U.S. state

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

A U.S. state is any one of 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.[2] 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[3][4] secession to be unconstitutional, a position driven in part by the outcome of the American Civil War.

Contents

List of states

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Delaware Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey Massachusetts Connecticut West Virginia Vermont Rhode IslandMap of USA with state names.svg
About this image

The following sortable 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[5]
    (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 United States Census Bureau estimate of state population as of 02009-07-01 July 1, 2009[6]
  7. The state capital
  8. The most populous incorporated place or Census Designated Place within the state as of 02008-07-01 July 1, 2008, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau[7]


The 50 United States of America
Name IPA USPS Flag Date Population (2009[8]) Capital Most populous city
Alabama /ˌæləˈbæmə/ AL Flag of Alabama.svg 01819-12-14 December 14, 1819 4,708,708 Montgomery Birmingham
Alaska /əˈlæskə/ AK Flag of Alaska.svg 01959-01-03 January 3, 1959 698,473 Juneau Anchorage
Arizona /ˌærɪˈzoʊnə/ AZ Flag of Arizona.svg 01912-02-14 February 14, 1912 6,595,778 Phoenix Phoenix
Arkansas /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR Flag of Arkansas.svg 01836-06-15 June 15, 1836 2,889,450 Little Rock Little Rock
California /ˌkælɪˈfɔrnjə/ CA Flag of California.svg 01850-09-09 September 9, 1850 36,961,664 Sacramento Los Angeles
Colorado /ˌkɒləˈrædoʊ/ CO Flag of Colorado.svg 01876-08-01 August 1, 1876 5,024,748 Denver Denver
Connecticut /kəˈnɛtɪkət/ CT Flag of Connecticut.svg 01788-01-09 January 9, 1788 3,518,288 Hartford Bridgeport[9]
Delaware /ˈdɛləwɛər/ DE Flag of Delaware.svg 01787-12-07 December 7, 1787 885,122 Dover Wilmington
Florida /ˈflɒrɪdə/ FL Flag of Florida.svg 01845-03-03 March 3, 1845 18,537,969 Tallahassee Jacksonville[10]
Georgia /ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ GA Flag of Georgia (U.S. state).svg 01788-01-02 January 2, 1788 9,829,211 Atlanta Atlanta
Hawaii /həˈwaɪ.iː/ HI Flag of Hawaii.svg 01959-08-21 August 21, 1959 1,295,178 Honolulu Honolulu
Idaho /ˈaɪdəhoʊ/ ID Flag of Idaho.svg 01890-07-03 July 3, 1890 1,545,801 Boise Boise
Illinois /ɪlɪˈnɔɪ/ IL Flag of Illinois.svg 01818-12-03 December 3, 1818 12,910,409 Springfield Chicago
Indiana /ˌɪndiˈænə/ IN Flag of Indiana.svg 01816-12-11 December 11, 1816 6,423,113 Indianapolis Indianapolis
Iowa /ˈaɪ.ɵwə/ IA Flag of Iowa.svg 01846-12-28 December 28, 1846 3,007,856 Des Moines Des Moines
Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ KS Flag of Kansas.svg 01861-01-29 January 29, 1861 2,818,747 Topeka Wichita
Kentucky[11] /kɪnˈtʌki/ KY Flag of Kentucky.svg 01792-06-01 June 1, 1792 4,314,113 Frankfort Louisville
Louisiana /luːˌiːziˈænə/ LA Flag of Louisiana.svg 01812-04-30 April 30, 1812 4,492,076 Baton Rouge New Orleans
Maine /ˈmeɪn/ ME Flag of Maine.svg 01820-03-15 March 15, 1820 1,318,301 Augusta Portland
Maryland /ˈmɛrələnd/ MD Flag of Maryland.svg 01788-04-28 April 28, 1788 5,699,478 Annapolis Baltimore[12]
Massachusetts[11] /ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɪts/ MA Flag of Massachusetts.svg 01788-02-06 February 6, 1788 6,593,587 Boston Boston
Michigan /ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ MI Flag of Michigan.svg 01837-01-26 January 26, 1837 9,969,727 Lansing Detroit
Minnesota /ˌmɪnɪˈsoʊtə/ MN Flag of Minnesota.svg 01858-05-11 May 11, 1858 5,266,214 Saint Paul Minneapolis
Mississippi /ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpi/ MS Flag of Mississippi.svg 01817-12-10 December 10, 1817 2,951,996 Jackson Jackson
Missouri /mɪˈzʊəri, mɪˈzʊərə/ MO Flag of Missouri.svg 01821-08-10 August 10, 1821 5,987,580 Jefferson City Kansas City[13]
Montana /mɒnˈtænə/ MT Flag of Montana.svg 01889-11-08 November 8, 1889 974,989 Helena Billings
Nebraska /nəˈbræskə/ NE Flag of Nebraska.svg 01867-03-01 March 1, 1867 1,796,619 Lincoln Omaha
