U.S. state

U.S. state
Category	Federated state
Location	United States
Number	50
Government	State government

A U.S. state (abbreviation of United States state) is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile.^[1] Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is flexible and no government approval is required to move between states (with the exception of convicts on parole).

The United States Constitution allocates power between these two levels of government. By ratifying the Constitution, the people transferred certain limited sovereign powers to the federal government from their states. Under the Tenth Amendment, all powers not delegated to the U.S. government nor prohibited to the states are retained by the states or the people. Historically, the tasks of public safety (in the sense of controlling crime), public education, public health, transportation, and infrastructure 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 Taxing and Spending Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause 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, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a continuing debate over states' 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^[2][3] secession to be unconstitutional, a position driven in part by the outcome of the American Civil War.

List of states

The following table lists each of the 50 states of the United States with the following information:

1. The state name
2. The preferred pronunciation of the common state name as transcribed with the International Phonetic Alphabet (see Help:IPA for English for a key)
3. The United States Postal Service (USPS) two-character state abbreviation^[4]
   (also used as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 3166-2 country subdivision code)
4. An image of the official state flag
5. The date the state ratified the United States Constitution or was admitted to the Union
6. The total land and water area of the state
7. The United States Census 2010 of state population as of April 1, 2010^[5]
8. The state capital
9. The most populous incorporated place or Census Designated Place within the state as of July 1, 2008, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau^[6]

