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Manassas, Virginia

Manassas, Virginia

Manassas is an independent city located in the state of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 35,135. This city is a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The Bureau_of_Economic_Analysis combines the city of Manassas (along with Manassas Park) with Prince William County for statistical purposes. The City of Manassas is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.

History

According to legend, the name Manassas was derived from an Indian source or from Manasseh, a Jewish innkeeper at Manassas Gap. Manassas originated in 1852 at the junction of two railroads which linked Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. with the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond. In 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Battle of Manassas), the first major land battle of the American Civil War, was fought near here. The Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas) was fought near here on August 28-30, 1862. At that time, Manassas Junction was little more than a railroad crossing, but a strategic one, with rails leading to Richmond, Virginia, Washington, DC, and the Shenandoah Valley. Despite these two Confederate victories, Manassas Junction was in Union hands for most of the war. The crossroads grew into the town of Manassas following the war, incorporated in 1873. In 1892, it became the county seat of Prince William County, replacing Brentsville. In 1975, Manassas became an independent city. In modern times, Manassas's development has been strongly developed by its position as a suburb of Washington, D.C.. It has developed major problems with traffic and urban sprawl.

Geography

Manassas is located at 38°45'5" North, 77°28'35" West (38.751415, -77.476396). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.8 km² (10.0 mi²). 25.7 km² (9.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.20% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 35,135 people, 11,757 households, and 8,441 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,366.1/km² (3,537.0/mi²). There are 12,114 housing units at an average density of 471.0/km² (1,219.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 72.05% White, 12.91% African American, 0.36% Native American, 3.43% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 7.89% from other races, and 3.26% from two or more races. 15.13% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 11,757 households out of which 42.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% are married couples living together, 11.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% are non-families. 21.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.92 and the average family size is 3.39. In the city the population is spread out with 29.6% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 35.8% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 5.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 102.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $60,409, and the median income for a family is $70,141. Males have a median income of $43,646 versus $30,678 for females. The per capita income for the city is $24,453. 6.3% of the population and 3.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.6% of those under the age of 18 and 5.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Famous (or Infamous) Residents

In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband John Wayne Bobbitt's penis as he slept. The story and trial garnered international headlines and under unfortunate circumstances, put Manassas on the map. Mary Roach and Travis Tucker both appeared in season four of American Idol (Manassas is one of only a handful, and the smallest, of communities to have more than one unrelated notable contestant in the same season). In October of 2002, Dean Harold Meyers was shot while pumping his gas at a Manassas gas station. This shooting was one of many linked to the Beltway sniper. Ryan Brocatto (a boy from Manassas) was accused of killing his mother.

Schools

Manassas is an independent school district. There are five elementary schools in Manassas, one middle school, and one high school.

Elementary Schools

- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/baldwin/ Baldwin Elementary School]
- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/haydon/ R.C. Haydon Elementary School]
- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/round/ George C. Round Elementary School]
- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/weems/ Weems Elementary School]
- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/dean/ Jennie Dean Elementary School]

Middle Schools

- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/metz/ Grace E. Metz Middle School]
- Constructed in 1991.

High Schools

- [http://www.seton-school.org Seton School]
- [http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/osbourn/ Osbourn High School]
- Originally built as a temporary high school while a new, larger structure was being built. Around this time, however, the City of Manassas split away from the Prince William County school system and became an independent school district. In 2000 the entire school, excluding the vocational wing, was rebuilt from the ground up.

External links

- [http://www.manassascity.org/ City of Manassas] Category:Cities in Virginia Category:Washington, D.C. suburbs Category:Geography of Virginia

Independent city

An independent city is a city that does not form part of another local government entity. As a formal term it is mainly used in the U.S. state of Virginia, however there are equivalent entities in a number of other jurisdictions throughout the world. Independent cities should not be confused with city-states (such as Singapore), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state.

United States

In the United States, an independent city is a city that does not belong to any particular county. Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of Virginia (see below), whose state constitution makes them a special case. The U.S. Census Bureau uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes.