Nevada /nəˈvædə/ NV Flag of Nevada.svg 01864-10-31 October 31, 1864 2,643,085 Carson City Las Vegas
New Hampshire /nuː ˈhæmpʃər/ NH Flag of New Hampshire.svg 01788-06-21 June 21, 1788 1,324,575 Concord Manchester[14]
New Jersey /nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/ NJ Flag of New Jersey.svg 01787-12-18 December 18, 1787 8,707,739 Trenton Newark[15]
New Mexico /nuː ˈmɛksɪkoʊ/ NM Flag of New Mexico.svg 01912-01-06 January 6, 1912 2,009,671 Santa Fe Albuquerque
New York /nuː ˈjɔrk/ NY Flag of New York.svg 01788-07-26 July 26, 1788 19,541,453 Albany New York City[16]
North Carolina /ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ NC Flag of North Carolina.svg 01789-11-21 November 21, 1789 9,380,884 Raleigh Charlotte
North Dakota /ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/ ND Flag of North Dakota.svg 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 646,844 Bismarck Fargo
Ohio /ɵˈhaɪ.oʊ/ OH Flag of Ohio.svg 01803-03-01 March 1, 1803 11,542,645 Columbus Columbus[17]
Oklahoma /ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/ OK Flag of Oklahoma.svg 01907-11-16 November 16, 1907 3,687,050 Oklahoma City Oklahoma City
Oregon /ˈɒrɪɡən/ OR Flag of Oregon.svg 01859-02-14 February 14, 1859 3,825,657 Salem Portland
Pennsylvania[11] /ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnjə/ PA Flag of Pennsylvania.svg 01787-12-12 December 12, 1787 12,604,767 Harrisburg Philadelphia
Rhode Island[18] /rɵd ˈaɪlənd/ RI Flag of Rhode Island.svg 01790-05-29 May 29, 1790 1,053,209 Providence Providence
South Carolina /ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ SC Flag of South Carolina.svg 01788-05-23 May 23, 1788 4,561,242 Columbia Columbia[19]
South Dakota /ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/ SD Flag of South Dakota.svg 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 812,383 Pierre Sioux Falls
Tennessee /ˌtɛnɪˈsiː/ TN Flag of Tennessee.svg 01796-06-01 June 1, 1796 6,296,254 Nashville Memphis[20]
Texas /ˈtɛksəs/ TX Flag of Texas.svg 01845-12-29 December 29, 1845 24,782,302 Austin Houston[21]
Utah /ˈjuːtɔː/ UT Flag of Utah.svg 01896-01-04 January 4, 1896 2,784,572 Salt Lake City Salt Lake City
Vermont /vərˈmɒnt/ VT Flag of Vermont.svg 01791-03-04 March 4, 1791 621,760 Montpelier Burlington
Virginia[11] /vərˈdʒɪnjə/ VA Flag of Virginia.svg 01788-06-25 June 25, 1788 7,882,590 Richmond Virginia Beach[22]
Washington /ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/ WA Flag of Washington.svg 01889-11-11 November 11, 1889 6,664,195 Olympia Seattle
West Virginia /ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/ WV Flag of West Virginia.svg 01863-06-20 June 20, 1863 1,819,777 Charleston Charleston
Wisconsin /wɪsˈkɒnsɪn/ WI Flag of Wisconsin.svg 01848-05-29 May 29, 1848 5,654,774 Madison Milwaukee
Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ WY Flag of Wyoming.svg 01890-07-10 July 10, 1890 544,270 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. 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, 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.) 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 State Governor and cannot be dismissed by him or her.

Legislative

One of the most notable is that of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, which, unlike the legislatures of the other 49 states, has only one body in it. Also, just few states choose to have their leaders of the judicial branch - 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, normally called "supreme" , are either elected or appointed for terms of a limited number of years, such as five years. Then, they can be re-elected or reappointed if their performance has been judged to be satisfactory.

A key 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. Texas, the second largest state in population, is a notable exception to this: excepting special sessions, the Texas Legislature is limited by law to 140 calendar days out of every two years. In Baker v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to have legislative districts which are proportional in terms of population.