The 50 United States of America

Name	IPA	USPS	Flag	Date	Area (sq mi)	Population (2010)	Capital	Most populous city
Alabama	/ˌæləˈbæmə/	AL		December 14, 1819	52,419 sq mi (135,765 km2)	4,779,736	Montgomery	Birmingham
Alaska	/əˈlæskə/	AK		January 3, 1959	663,267 sq mi (1,717,854 km2)	710,231	Juneau	Anchorage
Arizona	/ˌærɪˈzoʊnə/	AZ		February 14, 1912	113,998 sq mi (295,254 km2)	6,392,017	Phoenix	Phoenix
Arkansas	/ˈɑrkənsɔː/	AR		June 15, 1836	52,897 sq mi (137,002 km2)	2,915,918	Little Rock	Little Rock
California	/ˌkælɪˈfɔrnjə/	CA		September 9, 1850	163,700 sq mi (423,970 km2)	37,253,956	Sacramento	Los Angeles
Colorado	/ˌkɒləˈrædoʊ/	CO		August 1, 1876	104,185 sq mi (269,837 km2)	5,029,196	Denver	Denver
Connecticut	/kəˈnɛtɪkət/	CT		January 9, 1788	5,543 sq mi (14,356 km2)	3,574,097	Hartford	Bridgeport[7]
Delaware	/ˈdɛləwɛər/	DE		December 7, 1787	2,491 sq mi (6,452 km2)	897,934	Dover	Wilmington
Florida	/ˈflɒrɪdə/	FL		March 3, 1845	65,755 sq mi (170,304 km2)	18,801,310	Tallahassee	Jacksonville[8]
Georgia	/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/	GA		January 2, 1788	59,425 sq mi (153,909 km2)	9,687,653	Atlanta	Atlanta
Hawaii	/həˈwaɪ.iː/	HI		August 21, 1959	10,931 sq mi (28,311 km2)	1,360,301	Honolulu	Honolulu
Idaho	/ˈaɪdəhoʊ/	ID		July 3, 1890	83,642 sq mi (216,632 km2)	1,567,582	Boise	Boise
Illinois	/ɪlɪˈnɔɪ/	IL		December 3, 1818	54,826 sq mi (141,998 km2)	12,830,632	Springfield	Chicago
Indiana	/ˌɪndiˈænə/	IN		December 11, 1816	36,418 sq mi (94,321 km2)	6,483,802	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Iowa	/ˈaɪ.ɵwə/	IA		December 28, 1846	56,272 sq mi (145,743 km2)	3,046,355	Des Moines	Des Moines
Kansas	/ˈkænzəs/	KS		January 29, 1861	82,277 sq mi (213,096 km2)	2,853,118	Topeka	Wichita
Kentucky[9]	/kɪnˈtʌki/	KY		June 1, 1792	40,409 sq mi (104,659 km2)	4,339,367	Frankfort	Louisville
Louisiana	/luːˌiːziˈænə/	LA		April 30, 1812	52,271 sq mi (135,382 km2)	4,533,372	Baton Rouge	New Orleans
Maine	/ˈmeɪn/	ME		March 15, 1820	35,385 sq mi (91,646 km2)	1,328,361	Augusta	Portland
Maryland	/ˈmɛrələnd/	MD		April 28, 1788	12,407 sq mi (32,133 km2)	5,773,552	Annapolis	Baltimore[10]
Massachusetts[9]	/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɪts/	MA		February 6, 1788	10,554 sq mi (27,336 km2)	6,547,629	Boston	Boston
Michigan	/ˈmɪʃɪɡən/	MI		January 26, 1837	97,990 sq mi (253,793 km2)	9,883,640	Lansing	Detroit
Minnesota	/ˌmɪnɪˈsoʊtə/	MN		May 11, 1858	86,943 sq mi (225,181 km2)	5,303,925	Saint Paul	Minneapolis
Mississippi	/ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpi/	MS		December 10, 1817	48,434 sq mi (125,443 km2)	2,967,297	Jackson	Jackson
Missouri	/mɪˈzʊəri, mɪˈzʊərə/	MO		August 10, 1821	69,704 sq mi (180,533 km2)	5,988,927	Jefferson City	Kansas City[11]
Montana	/mɒnˈtænə/	MT		November 8, 1889	147,165 sq mi (381,156 km2)	989,415	Helena	Billings
Nebraska	/nəˈbræskə/	NE		March 1, 1867	77,420 sq mi (200,520 km2)	1,826,341	Lincoln	Omaha
Nevada	/nəˈvædə/	NV		October 31, 1864	110,567 sq mi (286,367 km2)	2,700,551	Carson City	Las Vegas
New Hampshire	/nuː ˈhæmpʃər/	NH		June 21, 1788	9,350 sq mi (24,217 km2)	1,316,470	Concord	Manchester[12]
New Jersey	/nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/	NJ		December 18, 1787	8,729 sq mi (22,608 km2)	8,791,894	Trenton	Newark[13]
New Mexico	/nuː ˈmɛksɪkoʊ/	NM		January 6, 1912	121,697 sq mi (315,194 km2)	2,059,179	Santa Fe	Albuquerque
New York	/nuː ˈjɔrk/	NY		July 26, 1788	54,556 sq mi (141,299 km2)	19,378,102	Albany	New York City[14]
North Carolina	/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/	NC		November 21, 1789	53,865 sq mi (139,509 km2)	9,535,483	Raleigh	Charlotte
North Dakota	/ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/	ND		November 2, 1889	70,762 sq mi (183,272 km2)	672,591	Bismarck	Fargo
Ohio	/oʊˈhaɪ.oʊ/	OH		March 1, 1803	44,825 sq mi (116,096 km2)	11,536,504	Columbus	Columbus[15]
Oklahoma	/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/	OK		November 16, 1907	69,960 sq mi (181,195 km2)	3,751,351	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City
Oregon	/ˈɒrɪɡən/	OR		February 14, 1859	98,466 sq mi (255,026 km2)	3,831,074	Salem	Portland
Pennsylvania[9]	/ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnjə/	PA		December 12, 1787	46,055 sq mi (119,283 km2)	12,702,379	Harrisburg	Philadelphia
Rhode Island[16]	/rɵd ˈaɪlənd/	RI		May 29, 1790	1,210 sq mi (3,140 km2)	1,052,567	Providence	Providence
South Carolina	/ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/	SC		May 23, 1788	32,020 sq mi (82,931 km2)	4,625,364	Columbia	Columbia[17]
South Dakota	/ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/	SD		November 2, 1889	77,184 sq mi (199,905 km2)	814,180	Pierre	Sioux Falls
Tennessee	/ˌtɛnɪˈsiː/	TN		June 1, 1796	42,181 sq mi (109,247 km2)	6,346,105	Nashville	Memphis[18]
Texas	/ˈtɛksəs/	TX		December 29, 1845	268,820 sq mi (696,241 km2)	25,145,561	Austin	Houston[19]
Utah	/ˈjuːtɔː/	UT		January 4, 1896	84,899 sq mi (219,887 km2)	2,763,885	Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City
Vermont	/vərˈmɒnt/	VT		March 4, 1791	9,623 sq mi (24,923 km2)	625,741	Montpelier	Burlington
Virginia[9]	/vərˈdʒɪnjə/	VA		June 25, 1788	42,774 sq mi (110,785 km2)	8,001,024	Richmond	Virginia Beach[20]
Washington	/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/	WA		November 11, 1889	71,362 sq mi (184,827 km2)	6,724,540	Olympia	Seattle
West Virginia	/ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/	WV		June 20, 1863	24,230 sq mi (62,755 km2)	1,852,994	Charleston	Charleston
Wisconsin	/wɪsˈkɒnsɪn/	WI		May 29, 1848	65,498 sq mi (169,639 km2)	5,686,986	Madison	Milwaukee
Wyoming	/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/	WY		July 10, 1890	97,818 sq mi (253,348 km2)	563,626	Cheyenne	Cheyenne

