e6f9d12cd331523f3c6fa5af924031c848b169c23dc728c84ed108582e91b4c0

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+The stomach is part of the digestive system. It is an internal organ between the esophagus and the small intestines. The stomach is the third stage in the digestive process. It holds food after ingestion. Food in the stomach then passes through to the small intestine where most of the food's nutrition is absorbed.
+
+The stomach contains hydrochloric acid made by stomach cells. As a useful side-effect, the acid kills bacteria in the food. However, its main function is to help the protein-digesting enzymes called proteases work. In general, the food is churned, squeezed and mixed. This prepares it for digestion. The partially digested food is called chyme.
+
+The stomach acid may cause problems. It can make peptic ulcers worse. It can also cause  heartburn—pain in the chest when acid from the stomach refluxes (backs up into) the oesophagus. These can usually be treated by neutralizing the acid. Vomiting occurs when food goes back up the oesophagus and out the mouth. Vomiting can be a symptom of disease.
+
+Stomachs of other mammals work differently to human stomachs. Ruminants, for example, have a stomach with multiple compartments.
+In that system, food goes through the first part of the digestive system twice, and the work of digesting the grass is done by bacteria.
+
+Other words for stomach include belly and tummy.

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+– on the European continent  (green & grey)– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
+
+Estonia /isˈtoʊniə/ (listen) (Estonian: Eesti), officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariik) is a small country in the Baltic Region of Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia's neighbors are Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893.[10]
+
+The territory of Estonia has the mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea.[11]
+
+People have lived in Estonia since at least 9,000 BC. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the Pärnu River.
+
+Estonia became independent from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. It then became the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and lost its independence.
+
+Estonia had its independence restored in 1991.[12] It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 29 March 2004. It joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
+
+Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km).[13]
+
+Average elevation reaches only 50 metres (164 ft). The country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at 318 metres (1,043 ft).
+
+Estonia has many forests, almost 50% of the land is covered with forests.[14] The most common tree species are pine, spruce and birch.[15] Estonia has over 1,400 lakes and over 2,000 islands. The longest rivers are Võhandu (162 km or 101 mi), Pärnu (144 km or 89 mi), and Põltsamaa (135 km or 84 mi).
+
+Mammals in Estonia include the grey wolf, lynx, brown bear, red fox, badger, wild boar, moose, red deer, roe deer, beaver, otter, grey seal, and ringed seal. The critically endangered European mink has been successfully reintroduced to the island of Hiiumaa. The rare Siberian flying squirrel is present in east Estonia.[16][17]
+
+Over 300 bird species have been found in Estonia. These include the white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, golden eagle, western capercaillie, black and white stork, many species of owls, waders, geese and many others.[18] The Barn swallow is the national bird of Estonia.[19]
+
+Protected areas cover 18% of Estonian land and 26% of its sea territory. There are 5 national parks, 159 nature reserves, and many other protection areas.[20]
+
+The Riigikogu is the name of the parliament in Estonia.
+
+Since administrative reform in 2017, there are in total 79 local governments. This includes 15 towns and 64 rural municipalities. All municipalities have equal legal status and form part of a county, which is a state administrative unit.[21]
+
+The counties are:
+
+According to speedtest.net Estonia has one of the fastest Internet download speeds in the world with an average download speed of 27.12 Mbit/s.[22]
+
+Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia hosted the event.
+
+The Estonian National Day is the Independence Day celebrated on 24 February. This is the day the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued. As of 2013[update], there are 12 public holidays and 12 national holidays celebrated each year.
+
+The following are links to international rankings of Estonia.
+

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+– in Africa  (light blue)– in the African Union  (light blue)
+
+Eswatini is a country in Africa. It is officially the Kingdom of Eswatini (Umbuso weSwatini). Its capital is Mbabane. The country is named after the 19th-century king Mswati II. It was formerly called Swaziland until April 2018.
