A U.S. State is any one of the fifty states which is a member of the federation known as the United States of America. Sovereignty is divided between the individual states and the federal government. Under the United States Constitution, the federal government can legislate only on matters explicitly delegated to it by the Constitution, with the remaining governmental powers belonging to the states.

Table of contents

1 Map 2 List of states 3 History 4 Various facts about the states 5 Grouping of the states in regions 6 See also

Map

List of states

The states, with their US postal abbreviations and capitals, are:

AL Alabama - Montgomery AK Alaska - Juneau AZ Arizona - Phoenix AR Arkansas - Little Rock CA California - Sacramento CO Colorado - Denver CT Connecticut - Hartford DE Delaware - Dover FL Florida - Tallahassee GA Georgia - Atlanta HI Hawaii - Honolulu ID Idaho - Boise IL Illinois - Springfield IN Indiana - Indianapolis IA Iowa - Des Moines KS Kansas - Topeka KY Kentucky - Frankfort LA Louisiana - Baton Rouge ME Maine - Augusta MD Maryland - Annapolis MA Massachusetts - Boston MI Michigan - Lansing MN Minnesota - Saint Paul MS Mississippi - Jackson MO Missouri - Jefferson City

MT Montana - Helena NC North Carolina - Raleigh ND North Dakota - Bismarck NE Nebraska - Lincoln NV Nevada - Carson City NH New Hampshire - Concord NJ New Jersey - Trenton NM New Mexico - Santa Fe NY New York - Albany OH Ohio - Columbus OK Oklahoma - Oklahoma City OR Oregon - Salem PA Pennsylvania - Harrisburg RI Rhode Island - Providence SC South Carolina - Columbia SD South Dakota - Pierre TN Tennessee - Nashville TX Texas - Austin UT Utah - Salt Lake City VT Vermont - Montpelier VA Virginia - Richmond WA Washington - Olympia WV West Virginia - Charleston WI Wisconsin - Madison WY Wyoming - Cheyenne

In addition to the states, several other areas belong to the United States:

• AS American Samoa
• DC District of Columbia, which is the seat of the Federal government
• GU Guam
• MP Northern Mariana Islands, Commonwealth
• PR Puerto Rico, Commonwealth
• VI the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Midway Islands
• Guantanamo Bay (the US has "complete jurisdiction and control" under a lease from Cuba, which retains ultimate sovereignty)

For a complete list of dependent areas and other territory under current or former control of the US, see United States Dependent areas.

Unlike states the authority to rule those areas comes not from the people of those areas but from the Federal government, however in most cases Congress has granted a large amount of self-rule.

History

Upon the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, there were 13 states. States can be admitted to the Union by Congress.

The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the United States. The Civil War was fought to prevent states from leaving the Union. Some people claim that it is still not established whether any state can secede legally.

Various facts about the states

• Four of the states are called formally commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is a merely a name and has no legal impact. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.

• "Georgia" is the name of both a U.S. state and an independent country in Caucasia.

• "New York" is all three: a state, a county in that state, and a city in that state.

• "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. The state Washington is the only one named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the U.S., for that matter).

• One state upon joining the United States was granted the right to divide itself into up to five separate states. This was a condition of the statehood of Texas.

• Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, this is a very common practice with states and provinces in other countries, where the state or province is actually often named after the capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City).

• State names speak to the circumstances of their creation.
  • Southern states on the Atlantic coast were former British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, are named after English counties: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
  • Many later states were named after indigenous Indian tribes: Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Mississippi, and more.
  • Southern states have Spanish names since these territories were originally controlled by Spain or Mexico: California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and perhaps Arizona.

Grouping of the states in regions

States may be grouped in regions. This is not official, definitions vary, see the separate articles. They are:

• The West
• The Southwest
• The Midwest (in the north, and with respect to east-west direction in the middle)
• The South (actually southeast)
• Mid-Atlantic States
• New England (the extreme northeast)

See also Geography of the United States.

See also

• Etymological list of U.S. States
• United States.
• For an enlarged map of the northeast, see [1]
• For tables with areas, populations, densities and more, see [1] (in order of population) and [1] (alphabetical). Note that units of miles are used.
• Lists of codes: FIPS state code, state codes, US postal abbreviations, ISO 3166-2:US, Traditional US state abbreviations
• List of U.S. states by population
• List of U.S. states by area
• List of U.S. states by unemployment rate
• List of state capitals and former capital cities in the United States
• County (United States)