United States

The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the USA, the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia — is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America. The United States proper has land borders with Canada and Mexico, as well as several territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia and The Bahamas. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii, are not contiguous with any of the other states. The United States also has several territories and possessions around the world. Each of the 50 states has a high level of local autonomy under the system of federalism. Many people believe that the United States has a special role in the world.

United States of America
Motto:  E Pluribus Unum (1789-present) (Latin: "Out of Many, One") In God We Trust (1956-present)
Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner
Capital		Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°02′W
Largest city		New York City
Official languages		None at federal level; English de facto1
Government		Democratic Federal republic
Independence
Area
-	Total	3,794,083 mi²/9,631,418 km² (3rd)  sq mi
-	Water (%)	4.87%
Population
-	May 2005 estimate	296,151,242 [1] (3rd)
-	2000 census	281,421,906
GDP (PPP)		2005 estimate
-	Total	$12,332,296 million (1st)
-	Per capita	$41,557 (3rd)
Currency		US dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone		(UTC-5 to -10)
Internet TLD		.gov .edu .mil .us .um
Calling code		+1
1 The federal government operates in English, but no official language is formally or legally specified. English is official in 27 states, with Hawaiian, French, and Spanish each being official in one of three bilingual states. While English enjoys the widest use by far, Spanish is spoken as a primary language by 10% of population. See Languages in the United States.

The United States traces its national origin to the United Colonies of America governed by the Second Continental Congress formed in 1775, and to the Declaration of Independence made by the thirteen British colonies in 1776. They were recognized internationally by the Treaty of Paris (1783).

History

Main articles: History of the United States, Military history of the United States, Timeline of United States history

U.S Declaration of Independence

The European colonization of the Americas began after Columbus (re)discovered them in 1492. Native Americans were descendants of ancient migrations, which are believed to have come across the Bering Strait and on ships from Phoenicia and Asia in ancient times. There is also speculation that Norwegian expeditions to North America led by Leif Ericson c. 1000 C.E. and the Chinese to South America c. 1421 predated Columbus. In the 17th century many British colonists began migrating to North America. In the North, many colonists included Puritans, Quakers, and others who wanted to freely practice their religion. Some thought of it as God's new Israel and set out to build the Kingdom of God in America. In the South, many plantations were built to export agricultural products to Europe. In 1754, at the Albany Congress, Benjamin Franklin made the first serious proposal for a union of British colonies in North America. However, the colonists became increasingly frustrated by British rule and, in 1776, thirteen colonies issued the Declaration of Independence. They formed a confederation of states in 1777, which was ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. This government failed because it was unable to raise revenues to pay for the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). George Washington called a Constitutional Convention in 1787, and after long debate, the United States Constitution was adopted in 1789, forming the world's first constitutional federal republic.

During the 19th century and 20th century, people seeking freedom and prosperity poured into the United States from Europe. Many new states were added to the original thirteen as the nation expanded across the North American continent, obtaining territories held by Spain, France, Mexico, and Russia. Many Indian nations were destroyed and resettled in the process. Through its expanded naval and industrial power at the end of the 19th century, the United States acquired a number of overseas territories including Cuba and the Philippines. The most traumatic experience for the nation in the 19th century was the Civil War (1861–1865).

In the 19th century, the U.S. became an industrial power as trade protection, banking reforms, the Civil War, and corporate legislation helped domestic companies to expand. This continued into the 20th century, which some have termed "the American Century," although the Great Depression (1929–1939), the result of unsupervised and irresponsible economic speculation, caused a decade of severe economic hardship. The nation became a center for invention and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving are electricity, the telephone, the automobile, television, computers, the Internet, nuclear power, air travel, space travel, and genetic engineering.

The United States has taken part in several major wars with other countries; from the War of 1812 against Britain, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, which included the Korean and the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. After World War II the United States emerges as one of two superpowers, the other being the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States emerged as the world's leading military power. It became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping beginning in the 1990s, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia.

After terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, the U.S. started a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and later a preventive war against Iraq in attempt to destroy weapons of mass destruction and bring democracy and political stability to the Middle East. Security concerns at home gave the government increased surveillance power and reduced the freedom historically experienced in the United States.

Vision of the Founding of the United States

Main article: Philosophy of the United States

File:Benjamin-Franklin.jpg

Benjamin Franklin

The thirteen colonies which formed the United States were based on different philosophies and religions. Puritans settled in New England, Baptists in Rhode Island, Quakers in Pennsylvania, Roman Catholics in Maryland, Dutch Reformed in New York, and Episcopalians in Virginia. Unity among these religious faiths could only be achieved through a national philosophy that was general and tolerant.

Benjamin Franklin's own philosophy paralleled that of the American founding. Born to a candlemaker in Puritan Boston, he became a wealthly self-made philosopher and world-reknowned scientist in Philadelphia, the most cosmopolitan city in the colonies, where free religious expression was cherished. Franklin personally donated money to every church in Philadelphia, to the revivalist preacher George Whitefield, and to the Jewish synagogue, under the philosophy that religion promotes the moral rectitude and spiritual self-discipline required of a free people. Franklin also founded the American Philosophical Society. When Thomas Paine wanted to publish his manuscript on the errors and contradictions in Christianity and the Bible, Franklin told him to burn it because it was not constructive and could undermine the morality of the people.