+
+Eswatini is a small country. It is no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 mi) east to west. It is completely surrounded by land. Eswatini does not touch the sea. The two countries that touch it are Mozambique and South Africa.
+
+On 19 April 2018, the King of Eswatini Mswati III announced that the Kingdom of Swaziland had renamed itself the Kingdom of Eswatini.[9]
+
+Eswatini is strongly affected by HIV and AIDS. The 2012 CIA World Factbook showed Swaziland with the highest HIV infection rate in the world. Life expectancy is 50 years.
+
+Education in Eswatini is free at primary level, mainly 1st and 2nd grades.  It is also free for orphaned and vulnerable children.  Children are not required to attend.[10] In 1996, the primary school enrollment rate was 90.8%. Girls and boys both attended at the primary level.[10] In 1998, 80.5% of children reached grade five.[10]
+
+The University of Eswatini provides higher education.
+
+Most of Eswatini’s people are ethnically Swazi.  There is also a small number of Zulu and White Africans, mostly people of British and Afrikaner descent.  Swaziland also had Portuguese settlers and African refugees from Mozambique.
+
+82.70% of the people are Christian, Christianity in Eswatini is sometimes mixed with traditional beliefs and practices.  Some people think of the king as having a spiritual role. Eswatini also has a small Muslim minority.
+
+Swazi have been subsistence farmers and herders.  They now mix such activities with work in the growing urban economy and in government. Some Swazi work in the mines in South Africa.
+
+SiSwati[11] and English are the official languages.  SiSwati has 2.5 million speakers and is taught in schools.  It is also one of the official languages of South Africa.
+
+About 76,000 people in the country speak Zulu.[12] Tsonga is spoken by about 19,000 people in Swaziland. Afrikaans is also spoken by some residents of Afrikaner descent.
+
+Eswatini is divided into four districts:
+
+The cities in Eswatini are:
+

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+Tin is a chemical element with symbol Sn (for Latin: stannum) and atomic number 50. It is in Group 14 on the periodic table. It is not radioactive.
+
+Tin is a silver, somewhat soft metal. It is a post-transition metal. Its melting point is 231.93°C and its boiling point is 2602 °C. It can melt easily in a flame. It is malleable. It makes a crackling sound called tin cry when a piece of it is bent. Tin has more non-radioactive isotopes than any other element.
+
+Tin is found in two allotropes: alpha-tin and beta-tin. Alpha-tin is a brittle, dull, powdery, semimetallic form of tin. It is made when very pure tin is cooled. Beta-tin is the normal shiny, soft, conductive, metallic form. It is made at higher temperatures. The decay of tin by turning from beta-tin to alpha-tin is called tin pest. Alpha-tin is not wanted in many places. When small amounts of other elements like antimony are added, the tin cannot change into alpha-tin. When alpha-tin is heated, it changes into beta-tin.
+
+Tin can be hardened by adding antimony or copper, as well as some other elements. These also make it resistant to tin pest. Tin can also be made very shiny. Tin can make an alloy with copper called bronze.
+
+Tin resists many corrosive substances and is often used to protect other metals.  Salt water and fresh water do not affect tin.  It dissolves in strong acids to make tin salts.  It reacts with some strong bases.
+
+Tin forms chemical compounds in two oxidation states: +2 and +4. +2 compounds are reducing agents. Some of them are colorless while others are colored. +4 compounds are more unreactive and act more covalent.
+
+Tin burns in air to make tin(IV) oxide, which is white. Tin(IV) oxide dissolves in acids to make other tin(IV) compounds. Tin(IV) chloride is a colorless fuming liquid when anhydrous and a white solid when hydrated. It easily reacts with water to make tin(IV) oxide and an acid again.
+
+Tin reacts with hydrohalic acids to make tin(II) halides. For example, tin(II) chloride is made when tin dissolves in hydrochloric acid. Tin(IV) halides are made when tin reacts with the halogens. Tin(IV) chloride is made when tin reacts with chlorine. Tin(II) sulfate is different as it does not oxidize to tin(IV) sulfate. Tin(II) oxide is a blue-black solid that burns in air to make tin(IV) oxide.
