United States Government: State and Local Government

State governments are republics that are formed by the citizens of the state based on the jurisdiction provided by the US Constitution. Most of the state governments in the country are similar to the federal government and have three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution gives all the powers that are not granted to the federal government to the state governments.

The legislative body in the State government has the Upper House and the Lower House. All states except for Nebraska have this bicameral legislature. While the legislative body is called the legislature in most states, there are some states where this rule making government body is called the general assembly or the legislative assembly.

The executive branch of the state government is headed by a governor. In addition to the governor, there are also some other important officials of the government that are elected directly by the people. The judiciary branch in a state is headed by the court of last resort. This is the state supreme court that hears appeals from the lower courts.

Different states in the US are divided into various counties and municipalities and then further divided into cities, boroughs, towns and villages. Local governments of these counties or municipalities can be municipal governments, township governments, schools districts or special districts too.

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United States Government: State and Local Government

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