United States

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United States of America

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to present) (Latin: "Out of Many, One") In God We Trust (1956 to present)
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Capital	Washington, D.C. 38°53′ N 77°02′ W
Largest city	New York
Official language(s)	None at federal level; English de facto
Government • President • Vice President	Federal republic George W. Bush (R) Dick Cheney (R)
Independence  • Declared  • Recognized	From Great Britain July 4, 1776 September 3, 1783
Area  - Total    - Water (%)	9,631,418 km² (3rd) 3,718,711 mi²  4.87
Population  - 2006 est.  - 2000 census  - Density	298,290,000 (3rd) 281,421,906 30/km² (143rd) 83/mi²
GDP (PPP)  - Total  - Per capita	2006 estimate $13.049 trillion (1st) $43,555 (3rd)
HDI (2003)	0.944 (10th) – high
Currency	Dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone  - Summer (DST)	(UTC-5 to -10) (UTC-4 to -10)
Internet TLD	.us .gov .edu .mil .um
Calling code	+1

For other meanings, see the disambiguation pages for U.S., USA, or United States.

The United States of America is a federal republic situated primarily in North America. It is bordered on the north by Canada and to the south by Mexico. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories with differing degrees of affiliation. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States, the United States, America^[1], or (poetically) Columbia.

In the 1840s, the United States emerged as a significant "middle power" and the dominant force in its region. After its civil war in the 1860s, it experienced an accelerated rate of industrialization, and emerged as a main developer and exporter of advanced weaponry.

Since the late 1800s, the United States has been formally grouped amongst the Great Powers, and has also became a dominant economic force. Following World War I, the U.S. grew steadily in stature as an economic and military world power. Following World War II, it emerged as one of the two dominant superpowers.

In the decades after the Second World War, the United States became a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, cultural and technological affairs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it stands today as the sole global hyperpower. The power of the United States is nonetheless limited by international agreements and the realities of political, military and economic constraints.

The country celebrates its founding date as July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence that rejected British authority in favor of self-determination. The structure of the government was profoundly changed on March 4, 1789, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution.

History

The history of the United States has occurred at the regional, territorial, state and local level. It has often depended on the geography of the United States, which is is primarily situated in central North America, a large and diverse expanse of land and people.

Prehistory

See also: Population history of American indigenous peoples, Native Americans in the United States Native Americans arrived on the North American continent from North-East Asia at some time between 48,000 BCE and 9,000 BCE, and dominated the area until the influx of European settlers in the early 17th century. Many cultures thrived in the Americas before Europeans came, including the Puebloans (Anasazi) in the Southwest and the Adena Culture in the East.

The first known inhabitants of the Americas were people who migrated from Asia across the Bering land bridge. some time prior to 12,000 years ago, possibly following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. It is estimated that 2–9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before that population was diminished by European contact and the foreign diseases it brought.

European settlement (1493-1776)

The continent of North America had been visited by explorers from Europe before including the Norse. However, it was not until after the voyages of Christopher Columbus in late 1400s and early 1500s that European nations began to explore the land in earnest and settle there permanently.

During the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established . This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast.

Colonial America (1493-1776)

Main article: Colonial America

Colonial America was defined by ongoing battles between mainly English-speaking colonists and Native Americans, by a severe labor shortage that gave birth to forms of unfree labor such as slavery and indentured servitude, and by a British policy of benign neglect (salutary neglect) that permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders.

History of the United States (1776–1789)

Main article: History of the United States (1776–1789)

During this period the United States won its independence from Great Britain by winning the American Revolutionary War, and the thirteen former colonies established themselves as the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation.

Nationhood

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War against colonial rule by Britain began. In 1776, the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and formed the United States. Before the ratification of a national government, the United States existed as an informal alliance of independent individual colonies with their own laws and sovereignty, while the Second Continental Congress was given the nominal authority by the colonies to make decisions regarding the formation and founding of the Continental Army but not to levy taxes or make federal law.

