User:Pat Palmer/sandbox/test2

test The United States of America is a large nation in North America. Its government is a republic of fifty semi-independent states. The government consists of three branches (legislative, judicial, and executive) that provide checks and balances on each other's power. The executive branch is headed by the President of the United States of America (elected every four years), the legislative branch consists of the U.S. Congress (elected periodically), and at the top of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court whose nine members serve for life. This form of republic is specified in the U.S. Constitution of 1789 and has survived in essentially the same form for well over two centuries (at the cost of one bloody civil war fought in the 1860's to prevent states from ceceding from the union). The nation's capital is Washington, D.C..

The United States of America is also informally called the United States, U.S.A, U.S., US, or (inaccurately) America.

States and territories

See U.S. States and Territories for a more complete listing including territories and uninhabited islands.

Click on a column header to sort the table by that item.

¹Size in square miles, land area only (minus water).
²Population per 2020 census.
³Population density in persons per square mile.
⁴Electoral votes for the 2024 presidential election.

No	Name	Short	Year	Size¹	Population²	Density³	EV's⁴	Capital	Subdivisions
1	Alabama	AL	1819 - 22nd	50,744	5,024,279	99.0	9	Montgomery	67 counties
2	Alaska	AK	1959 - 49th	571,951	733,391	1.3	3	Juneau	16 boroughs^[1]
3	Arizona	AZ	1912 - 48th	113,635	7,151,502	62.9	11	Phoenix	15 counties
4	Arkansas	AR	1836 - 25th	52,068	3,011,524	57.8	6	Little Rock	75 counties
5	California	CA	1850 - 31st	155,959	39,538,223	253.5	54	Sacramento	58 counties
6	Colorado	CO	1876 - 38th	103,718	5,773,714	55.7	10	Denver	64 counties
7	Connecticut	CT	1788 - 5th	4845	3,605,944	744.3	7	Hartford	8 counties^[2] and 169 towns
8	Delaware	DE	1787 - 1st	1954	989,948	506.6	3	Dover	3 counties
9	Florida	FL	1845 - 27th	53,927	21,538,187	399.4	30	Tallahassee	67 counties
10	Georgia	GA	1788 - 4th	57,906	10,711,908	185.0	16	Atlanta	159 counties
11	Hawaii	HI	1959 - 50th	6423	1,455,271	226.6	4	Honolulu	5 counties^[3]
12	Idaho	ID	1890 - 43rd	82,747	1,839,106	22.2	4	Boise	44 counties
13	Illinois	IL	1818 - 21st	55,584	12,812,508	230.5	19	Springfield	102 counties
14	Indiana	IN	1816 - 19th	35,867	6,785,528	189.2	11	Indianapolis	92 counties
15	Iowa	IA	1846 - 29th	55,869	3,190,369	57.1	8	Des Moines	99 counties
16	Kansas	KS	1861 - 34th	81,815	2,937,880	35.9	6	Topeka	105 counties
17	Kentucky	KY	1792 - 15th	39,728	4,505,836	113.4	8	Frankfort	120 counties
18	Louisiana	LA	1812 - 18th	43,562	4,657,757	106.9	8	Baton Rouge	64 parishes
19	Maine	ME	1820 - 23rd	30,862	1,362,359	44.1	4	Augusta	16 counties
20	Maryland	MD	1788 - 7th	9,774	6,177,224	632.0	10	Annapolis	22 counties + Baltimore^[4]
21	Massachussetts	MA	1788 - 6th	7840	7,029,917	896.7	11	Boston	14 counties, 50 cities, 301 towns^[5]
22	Michigan	MI	1836 - 25th	56,804	10,077,331	177.4	15	Lansing	83 counties
23	Minnesota	MN	1858 - 32nd	79,610	5,706,494	71.7	10	St. Paul	87 counties
24	Mississippi	MS	1817 - 20th	46,907	2,961,279	63.1	6	Jackson	82 counties
25	[[Missouri]]	MO	1821 - 24th	68,886	6,154,913	89.3	10	Jefferson City	115 counties
26	Montana	MT	1889 - 41st	145,552	1,084,225	7.4	4	Helena	56 counties
27	Nebraska	NE	1867 - 37th	76,872	1,961,504	25.5	5	Lincoln	93 counties
28	Nevada	NV	1864 - 36th	109,826	3,104,614	28.3	6	Carson City	17 counties
29	New Hampshire	NH	1788 - 9th	8968	1,377,529	153.6	4	Concord	10 counties
30	New Jersey	NJ	1787 - 3rd	7417	9,288,994	1,252.4	14	Trenton	21 counties
31	New Mexico	NM	1912 - 47th	121,356	2,117,522	17.4	5	Santa Fe	33 counties
32	New York	NY	1788 - 11th	47,214	20,201,249	427.9	28	Albany	62 counties
33	North Carolina	NC	1789 - 12th	48,711	10,439,388	214.3	16	Raleigh	100 counties
34	North Dakota	ND	1889 - 39th	68,976	779,094	11.3	3	Bismarck	53 counties
35	Ohio	OH	1803 - 17th	40,948	11,799,448	288.2	17	Columbus	88 counties
36	Oklahoma	OK	1907 - 46th	68,667	3,959,353	57.7	7	Oklahoma City	77 counties
37	Oregon	OR	1859 - 33rd	95,997	4,237,256	44.1	8	Salem	36 counties
38	Pennsylvania	PA	1787 - 2nd	44,817	13,002,700	290.1	19	Harrisburg	67 counties
39	Rhode Island	RI	1790 - 13th	1045	1,097,379	1,050.1	4	Providence	5 counties
40	South Carolina	SC	1788 - 8th	30,110	5,118,425	170.0	9	Columbia	sub
41	South Dakota	SD	1889 - 40th	75,885	886,667	11.7	3	Pierre	66 counties
42	Tennessee	TN	1796 - 16th	41,217	6,910,840	167.7	11	Nashville	95 counties
43	Texas	TX	1845 - 28th	261,797	29,145,505	111.3	40	Austin	154 counties
44	Utah	UT	1896 - 45th	82,144	3,271,616	39.8	6	Salt Lake City	29 counties
45	Vermont	VT	1791 - 14th	9250	643,077	69.5	3	Montpelier	14 counties^[6]
46	Virginia	VA	1788 - 10th	39,594	8,631,393	218.0	13	Richmond	95 counties, 39 independent cities
47	Washington	WA	1889 - 42nd	66,544	7,705,281	115.8	12	Olympia	39 counties
48	West Virginia	WV	1863 - 35th	24,078	1,793,716	74.5	4	Charleston	55 counties
49	Wisconsin	WI	1848 - 30th	54,310	5,893,718	108.5	10	Madison	72 counties
50	Wyoming	WY	1890 - 44th	97,100	576,851	5.9	3	Cheyenne	23 counties

