A lot of people get confused because the term state can refer to either a federated state (like in the U.S.) or a sovereign state (hence the term, "head of stat

A lot of people get confused because the term state can refer to either a federated state (like in the U.S.) or a sovereign state (hence the term, "head of state" for the leader of a country). Also, it's even more confusing because the states used to be considered different nations, united. Hence why they used to be called "these united states." Just an FYI.