Virginia

Of the 43 or so independent cities in the United States, 39 are in Virginia. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities" since 1871. Other municipalities, even though they may be more populous than some existing independent cities, are incorporated as "towns", and as such form part of a county. An independent city in Virginia may serve as the county seat of an adjacent county, even though the city by definition is not part of that county. Several Virginia counties, whose origins go back to the original eight shires of the colony formed in 1634, have the word city in their names; however, politically they are counties. Examples are Charles City County and James City County.

List of Virginia's independent cities

The independent cities in Virginia are (as of December, 2004):
- Alexandria
- Bedford (also the seat of Bedford County)
- Bristol
- Buena Vista
- Charlottesville (also the seat of Albemarle County)
- Chesapeake (formed through the merger of the City of South Norfolk and Norfolk County)
- Colonial Heights
- Covington (also the seat of Alleghany County)
- Danville
- Emporia (also the seat of Greensville County)
- Fairfax (also the seat of Fairfax County)
- Falls Church
- Franklin
- Fredericksburg
- Galax
- Hampton (formed through the merger of the Town of Phoebus and Elizabeth City County)
- Harrisonburg (also the seat of Rockingham County)
- Hopewell
- Lexington (also the seat of Rockbridge County)
- Lynchburg
- Manassas
- Manassas Park
- Martinsville
- Newport News (consolidated with the City of Warwick, itself formerly Warwick County)
- Norfolk
- Norton
- Petersburg
- Poquoson
- Portsmouth
- Radford
- Richmond
- Roanoke
- Salem (also the seat of Roanoke County)
- Staunton (also the seat of Augusta County)
- Suffolk (formed by the merger of the Towns of Suffolk, Holland, and Whaleyville, with the City of Nansemond)
- Virginia Beach (formed by the merger of the Town of Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County)
- Waynesboro
- Williamsburg (also the seat of James City County)
- Winchester (also the seat of Frederick County) Note that while most counties and cities in Virginia with similar names are contiguous, the independent city of Richmond is located nowhere near Richmond County. The latter is located in the state's Northern Neck region, about 50 miles distant from the city.

Arlington County

Arlington County, commonly referred to as just "Arlington", is not an independent city. However, it is often thought of as a city because it is fully urbanized, is close in size to other independent cities in the state, and includes no municipalities within its borders.

Former cities

See also: Lost Counties, Cities and Towns of Virginia. Former independent cities that were long extant in Virginia include:
- Clifton Forge, which gave up its city charter in 2001, and is now an incorporated town in Alleghany County.
- Manchester, which was consolidated by mutual agreement with the City of Richmond in 1910.
- South Boston, which gave up its city charter in 1994, and is now an incorporated town in Halifax County.
- South Norfolk, which merged with Norfolk County in 1963 to form the City of Chesapeake. Two other independent cities existed for a short time:
- Nansemond, created from the former Nansemond County in 1972, was merged in 1974 with the then-City of Suffolk and three unincorporated towns within the county's former boundaries to form today's City of Suffolk.
- Warwick, which was formed from the former Warwick County in 1952, was in 1958 consolidated by mutual agreement with the newly-expanded City of Newport News.

Other states

Some states have created independent cities in order to cater for the special requirements of governing their largest cities and/or capitals:
- The City of Baltimore, Maryland, has been separate from Baltimore County since 1851.
- The City of St. Louis, Missouri, was separated from St. Louis County in 1876.
- The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, Nevada, absorbed all of the former Ormsby County in 1969.

Other entities similar to independent cities

An independent city should not be confused with
- A consolidated city-county (such as San Francisco or Philadelphia), in which both city and county government has been merged.
- A completely urbanized county such as Arlington, Virginia
- The City of New York, which is a sui generis jurisdiction: the city is made up of five boroughs, each of which is territorially contiguous with a county.
- Cities and towns in New England, which traditionally have very strong governments, with counties having correspondingly lesser importance. Today, most New England counties have almost no governmental institutions or roles associated with them (aside from serving as a basis for court districts). However, somewhat like the ceremonial counties of England, counties in New England still have a nominal existence, and so no city or town in New England is truly separate from a county. The U.S. Census Bureau still uses counties, and not cities or towns, as its base unit of statistical measurement in New England.
- Washington, D.C., which, like the capitals of many other countries (see below), has a special status. It is not part of any state; instead, it comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, which, in accordance with Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. When founded, the District was in fact divided into two counties and two independent cities. Alexandria County (now Arlington County and the independent city of Alexandria) was given back to Virginia in 1846, while the three remaining entities (the City of Washington, Georgetown City and Washington County) were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress in 1871 and Georgetown was formally abolished as a city entity by another act in 1895. Congress has established a home rule government for the city, although city laws can be overridden by Congress. This is fairly rare, however, and so in practice the city operates much like other independent cities in the United States.