While fighting a common enemy in the English crown, most people in the United States, whether Deist or from any of the religions in the United States, agreed that certain general truths were universal and self-evident: that human beings were created equal and they desired life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This was the sacred bedrock of their philosophy. They believed in a Creator whose laws governed the universe and they attempted to create a more perfect system of justice which reflected them. Based on their study of history, philosophy and literature (the Bible, ancient Greece, Rome, and modern European philosophy), they developed a Constitution which also emphasized equal justice and checks and balances on power.

In the philosophy of the founders, the private sector with its families and religions was responsible for the cultivation of citizens capable of self-governance and democracy. Checks and balances on power prevented anyone from abusing power and becoming a tyrant (like the King in England). No earthly authority was entitled to absolute power; that was left to the Creator. The Constitution also prevented any religion from being established as a national religion. This led to a very lively free market in religion.

A Special Role in the World

Many early Christian colonists believed that they would establish God's sovereignty in America; that the Old World was in the clutches of Satan and that America was reserved for the "last days" when a "new heaven and a new earth" would appear. They were a second Israel, a faithful remnant in a new land. Such biblical language was adapted to the unique situation in which fervent believers found themselves building afresh, and colonists would be reminded in sermons every Sunday. Go Many communities and towns were given biblical names like "New Canaan" in Connecticut, or theological terms like "Providence" in Rhode Island.

The theme of God's Sovereignty corresponded to the Founders' notion of a Supreme Being, whose laws governed the universe, of which their laws were to be a reflection. This theme was present at the turning point of the Consitutional Convention when Benjamin Franklin gave an impassioned speech urging delegates to put aside petty interests for the sake of future generations, for they had special chance to create a new model of government for the world.

It did not take long for the founding philosophy to suffer attack. After a wave of revivals on the frontier in the early 19th century, popular theology shifted from the "Sovereignty of God" to the more limited Christocentic idea of the "Reign of Christ." Persecutions followed in which Freemasons and Deists, whose philosophy most closely corresponded to the founding, were publicly made to stand up in churches and renounce their belief. Roman Catholics were widely persecuted to the point where they felt they had to create private schools to protect their children.

Nineteenth century liberals and transcendentalists secularized the theme of the special role of the United States as rescuer, safe haven, and land of hope with imagery by Emma Lazarus stamped in bronze on the Statue of Liberty

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Despite the religious fervor in the 19th century, many people failed to cultivate the habits of good citizenship. Drunkenness and violence was prevalent on the frontier, and many parents failed to raise their children to become successful or even capable of a life of subsistence. Church orphanages and schools, and moral reform crusades failed to reach everyone. Beginning in the 1870s progressivists, increasingly influenced by Darwinism and Marxism, lobbied for government social welfare programs. Progressives, often with an atheistic faith, were as far to the left of the Enlightenment thinkers as Christian revivalists were to the right. However, the popular theme promoted by the churches to the masses in this period of progressivism was perfectionism and the literal building of the Kingdom of God in America with a theology known as the social gospel.

The 20th century saw the development of a culture war between the right, represented by a combination of conservative religious and corporate interests, and the left, an array of interests seeking to extend government welfare, in which both attempted to unseat the founding philosophy of the United States with narrow and partial philosophies, neither by itself capable of sustaining national life. Following World War II American economic and military power, not its founding ideals, dictated America's role in the world. No longer was the United States a haven, but its special role was to "bring the American way of life to the world," by force if necessary.

The original philosophy of the United States, which provides the underpinning for the longest surviving republican democracy, has been often forgotten or ignored in lawmaking and foreign policy, inviting serious attacks on the legitimacy of the republic from many quarters both within and outside the nation. Today's reformers call on the United States to align its policy with the universal ideals and aspirations it has historically championed.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United States

There are three levels of government in the United States - federal, state, and local. All of these are elected by the American people.

Federal government

First President of the United States, George Washington

The federal government is the national government. The Constitution of the United States initially limited the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, printing money, controlling trade and relations between the states, and protecting human rights; however, the federal government has increasingly overstepped these bounds, especially in welfare and education. The federal government is made up of the Congress (the legislative branch), the President (the executive branch), and the Supreme Court (the judicial branch). These three branches were intended to supply checks and balances on each other.

The Congress is a bicameral lawmaking institution composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, both of which meet in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The House has 435 representatives, also called congressmen and congresswomen, who are elected by the people of a congressional district to represent that district for a term of two years. The number of districts for each state depends on the size of the population of the state, and each state has at least one representative. During the 2000 census, the districts had an average size of about 640,000 people.

The Senate consists of 100 senators, who are also elected by the people of a state to represent that state for a term of six years. Each state has two senators, regardless of its size. The Constitution initially gave the power to elect senators to the state legislatures; the 17th Amendment transferred this ability to the people, eliminating an important check and balance on power between the two houses which the founders had intended.

At the top of the executive branch is the President of the United States, who acts as the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The President signs laws into action, and can also issue pardons. He has few other Constitutional duties, among them being the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress every year. In 1952 President Eishenhower issued the first executive order. It was not challenged by the Supreme Court and has become a common practice that has given the president increased power. Below the President is the Vice President, who is first in the line of succession and is the President of the Senate, with the ability to cast a tiebreaking vote. Both of these are elected by the people via the electoral college for four-year terms.

