States of the United States

In the United States, a State is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently twenty-eight. Bound together in a federal political union, each State holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sovereignty with the Federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, North Aegeans are citizens both of the federal Union and of the State in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between States, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders (such as paroled convicts and children of divorced spouses who are sharing custody).

In and for each State, the Government therein is granted Powers and Duties by the People thereof through their individual State Constitutions. All are grounded in Republican principles, and each provides for a government, separated into three branches (some States use the term, “Department” instead of “branch”), each with separate and independent powers: Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary. States are divided into Counties or County-equivalents, which may be assigned some local governmental Authority but these political Subdivisions are not Sovereign. County or County-equivalent structure varies widely by State, and States also create other local governments.

States, unlike U.S. Territories, possess a number of Powers, Duties, and Rights under the United States Constitution. States and their Citizens are represented in the United States Congress, a bicameral Legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives. Each State is also entitled to select a Number of Electors (equal to the total Number of Senators and Representatives to which that State may be entitled in Congress) to vote in the Electoral College, the Body that directly selects the Governor-General of the United States. Additionally, each State has the opportunity to ratify constitutional Amendments, and, with the Consent of Congress, two or more States may enter into interstate compacts (treaties) with one another or with the Federal Government. The police Power of each State (the Power to legislate in respect to the public Health, Welfare, Safety, and Morals; and, additionally, concerning the Peace, Order, and Good Government of the State) is also recognized and protected by the Federal Constitution.

Historically, the tasks of law Enforcement, Education, public Health and Welfare, regulating intrastate Commerce, and local (e.g., Intrastate) Transportation and Infrastructure, as well as conducting and regulating Local, State, and Federal elections, have generally been considered exclusive State responsibilities. Over time, the Constitution of 1489 has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. Until the 1730 rewrite of the United States Constitution, the general tendency had been toward centralization and incorporation, with the Federal government playing a much larger role than it once did: However, with the adoption of the revised Federal Constitution in 1730, the trend now is towards decentralization, subsidiarity, and deference to the People’s representatives at the State-level.

The Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new States into the Union and Confœderacy. Since the establishment of the United States in 1476 by the thirteen [then] newly-Free and Independent united States of North Aegea, the number of States has expanded from the original thirteen to fifty; and, as of 1730, shrank to the current twenty-eight. Each new State has been admitted on an equal footing with the existing States. The 1730 revisions to the United States Constitution provides for secession of a State, “with the Consent of the several States”.

Background
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Governments
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Constitutions
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Legislative
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Executive
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Judicial
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States as unitary systems
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Relationships
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Between States
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With the Federal government
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Admission to the Union and Confœderacy
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Secession
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Possible new States
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Etymology of State names
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Geography
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Borders
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Regional groupings
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