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, as upheld in South Dakota v. Dole, 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 individual governments any way they like, so long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution that they have "a Republican Form of Government". (This means that each State government must be a republic; it is not a reference to the Republican Party, which was not founded until 1854—over 60 years after the Constitution was ratified.) In practice, each State has adopted a three-branch system of government (with legislative, executive, and judiciary branches) generally along the same lines as that of the Federal government — though this is not a requirement.

Despite the fact that every state has chosen to follow the Federal model of government, there are significant differences in some states.

Executive

While there is only one federal president, who then selects his own Cabinet responsible to him, most states have a "plural executive", in which various members of the executive branch are elected directly by the people. Thus, they serve as members of the executive branch who are not beholden to the governor and cannot be dismissed by him or her.

Legislative

The legislatures of 49 of the 50 states are made up of two chambers: a lower house (termed the House of Representatives, State Assembly or House of Delegates) and a smaller upper house, always termed the Senate. The exception is the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, which is composed of only a single chamber.

A key difference between states is that many low-population states have part-time legislatures, while the states with the highest populations tend to have full-time legislatures. Texas, the second largest state in terms of population, is a notable exception to this: excepting special sessions, the Texas Legislature is limited by law to sitting for 140 calendar days out of every two years.

In Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to elect their legislatures in such a way as to afford each citizen the same degree of representation. This is the standard commonly known as "one person, one vote". In practice, most states choose to elect legislators from single-member districts, each of which has approximately the same population. Some states, like Maryland and Vermont, divide the state into single- and multi-member districts, in which case a district electing two representatives must have approximately twice the population of a district electing just one and so on.

Judicial

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. 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.

Also, just few states choose to have their judges on the state's courts serve for life terms. Most of the state judges, including the justices on the highest court in the state, are either elected or appointed for terms of a limited number of years, such as five years. They can often be then re-elected or reappointed if their performance has been judged to be satisfactory.

Budgetary

In 2010 the largest single item in the budget of most states was the public education system.^[21]

Relationships

Under Article Four of the United States 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 before 1865 — slavery 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.