+
++2 compounds are reducing agents. They are about as common as +4 compounds. Some are colorless, while others are colored.
+
++4 compounds are unreactive. Some are colorless.
+
+Tin(II) chloride
+
+Hydrated tin(IV) chloride
+
+Anhydrous tin(IV) chloride
+
+Tin(IV) iodide
+
+Tin(IV) oxide
+
+Tin(II) oxide
+
+Tin is not found as a metal in the ground. It is normally in the form of cassiterite. Cassiterite is a mineral containg tin(IV) oxide. The cassiterite is normally found downstream of the cassiterite deposit when it is by a stream or river. Tin is also found in some complicated sulfide minerals.
+
+Tin does not have any major job in the human body.
+
+Tin is made by heating cassiterite with carbon in a furnace. China is the biggest maker of tin.
+
+People discovered tin long ago and used it with other metals.  When copper and tin are mixed together, bronze is made. Bronze was important in the past, because it was one of the strongest metals available, which meant it was useful in weapons and tools. Bronze changed the world when it was first invented, starting the Bronze Age. People organized themselves more, because making tools from bronze was harder than making them from rock and wood like they did before.
+
+Tin is used in solder. Solder used to contain a mixture of lead and tin. Now the lead is removed because of its toxicity.
+
+Tin is also used to make pewter, which is mainly tin mixed with a small amount of copper and other metals. Babbitt metal also has tin in it. Tin is used to coat several metals, like lead and steel. Tin plated steel containers are used to store foods. The pipes on a pipe organ are made of tin. Tin foil was used before aluminium foil. Tin was one of the first superconductors to be found. Organotin compounds are more common than almost any other organometal compound. They are used in some PVC pipes to stop them from decaying. Organotin compounds are toxic, though.
+
+Tin is not toxic, but tin compounds are very toxic to marine life. They are a little toxic to humans.

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+This article lists the 50 states of the United States. It also lists their populations, date they became a state or agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence, their total area, land area, water area and the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives.
+
+Washington D.C. is not one of the 50 states. It is a city inside the District of Columbia (a federal district that is not part of any state). The United States also has sovereignty over 14 other territories. These are not included in this list.
+
+Click on any state to learn more about this state.
+
+[1]

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+Hawaii is a U.S. state and the only U.S. State that is in Oceania. It is the last state that joined the United States, becoming a state on August 21, 1959. It is the only state made only of islands. Hawaii is also the name of the largest island. The capital and largest city of Hawaii is Honolulu on the island named Oahu.
+
+Hawaii is known as the "Aloha State". Aloha is a Hawaiian word that has many meanings like welcome, hello and goodbye. Aloha also means love and care. The different meanings are brought together in the term "Aloha Spirit" to describe the friendly people of Hawaii.
+
+Hawaii is an archipelago, a long chain of islands. There are eight main islands and many small islands and atolls. They are the tops of underwater volcanos. The main islands are Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and Hawaii.
+
+The first people of Hawaii were Polynesians. They came to the islands sometime between 200 and 600 AD. Captain James Cook is given credit for discovering the islands for the Europeans in 1778. Others may have been there before him. Captain Cook named the islands the Sandwich Islands for the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montague.
+
+Kamehameha I was the first king of Hawaii. He united the separate small Hawaiian kingdoms into one large kingdom in 1795. In 1893, American soldiers stopped Queen Liliuokalani from leading Hawaii when American business people took over the government and made their own laws. She was the last monarch of Hawaii. She also wrote the original words of the song called Aloha Oe.
+
+The American business people made Hawaii into a republic for a short time. The new leader, Sanford Dole was called the President of Hawaii. In 1898, the United States of America took over the government and made Hawaii into a territory. In 1959, Hawaii became the fiftieth American state.