History of the United States (1789–1849)

Main article: History of the United States (1789–1849)

During this period, the United States government was established by its first president, George Washington, and the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and various Indian Wars expanded and consolidated the land expanse of the United States--while largely displacing the indigenous population.

History of the United States (1849–1865)

Main article: History of the United States (1849–1865)

This period of United States history saw the breakdown of the ability of white Americans of the North and South to reconcile fundamental differences in their approach to government, economics, society and African American slavery.

Civil War

Main article: American Civil War

By the mid-19th century, a major division over the issue of states' rights, the role of the federal government, and the expansion of slavery came to a head.

The Northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the Southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of agriculture, especially the cotton industry, and wanted it expanded to newer territories in the West.

Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis on December 20, 1860, when South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Six other southern states followed, forming the Confederate States of America and leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded, and two states had both Union and Confederate governments at different points throughout the war. Though these states were never under consistent Confederate control, they were still counted as Confederate States.

The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments.

History of the United States (1865–1918)

Main article: History of the United States (1865–1918)

Reconstruction

Reconstruction and its failure left the Southern whites in a position of firm control over its black population, denying them their Civil Rights and keeping them in a state of economic, social and political servitude.

Immigration

An unprecedented wave of immigration to the United States served both to provide the labor for American industry and to create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. Native American tribes were generally forced onto small reservations as white farmers and ranchers took over their lands. Abusive industrial practices led to the, often violent, rise of the labor movement in the United States.

Expansion

During the 19th century, many new states were added to the union as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States: as the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America.

In the process, the U.S. displaced most Native American nations. This displacement of Native Americans continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S., with many nations attempting to assert their original claims to various lands, citing the Indian relocation acts of 1830. In some areas, Native American populations had been reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and U.S. settlers acquired those emptied lands.

Further information: United States territorial acquisitions, and U.S. colonization outside North America, and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]]

Economic Growth and Immigration

During this period, the nation also joined the industrializing countries.

The United States began its rise to international power in this period with substantial population and industrial growth domestically, and a number of imperalist ventures abroad, including the Spanish-American War.

This period was capped by the 1917 entry of the United States into World War I.

History of the United States (1918–1945)

Main article: History of the United States (1918–1945)

The after-shock of Russia's October Revolution resulted in real fears of communism in the United States, leading to a three year Red Scare.

The United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles imposed by its Allies on the defeated Central Powers; instead, the United States choose to pursue unilateralism, if not isolationism.

In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by an amendment to the United States Constitution. Prohibition ended in 1933, a failure.

During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity: farm prices and wages fell, while industrial profits grew. The boom was fueled by a rise in debt and an inflated Stock Market. The Stock Market crash in 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression led to government efforts to re-start the economy and help its victims. The recovery, however, was very slow and showed very little improvement until World War II.

This period ended with the United States being drawn into World War II by Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. joined Britain, Nationalist China, and the Soviet Union to defeat Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany.

History of the United States (1945–1964)

Main article: History of the United States (1945–1964)

The post-war era in the United States was defined internationally by the beginning of the Cold War, in which the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to expand their influence at the expense of the other, checked by each side's massive nuclear arsenal. The result was a series of conflicts during this period including the Korean War and the tense nuclear showdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Within the United States, the Cold War prompted concerns about Communist influence, and also resulted in government efforts to encourage math and science towards efforts like the space race.

Meanwhile, the American people completed their great migration from the farms into the cities, and experienced a period of sustained economic expansion. At the same time, institutionalized racism across the United States, but especially in the American South, was increasingly challenged by the growing Civil Rights movement and African American leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. During the 1960s, the Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation between Whites and Blacks had come to an end.

History of the United States (1964–1980)

Main article: History of the United States (1964–1980)

The Cold War continued through the 1960s and 1970s, and the United States entered the Vietnam War, whose growing unpopularity fed already existing social movements, including those among women, minorities and young people. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society social programs and the judicial activism of the Warren Court added to the wide range of social reform during the 1960s and 70s. The period saw the birth of feminism and the environmental movement as political forces, and continued progress towards Civil Rights.