NOTE: Contents of the above table is from this template.

Government Structure and Branches

For more information, see: Government of the United States of America.

Former President George W. Bush delivering the State of the Union address, 2007. Also pictured are Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The United States is a representative democracy, and its structure and system of checks and balances are established by the United States Constitution. The Federal government is divided by the Constitution into three branches - Executive, Judicial and Legislative.

There are three main levels of government in the United States, and they are hierarchical, i.e. local governments are subordinate to state governments, but the states are not usually subordinate to the Federal government. The question of the exact relationship is the issue of "federalism"; the main points were settled by the Civil War and Reconstruction, but small points remain a matter of political and constitutional debate.

The executive branch is led by the president. The president is responsible for appointing the cabinet, which is confirmed by the Senate. The current head of state and head of government is Joe Biden^e, serving a four-year term, and eligible for re-election to one additional term.

The judicial branch is headed by the "Highest Court in the Land," the Supreme Court of the United States (nicknamed "SCOTUS"). This court is composed of 9 justices (judges) who are appointed for life by the president. The Supreme Court serves as the last resort for appeals the court itself chooses to hear.

The legislative branch of the federal government is composed of the Congress. The Congress is bicameral (two houses), and consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. All states have two senators, and each state's number of representatives is decided by the state's population. The judicial branch consists of a system of federal courts, with the Supreme Court at the top. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to interpret federal law, determine if laws are incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, determines the legality of decisions made by the Court of Appeals and makes determinations of due process but does not normally make factual determinations or findings of fact.

The Government of the United States of America is separated by the Constitution into legislative, executive and judicial branches: Congress, the office of President and subordinates, and the federal courts, the highest of which is the Supreme Court. The two chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are directly elected by U.S. citizens, who also vote for electors who in turn choose the President and Vice-President. The House and Senate respectively choose the President and Vice-President if this Electoral College does not produce nominees.

Federalism

There are three main levels of government in the United States, and they are not strictly hierarchical, i.e. local governments are subordinate to state governments, but the states are subordinate to the Federal government only in some matters but not in others. The question of the exact relationship is the issue of "federalism"; the main points were settled by the American Civil War and Reconstruction, but small points remain a matter of political and constitutional debate.

Legislative branch

For more information, see: House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

The legislative branch of the federal government is composed of the Congress. The Congress is bicameral (two houses), and consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. All states have two senators, and each state's number of representatives is decided by the state's population.

Executive branch

Former President George W. Bush in 2007.

For more information, see: President of the United States of America.

As head of state, the President appoints members of the executive, subject to Senate scrutiny, and judges to the Supreme Court. The current head of state and head of government is Joe Biden^e, serving a four-year term.

Judicial branch

See also: U.S. judicial system

The judicial branch consists of a system of federal courts, with the Supreme Court at the top. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to interpret federal law, determine if laws are incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, determine the legality of decisions made by the Court of Appeals and make determinations of due process, but does not normally make factual determinations or findings of fact (except in certain narrow categories of cases such as lawsuits between States).

It is headed by the "Highest Court in the Land," the Supreme Court of the United States (nicknamed "SCOTUS"). This court is composed of 9 justices (judges) who are appointed for life by the president. The Supreme Court serves as the last resort for appeals the court itself chooses to hear.