+
+The biggest industry of Hawaii is tourism. Almost 7 million people visited in 2000. Important exports are sugar, pineapple, macadamia nuts, and coffee.
+
+Popular tourist sites include Waikiki Beach, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Polynesian Cultural Center, and the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
+
+The state flower is the yellow hibiscus (Hibiscus brackenridgei or ma'o hau hele). The state bird is the Hawaiian goose (nene). The state fish is the reef triggerfish, also called the humu humu nuku nuku apua'a. The state tree is the candlenut, also called kukui. The state song is Hawaii Ponoi. The state motto is Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono. In English it says, The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
+
+Notes
+
+Media related to Hawaii at Wikimedia Commons

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+There are four common states of matter (or phases) in the universe: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. The state of matter affects a substance's properties, such as density, viscosity (how well it flows), malleability (how easy it is to bend), and conductivity. Changes between states of matter are often reversible.
+
+In a solid, the positions of atoms are fixed relative to each other over a long time. That is due to the cohesion or "friction" between molecules. This cohesion is provided by metallic, covalent or ionic bonds. Only solids can be pushed on by a force without changing shape, which means that they can be resistant to deformation. Solids also tend to be strong enough to hold their own shape in a container. Solids are generally denser than liquids. Solid becoming a gas is called sublimation.
+
+In a liquid, molecules are attracted to each other strongly enough to keep them in contact, but not strongly enough to hold a particular structure. The molecules can continually move with respect to each other. This means that liquids can flow smoothly, but not as smoothly as gases. Liquids will tend to take the shape of a container that they are in. Liquids are generally less dense than solids, but denser than gases.
+
+In a gas, the chemical bonds are not strong enough to hold atoms or molecules together, and from this a gas is a collection of independent, unbonded molecules which interact mainly by collision. Gases tend to take the shape of their container, and are less dense than both solids and liquids.
+Gases have weaker forces of attraction than solids and liquids. Gas becoming a solid directly is called deposition.
+
+Gases can sometimes turn directly into solids without passing through a fluid stage. That is called desublimation. You see it in the hoary frost which forms on window-panes in cold climates. It is the reverse of sublimation.
+
+Plasmas are gases that have so much energy that electrons of an atom cannot stay in orbit around one atomic nucleus. The atomic ions and free electrons mix around like a hot soup.
+
+Because the positive and negative charged particles are not stuck together, plasma is a good conductor of electricity. For example, air is not good at conducting electricity. However, in a bolt of lightning, the atoms in air get so much energy that they no longer can hold on to their electrons, and become a plasma for a brief time. Then an electric current is able to flow through the plasma, making the lightning.
+
+Plasma is the most common state of matter in the universe. Both stars and the interstellar medium are mostly made of plasma.
+
+Phases of matter can be changed by a number of things. The most common ones are temperature and pressure. Substances usually become a gas at warm temperatures and/or low pressures, become a solid at cool temperatures, and become a plasma at extremely hot temperatures. Substances often become liquid in between solid and gas, but when the pressure is very low (such as the vacuum of outer space) many substances skip the liquid phase, going directly from solid to gas or vice versa. Scientists have created graphs called phase change diagrams to show the relationship between pressure, temperature, and phase of many substances.
+
+When a solid becomes a liquid, it is called melting. When a liquid becomes a solid, it is called freezing. When a solid becomes a gas, it is called sublimation. When a gas becomes a solid, it is called desublimation. When a liquid becomes a gas, it is called evaporation. When a gas becomes a liquid, it is called condensation.
+
+The freezing point and the melting point are said to be the same, because any increase in temperature from that point will cause the substance to melt, while any drop in temperature will cause it to freeze. Likewise, the vaporization and condensation points (or the sublimation and desublimation points) always match. In most substances, as the pressure increases, the vaporization/condensation point also increases, or vice versa. For example, the boiling point of water decreases as you go up a mountain, because the air pressure is lower. The relationship for freezing and melting can go in different directions depending on the substance.
