Cooper ClydeThe authors of the U.S. Constitution of 1787 sought to guarantee a separation of powers in which no one person or group would have too much power. To this end, the U.S. introduced a staggered system of government consisting of three levels of government: federal, state, and local. At each level, the people determine the candidates for exercising power by voting. At the federal and regional (individual state) levels, power is divided into three independent branches – judicial, legislative, and executive, each of which has duties and rights that allow it to limit the power of the other branches to a certain extent.
The U.S. consists of 50 states and the federal District of Columbia, with Washington as its capital. The U.S. territory also includes the islands of Puerto Rico and Guam. The islands of Micronesia (Republic of Palau, United States of Micronesia) are associated states with the United States, which have elected parliaments and presidents. The state of Puerto Rico (an unincorporated organized territory of the United States) has a special status and is considered freely associated with the United States. In both individual states and island possessions, U.S. laws have supreme legal force. The main difference is the absence of a representative of the island territories in the Senate and advisory delegate representation in the House of Representatives. The islands of Samoa and the Virgin Islands, which have the status of U.S. territories, are also under direct U.S. administration.
