U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States (although four states use the official title commonwealth). The separate state governments and the federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. However, state citizenship is very 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 the two levels of government in general terms. By ratifying the Constitution, each state transfers certain sovereign powers to the federal government and agrees to share other powers. Under the Tenth Amendment, all powers not explicitly transferred or shared are retained by the states and the people. Historically, the tasks of public education, public health, transportation and other infrastructure have been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all have significant federal funding and regulation as well.

Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, 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 powers that the states have given to the federal government.

List of states
The following sortable table lists each of the 50 states of the United States of America with the following information:
 * The common state name,
 * The official state name or names,
 * The United States Postal Service (USPS) two-character state abbreviation (also used as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 3166-2 country subdivision code),
 * The date the state ratified the United States Constitution or was admitted to the Union,
 * The United States Census Bureau estimate of state population as of 2006-07-01,
 * The state capital,
 * The most populous incorporated place or census-designated place within the state as of 2005-07-01, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau, and
 * An image of the state flag.

Admission of states into 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 without the consent of both that state's legislature and of Congress.

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 would make known the sentiment of its population in favor of statehood; Congress would then direct that government to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution. Upon acceptance of that Constitution, Congress would then admit that territory as a state. The broad outlines in this process were established by the Northwest Ordinance, which actually 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 have been admitted that were never organized territories of the federal government:


 * 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 1836, but fears about the conflict with Mexico that would result delayed admission for nine years. 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, and particularly with the Mormon elite's then-current practice of polygamy.

Naming issues: Commonwealths, republics, and states
Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. Somewhat confusingly, two U.S. territories &mdash; Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas &mdash; are also referred to as commonwealths, and do have a legal status different from the states.

The Republic of Texas was an independent nation for nine years, and the Republic of Hawaii, formerly the Kingdom of Hawaii, was also an independent nation. There is debate over whether Vermont was ever an independent nation; however it was the first future state to write its own Constitution. The so-called "California Republic" was actually a flag raised by Americans in the town of Sonoma after they expelled the local Mexican official. Ten days later the U.S. Army took over.

See also List of official names of the states of the USA.

State 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 sames lines as that of the federal government—though this is not a requirement. There is nothing that could stop a state from adopting a parliamentary system—with a fusion of powers, as opposed to a separation of powers—if it so choses.

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New states on the horizon?

 * See also: 51st state

Today, there are very few U.S. territories left that might potentially become new states. In light of recent events, the most likely candidate may be Puerto Rico. 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. In December 2005, a presidential task force proposed a new set of referenda 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 2010.

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. :See also: District of Columbia voting rights

For the remaining permanently inhabited U.S. non-state jurisdictions—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa—the prospects of statehood are remote. All have relatively small populations—Guam, with the most inhabitants, has a population less than 35 percent that of Wyoming, the least populous state—and have governments that are heavily reliant on federal funding.

Constitutionally, a state may only be divided into more states with the approval both of Congress and of the state's legislature, as was the case when Maine was split off from Massachusetts. The idea that a Congressional joint resolution from 1845 might serve as a sort of advanced Congressional approval for a move to divide Texas today seems unlikely to pass muster. In fact, the clause in question was almost certainly intended to give Texas the option of entering the union as more than one state. As there is no organized movement today to divide Texas into multiple states, the point is largely academic. -->

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 for more detail.)

British

 * Southeastern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York. Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's woods," in Latin, takes its name from the father of its founder, William Penn. Delaware is named after Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, an early colonist and governor of the Jamestown Colony.

Native American

 * Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, the Dakotas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and others. Additionally, the name of Idaho was presented as a Native American word by eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing, though it was later revealed that he likely made it up. Indiana means literally "land of Indians". Hawaii is a Polynesian name.

Spanish

 * Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Montana, and, ultimately of Native American origin, New Mexico. California is also believed to be of Spanish origin, though this is not entirely clear (see Origin of the name California).

French

 * Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after Louis XIV (the King of France at the time). Maine may also be named after the historical French province of Maine, although another theory derives "Maine" from "mainland," differentiating it from the outlying islands. Vermont is derived from the French term for "green mountains", a reference to its mountainous but forested terrain.

Other

 * Formally referred to as the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island likely gained its name through the supposed similarity of Aquidneck Island (the body of land known as Rhode Island, which contains the city of Newport and the towns of Portsmouth and Middletown) to the Greek Isle of Rhodes. Providence Plantations, which makes reference to the mainland that surrounds Narragansett Bay, was named by its religious founders for God's divine providence.  The state of Washington was named after George Washington. Arizona may come from a Basque term, or it may be of Native American origin.

Origin Unknown

 * The origin of Oregon is not certain, although various theories exist, but is most likely to be of Native American origin.

Grouping of the states in regions


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.

State lists

 * List of U.S. state capitals
 * List of current and former capital cities within U.S. states
 * List of U.S. states' largest cities


 * List of U.S. states by date of statehood
 * List of U.S. states that were never territories
 * List of U.S. state name etymologies
 * List of state legislatures in the United States


 * List of U.S. states by area
 * 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 population
 * List of U.S. states by population density
 * List of U.S. states by time zone
 * List of U.S. states by unemployment rate


 * List of U.S. state residents names


 * List of U.S. states by traditional abbreviation
 * U.S. postal abbreviations
 * U.S. state temperature extremes
 * Codes: FIPS state code, ISO 3166-2:US


 * Lists of U.S. state insignia