 621,760 Montpelier Burlington
Virginia[10] /vərˈdʒɪnjə/ VA 01788-06-25 June 25, 1788 7,882,590 Richmond Virginia Beach[21]
Washington /ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/ WA 01889-11-11 November 11, 1889 6,664,195 Olympia Seattle
West Virginia /ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/ WV 01863-06-20 June 20, 1863 1,819,777 Charleston Charleston
Wisconsin /wɪsˈkɒnsɪn/ WI 01848-05-29 May 29, 1848 5,654,774 Madison Milwaukee
Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ WY 01890-07-10 July 10, 1890 544,270 Cheyenne Cheyenne

United States Census Bureau estimates of city population for 2009 will be available about July 31, 2010. Census Bureau estimates of state population for 2010 will be available about December 31, 2010.

Federal power

Since the 1930s the Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted the Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States in an expansive way that has dramatically expanded the scope of federal power.[citation needed] For example, Congress can regulate railway traffic across state lines, but it may also regulate rail traffic solely within a state, based on the theory that wholly intrastate traffic can still have an impact on interstate commerce.

Another source of Congressional power is its spending power—the ability of Congress to impose uniform taxes across the nation and then distribute the resulting revenue back to the states (subject to conditions set by Congress). A classic example of this is the system of federal-aid highways, which includes the Interstate Highway System. The system is mandated and largely funded by the federal government, but also serves the interests of the states. By threatening to withhold federal highway funds,[citation needed] Congress has been able to pressure state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Although some object that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Spending Clause.

Governments

States are free to organize their state governments any way they like, as long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution that they have "a Republican Form of Government". In practice, each state has adopted a three branch system of government generally along the same lines as that of the federal government—though this is not a requirement.

Despite the fact that each state has chosen to follow the federal model, there are significant differences in some states. One of the most notable is that of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, which, unlike the legislatures of the other 49 states, has only one house. While there is only one federal president, who then selects a Cabinet responsible to him, most states have a plural executive, with members of the executive branch elected directly by the people and serving as equal members of the state cabinet alongside the governor. And only a few states choose to have their judicial branch leaders—their judges on the state's courts—serve for life terms.

A key difference between states is that many rural states have part-time legislatures, while the states with the highest populations tend to have full-time legislatures. Texas, the second largest state in population, is a notable exception to this: excepting special sessions, the Texas Legislature is limited by law to 140 calendar days out of every two years. In Baker v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to have legislative districts which are proportional in terms of population.

States can also organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as they protect the constitutional right of their citizens to procedural due process. See state court and state supreme court for more information. Most have a trial level court, generally called a District Court or Superior Court, a first-level appellate court, generally called a Court of Appeal (or Appeals), and a Supreme Court. However, Oklahoma and Texas have separate highest courts for criminal appeals. New York state is notorious for its unusual terminology, in that the trial court is called the Supreme Court. Appeals are then taken to the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, and from there to the Court of Appeals. Most states base their legal system on English common law (with substantial indigenous changes and incorporation of certain civil law innovations), with the notable exception of Louisiana, which draws large parts of its legal system from French civil law.

In 2010 the largest single item in the budget of most states was the public education system.[22]

Relationships

Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the United States Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give full faith and credit to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and—at the time—slave status. States are prohibited from discriminating against citizens of other states with respect to their basic rights, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic.

Admission into the union

Main article: List of U.S. states by date of statehood
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (January 2009)
U.S. states by date of statehood 1776–1790 1791–1799 1800–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1950 1950– The order in which the original 13 states ratified the constitution, then the order in which the others were admitted to the union.

Since the establishment of the United States, the number of states has expanded from 13 to 50. The Constitution is rather laconic on the process by which new states can be added, noting only that "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union", and forbidding a new state to be created out of the territory of an existing state or the merging of two or more states as one without the consent of both Congress and all the state legislatures involved.

In practice, nearly all states admitted to the union after the original thirteen have been formed from U.S. territories (that is, land under the sovereignty of the United States federal government but not part of any state) that were organized (given a measure of self-rule by Congress). Generally speaking, the organized government of a territory made known the sentiment of its population in favor of statehood; Congress then directed that government to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution. Upon acceptance of that Constitution, Congress then admitted that territory as a state. The broad outlines in this process were established by the Northwest Ordinance, which predated the ratification of the Constitution.