In the early 1970s, Johnson's successor, President Richard Nixon brought the Vietnam War to a close, and the American-backed South Vietnamese government collapsed. The war cost the lives of 58,000 American troops and millions of Vietnamese. Nixon's own administration was brought to an ignominious close with the political scandal of Watergate. The OPEC oil embargo and slowing economic growth led to a period of stagflation under President Jimmy Carter as the 1970s drew to a close. Space Stations were launched as early as 1971. Huge space advancements became known to man.

History of the United States (1980–1988)

Main article: History of the United States (1980–1988)

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan instituted a domestic program of tax cuts on the belief that the economy would thereby expand. He had an international policy of aggressive anti-Soviet actions, including funding the Contras, an opposition army to attack the socialist government and economy of Nicaragua. The United States deficit rapidly expanded, the Eastern Bloc began to unravel under increasing economic strain, finally and dramatically collapsing because of the reform policies of Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

History of the United States (1988–present)

Main article: History of the United States (1988–present)

Despite the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States still involved itself in military action overseas, including the 1991 Gulf War. Following his election in 1992, President Bill Clinton oversaw the longest economic expansion in American history, a side effect of the digital revolution and new business opportunities created by the Internet (see Internet bubble).

At the beginning of the new millennium, the United States found itself attacked by Islamist terrorism, with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon allegedly orchestrated by Osama bin Laden. In response, under the administration of President George W. Bush, the United States (with the military support of NATO and the political support of most of the international community) invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime, which had supported and harbored bin Laden. More controversially, President Bush continued what he dubbed the "war on terror" by invading Iraq and overthrowing and capturing Saddam Hussein in 2003. This second invasion proved very unpopular amongst the international community, even amongst long-time American allies such as France and Germany, and resulted in a global wave of anti-American sentiment.

As of 2006, the political climate remains polarized as debates continue over economic issues, dealing with a steadily rising cost of health care, culture conflict and values based issues (encompassing separation of the church and the state, abortion, free speech and same-sex marriage), as well as the ongoing war in Iraq. [2]

Geography and climate

Geography

Main article: Geography of the United States

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, while Hawaii lies far to the southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia, is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia had also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization.

In total area (which includes inland water and land), only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks second, the U.S. ranks third, and Canada ranks fourth. The United States's total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²).

The United States's landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations. The East consists largely of rolling hills and temperate forests. The Appalachian Mountains form a line of low mountains in the Eastern U.S. The five Great Lakes are located in the north-central portion of the country, four of them forming part of the border with Canada. The Southeast largely contains subtropical forests and mangrove, especially in Florida. West of the Appalachians, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and the Midwest consist largely of rolling hills and productive farmland, stretching south to the Gulf Coast.

Stretching west from the Midwest are the Great Plains. A large portion of the country's agricultural products are grown in this region. The region consists mostly of large, heavily cultivated and very flat grassland. The Great Plains come to an abrupt end at the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains form a large portion of the Western U.S., entering from Canada and stretching nearly to Mexico. The Rocky Mountains generally contain fairly mild slopes and low peaks compared to many of the other great mountain ranges, with a few exceptions (such as the Teton Mountains in Wyoming and the Sawatch Range in Colorado). In addition, instead of being one generally continuous and solid mountain range, it is broken up into a number of smaller, intermittent mountain ranges, forming a large series of basins and valleys.

West of the Rocky Mountains lies the Intermontane Plateaus (also known as the Intermountain West), a large, arid desert lying between the Rockies and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges. The large southern portion, known as the Great Basin, consists of salt flats, drainage basins, and many small north-south mountain ranges. The Southwest is predominantly a low-lying desert region. A portion known as the Colorado Plateau, centered around the Four Corners region, is considered to have some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. It is accentuated in such national parks as Grand Canyon, Arches, and Bryce Canyon, among others.