Canada

In the Canadian province of Ontario, the same type of city is referred to as a single-tier municipality.

Europe

Austria

In Austria, a similar concept is the Statutarstadt.

Germany

:See also: List of German urban districts. In Germany, different states have either the Stadtkreis ("Urban District") or Kreisfreie Stadt (literally, "District-Free City"). Examples of German independent cities are:
- Flensburg
- Neuburg an der Donau
- Salzgitter

Hungary

:See also: List of towns in Hungary In Hungary 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights", these cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary.

United Kingdom

Some cities in the United Kingdom are a unitary authority, and could be considered to be independent cities. In the UK, however, "city" has no inherent status; city status depends on a grant from the monarch and merely confers on the place so-designated the right to call itself a city.

Republic of China

Under the administrative division system of the Republic of China (effectively controlling Taiwan and islands since 1949), some cities are directly administered by the Executive Yuan, some are administered by provinces, and some are subordinate to counties. The centrally-adminsitered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition.

National capitals

A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. For example Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is outside of the country's system of counties, as is the capital of Romania, Bucharest. The capital of the United States is not within any of the 50 states.

Federal capitals

In countries with a federal structure, the federal capital is usually separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government. Examples include:
- The Australian capital, Canberra, is situated in the Australian Capital Territory
- Brasília, Caracas, and Mexico City, the capitals of Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico respectively, are each located in a Federal District.

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the U.S., see United States dependent areas. State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. (See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies for more detail.)
- Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
- Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada.
- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after the Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
- The origins of the names of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Rhode Island are unknown, although various theories exist.

Trivia

Names

- "Georgia" can refer to either a U.S. state or to an independent country in the Caucasus.
- The name "New York" can refer to any one of three geographical levels: a state, a city in that state, or a county (coterminous with the borough of Manhattan) in that city.
- "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. See the list of places named for George Washington.
- The state of Washington is the only state named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the area now comprising the U.S., for that matter).
- The official name of Rhode Island is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
- Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, such name-sharing occurs commonly with states and provinces in some other countries, where the state or province actually often takes its name from a capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City). Iowa City, Iowa was the first state capital of Iowa but the capital was later moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
- Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.

Geography

- Colorado and Wyoming are bounded by two circles of latitude and two meridians each, i.e. they appear to be rectangles in a cylindrical map projection.
- Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are the only states whose borders are made up of only straight lines (taking meridians and circles of latitude as straight lines) and, thus, the only states whose borders completely ignore natural features.
- Every state—except Hawaii, which has no land boundaries—has straight lines as at least part of its boundaries. These are usually combined with rivers (see river borders of U.S. states), ridge lines and other natural boundaries. Pennsylvania and Delaware are unique in that their common border is an arc of a circle, see The Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; Louisiana is shaped like a boot.
- Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia have panhandles.
- Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico and Mississippi have bootheels.
- Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to other states; Maine is the only state that borders only one other state. Missouri and Tennessee each border eight other states, the most for any state.
- Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are the only four states to share a common border, known as the "Four Corners."
- Appearances given by the stereographic projection to the contrary, Minnesota is the northernmost of the forty-eight contiguous United States, as a northern spur of the state contains a portion of Lake of the Woods. At one time it was thought that Lake of the Woods contained the headwaters of the Mississippi River (now known to be at Lake Itasca).
- Alaska is the northernmost state and the westernmost state. Some would argue that it is also the easternmost state, as the Aleutian island chain crosses the 180º line of longitude.

