美國獨立戰爭後，境內幾乎所有的自治體政府都由選舉產生的市政委員會進行管理，同時州政府也開始頒佈實施市鎮特許狀。[16] 到了19世紀，許多自治體獲得了州政府的特許，並在技術上成為了市法團。[16]鎮、縣政府和市議會共同承擔了大部分決策責任，但各州的具體情況又各不相同。[16] 隨著美國國土面積和管理復雜性的增長，商業監管、稅收、環境監管等問題的決策權轉移到州政府和中央政府，而地方政府保留對區劃問題、物業稅稅和公園等問題的控制權。據稱，“區劃”的概念起源於1920年代的美國。當時州法律賦予某些鎮或其他地方管理機構決定如何使用土地的權力； 典型的區劃條例有一塊土地的地圖並附有一份聲明以說明如何使用該土地、如何佈置建築物等等。[17]美國最高法院在“歐幾里德村訴安布勒地產公司案（英语：Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.）”中維護了區劃的合法性。[17]
^Emergence of Colonial Government - United States History. Country Studies US. [2023-07-20]. （原始内容存档于2023-07-20） （英语）. In all phases of colonial development, a striking feature was the lack of controlling influence by the English government. All colonies except Georgia emerged as companies of shareholders, or as feudal proprietorships stemming from charters granted by the Crown. The fact that the king had transferred his immediate sovereignty over the New World settlements to stock companies and proprietors did not, of course, mean that the colonists in America were necessarily free of outside control. Under the terms of the Virginia Company charter, for example, full governmental authority was vested in the company itself. Nevertheless, the crown expected that the company would be resident in England. Inhabitants of Virginia, then, would have no more voice in their government than if the king himself had retained absolute rule.
^Elson, Henry William. History of the United States of America. New York: The MacMillan Company. 1904. （原始内容存档于2002-10-06） （英语）. In methods of local government the colonies were much less uniform than in the general government. As stated in our account of Massachusetts, the old parish of England became the town in New England. ...
^Virginia: 1607-1644 - History of British Colonial America. HistoryWorld. [2023-07-20]. （原始内容存档于2023-03-07） （英语）. In 1629 a Puritan group secures from the king a charter to trade with America, as the Massachusetts Bay Company. Led by John Winthrop, a fleet of eleven vessels sets sail for Massachusetts in 1630. The ships carry 700 settlers, 240 cows and 60 horses. Winthrop also has on board the royal charter of the company. The enterprise is to be based in the new world rather than in London. This device is used to justify a claim later passionately maintained by the new colony - that it is an independent political entity, entirely responsible for its own affairs. In 1630 Winthrop selects Boston as the site of the first settlement, and two years later the town is formally declared to be the capital of the colony.
^ 12.012.1Emergence of Colonial Government - United States History. Country Studies US. [2023-07-20]. （原始内容存档于2023-07-20） （英语）. For their part, the colonies had never thought of themselves as subservient. Rather, they considered themselves chiefly as commonwealths or states, much like England itself, having only a loose association with the authorities in London. In one way or another, exclusive rule from the outside withered away.
^Elson, Henry William. History of the United States of America. New York: The MacMillan Company. 1904. （原始内容存档于2002-10-06） （英语）. The system of representative government was allowed, but not required, by the early charters. But after it had sprung up spontaneously in various colonies, it was recognized and ratified by the later charters, as in those of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the second charter of Massachusetts, though it was not mentioned in the New York grant. The franchise came to be restricted by some property qualifications in all the colonies, in most by their own act, as by Virginia in 1670, or by charter, as in Massachusetts, 1691.
^History of Property Taxes in the United States. Economic History Services. 2012-02-01 [2023-07-20]. （原始内容存档于2010-06-12） （英语）. The property tax, especially the real estate tax, was ideally suited to such a situation. Real estate had a fixed location, it was visible, and its value was generally well known. Revenue could easily be allocated to the governmental unit in which the property was located.
^ 16.016.116.2US History Encyclopedia: Local Government. Answers.com. [2023-07-21]. （原始内容存档于2010-09-21）. Both county governments and towns were significant, sharing responsibility for local rule. In the middle colonies and in Maryland and Virginia as well, the colonial governors granted municipal charters to the most prominent communities, endowing them with the powers and privileges of a municipal corporation. Although in some of these municipalities the governing council was elected ... By the 1790s the electorate chose the governing council in every American municipality. Moreover, the state legislatures succeeded to the sovereign prerogative of the royal governors and thenceforth granted municipal charters. During the nineteenth century, thousands of communities became municipal corporations. Irritated by the many petitions for incorporation burdening each legislative session, nineteenth-century state legislatures enacted general municipal incorporation laws that permitted communities to incorporate simply by petitioning the county authorities.
^ 17.017.1Nancy Thompson. How Zoning Regulations Work. Useful Community Development. 2021-12-15 [2023-07-21]. （原始内容存档于2023-07-21）. Zoning is a concept that originated in the United States in the 1920s. State law often gives certain townships, municipal governments, county governments, or groups of governments acting together the power to zone.
Lockner, Allyn O. Steps to Local Government Reform: A Guide to Tailoring Local Government Reforms to Fit Regional Governance Communities in Democracies 1st Edition. Bloomington: iUniverse（英语：iUniverse）. 2013. ISBN 9781462018185（英语）. 引文格式1维护：冗余文本 (link)
_US_House_of_Representatives.svg)