+
+Many other states of matter can exist under special conditions, including strange matter, supersolids, and possibly string-net liquids. Scientist work on experiments at very high or very low temperatures to learn more about phases of matter.
+
+Bose-Einstein condensates and fermionic condensates are phases of matter that apply to particles called bosons and fermions, respectively. (More than one boson can exist in the same spot at the same time. Only one fermion can exist in the same spot at the same time). Bose-Einstein condensates and fermionic condensates occur at incredibly low temperatures (about 4° Kelvin, which is the same as -452° Fahrenheit). All of the particles in these condensates begin to act like one big quantum state, so they have almost no friction or electrical resistance.
+
+When the core of a star runs out of light elements (like hydrogen or helium) to sustain fusion, the core will collapse into a very dense state called degenerate matter. Everything is packed very tightly and can barely move. If the star isn't too heavy, it becomes a white dwarf. In a heavier star, the pressure is so intense that even the protons and electrons are crushed, and it becomes a neutron star.
+
+The protons and neutrons that make up atoms are made of even smaller things called quarks (which are "glued" together by things called "gluons"). At incredibly high temperatures over 2 trillion Kelvin, quarks and gluons turn into another state of matter. Humans can make a little bit of quark-gluon plasma in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but it doesn't last long before cooling down.
+
+When a substance has enough temperature and pressure at the same time, called the critical point, you can't tell the  difference between very dense gas and very energetic liquid. This is a supercritical fluid, and it behaves like both liquid and gas.
+
+Superfluids, on the other hand, only happen at very low temperatures, and only for a few special substances like liquid helium. Superfluids can do things that regular liquids cannot, like flowing up the side of a bowl and getting out.

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+This article lists the 50 states of the United States. It also lists their populations, date they became a state or agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence, their total area, land area, water area and the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives.
+
+Washington D.C. is not one of the 50 states. It is a city inside the District of Columbia (a federal district that is not part of any state). The United States also has sovereignty over 14 other territories. These are not included in this list.
+
+Click on any state to learn more about this state.
+
+[1]

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+This article lists the 50 states of the United States. It also lists their populations, date they became a state or agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence, their total area, land area, water area and the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives.
+
+Washington D.C. is not one of the 50 states. It is a city inside the District of Columbia (a federal district that is not part of any state). The United States also has sovereignty over 14 other territories. These are not included in this list.
+
+Click on any state to learn more about this state.
+
+[1]

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+An ambulance is a type of vehicle made to carry sick or injured people. Normally, ambulances go to people in emergencies to take people to hospital. Examples of emergencies include heart attacks, strokes, serious bleeding, broken bones, chest pain, serious head injuries, trouble breathing, and people injured in situations like car crashes and falls.
+
+The first ambulances were used on battlefields, when horse-drawn carts carried badly wounded soldiers to field hospitals after the battle. Horse-drawn ambulances became commonplace in Europe and North America in the 19th century, as hospitals became common. Automobiles replaced horses in the early 1900s. Today's ambulances are vans which are converted into small mobile clinics. They can provide first aid, emergency care, various medicines and life support, and carry patients to hospital.
+
+Ambulances normally have emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics who work on them. They carry medicines and special equipment that can keep people alive. They also carry advanced tools for delivering babies in an emergency and restarting a heart.
+
+Ambulances are normally called by dialing a special emergency number, which is different from country to country. In the United Kingdom, this number is 999; United States 911; Europe 112. An emergency medical dispatcher then sends an ambulance.
+
+An ambulance usually has two crew members. That way, one can drive while the other looks after the patient in the back. A paramedic will have at least a year of medical training, and can do fairly advanced treatment. Not all ambulance staff are paramedics. Those with less training are known as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in some countries such as the United States, and emergency care assistants (ECAs) in the United Kingdom. In some countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, ambulances may have doctors or nurses on board.
+
+In the past, ambulances only gave patients a ride to hospital, or only had a first aid kit. This is still true in some parts of the world. In modern times, ambulances will have far more equipment and medicine. In some countries, an ambulance is like a mobile doctor's clinic.
