 | Political divisions of the United States: Encyclopedia II - Political divisions of the United States - Political units and system of operation
Political divisions of the United States - Political units and system of operation
The primary political unit of the United States after the federal state is the state. Technically and legally, states are not "divisions" but units of the United States, because the United States and the several states that constitute it operate with a uniquely American system of parallel sovereignty. According to numerous decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the several states and the United States (that is, the federal state which is coextensive with the 50 several states and the District of Columbia) are sovereign jurisdictions. The sovereignty of the United States is strictly limited to the terms of the United States Constitution, whereas the sovereignty of each individual state is unlimited, except in two respects: 1. The sovereignty and powers that each state has transferred to the United States via the United States Constitution, and 2. The provisions of its own constitution, which usually (but not always) sets certain parameters for the exercise of the state's sovereignty.
Most states decentralise the administration of their sovereign powers, typically in three tiers but always employing at least two tiers and sometimes more than three tiers. The first tier of decentralisation is always the statewide tier, constituted of agencies that operate under direct control of the principal organs of state government - such as bureaus of vital statistics, and departments of motor vehicles or public health. The second tier is always the county (called 'borough' in Alaska; 'parish' in Louisiana), which is an administrative division of the state. It may also be more than that (e.g., a metropolitan municipality), but it always and administrative division of the state. The third tier commonly found in many states, especially the Midwest, is the township, which is an administrative division of a county.
Basically, counties exist to provide general local support of state government activities, such as collection of property tax revenues (counties almost never have their own power to tax), but without providing most of the services one associates with municipalities, because counties are usually too big for that purpose. That is where the township comes in, to provide further localised services to the public in areas that are not part of a municipality.
In some states, such as Michigan, state universities are constitutionally autonomous jurisdictions, possessed of a special status somewhat equivalent to that of metropolitan municiapality. That is, as bodies corporate, they operate as though they were municipalities but their autonomy from most legislative and executive control makes them equally comparable to administrative divisions of the state, equal or superior to counties.
In all U.S. states, cities operate independently of townships and in some states (e.g., Virginia) they operate without the jurisdiction of any county. Cities, which are sometimes called towns, differ from counties and townships in that they are not administrative divisions of the state. Instead, they are semi-autonomous municipal corporations that are recognised by the state. In essence, the city as municipal corporation is the modern form of the ancient city-state, a sovereign entity that exists today only in the forms of Singapore, San Marino, Monaco, and the Vatican; and to a degree, Hong Kong and Macao (but these two are not actually sovereign).
Divisions of the federal state include, first, the originally diamond-shaped District of Columbia (hence the song, "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean"), at the originally geographic and geometric centre of which is the U.S. Capitol Building - the seat of the Government of the United States (in contrast to most other countries, where the seat of government is the principal official residence of the president, monarch or other head of state - as with Buckingham Palace in United Kingdom, Rideau Hall in Canada, and Aras na hUachtaran in Ireland). The United States Congress exercises exclusive jurisdiction over this and all other lands owned by the federal government.
Notwithstanding four states officially call themselves "commonwealth" (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky), the term 'commonwealth' in federal context means an intermediate status between 'territory' and 'state' - both in the sense of "independent state" and "U.S. state." Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands are commonwealths associated with the United States. They might someday advance to statehood, or they might become independent - as did the Philippines in 1946, after it was a commonwealth of the United States for many years. A territory - whether "organised" and "unorganised" has significantly fewer rights in the grand scheme of things than a commonwealth (let alone a state), but it ranks at least a notch above "possession" which often includes such places as Wake Island, which has no permanent population whatsoever and, thus, does not require even a simple territorial government.
Other related archives13 states, 1849, 1883, 1947, 1959, 1994, Alabama, Alaska, American Civil War, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, Bajo Nuevo Bank, Baker Island, Bureau of Indian Affairs, California, Caribbean Sea, Colorado, Compact of Free Association, Congressional districts, Connecticut, Constitution of the United States, Cuba, Dawes Act, Declaration of Independence, Delaware, District of Columbia, District of Columbia Home Rule Act, Federated States of Micronesia, Florida, Geography of the United States, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Historic regions of the United States, History of United States imperialism, Howland Island, Idaho, Illinois, Indian Reservations, Indian reservations, Indiana, Iowa, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, July 18, Kansas, Kentucky, Kingman Reef, List of regions of the United States, Louisiana, Machias Seal Island, Maine, March 3, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Midway Islands, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, National Wildlife Refuge, Navassa Island, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, October 1, Office of Insular Affairs, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Organized territory, Pacific Ocean, Palmyra Atoll, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Political subdivisions of New York State, Public Land Survey System, Puerto Rico, Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Rhode Island, Serranilla Bank, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Texas v. White, The Nature Conservancy, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, U.S. Congress, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. states, Unceded territory, United States, United States Congress, United States Minor Outlying Islands, United States territorial acquisitions, United States territory, Unorganized territory, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wake Island, Washington, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, boroughs, capital, cities, cities of the United States, civil township, commonwealths, conservation, conservation districts, consulates, continental United States, counties, county statistics of the United States, districts, embassies, federal district, federal system, foreign policy, freely-associated states, incorporated territory, insular areas, military installations, parishes, possessions, public authorities, school districts, sections, sovereign nations, state, survey township, territories, the several states, towns, township, townships, treaties, tribal sovereignty, unincorporated territories, villages
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political units and system of operation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
