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U.S. state



See also: 51st state , Politics of Puerto Rico , and Political status of Puerto Rico

Today, there are very few U.S. territories left that might potentially become new states. In light of recent events, the most likely candidate may be Puerto Rico. 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.[18] 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. 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." 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 2010. The President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status report of December 2007 reiterated and confirmed the proposals of the U.S. government administration made on December 2005 by the President's Task Force.[19][20][21]

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. See also: District of Columbia voting rights

For the remaining permanently inhabited U.S. non-state jurisdictions – the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa – the prospects of statehood are remote. All have relatively small populations – Guam, with the most inhabitants, has a population less than 35 percent that of Wyoming, the least populous state – and have governments that are heavily reliant on federal funding. If these territories ever sought statehood, they would probably have to combine to maximize their population and territory – possibly with the addition of the former United States Trust Territories: Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.

Constitutionally, a state may only be divided into more states with the approval both of Congress and of the state's legislature, as was the case when Maine was split off from Massachusetts. 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 into as many as five separate states, although no serious attempt in this regard has ever been made.

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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.

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Grouping of the states in regions

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.
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.

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Unrecognized States

  • The State of Franklin existed for four years not long after the end of the American Revolution, but was never recognized by the union, which ultimately recognized North Carolina's claim of sovereignty over the area. A majority of the states were willing to recognize Franklin, but the number of states in favor fell short of the two-thirds majority required to admit a territory to statehood under the Articles of Confederation. The territory comprising Franklin later became part of the state of Tennessee.
  • On July 24, 1859, the formation of the proposed State of Jefferson in the Southern Rocky Mountains was defeated by voters. On October 24, 1859, voters instead approved the formation of the Territory of Jefferson, which was superseded by the Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861. In 1941, a second State of Jefferson was proposed for the mostly rural area of Southern Oregon and Northern California. This proposal has been raised several times since.
  • State of Lincoln
    • State of Lincoln is another state that has been proposed multiple times over the years. It consists generally of the eastern portion of Washington State and the panhandle or northern portion of Idaho. Originally proposed by Idaho in 1864 to include just the panhandle of Idaho and again in 1901 to include Eastern Washington. Recent proposals have come up in 1996, 1999 and 2005.
    • Lincoln is also the name of a failed state proposal after the U.S. Civil War in 1869. The southwestern section of Texas was proposed to Congress during the Reconstruction period of the federal government after the Civil War.

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State lists

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See also

U.S. Census Bureau statistical areas by state, district, or territory


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References

  1. ^ See the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  2. ^ Official USPS Abbreviations (HTML). United States Postal Service (1998). Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
  3. ^ Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States and States, and for Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007 (CSV). 2007 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division (2007-12-27). Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  4. ^ United States -- States; and Puerto Rico: GCT-T1-R. Population Estimates (geographies ranked by estimate) Data Set: 2007 Population Estimates (HTML). 2007 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program (2007-07-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  5. ^ Annual Estimates of the Population for All Incorporated Places: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (HTML). 2006 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division (2007-06-28). Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
  6. ^ The Hartford-West Hartford-Willimantic Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Connecticut.
  7. ^ The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Florida.
  8. ^ Baltimore City and the 12 Maryland counties of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in Maryland.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ The 5 southeastern New Hampshire counties of the Boston-Worcester-Manchester Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Hampshire.
  11. ^ The 13 northern New Jersey counties of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport Combined Statistical Area form the most populous metropolitan region in New Jersey.
  12. ^ New York City is the most populous city in the United States.
  13. ^ The Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Ohio.
  14. ^ The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in South Carolina.
  15. ^ The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Columbia Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Tennessee.
  16. ^ The Dallas-Fort Worth Combined Statistical Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Texas.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Rules of the House of Representatives
  19. ^ Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2005)
  20. ^ Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2007)
  21. ^ [1] -Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007 H.R. 900

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External links


v • d • e
Political divisions of the United States
States
Federal district
Insular areas
Outlying islands
v • d • e
Articles on first-level administrative divisions of North American countries
Table of administrative country subdivisions by country



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