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contracts and criminal judgments and before 1865 slavery status pursuant to the extradition clause a state must extradite people located there who have fled charges of treason felony or other crimes in another state if the other state so demands 34 the full faith and credit expectation does have exceptions some legal arrangements such as professional licensure and marriages may be state specific and until recently states have not been found by the courts to be required to honor such arrangements from other states 35 such legal acts are nevertheless often recognized state to state according to the common practice of comity states are prohibited from discriminating against citizens of other states with respect to their basic rights under the privileges and immunities clause with the federal government further information federalism in the united states under article iv each state is guaranteed a form of government that is grounded in republican principles such as the consent of the governed 36 this guarantee has long been at the forefront of the debate about the rights of citizens vis à vis the government states are also guaranteed protection from invasion and upon the application of the state legislature or executive if the legislature cannot be convened from domestic violence this provision was discussed during the 1967 detroit riot but was not invoked ownership of federal lands in the 50 states 2005 the supremacy clause article vi clause 2 establishes that the constitution federal laws made pursuant to it and treaties made under its authority constitute the supreme law of the land 37 it provides that state courts are bound by the supreme law in case of conflict between federal and state law the federal law must be applied even state constitutions are subordinate to federal law 38 states rights are understood mainly with reference to the tenth amendment the constitution delegates some powers to the national government and it forbids some powers to the states the tenth amendment reserves all other powers to the states or to the people powers of the u s congress are enumerated in article i section 8 for example the power to declare war making treaties is one power forbidden to the states being listed among other such powers in article i section 10 among the article i enumerated powers of congress is the power to regulate commerce since the early 20th century the supreme court s interpretation of this commerce clause has over time greatly expanded the scope of federal power at the expense of powers formerly considered purely states matters the cambridge economic history of the united states says on the whole especially after the mid 1880s the court construed the commerce clause in favor of increased federal power 39 in 1941 the supreme court in u s v darby upheld the fair labor standards act of 1938 holding that congress had the power under the commerce clause to regulate employment conditions 40 in 1942 in wickard v filburn the court expanded federal power to regulate the economy by holding that federal authority under the commerce clause extends to activities which may appear to be local in nature but in reality effect the entire national economy and are therefore of national concern 41 for example congress can regulate railway traffic across state lines but it may also regulate rail traffic solely within a state based on the reality that intrastate traffic still affects interstate commerce through such decisions argues law professor david f forte the court turned the commerce power into the equivalent of a general regulatory power and undid the framers original structure of limited and delegated powers subsequently congress invoked the commerce clause to expand federal criminal legislation as well as for social reforms such as the civil rights act of 1964 only within the past couple of decades through decisions in cases such as those in u s v lopez 1995 and u s v morrison 2000 has the court tried to limit the commerce clause power of congress 42 another enumerated congressional power is its taxing and spending power 43 an example of this is the system of federal aid for highways which include the interstate highway system the system is mandated and largely funded by the federal government and serves the interests of the states by threatening to withhold federal highway funds congress has been able to pressure state legislatures to pass various laws 44 an example is the nationwide legal drinking age of 21 enacted by each state brought about by the national minimum drinking age act although some objected that this infringes on states rights the supreme court upheld the practice as a permissible use of the constitution s spending clause in south dakota v dole 483 u s 203 1987 as prescribed by article i of the constitution which establishes the u s congress each state is represented in the senate irrespective of population size by two senators and each is guaranteed at least one representative in the house both senators and representatives are chosen in direct popular elections in the various states prior to 1913 senators were elected by state legislatures there are presently 100 senators who are elected at large to staggered terms of six years with one third of them being chosen every two years representatives are elected at large or from single member districts to terms of two years not staggered the size of the house presently 435 voting members is set by federal statute seats in the house are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census 45 the borders of these districts are established by the states individually through a process called redistricting and within each state all districts are required to have approximately equal populations 46 citizens in each state plus those in the district of columbia indirectly elect the president and vice president when casting ballots in presidential elections they are voting for presidential electors who then using procedures provided in the 12th amendment elect the president and vice president 47 there were 538 electors for the most recent presidential election in 2024 the allocation of electoral votes was based on the 2010 census 48 each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the total number of representatives and senators from that state the district of columbia is entitled to three electors 49 while the constitution does set parameters for the election of federal officials state law not federal regulates most aspects of elections in the u s including primaries the eligibility of voters beyond the basic constitutional definition the running of each state s electoral college as well as the running of state and local elections all elections federal state and local are administered by the individual states and some voting rules and procedures may differ among them 50 article v of the constitution accords states a key role in the process of amending the u s constitution amendments may be proposed either by congress with a two thirds vote in both the house and the senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two thirds of the state legislatures 51 to become part of the constitution an amendment must be ratified by either as determined by congress the legislatures of three quarters of the states or state ratifying conventions in three quarters of the states 52 the vote in each state to either ratify or reject a