Are US States like separate countries in way?

[everythingishandy]

Are individual states in the US like separate counties in a way? How much autonomy do they each get?

@PlanDeRaccordement

The USA was created by 13 separate, sovereign states deciding to cede a certain amount of sovereignty to a central government.

Not really, they were 13 British colonies. They weren’t individually sovereign states because they all had only one sovereign, the King of England and only one government, British Parliament.

There’s over a decade between the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the constitution. No sovereignty was formally ceded by the states until this point. The Declaration of Independence was not the creation of the United States as we think of it now as a nation state. Rather, it was thirteen states declaring their own independence and their intention to stand together to resist British rule. The constitutional convention was thrashing out ideas about what the United States would be, but it was not at that stage inevitable that a true federal republic would emerge. In fact, a much looser confederation was attempted first.

Ah yes, the Articles of Confederation. Something you learn about endlessly in American schools and then promptly forget about forever : )

Just to correct myself. I’m exaggerating when I say that no sovereignty was ceded before the constitution, but the powers given to central government by the articles of confederation were much weaker.

Good thread it's very interesting how laws taxes vary from state to state I like reading about different countries. Its fascinating that the US Canadian border covers 13 states and is the longest border in the world at 5.5 thousand miles it's mind blowing really what a huge country it is and sine borders are water borders over the great lakes...geeky and off topic sorry 😞

SOME not sine

I think the mixed model of government has served the US well. States can try different approaches to problem-solving and learn from each other in the process. Some states, due to their size, can set de facto national standards for things like allowable levels of emissions from cars.

I think that if George III hadn't been such a nutter, we could have become a commonwealth country. There were a sizable number of tories who sold up and moved back to England after the revolution.

As to international news, I listen to BBC World News on my national public radio station, and it gets plenty of coverage in the press, a bit less on TV news.

The news channel on TV that I watch has almost no international news.
My radio station has an hour of international news from the BBC every morning.
Print press is a bit more international but I don't actually access any.

@longerevenings That’s interesting. Do you think that’s the same across the country or do you think in some places there’s more demand for international news? Is TV news mostly national channels or do they tend to be state/regional/local?

I live in the 3rd largest US city, I'm just guessing but I suspect there is even less enthusiasm for international news in most of America.

We have a choice of local and national channels, we usually watch CNN.
Living in a large city there is plenty of local news to follow as well.

It makes sense that the big cities would be more interested in international news. Thanks for the insight.

I think that if George III hadn't been such a nutter, we could have become a commonwealth country. There were a sizable number of tories who sold up and moved back to England after the revolution.

Most loyal American tories moved to Canada and became the majority of the population of Ontario. The young Republic then invaded Canada and burned down Toronto (then York) in an effort to incorporate it, a move that led to the British destruction of Washington DC and the burning of the White House.

It is at least likely that there were more, perhaps many more, loyal subjects in the colonies at the time of the Revolution than there were ardent revolutionaries. Most folk kept their heads down and waited to see who won.

But a good point noted above is that it was the 13 colonies that declared independence and only later established a federal republic.

Each state has its own justice system and its own Supreme Court.