Grouping of the states in regions

Alaska, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists

References

External links

- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)]
- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US9_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org US Newspapers by State]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html Origin of State Names] United States, States of the Category:Subdivisions of the United States
- U.S. State ja:アメリカ合衆国の地方行政区画 ko:미국의 주 simple:List of U.S. states th:มลรัฐของสหรัฐอเมริกา zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of the original thirteen states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, and is part of the South. It is one of four states that use the name commonwealth. Virginia was the first part of the Americas to be colonized permanently by England. Virginia's U.S. postal abbreviation is VA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Va. Kentucky and West Virginia were part of Virginia at the time of the founding of the United States; but the former was admitted to the Union as a separate state in 1792, while the latter broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, more than any other state. Five of them were re-elected to a second term: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and Woodrow Wilson. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Zachary Taylor round out the list of American Presidents from the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Harrison and Taylor died while in office.)

History

Native Americans

At the time of the English colonization of Virginia, among Native American people living in what now is Virginia were the Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Saponi, and Tuscarora. The natives are often divided into three groups. The largest group are known as the Algonquian who numbered over 10,000. The other groups are the Iroquoian (numbering 2,500) and the Siouan. [http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/vahistory/tribes.html]

Virginia Colony: 1607–1776

At the end of the 16th century, when Great Britain began to colonize North America, Virginia was the name that Queen Elizabeth I of England (who was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married) gave to the whole area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, eventually applying to the whole coast from South Carolina to Maine. The London Virginia Company became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. It swiftly financed the first permanent English settlement in the New World, which was at Jamestown, named in honor of King James I, in the Virginia Colony, in 1607, which settlement was founded by Captian Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith. Its Second Charter was officially ratified on May 23, 1609. Jamestown was the original capital of the Virginia Colony, and remained so until the State House burned (not the first time) in 1698. After the fire, the colonial capital was moved to nearby Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in honor of William of Orange, King William III. Virginia was given its nickname, "The Old Dominion", by King Charles II of England at the time of the Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War.

A new state

In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was afraid that Williamsburg's location made it vulnerable to a British attack. In the autumn of 1781, American troops trapped the British on the Yorktown peninsula in the famous Battle of Yorktown. This prompted a British surrender on October 19, 1781, formally ending the war and securing the former colonies' independence, even though sporadic fighting continued for two years. Patrick Henry served as the first Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1784 to 1786. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that influenced the Bill of Rights added later to the United States Constitution. On June 29, 1776, the convention adopted a constitution that established Virginia as a commonwealth independent of the British Empire. In 1790 both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, but in an Act of the U.S. Congress dated July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac that had been ceded by Virginia was retroceded to Virginia effective 1847, and is now Arlington County and part of the City of Alexandria.

American Civil War

Virginia is one of the states that seceded from the Union to become the Confederacy during the Civil War. When it did, some counties were separated as Kanawha (later renamed West Virginia), an act which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1870. More battles were fought on Virginia soil than anywhere else in America during the Civil War. Virginia formally rejoined the Union on January 26, 1870, after a period of post-war military rule.

20th century

When Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia on January 13, 1990, he became the first African-American to serve as Governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.