Next are the members of the Cabinet. These are positions created by the President to assist in performing his or her executive duties. The departments they head, include the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department.

The Constitution instructed the Congress to establish a Supreme Court and inferior courts as necessary. In 1789 Congress established the Supreme Court with nine justices and a system of federal courts through the Judiciary Act. The Supreme Court was intended to interpret the law and to decide on conflicts between states. A case could be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there was a federal question, the supreme court of a state was to be the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution, which governed relations among citizens of states. The Supreme Court can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Throughout its history the Supreme Court has exceeded its Constitutional mandate by creating laws, not just interpreting them. After the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was passed for the purpose of guaranteeing the rights of former slaves. However, it has primarily been used for federal decisions on social issues that the founders intended to be the jurisdiction of states.

Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law.

State and local governments

The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state originally had citizens from different religious and cultural backgrounds. Each has its own written constitution and has different laws. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature with one or two houses, whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each 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.

The institutions that are responsible for local government, typically town, city, or county councils, make laws that effect 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 some states in New England, the 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.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the United States

The Constitution gave the president the authority to conduct foreign policy. In his Farewell Address George Washington stated that the United States should form no alliances and seek good trade relations with all nations. Except for expansion within North America, the United States adhered to this policy until the 1890s. At that time the United States began to build up a navy for the purpose of guaranteeing secure trade routes overseas. Shortly thereafter the U.S. began to exercise its muscle in "gunboat diplomacy," taking Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War.

At the end of the 19th century, many Americans began to support international institutions for world peace. Andrew Carnegie donated funds to build a house for the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Theodore Roosevelt supported the use of the Court to settle a dispute between Japan and Russia, which eventually led to the oppression of Korea by the Japanese. However, Roosevelt refused to allow the Hawaiians to bring the United States to the Court to discuss the occupation of Hawaii. The United States eventually allied with France and England in World War I to protect large loans U.S. banks had provided to Europe. After World War I, while President Woodrow Wilson lobbied Europe for fairer treatment of Germany and support for a League of Nations, the country returned to isolationism until Hitler had taken much of Europe and Japan had invaded Pearl Harbor.

During World War II the United States developed a large military supply industry which it continued to expand as an arms race with the Soviet Union continued through the Cold War. The United States was also a key player in the formation of the United Nations, which replaced the League of Nations after World War II. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the United States emerged as the world's sole superpower reaching its peak influence. Since that time the perceived unilateralism and inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy has led to growing suspicion around the world.

Political divisions

Main article: Political divisions of the United States

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies transformed themselves into nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the constitution they have delegated certain powers to the Congress, but have retained the majority of legislative authority for themselves. In the following years, the number of states within the U.S. grew steadily due to western expansion, the conquest and purchase of lands by the national government, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of fifty. By end of the Civil War, the union had become a nation-state in its own right. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships.

The United States also holds several other territories, districts and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. The United States has held a Naval Base at an occupied portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 1898. The United States government claims a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The Cuban government disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing.

Political divisions of the United States

States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming Federal district District of Columbia Insular areas American Samoa | Baker Island | Guam | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Northern Mariana Islands | Palmyra Atoll | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands | Wake Island

Military

The armed forces of the United States of America consist of:

• United States Army
• United States Marine Corps
• United States Navy
• United States Air Force
• United States Coast Guard

The combined United States armed forces consists of 1.4 million active duty personnel along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard. There is currently no conscription. The United States Armed Forces is the most powerful military in the world and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other singular nation.

Geography

Map of the United States (PDF)

Main article: Geography of the United States

As the world's third-largest country (by total area), the United States landscape varies greatly: temperate forestland and rolling hills on the East coast, mangrove in Florida, the Great Plains in the center of the country, the Mississippi-Missouri river system, the Great Lakes which are shared with Canada, the Rocky Mountains west of the plains, deserts and temperate coastal zones west of the Rocky Mountains and temperate rain forests in the Pacific Northwest. Alaska's tundra and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic and climatic diversity.

The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the American South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semiarid shortgrass prairies on the High Plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the American Southwest from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of the American West, including San Francisco, California, have a Mediterranean climate. Rain forests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

The political geography is notable as well, with the Canadian border being the longest undefended border in the world, and with the country being divided into three distinct sections: The continental United States, also known as the lower 48; Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada; and the archipelago of Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean.

Important Cities

File:Panorama New York.jpg New York City, New York

File:Lightmatter griffith observatory.jpg Los Angeles, California.

File:Chicago-Illinois-USA-skyline-day.jpg Chicago, Illinois

Main article: List of cities in the United States

The United States has dozens of major cities, including several important global cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The capital of the United States is Washington, DC. The top twenty largest cities by population are listed below (based on the 2000 Census). All the figures shown are for the population within the city limits, which is the main usage of the word "city" in the United States. The ranking of metropolitan areas by population is quite different, although the top three are unchanged.

