U. S. states

The traditional abbreviations for U.S. states and territories were widely used in mailing addresses prior to the introduction of two-letter U.S. postal abbreviations. A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government The traditional abbreviations are still commonly used for other purposes (such as legal citation), and are still recognized (though discouraged) by the postal service. Legal citation is the legal writing practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents and sources

Prior to 1987, when the U. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) S. Secretary of Commerce approved the two-letter codes for use in government documents, the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) suggested a specific set of abbreviations, with some states being left unabbreviated. The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry the Department states its mission to The Government Printing Office (GPO is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government.

In addition, the AP Stylebook, the usage guide for most United States newspapers, counsels the use of abbreviations for most state names, when appended to a city name (for example, "Miami, Fla. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the "). AP suggests spelling out "Alaska," "Hawaii," and all state names with five or fewer letters; and, unlike the GPO, AP suggests spelling out the names of all non-state territories, with the exception of the District of Columbia (D. C. ). Legal citation manuals, such as the Bluebook and ALWD Citation Manual, typically use these "traditional abbreviations" as well. Legal citation is the legal writing practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents and sources The Bluebook A Uniform System of Citation, a Style guide, prescribes the most widely used Legal citation system in the United States. The ALWD Citation Manual is a Legal citation system for the United States compiled by the Association of Legal Writing Directors.

Below are listed the GPO abbreviations for U. S. states and territories; the AP abbreviations for states; and other abbreviations that are or have been commonly used.

References

• The Riverside Publishing Company. (1984). Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary. ISBN 0-395-33957-X
• Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style Manual state abbreviations
• FIPS State Codes of the US and Outlying Areas