States and their subdivisions




Statesedit

The primary political entity of the United States is the state. Four states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—call themselves "commonwealths." The word commonwealth in this context refers to the common "wealth", or welfare, of the public. The term has no legal impact.

In 1777 the 13 colonies that had declared independence from Great Britain one year earlier (July 1776) agreed to the formation of a confederation of states under the Articles of Confederation, with an extremely limited central government. A new national frame of government came into force in 1789, when the current U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles. This constitution incorporates the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches, as well as concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government.

On numerous occasions the United States Supreme Court has affirmed that the 50 individual states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions under the Constitution. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the federal government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. States, however, are not sovereign in the Westphalian sense in international law which says that each State has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs, to the exclusion of all external powers, on the principle of non-interference in another State's domestic affairs, and that each State (no matter how large or small) is equal in international law. Additionally, the 50 U.S. states do not possess international legal sovereignty, meaning that they are not recognized by other sovereign States such as, for example, France, Germany or the United Kingdom.

The 50 states of the United States of America are as follows (this list includes both the postal code abbreviation and the traditional abbreviation for each state):


The 50 states can be divided into regions in many different ways.

  • The continental United States typically refers to the main block of 48 states and their off-shore islands with the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Pacific Ocean to the west, Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south. Since this grouping contains 48 states, it is also commonly referred to as "the Lower 48". The designation "coterminous" or "contiguous" United States is also used for this grouping of 48 states, arguably more accurately, since Alaska is also located on the North American continent, and therefore "continental United States" should really refer to the Lower 48, plus Alaska.
  • Alaska is an exclave of the United States, physically connected only to Canada.
  • Hawaii is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.

Countiesedit

The states are divided into smaller administrative regions, called counties in all but two states. In Alaska, the county equivalents are called boroughs (parts of the state which are not included in any borough are considered part of the Unorganized Borough, which itself is divided into census areas), and in Louisiana, the county equivalents are called parishes. Counties have varying degrees of political and legal significance. In some states, mainly in New England, they are primarily used as judicial districts. In other states, counties have broad powers in housing, education, transportation and recreation.

Counties may contain a number of cities, towns, villages, or hamlets, or sometimes just a part of a city. Some cities are consolidated with, and coterminous with, their counties, including Philadelphia, Honolulu, San Francisco, Nashville, and Denver—that is to say, these counties consist in their entirety of a single municipality the government of which also operates as the county government. Some counties, such as Arlington County, Virginia, do not have any additional subdivisions. Some states contain independent cities that are not part of any county. Each of the five boroughs of New York City is coterminous with a county.

Townships and townsedit

In many states, counties are further divided into townships. In New York, Wisconsin and New England, county subdivisions are called towns. States not having such subdivisions may divide counties into other minor civil divisions. The terms "township" and "town" are closely related (in many historical documents the terms are used interchangeably). However, the powers granted to townships or towns vary considerably from state to state. In New England, towns are a principal form of local government, providing many of the functions of counties in other states. In California, by contrast, the pertinent statutes of the Government Code clarify that "town" is simply another word for "city", especially a general law city as distinct from a charter city. Also, in some states, large areas have no general-purpose local government below the county level.

Some townships or other minor civil divisions have governments and political power; others are simply geographic designations. Townships in many states are generally the product of the Public Land Survey System. For more information, see survey township and civil township.

Municipalitiesedit

There are approximately 30,000 incorporated cities in the United States, with varying degrees of self-rule.

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