1. New York City, New York - 8,008,278
2. Los Angeles, California - 3,694,820
3. Chicago, Illinois - 2,896,016
4. Houston, Texas - 1,953,631
5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 1,517,550
6. Phoenix, Arizona - 1,321,045
7. San Diego, California - 1,223,400
8. Dallas, Texas - 1,188,580
9. San Antonio, Texas - 1,144,646
10. Detroit, Michigan - 951,270
11. San Jose, California - 894,943
12. Indianapolis, Indiana - 791,926
13. San Francisco, California - 776,733
14. Jacksonville, Florida - 735,617
15. Columbus, Ohio - 711,470

There are other major cities which, while having a small core city, have a large metropolitan area and are otherwise important. These include Atlanta, Georgia, Boston, Massachusetts, Denver, Colorado, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Seattle, Washington.

Economy

File:$20bill.jpg

The nation's currency.

Main article: Economy of the United States

History of United States Economy

The economy of the United States began with two distinct visions. Thomas Jefferson envisioned a society of farmers, tradesmen and artisans with family businesses. This model appealed to the colonists who had thrown tea in Boston Harbor in what has been called the first protest against globalization. The East India Company and Hudson's Bay Company were viewed as tools of oppression used by King George III against the colonists. Jefferson wanted protection from corporations built into the Bill of Rights. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists aspired to a more capitalist economy modeled after England.

During its first 60 years, the United States was very ambiguous towards banks and corporations. In 1829 President Andrew Jackson closed the federal bank. Most states kept corporations on a tight leash, often only allowed those which existed for a public purpose, and then limited their charters to 20 years.

Originally federal taxes were raised through tariffs on trade. These tariffs protected industry in the North and allowed them to flourish in a market where domestic goods could enjoy more profit and yet be cheaper to the American consumer than foreign products. The tarrifs, on the other hand, hurt the South, whose products were exported. Foreign countries imposed tariffs on Southern agricultural products like cotton in retaliation for American tariffs. Great debates, such as the one between Clay and Calhoun, preceded the decision of the South to secede or perish economically.

After the Civil War American industrialists gained increasing influence on the United States economy. By 1870 many corporate lawyers had become Supreme Court justices who changed laws to be more favorable for industry. In 1886 in Santa Clara County vs. the Southern Pacific Railroad, corporations were given personhood with many of the same rights and protections as individual citizens. By the 1890s corporations were pushing for a Navy to escort the shipment of products abroad, and a few years later they reversed their position on tariffs and advocated their substitution with income taxes to make U.S. products more affordable in foreign markets.

Capitalists continued to influence U.S. politics until the Great Depression, when unregulated investment schemes, overpriced stocks, and overextended banks led to an economic collapse. In the 1930s, with the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted more government regulation and social welfare programs like Social Security and unemployment benefits. The welfare state gradually expanded, placing a greater burden on taxpayers through the Carter Administration in the late 1970s. High inflation and interest rates as much as 20 percent on home loans prompted the Reagan "supply-side" economic revolution of 1980, which led to an undoing of much industrial regulation and a dramatic growth in the economy, paving the way for U.S. leadership in globalization of the world economy. Relaxed regulation of business was followed by another round of economic scandals and speculation which set back economic growth several years.

Resources

The country has rich mineral resources, with extensive gold, oil, coal, and uranium deposits. Successful farm industries rank the country among the top producers of, among others, corn, wheat, sugar, and tobacco. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces, among other things, cars, airplanes, and electronics. The largest industry is now service; about three-quarters of U.S. residents are employed in that sector.

Regional Variations

Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as “the breadbasket of America” for their tremendous agricultural output, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeastern U.S. is a major hub for medical research, as well as many of the nation's textiles manufacturers.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in the United States

To link its vast territories, the United States has built a network of roads, of which the most important aspect is the Interstate highway system. Americans are renowned for their "car-crazy" lifestyle and the sprawling car-oriented design of their cities. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system which is used for moving freight across the lower 48 states.

Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 km) away, and some airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and O'Hare International Airport, are among the busiest in the world. There are several major seaports in the United States, including New York City, Savannah, Georgia, Miami, Florida, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California, and Seattle, Washington, plus Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii outside of the contiguous 48 states.

The United States and the World Economy

Several countries have linked their currency to the dollar (such as the People's Republic of China), or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided in recent years.

The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (20%), followed by Mexico (12%), China (Mainland 10%, Hong Kong 1%) and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40.4 million visitors ranked behind France's 75 million and Spain's 52.5 million.

See also: List of United States companies

Demographics

File:USA 2000 population density.png

2000 population density by county

Main article: Demographics of the United States

Ethnicity and race

Americans, in part due to categories decided by the U.S. government, generally describe themselves as being one of five ethnic groups: White, also called Caucasian; African American, also called Black; Hispanic, also called Latino; Asian American, frequently specified as Chinese American, Indian American, Korean American, Vietnamese American, etc.; and Native American, also called American Indian.

White: The majority of the 295 million people currently living in the United States at the 2000 census descend from European immigrants who have arrived since the establishment of the first colonies. Major components of the European segment of the United States population are descended from immigrants from Germany (15.2 percent), Ireland (10.8 percent), England (8.7 percent), Italy (5.6 percent), Scandinavia (3.7 percent) and many immigrants also coming from Slavic countries. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada; few immigrants came directly from France. These numbers, however, are inaccurate as many citizens listed themselves as "American" on the census (7.2 percent). A county by county map of plurality ethnic groups reveals that the areas with the largest "American" ancestry populations were mostly settled by English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh (the percentages of whom should consequently be slightly larger).

