State governments of the United States

Each U.S. state's government holds legislative, executive, and judicial authority over[1] a defined geographic territory.

Most of the states admitted to the Union after the original 13 have been formed from organized territories established and governed by Congress in accord with its plenary power under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the Constitution.

[2] Six subsequent states were never an organized territory of the federal government, or part of one, before being admitted to the Union.

[7][8][12] One was established from unorganized territory: California (1850, from land ceded to the United States by Mexico in 1848 under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo).

In the vast majority of states, the Senate districts provided proportionately greater representation to rural areas.

[citation needed] Each state government is free to organize its executive departments and agencies in any way it likes.

Most state governments traditionally use the department as the standard highest-level component of the executive branch, in that the secretary of a department is normally considered to be a member of the Governor's cabinet and serves as the main interface between the Governor and all agencies in his or her assigned portfolio.

A state government may also include various boards, commissions, councils, corporations, offices, or authorities, which may either be subordinate to an existing department or division, or independent altogether.

[14] Texas and Oklahoma each have separate courts of last resort for civil and criminal appeals.

The structure of courts and the methods of selecting judges is determined by each state's Constitution or legislature.