United States
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This article is about the United States of America. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation).
| United States of America | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Motto: In God We Trust (official) E Pluribus Unum (traditional) (Latin: Out of Many, One) | ||||||
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" | ||||||
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| Capital | Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°01′W | |||||
| Largest city | New York City | |||||
| Official language(s) | None at federal level[a] | |||||
| National language | English (de facto)[b] | |||||
| Demonym | American | |||||
| Government | Federal presidentialconstitutional republic | |||||
| - | President | Barack Obama (D) | ||||
| - | Vice President | Joe Biden (D) | ||||
| - | Speaker of the House | John Boehner (R) | ||||
| - | Chief Justice | John Roberts | ||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| Independence | from the Kingdom of Great Britain | |||||
| - | Declared | July 4, 1776 | ||||
| - | Recognized | September 3, 1783 | ||||
| - | Current constitution | June 21, 1788 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 9,826,675 km2 [1][c](3rd/4th) 3,794,101 sq mi | ||||
| - | Water (%) | 6.76 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2012 estimate | 313,448,000[2] (3rd) | ||||
| - | Density | 33.7/km2 87.4/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $15.094 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $48,386[3] (8th) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $15.094 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $48,386[3] (15th) | ||||
| Gini (2007) | 45.0[1] (39th) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.910[4] (very high) (4th) | |||||
| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) | |||||
| Time zone | (UTC−5 to −10) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | (UTC−4 to −10) | ||||
| Date formats | m/d/yy (AD) | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| Internet TLD | .us .gov .mil .edu | |||||
| Calling code | +1 | |||||
| ^ a. English is the official language of at least 28 states—some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official".[5] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii.
^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language.
^ c. Whether the United States or China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories.
^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States. | ||||||
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The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., theUSA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty statesand a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where itsforty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between thePacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east andRussia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multiculturalnations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[6] The U.S. economyis the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).[3][7] Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.[3]
Indigenous peoples descended from forebears who migrated from Asia have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right toself-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence.[8] The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a stronger central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendmentsguaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta California and New Mexico from Mexico, and Alaska from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rightsprovoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest.[9] The Spanish–American War and World War Iconfirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending,[10] and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]
Contents[hide] |
Etymology
See also: Names for United States citizens
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.[12] The former British colonies first used the country's modern name in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[13] On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'." The Franco-American treaties of 1778 used "United States of North America", but from July 11, 1778, "United States of America" was used on the country's bills of exchange, and it has been the official name ever since.[14]
The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a once popular name for the United States, derives from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia".
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". Although "United States" is the official appositional term, "American" and "U.S." are more commonly used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces"). "American" is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States.[15]
The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular—e.g., "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".[16]
Geography and environment
Main articles: Geography of the United States, Climate of the United States, and Environment of the United States
The land area of the contiguous United States is approximately 1,900 million acres (7,700,000 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 365 million acres (1,480,000 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, has just over 4 million acres (16,000 km2).[17] The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles (9,522,055 km2)[18] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[19] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[1]Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[20]
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast. At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska'sMount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in North America. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. Thesupervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[21]
The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii. The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean incoastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[22]
The U.S. ecology is considered "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.[23] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[24] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[25] TheEndangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. There are fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wildernessareas.[26] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[27] Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.[27]
Political divisions
Main article: U.S. state
Further information: Territorial evolution of the United States and United States territorial acquisitions
The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.[28] The states do not have the right to secede from the union.
The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also possesses five major overseas territories: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.[29] Those born in the major territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship.[30] American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have onlynonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress.[31]
History
Main article: History of the United States
Native American and European settlement
The indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are believed to have migrated from Asia, beginning between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago.[32] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After Europeans began settling the Americas, many millions of indigenous Americans died from epidemics of imported diseases such as smallpox.[33]
In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the region were followed by ones in the present-day southwestern United States that drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior, down to the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colonyresulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies.[34] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
In 1674, the Dutch ceded their American territory to England; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680.[35] By the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism. All legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonial population grew rapidly. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakeningfueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but thefrancophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the Native Americans (popularly known as "American Indians"), who were being displaced, those thirteen colonies had a population of 2.6 million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain; nearly one in five Americans were black slaves.[36] Though subject to British taxation, the American colonials had no representation in theParliament of Great Britain.
Independence and expansion
Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 to 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Proclaiming that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights", the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated annually as America'sIndependence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak confederalgovernment that operated until 1789.
After the British defeat by American forces assisted by the French and Spanish, Great Britainrecognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American territory west to the Mississippi River. Those wishing to establish a strong federal government with powers of taxation organized a constitutional convention in 1787. The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788, and the new republic'sfirst Senate, House of Representatives, and president—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the Atlantic slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the "peculiar institution". The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, made evangelicalism a force behind various social reform movements, including abolitionism.
Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of Indian Wars. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size.[37] The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida ledSpain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, amid a period when the concept of Manifest Destiny was becoming popular.[38] The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest. The U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 cession ofCalifornia and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further spurred western migration. New railways made relocation easier for settlers and increased conflicts with Native Americans. Over a half-century, up to 40 million American bison, or buffalo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, a primary resource for the plains Indians, was an existential blow to many native cultures.
Civil War and industrialization
Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments about the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the largely antislavery Republican Party, was elected president in 1860. Before he took office, seven slave states declared their secession—which the federal government maintained was illegal—and formed the Confederate States of America. With the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, the Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution ensured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[39] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase infederal power.[40] The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers.[41]
After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln radicalized Republican Reconstructionpolicies aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe hastened the country's industrialization. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, provided labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. TheWounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the indigenous monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a coup led by American residents; the United States annexed the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year demonstrated that the United States was a world power and led to the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.[42] The Philippines gained independence a half-century later; Puerto Rico and Guam remain U.S. territories.
World War I, Great Depression, and World War II
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Most Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many opposed intervention.[43] In 1917, the United States joined the Allies and the American Expeditionary Forces helped to turn the tide against the Central Powers. After the war, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging onisolationism.[44]
American women led temperance and suffragette movements that led to constitutional amendments prohibiting alcohol in the United States and granting women the right to vote in 1920.Prohibition was a costly failure and was repealed in 1933.
The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered theGreat Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy including the establishment of the Social Security system.[45] The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.
The United States, effectively neutral during World War II's early stages after Nazi Germany'sinvasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program and began an oil embargo against the Empire of Japan in July. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers as well as intern thousands of Japanese Americans along the West Coast.[46] Participation in the war spurred capital investment and industrial capacity. Among the major combatants, the United States was the only nation to become richer – indeed, far richer – instead of poorer because of the war.[47] Allied conferences atBretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed theUnited States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As victory was won in Europe, a 1945international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.[48] The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war.[49]
Cold War and protest politics
The Communist Soviet Union and principally capitalist United States competed with one another after World War II. While they engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict, a situation known as the Cold War. A balance of power was maintained in Europe through the NATO and the Warsaw Pact military alliances. The U.S. also rebuilt economies around the world through the Marshall Plan, although assistance for Eastern Europe was refused by the Soviet Union. In opposition to Communist revolutions and invasions, the United States engaged in a strategy of containment, often supporting authoritarian governments and even sometimes acting to oppose the results of democratic elections in countries such as Iran and Chile. Domestically, theHouse Un-American Activities Committee pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, although Senator Joseph McCarthy's hearings on the U.S. Army led to his censure and general disrepute for the tactic of red-baiting.
Taking advantage of a Soviet boycott, the United States was able to receive United Nations interventionagainst the invasion of South Korea by the North in 1950. This led to direct conflict with the People's Republic of China and an open feud between the American president Harry Truman and General Douglas Macarthur. It also solidified American support for the Republic of China on Taiwan, who had lost control of Hainan in 1950 as well.
The 1961 launch of the first manned spaceflight by the Soviet Union prompted President John F. Kennedy's call for the United States to land "a man on the moon" within a decade, a feat achieved by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Meanwhile, the United States experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement, led by African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Junior, expanded on earlier court success by followingGandhi's method of nonviolent protest to confront segregation and discrimination. Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson.[50][51] He also signed into law the Medicare andMedicaid programs.[52]
Johnson and his successor Richard Nixon expanded the Vietnam War in resistance to invasions of South Vietnam by the Communist North. In the wake of this and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Junior and Robert Kennedy, a widespread countercultural movement grew, fueled by opposition to the war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and others led a new wave of feminism that sought political, social, and economic equality for women.
As a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign in 1974, to avoid being impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
The 1971 collapse of the gold standard and a 1973 oil embargo by OPEC in protest against U.S. support of Israel during the Yom Kippur Warled to a prolonged recession and stagflation lasting through the Ford and Carter administrations. The 1979 Iranian revolution provoked the Iran hostage crisis and a failed rescue operation.
Ronald Reagan's election as president in 1980 heralded a rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. His second term in office brought both the Iran-Contra scandal and significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The subsequent fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
Contemporary era
Under President George H. W. Bush, the United States took a lead role in the UN–sanctioned Gulf War opposing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Although the Bush administration encouraged Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq, it did not support them and they were crushed with heavy loss of life. The longest economic expansion in modern American history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the Bill Clinton administration and the dot-com bubble.[53] Acivil lawsuit and sex scandal led to Clinton's impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice in 1998, but he was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office. The 2000 presidential election, one of the most closely decided in American history, was effectively resolved by a U.S. Supreme Court decision—George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City andThe Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the Global War on Terror, invading Afghanistan and removing the Talibangovernment and al-Qaeda training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq. Controversially[54]employing an earlier UN Resolution, forces of a Coalition of the Willing invaded Iraq in 2003, ousting and capturing Saddam Hussein but provoking widespread resistance which maintained American operations in the country until 2011. In the same year, a raid by Navy SEALs inPakistan killed the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused severe destruction along much of the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans.