Four states use the official name of commonwealth, rather than state.^[22] However, this is merely a paper distinction, and the U.S. Constitution uniformly refers to all of them as "States", such as in Article One, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, concerning the U.S. House of Representatives, in which Representatives are to be elected by the people of the "States". Furthermore, Article One, Section 3, Clause 1, concerning the U.S. Senate, allocates to each "State" two Senators. However, each of the four above-mentioned "Commonwealths" counts as a State.

Admission into the union

Since the establishment of the United States, the number of states has expanded from 13 to 50. The U.S. Constitution is rather laconic on the process by which new states could 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 into one without the consent of both Congress and all the state legislatures involved.

In practice, most of the states admitted to the union after the original thirteen have been formed from Territories of the United States (that is, land under the sovereignty of the Federal government but not part of any state) that were organized (given a measure of self-rule by the Congress subject to the Congress’ plenary powers under the territorial clause of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution).^[23] The exceptions to this process have included three states that were carved out of the land of their original state, with the permission (in one case, questionable permission) of its legislature: Vermont, the 14th state; Kentucky, the 15th state; West Virginia, the 36th state; and then Texas, which had been the independent Republic of Texas for a decade, the 34th state; and California, which was admitted to the Union in 1850 directly from newly-acquired land from Mexico.

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 has always admitted that territory as a state. The broad outlines in this process were established by the Northwest Ordinance (1787), 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:

• Vermont, an unrecognized but de facto independent republic until its admission in 1791
• Kentucky, a part of Virginia until its admission in 1792
• Maine, a part of Massachusetts until its admission in 1820 following the Missouri Compromise
• Texas, a recognized independent republic until its admission in 1845
• California, created as a state (as part of the Compromise of 1850) out of the unorganized territory of the Mexican Cession in 1850 without ever having been a separate organized territory itself
• West Virginia, created from areas of Virginia that rejoined the union in 1863, after the 1861 secession of Virginia to the Confederate States of America

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.^[24] 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

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; but the island’s ultimate status has not been determined as of 2011 and, as with any non-state territory of the United States, its residents do not have voting representation in the United States government. U.S. Congress directed local government to organize a constitutional convention to write the Puerto Rico Constitution in 1951. Acceptance of that constitution by Puerto Rico's electorate, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. President occurred in 1952. Puerto Rico officially designates itself with the term "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in the English version of its constitution, and as "Estado Libre Asociado" in the Spanish version. Puerto Rico currently has limited representation in the U.S. Congress in the form of a Resident Commissioner, a nonvoting delegate.^[25] 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.^[26]

The commonwealth's government has organized several referenda 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".^[27]

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.^[27][28][29]

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.^[30] However, the bill was not approved by the Senate and later died with the adjournment of the 111th Congress.

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."^[31] 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.^[32]

Unrecognized entities

See also: Historical regions of the United States

• The State of Franklin existed for four years not long after the end of the American Revolution, but was never recognized by the union, which ultimately recognized North Carolina's claim of sovereignty over the area. A majority of the states were willing to recognize Franklin, but the number of states in favor fell short of the two-thirds majority required to admit a territory to statehood under the Articles of Confederation. The territory comprising Franklin later became part of the state of Tennessee.
• State of Jefferson
  • On July 24, 1859, voters defeated the formation of the proposed State of Jefferson in the Southern Rocky Mountains. On October 24, 1859, voters instead approved the formation of the Jefferson Territory, which was superseded by the Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861.
  • In 1915, a second State of Jefferson was proposed for the northern third of Texas but failed to obtain majority approval by Congress.
  • In 1941, a third State of Jefferson was proposed in the mostly rural area of southern Oregon and northern California, but was cancelled as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This proposal has been raised several times since.
• State of Lincoln
  • Lincoln is another state that has been proposed multiple times. It generally consists of the eastern portion of Washington state and the panhandle or northern portion of Idaho. It was originally proposed by Idaho in 1864 to include just the panhandle of Idaho, and again in 1901 to include eastern Washington. Proposals have come up in 1996, 1999, and 2005.
  • Lincoln is also the name of a failed state proposal after the U.S. Civil War in 1869. The southwestern section of Texas was proposed to Congress as a new state during the Reconstruction period of the Federal government after the Civil War.^{[citation needed]}
• State of Muskogee (in Florida, 1800), an unrecognized state with large Native American populations.^{[citation needed]}
• State of Superior
  • A proposed state formed out of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Several prominent legislators including local politician Dominic Jacobetti formally attempted this legislation in the 1970s, with no success. As a state, it would have had, by far, the smallest population, and remaining so through the present day. Its 320,000 residents would equal only 60% of Wyoming's population, and less than 50% of Alaska's population. Such a state would rank 40th in land area, just larger than that of Maryland.^{[citation needed]}