proposed amendment carries equal weight regardless of a state s population or length of time in the union with other countries u s states are not sovereign in the westphalian sense in international law which says that each state has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs to the exclusion of all external powers on the principle of non interference in another state s domestic affairs and that each state no matter how large or small is equal in international law 53 the 50 u s states do not possess international legal sovereignty meaning that they are not recognized by other sovereign states such as for example france germany or the united kingdom 53 the federal government is responsible for international relations but state and local government leaders occasionally travel to other countries and form economic and cultural relationships admission into the union main article admission to the union u s states by date of statehood 1776 1790 1791 1796 1803 1819 1820 1837 1845 1859 1861 1876 1889 1896 1907 1912 1959 the order in which the original 13 states ratified the constitution then the order in which the others were admitted to the union article iv also 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 each new state has been admitted on an equal footing with the existing states 32 article iv also forbids the creation of new states from parts of existing states without the consent of both the affected states and congress this caveat was designed to give eastern states that still had western land claims including georgia north carolina and virginia to have a veto over whether their western counties could become states 31 and has served this same function since whenever a proposal to partition an existing state or states in order that a region within might either join another state or to create a new state has come before congress most of the states admitted to the union after the original 13 were formed from an organized territory established and governed by congress in accord with its plenary power under article iv section 3 clause 2 54 the outline for this process was established by the northwest ordinance 1787 which predates the ratification of the constitution in some cases an entire territory has become a state in others some part of a territory has when the people of a territory make their desire for statehood known to the federal government congress may pass an enabling act authorizing the people of that territory to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution as a step toward admission to the union each act details the mechanism by which the territory will be admitted as a state following ratification of their constitution and election of state officers although the use of an enabling act is a traditional historic practice a number of territories have drafted constitutions for submission to congress absent an enabling act and were subsequently admitted upon acceptance of that constitution and meeting any additional congressional stipulations congress has always admitted that territory as a state in addition to the original 13 six subsequent states were never an organized territory of the federal government or part of one before being admitted to the union three were set off from an already existing state two entered the union after having been sovereign states and one was established from unorganized territory california 1850 from land ceded to the united states by mexico in 1848 under the terms of the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo 55 56 57 kentucky 1792 from virginia district of kentucky fayette jefferson and lincoln counties 55 56 58 maine 1820 from massachusetts district of maine 55 56 58 texas 1845 previously the republic of texas 55 56 59 vermont 1791 previously the vermont republic also known as the new hampshire grants and claimed by new york 55 56 60 west virginia 1863 from virginia trans allegheny region counties during the civil war 56 58 61 congress is under no obligation to admit states even in those areas whose population expresses a desire for statehood such has been the case numerous times during the nation s history the first instance occurred while the nation still operated under the articles of confederation the state of franklin existed for several years not long after the end of the american revolution but was never recognized by the confederation congress which ultimately recognized north carolina s claim of sovereignty over the area the territory comprising franklin later became part of the southwest territory and ultimately of the state of tennessee in another instance mormon pioneers in salt lake city sought to establish the state of deseret in 1849 it existed for slightly over two years and was never approved by the united states congress in another leaders of the five civilized tribes cherokee chickasaw choctaw creek and seminole in indian territory proposed to establish the state of sequoyah in 1905 as a means to retain control of their lands 62 the proposed constitution ultimately failed in the u s congress instead the indian territory and oklahoma territory were both incorporated into the new state of oklahoma in 1907 the entry of several states into the union was delayed due to distinctive complicating factors among them michigan territory which petitioned congress for statehood in 1835 was not admitted to the union until 1837 due to a boundary dispute with the adjoining state of ohio the republic of texas requested annexation to the united states in 1837 but fears about potential conflict with mexico delayed the admission of texas for nine years 63 statehood for kansas territory was held up for several years 1854 61 due to a series of internal violent conflicts involving anti slavery and pro slavery factions west virginia s bid for statehood was also delayed over slavery and was settled when it agreed to adopt a gradual abolition plan 64 further information historic regions of the united states and list of u s state partition proposals proposed additions further information 51st state guam guam is an organized unincorporated territory of the united states in the western pacific ocean 65 66 the future political status of guam has been a matter of significant discussion with public opinion polls indicating a strong preference of becoming a u s state 67 68 puerto rico main articles political status of puerto rico and proposed political status for puerto rico puerto rico an unincorporated u s territory refers to itself as the commonwealth of puerto rico in the english version of its constitution and as estado libre asociado literally associated free state in the spanish version as with all u s territories its residents do not have full representation in the united states congress puerto rico has limited representation in the u s house of representatives in the form of a resident commissioner a delegate with limited voting rights in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union but no voting rights otherwise 69 a non binding referendum on statehood independence or a new option for an associated territory different from the current status was held on november 6 2012 sixty one percent 61 of voters chose the statehood option while one third of the ballots were submitted blank 70 71 on december 11 2012 the legislative assembly of puerto rico enacted a concurrent resolution requesting the...
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