The Intermontane Plateaus come to an end at the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada. The Cascades consist of largely intermittent, volcanic mountains rising prominently from the surrounding landscape. The Sierra Nevada, further south, is a high, rugged, and dense mountain range. It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft; 4,421 m). These areas contain some spectacular scenery as well, as evidenced by such national parks as Yosemite and Mount Rainier. West of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada is a series of valleys, such as the Central Valley in California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Along the coast is a series of low mountain ranges known as the Pacific Coast Ranges. Much of the Pacific Northwest coast is inhabited by some of the densest vegetation outside of the Tropics, and also the tallest trees in the world (the Redwoods).

Alaska contains some of the most dramatic and untapped scenery in the country. Tall, prominent mountain ranges rise up sharply from broad, flat tundra plains. On the islands off the south and southwest coast are many volcanoes. Hawaii, far to the south of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean, is a chain of tropical, volcanic islands, popular as a tourist destination for many from East Asia and the mainland United States.

Climate

Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains just about every climate. Its comparatively generous climate partially contributed to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.

The main influence on U.S. weather is the polar jet stream, which brings in large low pressure systems from the northern Pacific Ocean. The Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains pick up most of the moisture from these systems as they move eastward. Greatly diminished by the time they reach the High Plains, much of the moisture has been sapped by the orographic effect as it is forced over several mountain ranges. However, once it moves over the Great Plains, uninterrupted flat land allows it to reorganize and can lead to major clashes of air masses. In addition, moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is often drawn northward. When combined with a powerful jet stream, this can lead to violent thunderstorms, especially during spring and summer. Sometimes during late winter and spring these storms can combine with another low pressure system as they move up the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean, where they intensify rapidly. These storms are known as Nor'easters and often bring widespread, heavy snowfall to the Mid-Atlantic and New England. The uninterrupted flat grasslands of the Great Plains also leads to some of the most extreme climate swings in the world. Temperatures can rise or drop rapidly and winds can be extreme, and the flow of heat waves or arctic air masses often advance uninterrupted through the plains.

The Great Basin and Columbia Plateau (the Intermontane Plateaus) are arid or semiarid regions that lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Precipitation averages less than 15 inches (38 cm). The Southwest is a hot desert, with temperatures exceeding 100°F (38°C) for several weeks at a time in summer. The Southwest and the Great Basin are also affected by the monsoon from the Gulf of California from July-September, which brings localized but often severe thunderstorms to the region. Much of California consists of a Mediterranean climate, with sometimes excessive rainfall from October-April and nearly no rain the rest of the year. In the Pacific Northwest rain falls year-round, but is much heavier during winter and spring. The mountains of the west receive abundant precipitation and very heavy snowfall. The Cascades are one of the snowiest places in the world, with some places averaging over 600 inches (1,520 cm) of snow annually, but the lower elevations closer to the coast receive very little snow. Another significant (but localized) weather effect is lake-effect snow that falls south and east of the Great Lakes, especially in the hilly portions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on the Tug Hill Plateau in New York. The Wasatch Front and Wasatch Range in Utah can also receive significant lake effect accumulations off of the Great Salt Lake.

Natural disasters

The United States is affected by a large variety of natural disasters yearly. Although severe drought is rare, it has occasionally caused major problems, such as during the Dust Bowl from 1931-1942, which coincided with the Great Depression. Farmland failed throughout the Plains, entire regions were virtually depopulated, and dust storms ravaged the land. More recently, the western U.S. experienced widespread drought from 1999-2004, and signs of a major, long-term drought across the Great Plains have developed.[3]

The United States also experiences, by a large margin, the most frequent and powerful tornadoes in the world. The Great Plains, due to the contrasting air masses, sees frequent severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks during spring and summer. The strip of land from north Texas north to Kansas and east into Tennessee is known as Tornado Alley, where many houses have tornado shelters and many towns have tornado sirens. Another natural disaster that frequents the country are hurricanes, which can hit anywhere along the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic Coast, particularly the central and southern Texas coasts, the area from southeastern Louisiana east to the Florida Panhandle, the east coast of Florida, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, although any portion of the coast is at risk. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with a peak from mid-August through early October. Some of the more devastating hurricanes have included the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The remnants of tropical cyclones from the Eastern Pacific also occasionally impact the southwestern United States, bringing sometimes heavy rainfall.