+
+As well as medicine and bandages, ambulances often have these things:
+
+When driving in an emergency, ambulances can break some road laws. For example, they can drive over the speed limit and through a red traffic light. They have flashing lights and sirens to warn traffic along the way.
+
+Air ambulances became more common in the late 20th century.  Helicopters carry the same kind equipment as a typical ground ambulance.  In the United States, the Coast Guard runs a public air ambulance service using helicopters.  There are also privately owned air ambulance services that provide for a wider range of needs, including international transport.
+
+Air ambulances are especially important in countries with low population density (few people, living in a vast area) such as Canada, Russia, midwest USA, Sweden or Finland.  They can often save a life of a patient who would otherwise die because he could not be carried fast enough to hospital by other means.

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+Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada.) There are more than 6,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the east part is Spokane, and it is also the second biggest city in the state. The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and break it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889. It is often called "Washington State" so that it does not get confused with the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. The name "Washington" comes from President George Washington.
+
+The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle, Seattle is also on Puget Sound.
+
+Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it's next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is cold, and usually not good to swim in.
+
+The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. The University of Washington is in Seattle.[2] Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east side of the state.
+
+The state of Washington has an extremely varied geography, and therefore an extremely varied climate. The map shows western cities have shipping access. These are the low-lying parts on the next to the Pacific Ocean. The western side of the mountains is wet and forested with conifers. Some areas are temperate rain forests (in the Olympic Mountains).
+
+The central area is mountainous, including five volcanos: Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. To the east of the mountains the land is dry and mostly dry grassland (high plains). Only one feature links the west to the east: the important Snake River, a tributary of the even larger Columbia River.
+
+National parks and monuments
+
+There are three National Parks and two National Monuments in Washington:
+
+National forests
+
+Nine national forests are located (at least partly) in Washington:
+
+Federally protected wildernesses
+31 wildernesses are located (at least partly) in Washington, like:
+
+National wildlife refuges
+23 National Wildlife Refuges are located (at least partly) in Washington like:
+
+Other federally protected lands
+
+Other protected lands of note like:
+
+Military and related reservations
+
+There are many large military-related reservations, like:

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+The State of Israel is a country in southwestern Asia on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. Israel became an independent country in 1948.[7] Israel is the only Jewish country, and Jews all over the world think of Israel as their spiritual home. Israel's population was 8.1 million people in 2013 and 6.04 million are Jewish. Almost all the other citizens of Israel are Arab (1.6 million) and include Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans.[8][9][10] Israel's largest city is Jerusalem. Israel's capital city is Jerusalem. Most countries keep embassies in Tel Aviv.
+
+Israel is a small country, but it has mountains, deserts, shores, valleys and plains. The climate is hot and rainless in the summers with high humidity in the coastal plain and lower elevations, and cool and rainy in the winters, rarely going below freezing temperatures.
+
+Israel has few natural resources and imports more goods than it exports. It has a relatively high standard of living and life expectancy.  Almost all of its people can read and write.
+
+According to the Democratic Index, Israel is the only democratic republic in the Middle East. According to Freedom House, both Israel and Tunisia are the only full democracies in the Greater Middle East.[11][12][13]
+
+The country's history goes back thousands of years, to ancient times. Two world religions, Judaism and Christianity, began here.  It is the place where the Jewish nation and religion first grew.  Jews and Christians call it the Holy Land, because it is the place of many events described in the Bible, and because some commandments of Jewish law can be accomplished only on its soil.[14]
+
+From the time of the first Jewish patriarch Abraham four thousand years ago, the land now called Israel were populated by Canaanites and other Semitic peoples.  Around 1400 BCE, another Semitic people, called the Hebrews, settled in Canaan under the leadership of Moses and Joshua. They were named the “Children of Israel” or “Israelites”: which were divided into 12 tribes. A few centuries later, the Hebrews made Saul, as their leader. The next king, David, began the Kingdom of Israel in about 1000 BCE and made the city of Jerusalem his capital.  His son, Solomon, built the first Temple for the worship of their God. Solomon died in about 928 BCE. His kingdom broke into two countries.  The northern country kept the name Israel.  The southern country, called Judah, kept Jerusalem as its capital.