Law and government

The capital is Richmond: the current Governor is Mark Warner, a Democrat. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, is the governor-elect. Previous capitals included Jamestown (1609–1699) and Williamsburg (1699–1780). The Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond was designed by Thomas Jefferson and the cornerstone was laid by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. In colonial Virginia, the lower house of the legislature was called the House of Burgesses. Together with the Governor's Council, the House of Burgesses made up the General Assembly. The Governor's Council was composed of 12 men appointed by the British Monarch to advise the Governor. The Council also served as the General Court of the colony, a colonial equivalent of a Supreme Court. Members of the House of Burgesses were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony. Each county chose two people or burgesses to represent it, while the College of William and Mary and the cities of Norfolk, Williamsburg, and Jamestown each chose one burgess. The Burgesses met to make laws for the colony and set the direction for its future growth; the Council would then review the laws and either approve or disapprove them. The approval of the Burgesses, the Council, and the Governor was needed to pass a law. The idea of electing burgesses was important and new. It gave Virginians a chance to control their own government for the first time. At first the burgesses were elected by all free men in the colony. Women, indentured servants, and Native Americans could not vote. Later the rules for voting changed, making it necessary for men to own at least fifty acres (200,000 m²) of land in order to vote. Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. Today, the General Assembly is made up of the Senate and the House of Delegates. Like many other states, by the 1850s Virginia featured a state legislature, several executive officers, and an independent judiciary. By the time of the Constitution of 1901, which lasted longer than any other state constitution, the General Assembly continued as the legislature, the Supreme Court of Appeals acted as the judiciary, and the eight elected executive officers were the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration. The Constitution of 1901 was amended many times, notably in the 1930s and 1950s, before it was abandoned in favour of more modern government, with fewer elected officials, reformed local governments and a more streamlined judiciary. Virginia currently functions under the 1970 Constitution of Virginia. It is the state's ninth constitution. Under the Constitution, the State Government is composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch or state legislature is the Virginia General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 140 members make all state laws. Members of the Virginia House of Delegates serve two-year terms, while members of the Virginia Senate serve four-year terms. The General Assembly also selects the state's Auditor of Public Accounts. The statutory law enacted by the General Assembly is codified in the Code of Virginia. The executive branch comprises the Governor of Virginia, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and the Attorney General of Virginia. All three officers are separately elected to four-year terms in years following Presidential elections (1997, 2001, 2005, etc) and take office in January of the following year. The Governor serves as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth and as Commander-in-Chief of the State Militia. State law forbids any Governor from serving consecutive terms. The Lieutenant Governor serves as President of the Senate of Virginia and is first in the line of succession to the Governor. The Attorney General is chief legal advisor to the Governor and the General Assembly, chief lawyer of the state and the head of the Department of Law. The Attorney General is second in the line of succession to the Governor. Whenever there is a vacancy in all three executive offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, then the Speaker of the House of the Virginia House of Delegates becomes Governor. The Office of the Governor's Secretaries helps manage the Governor's Cabinet, comprised of the following individuals, all appointed by the Governor:
- Governor's Chief of Staff
- Secretary of Administration
- Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry
- Secretary of Commerce and Trade
- Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Finance
- Secretary of Health and Human Resources
- Secretary of Natural Resources
- Secretary of Public Safety
- Secretary of Technology
- Secretary of Transportation
- Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals, the General District Courts and the Circuit Courts. The Virginia Supreme Court, composed of the chief justice and six other judges is the highest court in the Commonwealth (although, as with all the states, the U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over decisions by the Virginia Supreme Court involving substantial questions of U.S. Constitution law or constitutional rights). The Chief Justice and the Virginia Supreme Court also serve as the administrative body for the entire Virginia court system. The 95 counties and the 39 independent cities all have their own governments, usually a county board of supervisors or city council which choose a city manager or county administrator to serve as a professional, non-political chief administrator under the council-manager form of government. There are exceptions, notably Richmond, Virginia, which has a popularly-elected Mayor who serves as chief executive separate from the city council.

Political control

After William Mahone and the Readjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, the Democratic Party held a strong majority position of state and federal offices for over 85 years. In 1970, Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. became the first Republican governor in the 20th century. In the years thereafter, Republicans made substantial gains, and for a time, controlled both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as the Governorship from 1994 until 2002.
- Republicans hold both seats in the U.S. Senate, 8 of 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, hold a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate, and a Republican is Virginia's Lieutenant Governor-Elect. A republican is also temporarily serving as attorney general having been appointed to fill the seat left by Jerry Kilgore. However, the recent election for attorney general to fill the open seat has not been decided and a recount will occur to determine the election.
- Democrats control the remaining 3 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Governor and Governor-Elect are both Democrats. The Democrats have steadily been gaining seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and may soon take control, however the State Senate will likely remain under Republican Leadership. Incumbent Virginia governors cannot run for re-election under the state constitution and In the November 2005 election, the race to succeed Democratic Governor Mark Warner, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine beat Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (Scott County), and State Senator Russ Potts (Winchester) (longtime Republican) running as an independent. Kaine will become governor of the state at his inauguration on January 14, 2006.

