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STATES
A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United
States, although four states use the official title "commonwealth". The separate
state governments and the federal government share sovereignty, in that an
American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of their state of domicile.
However, state citizenship is very flexible, and no government approval is
required to move between states (with the exception of convicts on parole).
The state governments have the greatest influence over most Americans' daily
lives. Each state has its own written constitution, government, and code of
laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between
individual states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and
education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each
state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except
Nebraska), whose members represent the voters of the state. Each state maintains
its own state court system. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are
elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal
system.
The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of
government in general terms. By ratifying the Constitution, each state transfers
certain sovereign powers to the federal government. Under the Tenth Amendment,
all powers not explicitly transferred are retained by the states and the people.
Historically, the tasks of public education, public health, transportation and
other infrastructure have been considered primarily state responsibilities,
although all have significant federal funding and regulation as well.
Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and
application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward
centralization, 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 that of
the federal government.
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