In 2008, amid a global economic recession, the first African-American president, Barack Obama, was elected along with a significant Democrat majority in both houses of Congress. Large-scale government interventions into the financial markets begun under President Bushwere continued and a major economic stimulus package was undertaken. Major health care and financial reforms were also passed into law two years later.
Government and politics
Main articles: Federal government of the United States, state governments of the United States, and elections in the United States
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic andrepresentative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected bylaw".[55] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.[56] In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; thelocal government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.
The federal government is composed of three branches:
- Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
- Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
- Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has aunicameral legislature. The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.
The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was declared by the Supreme Court inMarbury v. Madison (1803).
Parties and ideology
Main articles: Politics of the United States and Political ideologies in the United States
The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history.[57] For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20% of the popular vote.
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or liberal. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the Southand parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.
The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. president. The2010 midterm elections saw the Republican Party take control of the House and make gains in the Senate, where the Democrats retain the majority. In the 112th United States Congress, the Senate comprises 51 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 47 Republicans; the House comprises 242 Republicans and 192 Democrats—one seat is vacant. There are 29 Republican and 20 Democratic state governors, as well as one independent.
Foreign relations and military
Main articles: Foreign policy of the United States and United States Armed Forces
The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and New York City hosts the United Nations Headquarters. It is a member of the G8,[58] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many haveconsulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.
The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[59] and strong ties withCanada,[60] Australia,[61] New Zealand,[62] the Philippines,[63] Japan,[64] South Korea,[65]Israel,[66] and several European countries. It works closely with fellow NATO members on military and security issues and with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada andMexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world. As a share of America's large gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among twenty-two donor states. By contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.[67]
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The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and theDepartment of the Navy in time of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 2.3 million. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[68]
Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.[69] American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The military operates 865 bases and facilities abroad,[70] and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[71] The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases".[72]
Total U.S. military spending in 2010, almost $700 billion, was 43% of global military spending and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.8% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top fifteen military spenders, afterSaudi Arabia.[73] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, is a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion is proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[74] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[75] 4,484 servicemen were killed during the Iraq War.[76] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan as of April 2012;[77] as of April 4, 1,924 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[78]
Economy
Main article: Economy of the United States
| Economic indicators | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 8.2% (March 2012) | [79] |
| GDP growth | 2.8% (4Q 2011), 1.7%(2011) | [80] |
| CPI inflation | 2.7% (March 2011 – March 2012) | [81] |
| Poverty | 15.1% (2010) | [82] |
| Public debt | $15.62 trillion (April 13, 2012) | [83] |
| Household net worth | $58.5 trillion (4Q 2011) | [84] |
The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity.[85] According to theInternational Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $15.1 trillion constitutes 22% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product atpurchasing power parity (PPP).[3] Though larger than any other nation's, its national GDP is about 5% smaller than the GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2008. The country ranks ninth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP.[3] TheU.S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency.[86]
The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2010, the total U.S. trade deficit was $635 billion.[87] Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners.[88] In 2010, oil was the largest import commodity, while transportation equipment was the country's largest export.[87] China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.[89]
In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 86.4% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 4.3% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 9.3%.[91] While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 67.8% of GDP, the United States remains an industrial power.[92] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.[93] Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field.[94] The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer.[95] It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP,[92] the United States is the world's top producer of corn[96] and soybeans.[97] Coca-Cola andMcDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.[98]
In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 154.1 million people. With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe.[99]The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers.[100] In 2009, the United States had the third highest labor productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.[101] Compared to Europe, U.S. property and corporate income tax rates are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption tax rates are lower.[102]
Income and human development
Main article: Income in the United States
See also: Income inequality in the United States, Poverty in the United States, and Affluence in the United States
According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2010 was $49,445. The median ranged from $64,308 among Asian American households to $32,068 among African American households.[82] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations. After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11–15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75.[103][104] In 2010, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty, a figure that rose for the fourth year in a row.[82]
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The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations,[105][106] though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are relatively high.[107] While the American welfare state effectively reduces poverty among the elderly,[108] it provides relatively little assistance to the young.[109] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.[110]
Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich.[111] However, income gains since then have been slower, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity.[111][112]Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980,[113] largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender pay gap, and longer work hours, but the growth has been strongly tilted toward the very top.[105][111][114] Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%—21.8% of total reported income in 2005—has more than doubled since 1980,[115] leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations.[105][116] The United States has a progressive tax system which equates to higher income earners paying a larger percentage of their income in taxes.[117] The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes, while the top 10% pays 54.7%.[118] Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations.[119] The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.[120] In 2010 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 12th among 139 countries on its inequality-adjusted human development index (IHDI), eight places lower than in the standard HDI.[121]
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