Geography

2006 2006 Virginia is bordered by West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (across the Potomac River) to the north, by Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, and by Kentucky and West Virginia to the west. The Chesapeake Bay divides the state, with the eastern portion (called 'the Eastern Shore of Virginia'), a part of the Delmarva Peninsula, completely separate (an exclave) from the rest of the state. Geographically, Virginia is divided into the following 5 regions:
- Tidewater - Stretching from the Atlantic coast to the fall line
- Piedmont - East of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tidewater Region
- Blue Ridge Mountains - East of the Appalachian Mountains to the Blue Ridge Mountain Region
- Valley and Ridge - Appalachian Mountains and Shenandoah Valley Region
- Appalachian Plateau - West of the Appalachian Mountains Virginia's long east-west axis means that metropolitan northern Virginia lies much closer to New York and New England than to the rural western panhandle of its own state. Conversely, Lee County, at the tip of the panhandle, is closer to 8 state capitals than it is to Richmond.

Demographics

As of 2004, Virginia's population was estimated to be 7,459,827. The state had a foreign-born population of 679,500 (9.1% of the state population), of which an estimated 100,000 were illegal aliens (15% of the foreign-born). The state's population increased by 1.3 million between 1990 and 2004, a growth of 21% Race and Ancestry
The racial makeup of the state:
- 70.2% White non-Hispanic
- 19.6% Black
- 4.7% Hispanic
- 3.7% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 2% Mixed race The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African American (19.6%), German (11.7%), American (11.2%), English (11.1%), Irish (9.8%). Historically, as the largest and wealthiest colony and state and the birthplace of Southern and American culture, a large proportion (about half) of Virginia's population was made up of black slaves who worked the state's tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. The twentieth century Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North reduced Virginia's black population to about 20 percent. Today Blacks are concentrated in the eastern and southern tidewater and piedmont regions where plantation agriculture was most dominant. The western mountains are populated primarily by people of British and American ancestry. People of German descent are present in sizable numbers in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley. And due to recent immigration, there is a rapidly growing population of Hispanics (particularly Central Americans) and Asians in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. 6.5% of Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 24.6% under 18, and 11.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Virginia are:
- Christian – 84%
- Protestant – 69%
- Baptist – 32%
- Methodist – 8%
- Episcopal – 3%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 23%
- Roman Catholic – 14%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 2%
- Non-Religious – 12%

Economy

Virginia's economy has long been regarded as one of the better-balanced in the United States with diverse sources of income, including military installations concentrated in the Hampton Roads area, tobacco and peanut farming all through Southside Virginia, manufacturing and transportation, and the location of Northern Virginia as a bedroom community for the federal government and its vendors. Virginia, arguably the wealthiest southern state before the Civil War, recovered from the civil war and the Great Depression much faster than the rest of the south. Today it is still significantly wealthier than the rest of the south, although much of that is from the northern influence around Washington D.C.

Transportation

Northern Virginia Virginia is served by a network of Interstate Highways, arterial highways, several limited access tollways, bridges, tunnels, and three bridge-tunnel complexes. The [http://www.springfieldinterchange.com/ Springfield Interchange Project] (also known as "The Mixing Bowl") and the replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, two of the country's largest highway improvement projects, are taking place in the state ten miles apart. Major airports are located in these areas: Northern Virginia (Reagan-National and Dulles), Richmond-Petersburg (Richmond), Virginia Peninsula (Newport News), South Hampton Roads (Norfolk), and the Roanoke Valley (Roanoke). Virginia has extensive waterways. In addition to the lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay, navigable rivers include the Elizabeth River at Hampton Roads, the James River, the York River, the Rappahannock River, and the Potomac River. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway passes through eastern Virginia. Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. The Washington Metro serves Northern Virginia as far west as Fairfax County.

Sports

Virginia is by far the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the close proximity of Washington, D.C. which has franchises in all four major sports, and the lack of any dominant city or market within the state. An attempt to bring a National Hockey League expansion franchise to Hampton Roads in the 1990s was rejected by the NHL. A proposal to relocate the Montreal Expos to Northern Virginia was considered by Major League Baseball, but MLB eventually settled on the national capital as the Expos' new home. Virginia is home to many minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer.

Important cities and towns

Under the laws in effect in Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as cities are independent of any county. Of the 43 independent cities in the United States, 39 are in Virginia. The complete list of Virginia independent cities follows: Some other municipalities are incorporated towns, which are not independent of a county, but rather, located within one of the 95 counties in Virginia. These incorporated towns include: Finally, Arlington County, which lies across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is a completely urbanized community, much like a city, but remains organized as a county, and has no towns within its borders. There are also hundreds of other unincorporated communities (sometimes informally called villages or towns) in Virginia.