Hispanic: While there were few immigrants directly from Spain, Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are considered the largest minority group in the country, comprising 13.4 percent of the population in 2002. This has brought increasing use of the Spanish language in the United States. Mexicans alone made up 7.3 percent of the population in the 2000 Census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. The "Hispanic" category is based more on language than race and is defined by the Census as anybody from or with forebears from Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America so Hispanics may be of any race. About 45% identify by their ethnic background only ("Mexican", "Salvadoran"); they are usually mestizos or even American Indians of unmixed ancestry. About 40% identify as white with more European (especially Spanish) ancestry; however, on average, they tend to have more Amerindian or African blood than non-Hispanic whites. They are a diverse group consisting of most Puerto Ricans and Cubans, and a large proportion of the New Mexican Spanish, Tejanos, and recent South American immigrants, as well as children of mixed marriages between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Another 5% identify as black or mulatto; they typically are descended from Spanish-speaking Caribbean immigrants such as Dominicans. The remainder includes mostly self-identified Indians (Maya, Mixtec, etc.) and people of mixed background. Most Filipinos, however, are not considered Hispanic.

African American: About 12.9 percent (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans, most of whom are descendants of the enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. between the 1620s and 1807. Starting in the 1970's, the black population has been bolstered by immigration from the Caribbean, especially Jamaica and Haiti; more recently, starting in the 1990's, there has been an influx of African immigrants to the United States due to the instability in political and economic opportunities in various nations in Africa.

Asian American: A third significant minority is the Asian American population (4.2 percent), most of whom are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. It is by no means monolithic; the largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.

Native American: The aboriginal population of Native Americans, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up about 1.5 percent of the population.

According to the 2000 census, the United States has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million people.

See also: Immigration to the United States

Language

Main Article: Languages in the United States

The United States does not have an official language at federal level; however, English is the language of the government and is spoken by the majority of the population.

Twenty-seven individual states have adopted English as their official language, and three of those - Hawaii, Louisiana, and New Mexico - have also adopted Hawaiian, French and Spanish as their official languages, respectively. Spanish follows English as the second most spoken language in the United States due to the influence of the mass waves of (often illegal) Mexican immigrants in recent decades, and is becoming a primary language in some areas of the southwest. The primarily signed language is American Sign Language (ASL).

As of 2004, the United States was the home of approximately 336 languages (spoken or signed), of which 176 are indigenous to their areas.

Religion

Main Articles: Religion in the United States, Demographics of the United States

As of 2001^[2], the distribution for major religions in the United States was estimated as follows: Protestant (52%), Roman Catholic (24%), no religious faith (14%, including atheists and agnostics), Jewish (1.5%), Muslim (0.5%) (See Islam in the United States), Buddhist (0.5%), Hindu (0.4%) and Unitarian Universalist (0.3%). The largest single religious denomination in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Baptist, Methodist and Lutheran churches. Counted together, Christians numbered 77 percent of the population.

The United States stands out among industrialised nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. This is in part due to the separation of church and state, which provides an incentive for religious leaders to serve the spiritual needs of people or lose their financial support. Nearly 44 percent of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt – composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states – than in the Northeast and West Coast.

Class

In terms of relative wealth, most U.S. residents enjoy a standard of personal economic wealth that is far greater than that known in most of the world. For example, 51 percent of all households have access to a computer and 67.9 percent of U.S. households owned their dwellings in 2002. However, there is also a considerable amount of poverty in the United States with 12.1% of the population living below the official national poverty level.

The social structure of the United States is somewhat stratified, with a significant class of very wealthy individuals, who are often alleged to hold disproportionate cultural and political influence. On one widely used measure of inequality, the Gini coefficient, the United States has the highest inequality of any wealthy country. Nevertheless, ideas of social mobility figure prominently in the American dream, which holds that someone born into a poor family can, through hard work, ultimately rise into the upper classes. There is much debate over how often this actually occurs in modern American society, both compared with earlier eras and with other developed nations. See also: Richest places in the United States and Poorest places in the United States

Society and Culture

Main articles: Social issues in the United States, Human rights in the United States, Health care in the United States

The American Bill of Rights, enacted in 1791, provides a list of basic guaranteed rights

Overview

The United States began with diverse groups of people with different social and cultural interests and goals living in dfferent states. The Constitution left the creation of positive social goals and the solution to issues to the individual states, for citizens to work out in their own way. Instead, it created restraints on social policies through the provisions of the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion, trial by jury, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The formation of national media, the common struggle for independence, commercial exchange, and internal migration led to a gradual homogenization of the national culture and the formation of common national goals. Over the years, national goals and social policies have evolved which often conflict with the original freedoms and responsibilities envisioned by the founders of United States for its citizens.