Like drought, widespread severe flooding is rare. Some exceptions include the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Great Flood of 1993, and widespread flooding and mudslides caused by the 1982-1983 El Niño event in the western United States. Localized flooding can, however, occur anywhere, and mudslides from heavy rain can cause problems in any mountainous area, particularly the Southwest. Large stretches of desert shrub in the west can fuel the spread of wildfires. The narrow canyons of many mountain areas in the west and severe thunderstorm activity during the monsoon season in summer leads to sometimes devastating flash floods as well, while Nor'easter snowstorms can bring activity to a halt throughout the Northeast (although heavy snowstorms can occur almost anywhere).

The West Coast of the continental United States and the Alaskan Penisula make up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of heavy tectonic and volcanic activity that is the source of 90% of the world's earthquakes. The American Northwest sees the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the United States, in Washington, Oregon and northern California along the Cascade Mountains. Other hotspots for volcanic activity include the islands south and southwest of Alaska and on the Alaska Peninsula. There are several active volcanoes located in the islands of Hawaii, including Kilauea in ongoing eruption since 1983, but they do not typically adversely affect the inhabitants of the islands. There has not been a major life-threatening eruption on the Hawaiian islands since the 17th century. Volcanic eruptions can occasionally be devastating, such as in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.

The Ring of Fire makes California and southern Alaska particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes can cause extensive damage, such as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake or the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake near Anchorage, Alaska. California is well known for seismic activity, and requires large structures to be earthquake proofed to minimize loss of life and property. Outside of devastating earthquakes, California experiences minor earthquakes on a regular basis.

Government

Main article: Federal government of the United States

Constitutional republic

The United States is a constitutional republic, meaning that its government is composed of and operates through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Each level enjoys certain exclusive powers and obligations, and the precise division of these powers has been a matter of considerable ongoing debate. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Almost all electoral offices are decided in "first-past-the-post" elections, where a specific candidate who earns at least a plurality of the vote is elected to office, rather than a party being elected to a seat to which it may then appoint an official.

Suffrage

Suffrage has changed significantly over time. In the early years of the United States, voting was considered a matter for state governments, and was commonly restricted to white men who owned land. Direct elections were held only for the Federal House of Representatives (the "lower house" of a bicameral parliament, or Congress) and state legislatures, although this varied from state to state. Under this original system, the Senate (the "upper house" of Congress) was chosen by a majority vote of their state's legislature. Now, since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, members of both Houses of Congress are directly elected.

Today, partially due to the Twenty-sixth Amendment, Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth, and both Houses of Congress are directly elected. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are as well.

Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC, in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is comprised of a Legislative Branch (led by Congress), an Executive Branch (led by the President), and a Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, as well as the protection of human rights. All other government powers theoretically repose in the individual states. However, in addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government has gradually extended its power into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "Necessary and Proper" and "Commerce" clauses of the Constitution. The constitutionality of this extension of powers has been ruled on by the Supreme Court on numerous occasions, citing the above clauses.

Legislative branch

The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators (as there are currently 50 states), who serve six-year terms (one third of the Senate stands for election every two years). Each House has particular exclusive powers—the Senate must give "advice and consent" to many important Presidential appointments, and the House must introduce any bills for the purpose of raising revenue. However, the consent of both Houses is required to make any law. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the "necessary-and-proper clause", which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

Executive branch

All executive power in the federal government is vested in the President of the United States, although power is often delegated to his/her Cabinet members and other officials. The President and Vice President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D.C.) in both houses of Congress.

Further information: U.S. Electoral College, and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]]

The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. While the President can directly propose legislation (for instance, the Federal Budget), he must rely on supporters in Congress to promote and support his or her legislative agenda. After identical copies of a particular bill have been approved by a majority of both Houses of Congress, the President's signature is required to make these bills law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote from both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote (by two-thirds majority in favor). The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton.

