Health Care

Hawaii is the most recent addition to the United States, becoming a state on Aug. 21, 1959. The state, comprised of eight islands, is known as a tourism paradise, and as the site of a Japanese attack in 1941 that prompted the U.S. to join World War II.

The islands’ history dates back to around 1,500 years ago when Polynesians sailed to the islands. Around 1000 A.D., Tahitians arrived, along with their belief in God and the practice of the kapu system, a hierarchical social order similar to caste in Hindu culture.

In 1778, British Capt. James Cook became the first documented Westerner to land on Hawaii. Cook named the chain the “Sandwich Islands” in honor of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, one of his voyage's patrons.

In 1791, a royal dynasty was established under King Kamehameha the Great. Between Cook’s arrival and 1820, more than half of the Hawaiian population died from wars, disease or famine.

In 1898, Hawaii became a U.S. territory after the Americans staged a coup and replaced Queen Liliuokalani with a committee representing the Republic of Hawaii.

Hawaii’s economic pillar is tourism, which generates most jobs on the state’s islands. Among the islands, the state boasts jungles, beaches, volcanoes and mountains. The islands’ daytime temperatures average 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and 78 F in the winter.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan conducted a military air strike on Pearl Harbor, drawing the U.S. into World War II. About 2,400 Americans died in the attack, and the U.S. Navy lost 12 ships that sank or were beached, and at least 160 aircraft.

Honolulu-born Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the U.S. in 2008 and 2012.

Separatists fleeing religious persecution in England arrived aboard the Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor in 1620. Another colony called the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a group of English Puritans, later arrived and eventually absorbed Plymouth to form one royal colony.

In 1770, the colonists began defying Great Britain’s rule, resulting in the Boston Massacre, when British soldiers fired on a crowd of civilians outside the Boston Customs House. In 1773, the resistance reached new heights when colonists dressed as Native Americans threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor, in an outcry against British taxation. This Boston Tea Party sparked the American Revolution, and Massachusetts’ John Hancock was the first founding father to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Massachusetts, the second of the 13 original colonies, became the sixth state in the Union in February 1788.

Today, the fields of education and health services employ the most people in Massachusetts. Another top industry is manufacturing, especially computer and electronic products. Massachusetts’ technology sector has flourished in recent years and is among the most concentrated in the nation. With a balance of historical destinations and picturesque beaches at Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, the tourism industry also is a major economic powerhouse.

Legislatively, Massachusetts has paved the way for other states: It led the way in universal health care coverage, with a plan enacted in 2006 that inspired former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. It was also the first state to legalize gay marriage and the second to pass discrimination laws for individuals who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

One of the original 13 colonies, Connecticut played a prominent role in the development of the U.S. The Hartford Courant, the nation's oldest continuously operating newspaper, was an influential voice for the rebel cause during the American Revolution and President Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party in the 1860s.

In 1636, Thomas Hooker, a minister who fled England to freely practice his Puritan beliefs, headed south from Boston with about 100 members of his congregation to found Hartford, Connecticut. In 1662, Governor John Winthrop Jr. obtained a royal charter from the king to combine the Connecticut, New Haven and Saybrook settlements.

Even before the American Revolution, Connecticut was strongly against British loyalism, and it became the fifth state in 1788 to grant its approval of the Constitution.

The Constitution State was one of the first to introduce railroads, and today Amtrak connects Boston and Washington, D.C., with part of the original main line of the New Haven, the most prominent railway service of the 1800s.

The emergence of digital media has had a huge impact on Connecticut's economy, with sports media giant ESPN located in the state, among others. Other top industries include advanced manufacturing, insurance and financial services.

There are about two dozen colleges and universities in Connecticut, including the prestigious Yale University, Fairfield University, the University of Connecticut, Wesleyan University and the United States Coast Guard Academy.

The home of native musical legends such as Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston, New Jersey is known for more than producing popular hit-makers. It has world-class universities, leading technology and biological science firms and one fast turnpike.

Named for the island of Jersey in the English Channel, New Jersey was among the original 13 colonies. It officially joined the Union in December 1787 and became an important manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution and both World Wars. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean and between New York City and Philadelphia, the state served as a prime defense hub during the Cold War.

The New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1951, allowing for speedy car travel between North Jersey, leading into New York, and South Jersey, leading into Philadelphia. Two light rails introduced in the early 2000s – the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail and the River Line – contributed to urban revitalization in the 21st century, particularly in North Jersey.

Many information and technology companies are based in New Jersey, and the state is also a leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries, with pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Merck both headquartered in the state.

New Jersey’s tourism industry is also a significant driver of its economy, with Atlantic City – the East Coast’s answer to mega-casino hub Las Vegas – and the rest of the Jersey Shore attracting millions of visitors every year.

Rhode Island's independent streak – it was the only state to reject ratification of the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol in 1920 – dates back to its 17th century roots as the land of self-governance and individual freedoms.

Forced to flee religious persecution in Massachusetts, Roger Williams founded the first permanent settlement in 1636 in Providence on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians. Newport became a major trading and shipping port, and Rhode Island's economy boomed.

Rhode Island was the first of the original 13 colonies to renounce allegiance to Great Britain in 1776 and was the last to ratify the Constitution in 1790, insisting that the Bill of Rights be added.

Following the American Revolution, the country's first successful water-powered cotton mill in Rhode Island sparked the nation's Industrial Revolution. The mill was developed by Samuel Slater, hailed as the father of the American textile industry.

Today, major Rhode Island industries include biomedicine, defense shipbuilding and maritime products and manufacturing.