+
+The Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 732 BCE and the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE and destroyed Solomon's Temple.  Many Jews returned from Babylonia and built a country again and rebuilt the Temple.  First the Persians, then the Greeks and then the Romans ruled the Land of Israel.
+
+The Jews fought against the Romans but the Romans defeated them. In 70 CE, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple there.  Again, in 135 CE, the Romans defeated the Jews and killed or took many of them to other places.  The number of Jews living in Israel became much smaller. Many were forced to live in other countries. This spreading of Jewish communities outside of Israel is called the Diaspora.
+
+Many of the Jews who remained moved to the Galilee. Jewish teachers wrote important Jewish books, called the Mishnah and part of the Talmud there, in the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.
+
+The Romans began to call this region by the word that became Palestine in English.  The Roman and then the Byzantine empires ruled until 635 CE, when Arabs conquered the region. Different Arab rulers, and for a while Crusaders, ruled the land. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered the land and ruled the region until the 20th century.
+
+Since the Diaspora, there have been many attempts to make a new homeland for the Jewish people. In the 1880s, this wish for a Jewish nation in Israel became a movement called Zionism. Jews from all over the world began to come to the area and settled in desert zones, then governed by the Turkish and later by the British Governments.
+
+On 14 May 1948, British control over Palestine ended. The Jewish inhabitants (under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion) declared independence for the new Jewish state. Immediately following Israel's declaration of independence, the armies of several nearby countries – including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq – attacked the new country.[15] Since the 1980s, Israel's main military opponents have been Islamist groups, such as Hezbollah.[16]
+
+The countries of Lebanon and Syria are to the north of Israel; Jordan is on the east; and Egypt is to the southwest. Israel also controls the West Bank of the Jordan River.
+
+Israel has a long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. In the south, the town of Eilat is on the Gulf of Aqaba, which is part of the Red Sea.
+
+The Galilee is a fertile and mountainous region in the north. There is a flat plain called the Coastal Plain to the west, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Negev Desert is a barren area of flat plains, mountains, and craters in the south. There is a range of mountains in the center that runs from the north to south.
+
+On the eastern side, there is a low area called a depression. The Hula Valley and the Sea of Galilee are in this low area in the north. The Jordan River runs from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The land next to the Dead Sea is the lowest in the world. It is -426 meters below sea level.[17]
+
+The weather is normally hot and dry in the summer and mild to cool in the winter. Rain falls mostly in the winter (between the months of November and April). There is more rain in the north than in the south, and hardly any rain in the desert. Snow falls in higher elevations. Israel built a very big irrigation system to bring water from the north to the dry areas in the south so that crops can grow there also.[17]
+
+Jerusalem is the biggest city in Israel. Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and Rishon LeZion are also large cities. Israel says that its capital city is Jerusalem. Most countries do not recognize that. They treat Tel Aviv as the capital.[17]
+
+Israel is a parliamentary democracy. All Israeli citizens who are 18 years or older may vote.  The Israeli parliament is called the Knesset. The Knesset has 120 members. Each member is elected for no more than four years at a time.  The Knesset makes laws, helps decide national policy, and approves budgets and taxes.
+
+Voters do not vote for individual candidates in Knesset elections. Instead, they vote for a party. This party makes a list with all its candidates. The list may have only one candidate or as many as 120 candidates. In an election, the percentage of the vote that each list wins decides how many representatives, or seats, the party gets in the Knesset. For example, if a party list gets 33 percent of the vote, it gets 40 Knesset seats.
+
+Israel has no written constitution. Instead, the Knesset made "Basic Laws". The Basic Laws say how the government must work and give civil rights to the citizens.