Colleges and universities

Miscellaneous information

- State motto: "Sic semper tyrannis." (Thus always to tyrants.)
- State bird: Cardinal
- State dog: American Foxhound
- State flower: Dogwood
- State tree: Dogwood
- State insect: Tiger swallowtail
- State bat: Virginia Big-Eared Bat
- State song: none; the former state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," was retired in 1997 because some found its lyrics to be racially offensive
- State dance: Square dance
- State boat: Chesapeake Bay deadrise
- State fish: Brook trout
- State shell: Oyster
- State fossil: Chesapecten Jeffersonius
- State beverage: Milk USS Virginia was named in honor of this state.

Other places

There are also places named Virginia in the States of Illinois and Minnesota: see
- Virginia, Illinois.
- Virginia, Minnesota.

External links

- [http://www.virginia.gov State Government website]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/raleigh.htm Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh : 1584]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va01.htm The First Charter of Virginia; April 10, 1606]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va02.htm The Second Charter of Virginia; May 23, 1609]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va03.htm The Third Charter of Virginia; March 12, 1611]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.vahistorical.org Virginia Historical Society]
- [http://www.historical-markers.org Virginia's Historical Markers]
- [http://www.virginiaplaces.org/ Geography of Virginia]
- [http://www.fathersforvirginia.org/ Fathers for Virginia]
- Category:States of the United States ko:버지니아 주 ja:バージニア州

Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area

The Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area is the metropolitan area consisting of Washington, DC, Baltimore, Maryland, Northern Virginia, Central Maryland, and two counties in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Officially, the area is designated the Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA). The CMSA includes the Baltimore, MD Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) the Hagerstown, MD PMSA and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA. Some counties and cities are not officially designated by the Census Bureau as members of this metropolitan area, but still consider themselves members anyway. This is mostly due to their proximity to the area, the size of their commuter population, and by the influence of local broadcasting stations.

Counties and districts

District of Columbia

- Washington, DC

Maryland

Counties

- Anne Arundel County
- Baltimore County
- Calvert County
- Carroll County
- Charles County
- Frederick County
- Harford County
- Howard County
- Montgomery County
- Prince George's County
- Queen Anne's County
- Saint Mary's County
- Washington County

Independent cities

- Baltimore

Virginia

Counties

- Arlington County
- Clarke County
- Culpeper County
- Fairfax County
- Fauquier County
- King George County
- Loudoun County
- Prince William County
- Spotsylvania County
- Stafford County

Independent Cities

- Alexandria
- Fairfax
- Falls Church
- Fredericksburg
- Manassas
- Manassas Park

West Virginia

- Berkeley County
- Jefferson County

List of cities

See List of cities in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area for a full list.

Central cities

- Baltimore, Maryland (Major airport: adjacent to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, in Anne Arundel County)
- Washington, DC
- Hagerstown, Maryland
- Annapolis, Maryland (Capital of Maryland)
- Alexandria, VA
- Arlington County, VA (Major airport: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Recognized as a central city by the U.S. Census Bureau)

Bureau of Economic Analysis

rightThe Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides a comprehensive statistical picture of the economy of the United States. The BEA is responsible for releasing information on the gross domestic product of the United States. Its stated mission is to "promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy by providing the most timely, relevant, and accurate economic data in an objective and cost-effective manner."

External link

- Category:United States Department of Commerce

Manassas Park, Virginia

Manassas Park is a city located in Virginia. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county; it is bordered by the city of Manassas and Prince William County. The Bureau_of_Economic_Analysis combines the city of Manassas Park (along with City of Manassas) with Prince William County for statistical purposes. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 10,290. This city is a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Manassas Park was incorporated as a city in 1975 and was incorporated as a town in 1957.

