Statehood
There are forty-six states in the United States, and four commonwealths: the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. (Kentucky? Yeah, dudes, Kentucky was admitted to the Union in 1792. That's old school enough to be a commonwealth.) The rest of the states are called states, as in the State of Michigan, the State of New York, the State of Colorado, the State of Hawai'i, etc.

France Bashing!
The United States Constitution (I agree with Sarah Vowell that this is a nigh-religious document) was written in 1787 and ratified in time for the election of George Washington as the first President of the United States in 1788 (inaugurated in March 1789). Same government since 1789, conveniently the same year the French Revolution began. Since King Louis XVI was beheaded, France has been governed by the First Republic (1789-1804), the First Empire (1804-1815), the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1848), the Second Republic (1848-1852), the Second Empire (1852-1870), the Paris Commune (1871), the Third Republic (1871-1940), Vichy (1940-1943), the Fourth Republic (1945-1958), and the current Fifth Republic (1958-present).

America: 1 government.
France: 10 governments.

Yessiree, Bob, they sure could teach us a thing or three about governance.