• State of Deseret
  • The State of Deseret was a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by the Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never accepted by the United States Congress. Its name was derived from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon.

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. The federal government never recognized the secession of any of the rebellious states. 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.^[2][3]

Commonwealths

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, the U.S. territories of the Northern Marianas and Puerto Rico 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

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

• List of capitals in the United States
• List of U.S. state constitutions
• List of U.S. state legislatures
• List of U.S. state name etymologies
• List of U.S. state residents names
• List of U.S. state tax levels
• List of U.S. states by area
• List of U.S. states by date of statehood
• List of U.S. states by elevation
• List of U.S. states by GDP (nominal)
• List of U.S. states by GDP per capita (nominal)
• List of U.S. states by income equality
• List of U.S. states by population
• List of U.S. states by population density
• List of U.S. states by time zone
• List of U.S. states by traditional abbreviation
• List of U.S. states by unemployment rate
• List of U.S. states that were never territories
• List of U.S. states' largest cities
• U.S. postal abbreviations
• U.S. state temperature extremes
• Codes: FIPS state code, ISO 3166-2:US
• Lists of U.S. state insignia:
  • List of U.S. state amphibians
  • List of U.S. state beverages
  • List of U.S. state birds
  • List of U.S. state butterflies
  • List of U.S. state colors
  • List of U.S. state crustaceans
  • List of U.S. state dances
  • List of U.S. state demonyms
  • List of U.S. state dinosaurs
  • List of U.S. state fish
  • List of U.S. state flags
  • List of U.S. state flowers
  • List of U.S. state foods
  • List of U.S. state fossils
  • List of U.S. state grasses
  • List of U.S. state insects
  • List of U.S. state instruments
  • List of U.S. state license plates
  • List of U.S. state mammals
  • List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones
  • List of U.S. state mottos
  • List of U.S. state nicknames
  • List of U.S. state poems
  • List of U.S. state Poet Laureates
  • List of U.S. state reptiles
  • List of U.S. state seals
  • List of U.S. state shells
  • List of U.S. state ships
  • List of U.S. state slogans
  • List of U.S. state soils
  • List of U.S. state songs
  • List of U.S. state sports
  • List of U.S. state tartans
  • List of U.S. state toys
  • List of U.S. state trees

See also

• 50 State Quarters
• 51st state
• Extreme points of the United States
• Geography of the United States
• List of fictional U.S. states
• List of regions of the United States
• List of U.S. counties that share names with U.S. states
• List of U.S. state portals
• List of U.S. state WikiProjects
• Organized incorporated territories of the United States
• Political divisions of the United States
• States' rights
• United States Constitution
• United States Declaration of Independence
  • United States Declaration of Independence (text)
• United States territorial acquisitions
• Territorial evolution of the United States
• United States territory
• Territories of the United States
• Comparison of U.S. state governments
• U.S. State Names: The Stories of How Our States Were Named (book)

References

Further reading

• Stein, Mark, How the States Got Their Shapes, New York : Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2008. ISBN 9780061431388

External links

• Information about All States from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• State Resource Guides, from the Library of Congress
• Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)
• Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)
• State and Territorial Governments on USA.gov
• StateMaster – statistical database for US States.
• U.S. States: Comparisons, rankings, demographics