Geography

Manassas Park is located at 38°46'24" North, 77°27'12" West (38.773564, -77.453542). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.4 km² (2.5 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 10,290 people, 3,254 households, and 2,557 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,595.6/km² (4,129.0/mi²). There are 3,365 housing units at an average density of 521.8/km² (1,350.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 72.79% White, 11.17% African American, 0.44% Native American, 4.06% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 8.14% from other races, and 3.33% from two or more races. 15.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 3,254 households out of which 45.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.9% are married couples living together, 12.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 21.4% are non-families. 14.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 2.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.16 and the average family size is 3.47. In the city the population is spread out with 31.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 40.1% from 25 to 44, 15.9% from 45 to 64, and 4.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 103.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $60,794, and the median income for a family is $61,075. Males have a median income of $38,643 versus $30,942 for females. The per capita income for the city is $21,048. 5.2% of the population and 4.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 5.8% of those under the age of 18 and 11.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

External links

- [http://www.cityofmanassaspark.us/ City of Manassas Park] Category:Cities in Virginia Category:Geography of Virginia

Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area

Counties and districts

District of Columbia

- Washington, DC

Maryland

Counties

Independent cities

- Baltimore

Virginia

Counties

- Arlington County
- Clarke County
- Culpeper County
- Fairfax County
- Fauquier County
- King George County
- Loudoun County
- Prince William County
- Spotsylvania County
- Stafford County

Independent Cities

- Alexandria
- Fairfax
- Falls Church
- Fredericksburg
- Manassas
- Manassas Park

West Virginia

- Berkeley County
- Jefferson County

List of cities

See List of cities in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area for a full list.

Central cities

1852

1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 14 - President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
- January 17 - United Kingdom recognizes independence of the Transvaal
- Devil's Island penal colony opens
- February 11 - First British public toilet for women opens in Bedford Street, London
- February 15 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient
- February 16 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established
- February 19 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
- March 1 - Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
- April 1 - Start of Second Burmese War
- September 24 - French engineer Henri Giffard makes the first airship trip from Paris to Trappes
- October 6 - In Mexico, French settlers under Count Gaston Raousset-Boulbon occupy the city of Hermosillo and declare the Republic of Sonora. The attempt falters when the count contracts dysentery
- November 2 - Democrat Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire defeats Whig Winfield Scott of Virginia in the U.S. presidential election
- November 4 - Count Cavour becomes Piedmont prime minister
- November 11 - New Palace of Westminster opened in Britain
- November 21/November 22 New French Empire confirmed by plebiscite: 7,824,000 for, 253,000 against
- December 2 - Napoleon III becomes Emperor of France.
- French replace semaphores with Morse telegraphs
- Justin Perkins, an American Presbyterian missionary, produces the first translation of the Bible in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, which is published with the parallel text of the Syriac Peshitta by the American Bible Society
- Uncle Tom's Cabin published

Births

- March 1 - Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (d. 1923)
- April 1 - Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter (d. 1911)
- April 13 - F.W. Woolworth, American merchant and businessman (d. 1919)
- April 22 - Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912)
- May 1 - Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1934)
- May 4 - Alice Pleasance Liddell, inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (d. 1934)
- May 31 - Julius Richard Petri, German bacteriologist (d. 1921)
- July 12 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (d. 1933)
- August 30 - Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1911)
- September 12 - Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1928)
- September 28 - Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
- October 2 - William Ramsay, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- October 9 - Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laurea

Manassas, Virginia

History

Geography

Demographics

Famous (or Infamous) Residents

Schools

Elementary Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools

External links

Independent city

United States

Virginia

List of Virginia's independent cities

Arlington County

Former cities

Other states

Other entities similar to independent cities

Canada

Europe

Austria

Germany

Hungary

United Kingdom

Republic of China

National capitals

Federal capitals

See also

U.S. state

Legal relationship

List of states

Trivia

Names

Geography

Grouping of the states in regions

State lists

See also

References

External links

Virginia

History

Native Americans

Virginia Colony: 1607–1776

A new state

American Civil War

20th century

Law and government

Political control

Geography

Demographics

Religion

Economy

Transportation

Sports

Baseball

Basketball

Ice hockey

Indoor football

Soccer

Important cities and towns

Colleges and universities

Miscellaneous information

See also

Other places

External links

Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area

Counties and districts

Counties

Independent cities

Counties

Independent Cities

List of cities

Central cities

See also

Bureau of Economic Analysis

External link

Manassas Park, Virginia

Geography

Demographics

External links