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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Sep 3, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents
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U.S. state, first-order administrative unit of the United States, one of the 50 constituent political entities (four of which are formally called commonwealths) that share their sovereignty with the U.S. federal government.
In 1776, 13 North American British colonies proclaimed themselves to be independent states, and in 1781, under the Articles of Confederation, they formed a “perpetual Union.” The perpetuity of that union was not assured, however, because the articles establishing that “firm league of friendship” provided also that each state should retain its “sovereignty, freedom, and independence,” and in the following years the states showed a strong disposition to exercise the sovereignty thus retained. The federal Constitution, drafted in 1787 and put into effect two years later, established a stronger national government, the “more perfect” union that was needed. However, the Constitution made no reference to the troublesome question of sovereignty, leaving that to be disposed of over time—to be denied to the states, as it turned out, first by the nullification crisis of 1832–33 and then by the American Civil War, though impassioned championing of states’ rights has remained central to American politics.
A bicameral (two-house) legislature is used in all the states except Nebraska, which instituted a unicameral system in 1937. As a rule, members of the smaller, upper house, called the Senate in all bicameral state legislatures, serve four-year terms, whereas their counterparts in the lower house, which most states call the House of Representatives, serve two-year terms. (Other names for the lower house are the Assembly (used by California, Nevada, New York, and Wisconsin), the General Assembly (used by New Jersey), and the House of Delegates (used by Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia).
During the American Revolution and for several years afterward, the legislatures enjoyed public confidence and practically unlimited powers in state government. Chiefly because a number of legislatures failed in their trust, the states developed the practice of placing limits on their powers to deal with revenue, appropriations, borrowing, local government, and certain other matters. Furthermore, in the course of time, the state courts assumed a restrictive view of legislative powers. Finally, between 1898 and 1918, general dissatisfaction with legislatures led more than one-third of the states to adopt the initiative and referendum, each of which is employed today by about two dozen states. Both electoral devices allow citizens to bypass the legislature. The initiative allows citizens to put proposed statutes, and in some cases constitutional amendments, directly on the ballot. The referendum enables voters to approve or repeal legislative acts. These processes do not deprive legislatures of essential powers, and they may have the effect of improving legislatures’ work.
In 1964 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision of far-reaching importance, ruled that the districts from which state legislators are elected must contain, as nearly as possible, the same number of inhabitants. This decision, popularly characterized as the “one man, one vote” principle, struck at the overrepresentation of rural constituencies in many state legislatures and gave greater political power to residents of metropolitan areas. However, gerrymandering—the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in ways that give one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilute the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering)—has been routinely used by both Republicans and Democrats in state after state. By the 2020s, however, nine states had turned over the responsibility for redrawing state electoral districts to nonpolitical commissions, whose members cannot hold political office.
In colonial America the governors exercised wide powers. During the Revolution, however, much of their authority was stripped away, but after about 1850 the tendency was to make them an effective force in legislation and, since 1915, to greatly strengthen their control over administration. Although the governor’s authority over administration has often been impaired by the delegation of much of the administrative work to boards, commissions, and other relatively independent agencies, in many states this situation has been partially corrected by the establishment of administrative departments and the placement of a group of related services in each of them. In such states, the department heads are commonly appointed by, and serve under the immediate direction of, the governor, whose administrative position is thus somewhat analogous to that of the president of the United States. Like the governor, a number of the other leading officials in a state’s executive branch—including the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, and the attorney general—are directly elected by the voters. In the great majority of states, the governor’s influence over legislation is particularly significant, and it is explained by a variety of factors, including the governor’s political position, professional staff, and veto power, as well as the time limit under which most legislatures must work. The hand of governors has been incidentally strengthened by the trend to increase the length of their terms.
As of the early 2020s, 19 states permitted the removal of state officials, including the governor, before the end of a term of office through a recall election (also referred to as a representative recall or a recall referendum). Officials can also be removed from office through the impeachment process, wherein the lower house of the legislature brings charges against the official and the upper house serves as the jury in an impeachment trial. The recall process generally involves the collection of a required minimum number of signatures on a petition within a prescribed time frame to initiate a recall election. While petitions for the recall of governors have been relatively common, only four times in American history have gubernatorial recall elections actually been held: North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier was recalled in 1921, as was California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom survived recall votes in 2012 and 2021, respectively.
The system of law and justice in the states was inherited from Britain, but it has been modified in the states to fit their requirements. Whether judges are elected or appointed and how a state’s court system is structured are determined by either the state constitution or the legislature. Most states follow the elective system and limit the term of office to four, six, or some other number of years. The courts in all the states follow the practice of judicial review; that is, they pass upon the constitutionality of statutes where such a determination is necessary to decide cases appropriately before them. The state supreme court sits atop the judicial system in most states and hears appeals from the state’s lower courts. It is the court of last resort except in cases regarding consistency with the U.S. Constitution, which can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