Protection of Rights and Freedoms

Slavery stood as an obvious contradiction to the ideal that all people deserve equal treatment under the law. After the Civil War, the greatest catalyst for the formation of national identity, the 14th Amendment was passed, allowing the Federal Supreme Court to make decisions related to the rights of individuals related to state governments. This legislation was passed for the protection of former slaves, but has been used primarily for other purposes, including giving corporations rights against state charters, and the creation of federal law in moral and medical decisions like abortion and euthanasia. Today many Americans expect the Supreme Court to make controversial decisions on social issues which divide the nation and, through force of national law, attempts to cause all Americans to behave uniformily regardless of what they believe. This has sometimes promoted social unrest and the increased need for police.

The United States accepts many immigrants, who, as minorities have experienced discrimination. Many anti-discrimination and reverse descrimination laws have been passed in an attempt to promote justice for minority groups. Some examples of these are the 14th amendment, the Civil Rights Acts, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and hate crime legislation. Some of this legislation, for example hate crime legislation, amplifies the penalty for already existing crimes if they are carried out by members of certain groups, thus promoting racism rather than giving all people equal treatment under the law.

Despite high ideals, the United States has at times been criticized for violations of human rights, including racial discrimination, unfair trials and sentences, police abuse, unwarranted incarceration, and the imposition of the death penalty in some states. In 2001, Human Rights Watch issued a report stating that United States had "made little progress in embracing international human rights standards at home." [3] There was also criticism by the Council of Europe and Amnesty International of human rights abuses in U.S.-run detention camps in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Abu Ghraib (Iraq) and other places.

These criticisms show that law alone is incapable of guaranteeing human rights, and that civil and responsible individual and group behavior, which includes love and respect for others is essential for the guarantee of human rights in a democracy. The founders of the United States expected families, churches, and schools in the private sector to produce such people. Such moral education is a necessary counterpart to law in a free society.

Education

Main article: Education in the United States

Today in the United States, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten and following through 12th grade. Parents may send their children to a public school, which is free, or to a private school, where parents must pay tuition. Public schools are highly decentralized with funding and curriculum decisions taking place mostly at the local level through school boards.

Early in the history of the United States there was no requirement for children to attend school. As an agrarian society, schooling was not required to earn a livelihood, unless one was to become a teacher, lawyer, or minister. Apprenticeships were common in preparation for a skilled trade. Reading was usually taught so that one could read the religious texts which would help guide one to a responsible moral life.

The push for public education came from industrial leaders in the mid-19th century as they tired of providing support for private schools that could provide a basic education for employees that required greater skills for industry, including math, accounting, science, and drawing. Political leaders like Horace Mann also advocated public education as a method of creating good United States citizens. From the beginning, public education has been fraught with moral and religious controversies over what are "good" values for citizens and what constitutes "truth." On the frontier, many teachers of one-room schoolhouses were Christians who openly taught protestantism. Discrimination against Catholics became so widespread that they set up an entire parallel school system.

Generally until the 1960s, a "civil religion," which supported a belief in God and Country prevailed. The countercultural movement, which solidified in the 1960s, promoted a secular, if not anti-religious, worldview in the public schools that opposed the civil religion in education. This caused many parents to feel that public schools had been politically co-opted and that they undermined the values of religion and citizenship they were teaching their children at home. This led to increased home-schooling, the formation of private schools, and new experiments with charter schools in which parents could feel more comfortable with what their children were being taught.

Public education is still a very politicized and highly emotional issue in the United States, with citizens very divided over the purpose and content of public education.

The United States is a great center of higher education, boasting more than 4,000 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning, the top tier of which may be considered to be among the most advanced in the world. Many foreign students study in the United States, both bringing their culture with them, and taking American culture back to their home nations. Universities in the United States range from the prestigious Harvard (founded in 1636) to the local community colleges, where most people can get a post-secondary education at a much lower cost. In the 20th century, with the increase in jobs requiring higher education, it became more popular to send children to college. However, only 25 percent of jobs in the United States require college degrees.

Popular Culture

Main article: Culture of the United States

Rural American Church

Unlike a culture in which there is a state religion or authoritarian ruler enforcing a particular vision of culture. The freedom of expression in United States has allowed for the widespread development of popular culture, or culture from the bottom up. Singers, artists, writers, and sports players compete for audiences that will be attracted to their various forms of cultural expression. Popular culture is also a boon to national media which gain from promoting these various forms of expression.

The original colonies in the United States were permeated with culture promoted by elite social leaders. In the North, many colonists came seeking to build ideal societies based on religious principles. In the South, the aristocracy promoted loyalty to the government, family, civil behavior, and good manners. These cultural values helped create the self-directed and self-restrained behavior needed by a democracy. Traditional religious and social leaders often lament that popular culture undermines the values necessary to promote a healthy society.

U.S. culture has a large influence on the rest of the world, especially the Western world. This influence is often criticized as cultural imperialism by those who feel their own traditional values being displaced by a popular hedonistic culture that does not promote good citizenship. Popular culture tests behavioral limits. Thirty years after the free sex and drugs associated with the 1960s, social scientists have shown these behaviors to be self-destructive and socially destructive. However, the freedom of expression in the United States has also given birth to new cultural elements that have made a lasting contribution to civilization.

Woodstock Rock Music Festival, 1969.