California, the most populous state in the nation, is home to Hollywood's stars, Silicon Valley's technology, Napa Valley's wines and ancient Redwood and Sequoia forests. The Golden State also is one of the country's wealthiest and most socially and politically influential.

Mexico ceded California to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American War, and it was officially annexed as a free, non-slave state in the Compromise of 1850.

During the California Gold Rush from 1848 to 1858, about 300,000 people flocked to the Western state and its mines. California's shipping, agriculture, construction and transportation industries boomed as the state became a land of economic opportunity for settlers.

While the Gold Rush resulted in unprecedented population and economic growth – it remains the largest mass migration in U.S. history – it also forced out Native Americans and foreigners once gold became harder to find. After the Gold Rush ended, businesses that grew to serve miners remained behind, contributing to California's expansive economy.

California’s high-income earners, from film and television celebrities in Los Angeles to tech giants in Silicon Valley, are heavily taxed in the state, which hosts the largest entertainment and fashion industries in the country.

Aside from real estate, the computer and electronic products manufacturing industry contribute to the state's economy.

California has some of the country's best universities, including Stanford, University of Southern California, California Institute of Technology and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Los Angeles.

California also is home to some of the nation's most beautiful landscapes. Yosemite National Park, draws in millions of people each year to revel in the park’s towering waterfalls, massive rock formations and sprawling forests, including a stand of ancient great Sequoias.

Home to the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland is known for its blue crabs and the city of Baltimore, a major historic trading port, baseball destination and birthplace of the national anthem. Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he watched the American flag wave above Fort McHenry on the harbor during the War of 1812, signaling Britain's defeat.

As one of the original 13 colonies, Maryland has always played a pivotal role in American history. It was named a state in 1788 and was the seventh to ratify the U.S. Constitution. As a border state during the Civil War, it ultimately joined the Union, though it was divided in its support, even among family members.

Maryland remained a slave state for most of the war, forcing slaves including abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to flee. In 1862, the Old Line State held the bloodiest one-day battle in the nation’s history: the Battle of Antietam.

Adjacent to the nation’s capital, Maryland employs many federal workers and has more than 60 federal facilities. It houses the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin.

Maryland also is home to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, one of the largest military medical centers in the nation.

The European settlement of what would become New York was led by the Dutch, settling along the Hudson River in 1624. They established the colony of New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan. When the British took control of the area in 1664, they renamed it New York, and it became one of the original 13 colonies. New York achieved statehood in 1788, with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and New York City served as the new nation’s first capital. George Washington was sworn in as president there, at Federal Hall on Wall Street, in 1789.

From the late 1800s to the mid-20th century, millions of immigrants arrived at New York Harbor, where Ellis Island became their gateway to U.S. citizenship. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was erected on what became Liberty Island in 1886. It's estimated that as many as four in 10 Americans can trace at least one ancestor to this migration, with 14 million arriving there through 1924.

With 47,000 square miles statewide, New York state offers vast regions of wilderness. Most notable are the Adirondack Mountains, home to hiking at the state's highest peaks and family-oriented ski resorts. The Adirondack Park encompasses 6 million acres, with 30,000 rivers and streams, as well as 3,000 lakes and ponds. Mount Marcy, at 5,343 feet, is the state’s tallest mountain. The 1980 Winter Olympics were staged at Lake Placid, where the ski jump areas and ice skating rink continue to draw tourists.

The industry for which New York City is best known – the financial world of Wall Street – dates to the era of the American Revolution. The New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange, was founded in 1792 when 24 stockbrokers signed an agreement beneath a Buttonwood tree on Wall Street at the south end of Manhattan, near the Battery.

Known as the First State, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787. Delaware, which hugs the Atlantic coast, runs only 96 miles long and 39 miles wide and has just three counties: New Castle, Kent and Sussex.

Because Delaware's economy relies heavily on chemical manufacturing, including pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and plastics, it is sometimes referred to as the Chemical Capital of the World. DuPont, one of the world’s top chemical manufacturing companies, is based in and operates in Delaware. But the state’s largest economic driver is finance and insurance, and it attracts top companies with its pro-business model, including low tax incentives and favorable laws for corporations.

The first European colony in the Delaware Valley was settled by Swedes in 1638. Their descendants built Old Swedes Church, one of the oldest houses of worship still operating.

Delaware may be the second-smallest state, but it attracts millions of visitors each year. Rehoboth Beach is a popular summer attraction, with a population of more than 25,000 each summer. The 1-square-mile city became a well-known vacation spot for the Washington elite in the 1920s, and today it’s known for its large LGBT community and family-friendly attractions.

Washington, the only state named after a U.S. president, gained its statehood in 1889.

The Evergreen State is an outdoor enthusiast’s dream with its geological diversity, including mountains, deserts, rainforests and a Pacific coastline. It offers the Olympic Mountains, the San Juan Islands and Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s highest peaks in the Lower 48.

In addition to its scenic treasures, Washington is known as the birthplace of Starbucks coffee, The Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp. Because of its coastal location, Washington is a key exporter for the U.S., particularly for transportation equipment. Additionally, Washington is crucial to the nation’s food and agriculture industry, producing many of the country’s apples, and is also a leader in milk, potato and cattle production.

The aerospace industry and the military and defense sector are major economic drivers in the state. Seattle – marked by its iconic Space Needle, which rests high above the rest of the city and lights up the night sky – is by far the state’s most populous city. Despite its reputation for rainy weather, Seattle has an average of 152 days of measurable rain per year.