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The United States of America is a federal republic [1] consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. [2] [3] Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. [4]
The following table is a list of all 50 states and their respective dates of statehood. The first 13 became states in July 1776 upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, and each joined the first Union of states between 1777 and 1781, upon ratifying the Articles of Confederation, its first constitution. [6]
Prior to 1987, when the U.S. Secretary of Commerce approved the two-letter codes for use in government documents, [13] the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) suggested its own set of abbreviations, with some states left unabbreviated. Today, the GPO supports United States Postal Service standard. [14]
Map of the United States showing the state nicknames as hogs. Lithograph by Mackwitz, St. Louis, 1884. The following is a table of U.S. state, federal district and territory nicknames, including officially adopted nicknames and other traditional nicknames for the 50 U.S. states, the U.S. federal district, as well as five U.S. territories.
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, and states also create other local governments. States, unlike U.S. territories, possess many powers and rights under the United States Constitution.
[2] [3] In the event of a vacancy, the governor is succeeded by the second-highest-ranking state official; in 45 states and 4 territories, the lieutenant governor is the first in the line of succession. [4] [5] As of January 8, 2024, there are 27 states with Republican governors and 23 states with Democratic governors.
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States (highlighted in purple) whose capital city is also their most populous States (highlighted in blue) that have changed their capital city at least once. This is a list of capital cities of the United States, including places that serve or have served as federal, state, insular area, territorial, colonial and Native American capitals.