Music: U.S. music, "good" or "bad", is heard all over the world, and it is the sire of such forms as blues and jazz and had a primary hand in the shaping of modern rock and roll and popular music culture. Many great Western classical musicians and ensembles find their home in the U.S. New York City is a hub for international operatic and instrumental music as well as the world-famed Broadway plays and musicals, while Seattle and the rest of Washington is a world leader in the grunge and heavy metal music industries, as well as the visual arts and various media in fantasy. New York, Seattle, and San Francisco are worldwide leaders in graphic design, and New York and Los Angeles compete with major European cities in the fashion industry. Several forms of electronic music originated from the United States. This includes house from Chicago, techno from Detroit, and garage from New York.

Movies: U.S. movies (primarily embodied in Hollywood) and television shows can be seen almost anywhere. This is in stark contrast to the early days of the republic, when the country was viewed by Europeans as an agricultural backwater with little to offer the culturally "advanced" world centers of Asia and Europe. Nearing the mid-point of its third century of nationhood, the U.S. plays host to the gamut of human intellectual and artistic endeavor in nearly every major city, offering classical and popular music; historical, scientific and art research centers and museums; dance performances, musicals and plays; outdoor art projects; and internationally significant architecture. This development is a result of both contributions by private philanthropists and government funding.

An Army-Navy Football Game

Sports: Some sports that originated or evolved in the United States, particularly baseball, basketball and American football, have achieved a worldwide audience; the Super Bowl, the annual championship game of the National Football League, is one of the highest watched broadcasts in the world, with viewership far outnumbering the total American population. Baseball is extremely popular in Latin American nations and Japan, and football has had some success in expanding to Europe (NFL Europe). However, few "foreign" sports have caught on in America; attempts to create professional soccer (football) leagues have struggled, and cricket and rugby are not played at any professional level.

The United States hosts some of the premier events in other sports such as golf (including The Masters), tennis (U.S. Open), and auto racing (particularly the Indianapolis 500), hosted the World Cup in 1994, and has hosted eight Olympiads, more than any other nation.

See also: Arts and entertainment in the United States

Challenges for the United States

Law and an Aging Society

The United States suffers from an accumulation of law which has over the years, as in the Roman Empire, drifted away from the principles of justice embodied in its founding. Many laws have been passed which direct money or wealth from one person or group to another. Other laws have been passed which complicate trials by imposing procedures and rules of evidence that shield a jury from truth and create more work for lawyers, making trials more lucrative. Other rules and procedures have been devised by Congress to pass legislation secretly, through committees, through omnibus legislation, through large obfuscated bills, and with irrelevant "pork," reducing transparency and accountability of members of Congress. The Supreme Court has ruled on laws and amendments, developing a body of interpretation that gives it authority in numerous areas intended to be within the realm of individual or state freedom. Through the creation of Cabinet posts with a weighty bureaucracy, Executive orders, the promulgation of doctrine in foreign policy, and increased homeland security measures, the Executive Branch has also become a weighty arm of the government which places a tax burden on citizens and reduces their freedom. These combined effects of aging reduce the legitimacy in the eyes of those who suffer injustice or a lack of freedom as a result. An increased police presence is necessary to support a regime whose popular legitimacy is on the wane.

Economic Challenges

Moving from a population in which 80 percent were subsistence farmers to one in which 60 percent were industrial workers brought a Great Depression and hardship as the society was forced to adjust to industrial development. A similar shift began in the 1960s and is being completed with outsourcing, robotic production processes, and economies of scale that reduce the amount of industrial labor needed to a small percentage of of the United States population. Today, with over 75 percent of jobs in the service sector, Americans must find ways to provide useful goods or services to others without relying on either farmland or a job as an industrial laborer. This requires an appropriate shift in education and entrepreneurship.

The United States economy also suffers from its disproportional involvement in production of military hardware dating back to the war economy of World War II. A development which President Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex involved collusion between the military and industry to direct significant portions of the federal budget toward new military technology regardless of proven national need. Today the United States suffers some of the same problems faced by the Soviet Union just before its collapse. The heavy weight of a military economy tempts the nation toward Empire in foreign policy, making new enemies as a self-fulfilling prophecy, and causing a spiral that at some point may become unsustainable. Other nations, notably in Europe and Asia, are developing peace-time economies based on goods and services used by citizens in daily life, giving them long-term economic advantages over the United States and predictions that China will overtake the United States as the leading economic power of the 21st century.

Social Challenges

Issues related to health insurance, social security, welfare, education, and gambling are issues now in the hands of state governments and the federal government. These issues have been shaped by political pressure and bureaucratic expansion rather than reason or market forces. Social issues were all originally left to families, communities and religious groups by the founding fathers; but today these same issues have become often-selfish demands converted to so-called entitlements, which governments have been unable to provide economically or shape efficient and workable policy over. A grave sense of inequity and unfairness is often perceived by some groups in policies that exist. Motivated by their "bottom line", corporations and many wealthier taxpayers seek to eliminate social services all-together and push them back into the private sphere, where failure occured in the past. Those seeking or who are dependent on government social services, on the other hand, make demands without regard to their necessity or cost. A genuinely whole and workable view is seldom promoted through the two-party system which reflects one interest or the other, but not a broad view of society as a whole. Genuine facts and figures must be brought together with appropriate responsibility and market forces at all levels. It is a major challenge to the political system as it exists.

