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The United States of America is a federal republic [1] consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. [2] [3] Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. [4]
United States of America – federal republic located primarily in North America, and the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas , Cuba , Russia , and other nations.
A state, unlike the federal government, has un-enumerated police power, that is, the right to generally make all necessary laws for the welfare of its people. [18] As a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance.
The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan, a Continental Army aide to General George Washington, wrote to Joseph Reed, Washington's aide-de-camp, seeking to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort.
The term "United States," when used in the geographic sense, refers to the contiguous United States (sometimes referred to as the Lower 48, including the District of Columbia not as a state), Alaska, Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. [1]
Following the capture on August 18, 1846, of Santa Fe, the capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, [183] a code of laws known as the Kearny Code was created for the area. [ 184 ] [ 185 ] The region overlapped with Texas ' claim, though Texas had little to no control over the area outside of its eastern quarter.
In 2019, Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Southern states included: Texas with 50, Virginia with 21, Florida with 18, Georgia with 17, North Carolina with 11, and Tennessee with 10. [112] In 2022, Texas led the nation with the most Fortune 500 company headquarters with 53. [ 113 ]
The 1582–3 expedition of Antonio de Espejo explored New Mexico and eastern Arizona; [61] and this led to Juan de Oñate's establishment of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598, with a capital founded near Ohkay Oweenge Pueblo, which he called San Juan de los Caballeros.