About New Hampshire

New Hampshire packs extraordinary diversity into one of the nation's smallest states. Its 9,349 square miles contain the highest peak in the northeastern United States, 18 miles of Atlantic coastline, the largest lake in New England north of the Connecticut border, covered bridge valleys, colonial-era port cities, and some of the most intensely contested political terrain in the country. Nearly 84% of the state is forested, yet it contains one of New England's most dynamic economic corridors along its southern border with Massachusetts.

The state's character is captured in its motto, "Live Free or Die," attributed to Revolutionary War general John Stark. New Hampshire levies no state income tax and no general sales tax, and its government philosophy emphasizes radical local control: 221 towns still conduct annual Town Meetings in which residents vote directly on budgets, ordinances, and policies in a tradition of direct democracy that has operated continuously since the 17th century. The New Hampshire General Court, with 400 House members serving 1.4 million residents at a salary of $100 per year, embodies this principle more than any other institution in American governance.

New Hampshire has also been shaped by its role as the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state. Every four years, the state becomes the center of the political universe as presidential candidates hold town halls in living rooms, diners, and VFW halls, giving ordinary voters direct access to the people who would be president. This tradition of retail politics, demanding and personal, has given a state of 1.4 million people an influence on American democracy that far exceeds its size.