Federal holidays

Main article: Holidays of the United States

Date	Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Beginning of year, marks the traditional end of "holiday season."
January, third Monday	Martin Luther King, Jr. Day	Honors the late civil rights leader. Few organizations outside federal and state governments grant time off for this holiday, though many colleges and universities observe the day with special events and cancelled classes.
February, third Monday	Presidents' Day	Honors former U.S. presidents, especially Washington and Lincoln, who both share February birthdays. Few organizations outside federal and state governments grant time off for this holiday.
May, last Monday	Memorial Day	Honors servicemen and women who died in service; also marks the traditional beginning of summer.
July 4	Independence Day	Usually called the Fourth of July. Celebrates the United States' independence from Great Britain, formally declared on this date in 1776.
September, first Monday	Labor Day	Celebrates achievements of workers. This holiday is held instead of the traditional worldwide Labor Day, May 1, which actually began in the U.S. Also marks the traditional end of summer.
October, second Monday	Columbus Day	Honors Christopher Columbus, traditional discoverer of the Americas. Somewhat controversial, and few organizations outside federal and state governments grant time off for this holiday.
November 11	Veterans' Day	Previously known as Armistice Day. Honors those who have served in the military. Also marks the end of World War I in 1918. Traditional observation of a moment of silence at 11 a.m. in remembrance of military service members.
November, fourth Thursday	Thanksgiving	Day of thanks that marks the traditional beginning of the "holiday season." The day before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest travel day of the year in the U.S., and the day after is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, known as "Black Friday."
December 25	Christmas	Celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. In recent years, it has become a more secular winter holiday outside of religious communities, with many non-Christians and non-observant Christians buying and exchanging traditional Christmas gifts. Most retailers count on the Christmas holiday to provide a significant portion of their total annual sales.

• The above days are those in which Federal employees are given a day off work. There are many other legal national holidays, including: Administrative Professionals' Day (Wednesday, last week of April), Law Day (May 1), Teacher's Day (Tuesday, first week of May), Mother's Day (Second Sunday in May), Maritime Day (May 22), Armed Forces Day (Third Saturday in May), Flag Day (June 14), Father's Day (Third Sunday in June), Parent's Day (Fourth Sunday in July), Aviation Day (August 19), Grandparent's Day (First Sunday after Labor Day), Patriot Day (September 11), Constitution Day (September 17), Navy Day (October 27), and Pearl Harbor Day (December 7).

Related topics

Main article: List of United States-related topics

International rankings

• IMD International: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005, ranked 1 out of 60 economies (countries and regions)
• World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005 - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking, ranked 2 out of 104 countries
• A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine: Globalization Index 2005, ranked 4 out of 62 countries
• United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Index 2004, ranked 8 out of 177 countries
• Save the Children: State of the World’s Mothers 2004, ranked 10 out of 119 countries
• Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal: 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, ranked 12 out of 155 countries
• The Economist: The World in 2005 - Worldwide quality-of-life index, 2005, ranked 13 out of 111 countries
• Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2004, ranked 17 out of 146 countries (tied with Belgium and Ireland)
• Reporters without borders: Third annual worldwide press freedom index (2004), ranked 22 (American territory; tied with Belgium) & 108 (in Iraq) out of 167 countries

Notes

Template:Anb America may refer to the nation of the United States or to the Americas — North, Central and South America. The latter usage is more common in Latin American countries where the Spanish word América refers to both continents. The United States (or Estados Unidos in Spanish) is a less ambiguous term and less likely to cause offense. The term American meaning a citizen or national of the United States has no straightforward unambiguous synonym. Many alternative words for American have been proposed, but none have enjoyed widespread acceptance.

References and further reading on challenges

• Anderson, Gordon L., Philosophy of the United States: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (2004), Paragon House, ISBN 1557788448
• Cherry, Conrad, ed., God's New Israel: Religious Interprtations of America's Destiny (1998), Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0807847542.
• Niebuhr, H. Richard, The Kingdom of God in America (1959), New York, Harper Torchbooks, ISBN 061300497.
• Gray, Kenneth R., Frieder, Larry A., and Clark, George W., Corporate Scandals: The Many Faces of Greed (2005), Paragon House, ISBN 1557788383.
• Johnson, Chalmers, The Sorrows of Empire:Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (2004) New York, Henry Holt, ISBN 0805070044.
• Molloy, John Fitzgerald, The Fraternity: Lawyers and Judges in Collusion (2004), Paragon House ISBN 1557788413.

Deneen, Patrick J., Democratic Faith (2005), NJ: Princeton University Press, ISBN 069111871X.

United States government

• Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites
• White House - Official site of the US President
• Senate.gov - Official site of the United States Senate
• House.gov - Official site of the United States House of Representatives
• Supreme Court - Official site of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Portrait of the USA - Published by the United States Information Agency, September 1997.
• US Census Housing and Economic Statistics Updated regularly by US Bureau of the Census.
• The National Atlas of the United States.
• CIA World Factbook Entry for United States

Other

• US Newspapers by State
• National Motto: History and Constitutionality
• Historical Documents
• Reference: US specific web resources sorted by state
• info links for each state
• Archive of 163 US interventions
• USA Paper Money - 2004 Twenty Dollar SPECIMEN and Issued bankotes

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