| abstract | - The states that make up the United States of America. In this case, "several" is used in the sense of "considered separately," rather than in the sense of "a small number of them". The Constitution is full of references to "the several states" where today we might refer to "the individual states." There is a factoid floating around, mostly in places outside of the United States, that there are only 46 "states" -- four are technically commonwealths. This is wrong; all of the states in the United States have long-form titles. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are all considered states by the federal government. If anything, it is 50 states and two commonwealths, namely Puerto Rico and The North Mariana Islands, which, as commonwealths and not states, occupy a very different legal status. "State" is a synonym for "nation", not "province"; a war was fought at least partly over this distinction. Nonetheless, each state has its own capital, though most (with some exceptions) are not particularly large or notable as far as American cities go. Before we start, a brief note on state borders. Apart from a sign on each side and possibly a toll both, there are no practical artificial delineations between the states (though as in other countries, rivers sometimes act as natural borders for states; it's awfully hard to miss the Mississippi). On highways, there is often a visitor's bureau, one on each side, with about 100 pamphlets on tourist activities, and usually a volunteer to give directions to these state revenue enhancing locales. The differences in state laws and taxes create scenarios where you see many stores on one side selling things that are either illegal or more expensive on the other side. The most common of these are fireworks, though bulk tobacco products are often found.
|