The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress from time to time (usually once a year). (The Constitution does not specify that the State of the Union address be delivered in person; it can be in the form of a letter, as was the practice during most of the 19th century.) Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

Judicial branch

The highest court is the Supreme Court, which currently consists of nine justices. The court deals with matters pertaining to the Federal Government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the United States Constitution, and can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law.

Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. The supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question (an issue arising under the U.S. Constitution, or laws/treaties of the United States).

State, tribal, and local governments

The state governments have the greatest influence over most Americans' daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution, government, and code of laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between individual states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the voters of the state. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, the highest being the state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. See state court for more information.

As a result of the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia, Indian tribes are considered "domestic dependent nations" that operate as sovereign governments subject to Federal authority but, generally, outside of the influence from state governments. Hundreds of laws, executive orders, and court cases have modified the governmental status of tribes vis-à-vis states, but have kept the two officially distinct. Tribal capacity to operate robust governments varies, from a simple council used to manage all aspects of tribal affairs, to large and complex bureaucracies with several branches of government. Tribes are empowered to form their own governments, with power resting in elected tribal councils, elected tribal chairpersons, or religiously appointed leaders (as is the case with pueblos). Tribal citizenship (and voting rights) is generally restricted to individuals of Native descent, but tribes are free to set whatever membership requirements they wish.

The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate in a direct democratic fashion, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

Main article: Subdivisions of the United States

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be polities modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole.

In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships.

The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The 50 states are divided into distinct sections:

• the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous, or contiguous United States
• Alaska, an exclave, which is physically connected only to Canada
• the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean.

The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which contains the nation's capital city of Washington, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States's only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. Islands gained by the United States in the war against Spain at the turn of the 20th century were no longer to be considered foreign territory; on the other hand, the United States Supreme Court declared that they were not automatically covered by the Constitution and that it was up to Congress to decide what portions of the Constitution, if any, applied to them. This had been the precisely the quarrel between American colonies and Great Britain that resulted in the founding of the United States. Seen like this, the Supreme Court in 1901 would have decided in favor of George III of the United Kingdom.

The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

Main article: Foreign relations of the United States

The immense military and economic strength of the United States has made its foreign relations an especially important topic in international politics. Reactions towards American foreign policy by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from admiration to fierce criticism. The same range of opinions is also found within the United States, with many Americans either supporting or strongly criticizing United States foreign policy.

Traditionally, the greatest military ally of the United States has been the United Kingdom, though the earliest alliance the nation formed was with France (see Franco-American relations).

The United States presently occupies 702 military bases worldwide in 132 different countries. The United States is currently involved in an occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and an intervention in Haiti. It has also embarked upon a global War on Terrorism.

The United States currently enjoys a particularly positive relationship with the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and Poland, among several others, in that these nations are participating as active military allies with, or logistical supporters of, the United States in all theaters. Currently, Canada, Germany, and other nations, are participating in the Afghanistan theater under the command of NATO, but not in Iraq.

Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of Defense in times of war.

The combined United States armed forces comprise 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States armed forces are considered to be the most powerful (of any sort) in the world and their force projection capabilities are currently maintained significantly larger than any nation or collaboration of nations.

The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, an increase of 4% over 2004 and 35% since 2001, with over 50% being spent in research & development. The 2006 defense budget will amount to nearly $440 billion, the highest ever. U.S. defense expenditure is estimated to be greater than the next twelve largest national military budgets combined, although citing this figure can be controversial since it does not take into effect local-currency purchasing power ratios.

It should be noted that the United States' focus on military expenditures has ranged very broadly, due to regularly changing ideologies inherent in its political system. The American military, in terms of physical resources, is actually smaller now than it was twenty years ago, despite being larger than it was five years ago, for example.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in the United States

Traditionally, the U.S. has been a staunch proponent and leader in the development of the Western ideology of democracy, civil rights and civil liberties. This tradition dates back to the inception of the republic starting with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Despite the noble ideals espoused in these documents and the pronouncements of its political and civic leaders, the United States has had to struggle to achieve those ideals, succeeding at times yet failing miserably at other times.

