*50 AMERICAN STATES*
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-AS OF [14 FEBRUARY 2024]-
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(SINCE ‘1959’)
(when ‘alaska’ + ‘hawaii’ became full-fledged american states’)
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“BY POPULATION”
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(*from latin*) –>
(‘status’ –> ‘condition’)
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(a US state is a ‘constituent political entity’ of the “united states of america”)
(there are 50 ‘states’, which are bound together in a ‘union’ with each other)
(each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a defined geographic territory, and shares its sovereignty with the “united states federal government”)
(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)
(“state citizenship” and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders (e.g., paroled convicts and children of divorced spouses who are sharing custody))
(states range in population from just under 600,000 (‘wyoming’) to over 38 million (‘california’), and in area from 1,214 square miles (3,140 km2) (‘rhode island’) to 663,268 square miles (1,717,860 km2) (‘alaska’))
(four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names)
(‘states’ are divided into ‘counties’ or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local governmental authority but are not sovereign)
(‘county’ or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state)
(‘state governments’ are allocated power by the people (of each respective state) through their individual constitutions)
(all are grounded in ‘republican principles’, and each provides for a government, consisting of three branches: ‘executive’, ‘legislative’, and ‘judicial’)
(“states” possess a number of powers and rights under the “united states constitution”; among them ratifying “constitutional amendments”)
(historically, the tasks of local ‘law enforcement’, ‘public education’, ‘public health’, regulating ‘intrastate commerce’, and local transportation and infrastructure have generally been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all of these now have significant federal funding and regulation as well)
(over time, the ‘US 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’ and the rights of individuals)
(‘states’ and their residents are represented in the federal ‘congress’, a bicameral legislature consisting of the “senate” and the “house of representatives”)
(each “state” is represented in the “senate” by two “senators”, and is guaranteed at least one “representative” in the “house”)
(members of the “house” are elected from “single-member districts”)
(“representatives” are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial “census”)
(each “state” is also entitled to select a number of electors to vote in the “electoral college”, the body that elects the “president of the united states”, equal to the total of ‘representatives’ and ‘senators’ from that state)
(the “constitution” grants to ‘congress’ the authority to admit new states into the “union”)
(since the establishment of the “united states” in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the “original 13” to 50)
(“alaska” + “hawaii” are the most recent states admitted, both in ‘1959’)
(the “constitution” is silent on the question of whether states have the power to secede (withdraw) from the “union”)
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(shortly after the “civil war”, the “US supreme court” (in texas v. white) held that a ‘state’ cannot unilaterally do so)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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👈👈👈☜*“THE UNITED STATES”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