However, Congress has ultimate authority over the admission of new states, and is not bound to follow this procedure. A few U.S. states (outside of the original 13) that were never organized territories of the federal government have been admitted:

Congress is also under no obligation to admit states even in those areas whose population expresses a desire for statehood. For instance, the Republic of Texas requested annexation to the United States in 1837, but fears about the conflict with Mexico that would result delayed admission for nine years.[23] The Utah Territory was denied admission to the union as a state for decades because of discomfort with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' dominance in the territory, its desire to name the region Deseret due to its ties to Mormonism, and particularly with the Mormons' then-practice of polygamy.[citation needed] Once established, state borders have been largely stable. There have been exceptions, such as the cession by Maryland and Virginia of land to create the District of Columbia (Virginia's portion was later returned) and the creation of states from other states, including the creation of Kentucky and West Virginia from Virginia, Maine from Massachusetts, and Tennessee from North Carolina.

Possible new states

See also: 51st state, Politics of Puerto Rico, Political status of Puerto Rico, and District of Columbia voting rights

Puerto Rico

Today, there are several U.S. territories left that might potentially become new states. The most likely candidate may be Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century, and Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. Puerto Rico currently has limited representation in the U.S. Congress in the form of a Resident Commissioner, a nonvoting delegate.[24] President George H. W. Bush issued a memorandum on November 30, 1992 to heads of executive departments and agencies establishing the current administrative relationship between the federal government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This memorandum directs all federal departments, agencies, and officials to treat Puerto Rico administratively as if it were a state, insofar as doing so would not disrupt federal programs or operations.[25] The commonwealth's government has organized several referendums on the question of status over the past several decades, though Congress has not recognized these as binding; all shown resulted in narrow victories for the status quo over statehood, with independence supported by only a small number of voters. On December 23, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed executive Order 13183, which established the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status and the rules for its membership. Section 4 of executive Order 13183 (as amended by executive Order 13319) directs the task force to "report on its actions to the President ... on progress made in the determination of Puerto Rico’s ultimate status".[26]

President George W. Bush signed an additional amendment to Executive Order 13183 on December 3, 2003, which established the current co-chairs and instructed the task force to issue reports as needed, but no less than once every two years. In December 2005, the presidential task force proposed a new set of referendums on the issue; if Congress votes in line with the task force's recommendation, it would pave the way for the first congressionally mandated votes on status in the island, and (potentially) statehood by 2011. The task force's December 2007 status report reiterated and confirmed the proposals made in 2005.[26][27][28]

On April 29, 2010, the U.S. House of U.S. Congress voted 223–169 to approve a Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010 bill for a federal sanctioned process for Puerto Rico's self determination allowing Puerto Rico to set a new referendum that it would pave the way for the first congressionally mandated votes on status in the island, and (potentially) statehood by 2011.[29]

Washington D.C.

The intention of the Founding Fathers was that the United States capital should be at a neutral site, not giving favor to any existing state; as a result, the District of Columbia was created in 1800 to serve as the seat of government. The inhabitants of the District do not have full representation in Congress or a sovereign elected government (they were allotted presidential electors by the 23rd amendment, and have a non-voting delegate in Congress). Some residents of the District support statehood of some form for that jurisdiction—either statehood for the whole district or for the inhabited part, with the remainder remaining under federal jurisdiction. While statehood is always a live political question in the District, the prospects for any movement in that direction in the immediate future seem dim. Instead, an emphasis on continuing home rule in the District while also giving the District a vote in Congress is gaining support.[citation needed]

According to Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, "New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress."[30] This was the case when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; and when West Virginia was split from Virginia during the Civil War. When Texas was admitted to the union in 1845, it was much larger than any other state and was specifically granted the right to divide itself into as many as five separate states.[31]

Unrecognized entities

See also: Historical regions of the United States

Secession

The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. However, its predecessor document, the Articles of Confederation, stated that the United States of America "shall be perpetual." The question of whether or not individual states held the right to unilateral secession remained a difficult and divisive one until the American Civil War. In 1860 and 1861, eleven southern states seceded, but following their defeat in the American Civil War were brought back into the Union during the Reconstruction Era. Following the Civil War, the United States Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, held that states did not have the right to secede and that any act of secession was legally void. Drawing on the Preamble to the Constitution, which states that the Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union" and speaks of the people of the United States of America in effect as a single body politic, as well as the language of the Articles of Confederation, the Supreme Court maintained that states did not have a right to secede. However, the court's reference in the same decision to the possibility of such changes occurring "through revolution, or through consent of the States," essentially means that this decision holds that no state has a right to unilaterally decide to leave the Union.[3][4]