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. 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 (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.

Budgetary

In 2010 the largest single item in the budget of most states was the public education system.[23]

Relationships

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 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.[24] 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

U.S. states by date of statehood      1776–1790     1791–1799     1800–1819     1820–1839     1840–1859     1860–1879     1880–1899     1900–1950     1950–
The order in which the original 13 states ratified the constitution, then the order in which the others were admitted to 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). 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:

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.[25] 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. 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. Puerto Rico currently has limited representation in the U.S. Congress in the form of a Resident Commissioner, a nonvoting delegate.[26] 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.[27] The commonwealth's government has organized several referendums 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".[28]

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.[28][29][30]

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.[31]

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.

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."[32] 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.[33]

Unrecognized entities

See also: Historical regions of the United States

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. 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.[3][4]

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, two U.S. territories — Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas — 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

U.S. Census Bureau regions:
The West, The Midwest, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.

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

See also

United States census statistical areas by state, district, or territory
AL
AK
AZ
AR
CA
CO
CT
DE
DC
FL
GA
HI
ID
IL
IN
IA
KS
KY
LA
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MS
MO
MT
NE
NV
NH
NJ
NM
NY
NC
ND
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SC
SD
TN
TX
UT
VT
VA
WA
WV
WI
WY
AS
GU
PR
MP
VI

References

  1. See the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  2. a. Third Constitution of Kentucky (1850), Article 2, Section 1 ff. Other portions of the same Constitution refer to the "State of Kentucky".
    b. Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Preamble.
    c. Constitution of Pennsylvania, Preamble.
    d. Constitution of Virginia (1971), Article IV, Section 1.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Aleksandar Pavković, Peter Radan, Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession, p. 222, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1868) at Cornell University Law School Supreme Court collection.
  5. "Official USPS Abbreviations". United States Postal Service. 1998. http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/abbreviations.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26. 
  6. "Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009" (CSV). 2009 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 02009-12-23 December 23, 2009. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2009-01.csv. Retrieved 02009-12-23 December 23, 2009. 
  7. "Resident Population Estimates of Incorporated Places Only: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008" (CSV). 2008 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 02009-07-01 July 1, 2009. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/files/SUB-EST2008-IP.csv. Retrieved 02009-10-01 October 1, 2009. 
  8. GCT-T1. Population Estimates : 2009 Population Estimates, U.S. Census Bureau.
  9. The Hartford-West Hartford-Willimantic Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Connecticut.
  10. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Florida.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Official name calls it a commonwealth
  12. Baltimore City and the 12 Maryland counties of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Maryland.
  13. The City of Saint Louis and the 8 Missouri counties of the St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Missouri.
  14. The 5 southeastern New Hampshire counties of the Boston-Worcester-Manchester Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Hampshire.
  15. The 13 northern New Jersey counties of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Jersey.
  16. New York City is the most populous city in the United States.
  17. The Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Ohio.
  18. Full name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
  19. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in South Carolina.
  20. The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Columbia Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Tennessee.
  21. The Dallas-Fort Worth Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Texas.
  22. The 10 Virginia counties and 6 Virginia cities of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Virginia.
  23. Broder, David S. (6 June 2010). "School reform at risk". Washington, DC: Washington Post. pp. A15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401502.html. 
  24. a. Third Constitution of Kentucky (1850), Article 2, Section 1 ff. Other portions of the same Constitution refer to the "State of Kentucky".
    b. Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Preamble.
    c. Constitution of Pennsylvania, Preamble.
    d. Constitution of Virginia (1971), Article IV, Section 1.
  25. Richard Bruce Winders (2002). Crisis in the Southwest: the United States, Mexico, and the struggle over Texas. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 82, 92. ISBN 9780842028011. http://books.google.com/books?id=mcc9EciebFYC. 
  26. "Rules of the House of Representatives" (PDF). http://www.rules.house.gov/ruleprec/110th.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  27. "Political Status of Puerto Rico: Options for Congress". Congressional Research Service. http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL32933_20090804.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-19. 
  28. 28.0 28.1 "''Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2007)''" (PDF). http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/2007-report-by-the-president-task-force-on-puerto-rico-status.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  29. "Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2005)" (PDF). http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  30. H.R. 2499 – Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 H.R. 2499
  31. "H.R. 2499: Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010", govtrack.us, April 29, 2010, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2499. 
  32. "Article IV | LII / Legal Information Institute". Law.cornell.edu. http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleiv.html#section3. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  33. "Texas Dividing into Five States". snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 

Further reading

External links