Encyclopedia
A
state of the United States is any one of the fifty subnational entities referred to as a state which, along with the
District of Columbia, under the provisions of the
United States Constitution form the
United States of America. The separate state governments and the
United States 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 .
The
United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms. The idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state transfers certain sovereign powers to the federal government; agrees to share other powers; and exclusively retains the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. All states transferred, shared, and kept the same powers.
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.
Legal relationship
Legal status at end of Revolutionary War
At the time of the
Declaration of Independence from
Great Britain in 1776, the
13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states. They became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the
Vermont Republic. For a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations.
Union as a single nation
Upon the adoption of the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a confederation, a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law — empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations — albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via the process of ratifying the
United States Constitution.
Relationship among the states
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. 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.
Commerce clause
the
Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted the
Constitution of the United States such that the commerce clause allows a great deal of intrusion into State matters. One example of this usage is that the United States has the ability to regulate the railroad industry since trains transport commercial goods across state borders. Another initiative that commonly comes up when discussing the commerce clause is the use of federal support for the
Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. The system is mandated and partially funded by the federal government but serves the interests of the states. By threatening to withhold federal highway funds, the federal government has been able to stimulate state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Although some object on the ground that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Commerce Clause.
Admission of states into the union
Since the ratification of the Constitution, 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 were organized . 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:
- 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 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 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' dominance in the territory, and particularly with the Mormon elite's then-current practice of
polygamy.
Secession
The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual," and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union." In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the
Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of
Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
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 —
Puerto Rico and the
Northern Marianas — 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. 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 US Army took over.
See also 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 rather minimal requirements in the U.S. Constitution. In the executive branch, this means that each state government has its own unique set of departments and agencies. For an excellent example of the resulting complexity, see Department of Motor Vehicles.
All state legislatures but
Nebraska's are
bicameral, meaning that they have two houses . The most substantial 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.
Also, states can organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. 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 , and a Supreme Court. However,
Texas has a separate highest court for criminal appeals.
New York 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.
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 . Most 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. However, the strong left-leaning politics of the District's residents make the idea of its admission as a state unpalatable to the Republican-controlled Congress. Moreover, questions persist over the District's government's ability to successfully manage its finances. 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. It seems likely that the District will gain a voting member of the House of Representatives at some point, while the question of Senators for the District is unresolved.
- 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.
There are also some more or less active proposals to form new states out of parts of existing states. A perennial minority in the
Upper Peninsula of
Michigan, express interest in seceding from the
Lower Peninsula and forming a new state known as "Superior", although such expressions are generally not taken seriously. Another minority group in Northern California and Southern Oregon would like to create the
State of Jefferson.
Origin of states' names
State names speak to the circumstances of their creation.
British- Southeastern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia
- Georgia [i], a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia: **Formerly ...
, 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 coloniser in of the area.
Native American- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Nebraska, Kansas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma
Fullname = State of Oklahoma |
...
,
Alabama,
Tennessee, 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 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, New Mexico, Florida, Nevada and Montana
Montana is a state [i] in the Pacific Northwest [i] and Great Plains [i] regions of the United States [i]...
.
California is also believed to be of Spanish origin, though this is not entirely clear .
French- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana
...
is named after
Louis XIV .
Maine is also named after a historical region in France of the same name.
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 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.
Origin Unknown- The origin of Oregon is unknown, although various theories exist, but is most likely to be of Native American origin.
List of states
The states, with their
U.S. postal abbreviations,
traditional abbreviations, capitals, largest cities, and flags are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the United States, see United States dependent areas.