Commonwealths

Main article: Commonwealth (U.S. state)

Four of the states bear the formal title of commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a historically-based name and it has no legal effect. Somewhat confusingly, two U.S. territories — Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas — are also referred to as commonwealths, and that designation does have a legal status different from that of the 50 states. Both of these commonwealths are unincorporated territories of the United States.

Origin of states' names

State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies.

Regional grouping

U.S. Census Bureau regions: The West, The Midwest, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.

States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

Lists

Washington Oregon California Idaho Nevada Utah Arizona Montana Wyoming Colorado New Mexico North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas OK Texas Minnesota Iowa MO AR Louisiana Wisconsin IL Michigan IN Ohio KY TN MS AL Maine Vermont New Hampshire Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island New York PA New Jersey DC Maryland Delaware WV Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia Florida Alaska Hawaii

See also

United States portal
United States census statistical areas by state, district, or territory AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AS GU PR MP VI

References

  1. ^ See the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  2. ^ a. Third Constitution of Kentucky (1850), Article 2, Section 1 ff. Other portions of the same Constitution refer to the "State of Kentucky". b. Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Preamble. c. Constitution of Pennsylvania, Preamble. d. Constitution of Virginia (1971), Article IV, Section 1.
  3. ^ a b Aleksandar Pavković, Peter Radan, Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession, p. 222, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007.
  4. ^ a b Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1868) at Cornell University Law School Supreme Court collection.
  5. ^ "Official USPS Abbreviations". United States Postal Service. 1998. http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/abbreviations.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  6. ^ "Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009" (CSV). 2009 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 02009-12-23 December 23, 2009. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2009-01.csv. Retrieved 02009-12-23 December 23, 2009.
  7. ^ "Resident Population Estimates of Incorporated Places Only: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008" (CSV). 2008 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 02009-07-01 July 1, 2009. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/files/SUB-EST2008-IP.csv. Retrieved 02009-10-01 October 1, 2009.
  8. ^ The Hartford-West Hartford-Willimantic Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Connecticut.
  9. ^ The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Florida.
  10. ^ a b c d Official name calls it a commonwealth
  11. ^ Baltimore City and the 12 Maryland counties of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Maryland.
  12. ^ The City of Saint Louis and the 8 Missouri counties of the St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Missouri.
  13. ^ The 5 southeastern New Hampshire counties of the Boston-Worcester-Manchester Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Hampshire.
  14. ^ The 13 northern New Jersey counties of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Jersey.
  15. ^ New York City is the most populous city in the United States.
  16. ^ The Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Ohio.
  17. ^ Full name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
  18. ^ The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in South Carolina.
  19. ^ The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Columbia Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Tennessee.
  20. ^ The Dallas-Fort Worth Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Texas.
  21. ^ The 10 Virginia counties and 6 Virginia cities of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Virginia.
  22. ^ Broder, David S. (6 June 2010). "School reform at risk". Washington, DC: Washington Post. pp. A15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401502.html.
  23. ^ Richard Bruce Winders (2002). Crisis in the Southwest: the United States, Mexico, and the struggle over Texas. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 82, 92. ISBN 9780842028011. http://books.google.com/books?id=mcc9EciebFYC.
  24. ^ "Rules of the House of Representatives" (PDF). http://www.rules.house.gov/ruleprec/110th.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  25. ^ "Political Status of Puerto Rico: Options for Congress". Congressional Research Service. http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL32933_20090804.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  26. ^ a b "''Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2007)''" (PDF). http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/2007-report-by-the-president-task-force-on-puerto-rico-status.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  27. ^ "Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2005)" (PDF). http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  28. ^ H.R. 2499 – Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 H.R. 2499
  29. ^ "H.R. 2499: Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010", govtrack.us, April 29, 2010, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2499.
  30. ^ "Article IV | LII / Legal Information Institute". Law.cornell.edu. http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleiv.html#section3. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  31. ^ "Texas Dividing into Five States". snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-25.

Further reading

External links

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