Slavery and Racial Discrimination

The Founding Fathers accepted slavery as the nation's "peculiar institution" and wrote it into the Constitution. Half the states in the Union maintained slavery until 1865. It took decades of political debate, civil strife and finally civil war to abolish slavery. Even then, African-Americans were rapidly relegated to the status of second-class citizens and remained in this condition for the next century.

Various forms of ethnic and other discrimination continued to be practiced and were not prohibited until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even after enactment of this landmark legislation, discrimination and racial prejudice have continued to this day although great strides have been made in civil rights and racial equality.

The effects of this history of discrimination on the basis of race and other criteria are still apparent in the social structure and continue to be root causes of ongoing social, political and economic problems.

These difficulties notwithstanding, the United States has built steadily over the past 150 years on a foundation of rights for all starting with the Emancipation Proclamation, suffrage for women and people of all races and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Promoting democracy and human rights around the world

Although practice has not always matched the high ideals that are espoused, still the United States has strived to be a leader in promoting democracy and human rights in the world.

Interventionism and support for authoritarian regimes

The United States is sometimes criticized for interventionist policies in Latin America, the Middle East, South-East Asia and elsewhere, and for aid (financial, military and otherwise) given to repressive governments and warlords.

During the Cold War period, aid policies were considered a counterweight to the aid the Soviet Union was giving to socialist countries and insurgencies.

After the end of World War II, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed and implemented a plan to aid Western European nations in rebuilding their shattered economies. This program of foreign aid became known as the Marshall Plan.

However, American foreign aid has also been criticized as driven by self-interest and profit rather than the promotion democracy and human rights. It is true that, historically, American foreign policy has preferred stability to democracy and thus often supported regimes who violated human rights as long as those regimes were friendly to American geopolitical and business interests.

There are numerous examples of such regimes. The list includes Ferdinand Marcos, the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Suharto, South Africa, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a number of Latin American military dictatorships.

Military weapons and tactics

The tactics of the U.S. military have sometimes been questioned, as in the Vietnam war in which U.S. explosives and Agent Orange left parts of the region uninhabitable.

While these charges have some validity, the United States has worked to address the more inhumane aspects of the use of military power.

In 1963, the United States signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space.

In 1993, the United States signed the UN-sponsored Chemical Weapons Convention which became effective on April 29, 1997. Through ratification, the United States agreed to dispose of its unitary chemical weapons stockpile, binary chemical weapons, recovered chemical weapons, and former chemical weapon production facilities by April 29, 2007, and miscellaneous chemical warfare materiel by April 29, 2002. Congressional legislation throughout the 1990's directd the military to dispose of its stockpiles of chemical weapons.

In 2004, President George W. Bush committed the United States to eliminating persistent landmines of all types from its arsenal.

International criticizm of US human rights violations

The international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch identify and criticize human rights violations by the United States as follows:

• Children's Rights, including the commitment of 2,225 children to prison for life without parole, and the practice of detaining children prisoners with adults, rape, etc..[4]
• Death Penalty, as a violation of fundamental human rights against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment [5]
• Torture, Secret prisons and torture[6], etc..
• Discrimination against Gays and Lesbians, including unequal access to marriage, discrimination, etc.. [7]
• Immigration/Treatment of Non-Citizens, including human rights violations of rights to due process, unfair detention, etc.. [8]
• Workers Rights, denial of the human right to organize, right of association, etc.. [9]
• Police Brutality, failures to hold police accountable for abusive acts, etc.. [10]
• Prison Conditions, inhumane medical care[11], torture [12], prison rape [13][14], etc..
• Justice and Sentencing, disproportional sentences for drug laws, etc.. [15]
• Racial Persecution /Discrimination, arbitrary racially based arrests[16], racial disparity in sentencing laws [17], racial disparity in voting laws[18], etc..
• Women's Rights, Human trafficing and slavery [19], prison rape[20], etc..

Indefinite detainment and torture of "illegal combatants"

Recently, the United States has been the subject of severe international criticism for the establishment of secret prisons and the indefinite detainment and torture of "illegal combatants" at prisons such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

Restrictions on civil liberties

In the early 21st century, following the September 11, 2001 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror, issues regarding intrusions upon privacy, invasive inspections, detentions under the USA PATRIOT Act, and restrictions on freedom of expression are currently debated questions. Opponents see them as suppression of human rights and democracy whereas supporters see them as positive and necessary actions for security.

Economy

Main article: Economy of the United States

The United States has the largest and most diverse economy of any nation-state in the world. The United States has a per-capita annual gross domestic product of $43,555 (www.imf.org), ranking 3rd behind Luxembourg, and Norway. As in all market-oriented economies, private individuals and business firms in the U.S. make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. This is financed via taxes and borrowings in the money and capital markets. Federal borrowings are subject to borrowing caps to theoretically prevent fiscal irresponsibility. The cap as of 2006 stands at 9 trillion. (Borrowings as of November 2005 are 8.1 trillion.)

The largest sector of the U.S. economy is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the work force. The United States has many natural resources, including coal, oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, it is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, rice and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The manufacturing sector produces goods such as cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others.

Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being concentrated in certain cities or regions. For example, New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries. Silicon Valley is the country's largest high technology hub, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film and television production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry with Chicago as the "Capital of the Midwest," and with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry. The Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; and the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry.

Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars.

The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). About $1.1 billion dollars worth of goods cross the U.S.-Canada border each day, making the two the largest trading partners in the world.

In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. The largest amount of tourist receipts come from Canadians.

Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years.

The United States's imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to a real annual trade deficit of $650.3 billion or 5.7% of real gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign liabilities of over $12 trillion as of 2004, and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynesian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. The United States, today, is considered to have a mixed economy.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per hour), including the highest, the State of Washington's $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two—Ohio and Kansas—are below; and six do not have state laws.

The United Nations Development Programme Report 2005 ranks income the United States as the 74th most equal out of 124 countries, as measured by the Gini coefficient. The richest 10% make 15.9 times as much as the poorest 10%, and the richest 20% make 8.4 times as much as the poorest 20%. (See List of countries by income equality.) However, the median income in America is greater than in most industrialized nations, placing higher by the Gini coefficient.

America's poverty line, defined for a family of four as an income of less than $19,157, is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; Native Americans and Alaska Natives have the lowest median income while Asians have the highest. Regionally, the southern states have the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England have the highest.

Demographics

Population

Main article: Demographics of the United States

The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the West, followed by the South. Growth in some parts of the nation have been particularly extreme such as the fastest growing metropolitan area, Las Vegas, Nevada, which went from 273,288 people in 1970 to about 1,650,671 in 2004. Between 1990 and 2000, 19 of the 20 fastest-growing states were in these two regions.[21]

Major demographic trends include the mass immigration of Hispanics from Latin America into the Southwest, which is home to 60% (21 of the 35 million) of the nation's Hispanics (their numbers increased 57.9% nationally in the 1990s). The West Coast has been the residence of choice for immigrating Asians, particularly from the Philippines and China. The West Coast is now home to approximately half of all American citizens of Asian ancestry (5 of the 10 million, increasing 52.4% in number during the 1990s).

Ethnicity and race

Main article: Racial demographics of the United States

The United States is a very ethnically diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts.

The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who either arrived after the establishment of the first English colonies or after the period Reconstruction (1863-1877). This majority -- 75.1%[22] in 2000 -- decreases each year in percentage, and is expected to become a plurality by 2050. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations come from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada.

Hispanics from Mexico are second only to the German-American population in the single-race category. Hispanics comprise 13% of the population (2000 census) which include people from South and Central America. People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census and about 66% of the Hispanic-American community. This proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades.

African Americans or Blacks comprise 13% (2000 census) of the American population. This percentage includes 0.6% of individuals that identified as black and one or more other race. The initial wave of people from Africa arrived as indentured servants, and later were enslaved, particularly throughout the colonial period and infancy of the new nation (1690-1808). Today, African Americans are spread throughout the country, but the population is largely concentrated in the Southern United States and the cores of the major urban centers of the north.