+
+The Prime Minister is the head of Israel's government. He or she is usually the leader of the party that has the most seats in the Knesset. The prime minister must keep the support of a majority of Knesset members to stay in office. He or she appoints ministers to the cabinet. The Knesset approves appointments to the Cabinet. The ministers are responsible for subjects such as education, defense, and social welfare. The prime minister is the head of the cabinet and decides the topics of cabinet meetings and makes the final decisions.
+
+Benjamin Netanyahu has been the Prime Minister since March 2009.
+
+The President is the head of state.  The Knesset elects the president for seven years.  Most of the president's duties are ceremonial: The president signs laws and treaties approved by the Knesset, appoints judges, and members of some public organizations. He or she also accepts the documents from ambassadors and foreign diplomats bring when they are appointed.
+
+Reuven Rivlin has been the President since July 2014.
+
+Israel has many political parties, with a large variety of opinions. In the elections of 2020, 20 parties won seats in the Knesset.
+
+The parties belong to three main groups. The biggest groups are the Zionist parties. These include the conservative liberals, such as HaLikud;[18] social democrats, such as HaAvoda (Labor Party); and the religious Zionists. There are also smaller religious Orthodox Jewish parties, special-interest parties, and Israeli Arab parties.
+
+A single party usually does not win enough seats in the Knesset by itself to have a majority, so one of the bigger parties asks for support from the other parties, including the religious parties, to form a coalition government. This gives these parties a lot of power although they are small.
+
+The Likud supports free market policies and limited government involvement in the economy. Likud  believes strongly in protecting Israel's security. It wants to give less away in the peace process for a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians and the Arab states.
+
+The Labor Party supports government control of the economy, but also believes in a limited amount of free enterprise. The party says it will give more away for an agreement with the Palestinians and the Arab states.
+
+Current Knesset is the 23rd Knesset, sworn in on March 16, 2020. Current government is the Fifth Netanyahu Government, installed on May 17, 2020.
+
+At independence, Israel was a poor country with little agricultural or industrial production.  But Israel's economy has grown tremendously since 1948.  The nation now enjoys a relatively high standard of living, despite having few natural resources and a limited water supply.
+
+Many immigrants came to Israel in the years immediately after independence.  Many of these immigrants were skilled laborers and professionals who greatly aided the nation's economic development.
+
+Many of Israel's service industry workers are employed by the government or by businesses owned by the government.  Government workers provide many of the services that are needed by Israel's large immigrant population, such as housing, education, and job training.
+
+Tourism is one of the country's important sources of income. Tourists visit many archaeological, historical, and religious sites; museums; nature reserves; and beach resorts in Israel.[19]
+
+Tourists support many of Israel's service industries, especially trade, restaurants, and hotels. Over 2.7 million foreign tourists visited Israel in 2009.[20]
+
+Israeli factories produce such goods as chemical products, electronic equipment, fertilizer, paper, plastics, processed foods, scientific and optical instruments, textiles, and clothing.  The cutting of imported diamonds is a major industry.  Government-owned plants manufacture equipment used by Israel's large armed forces. Israel is the world's largest exporter of drones.[21]  Tel Aviv and Haifa are Israel's major manufacturing centers.
+
+Agriculture formerly employed a much larger percentage of Israel's workforce.  But much of the work once performed by people is now performed by machines.  Important agricultural products include citrus and other fruits; eggs; grain; poultry; and vegetables.
+
+The government develops, helps finance, and controls agricultural activity, including fishing and forestry.  Israel produces most of the food it needs to feed its people, except for grain.  Agricultural exports provide enough income to pay for any necessary food imports.  Most Israeli farmers use modern agricultural methods.  Water drawn from the Sea of Galilee irrigates large amounts of land in Israel.
+
+Most Israeli farms are organized as moshavim or kibbutzim.  Israel also has some private farms.
+
+The Dead Sea, the world's saltiest body of water, is Israel's leading source of minerals.  Bromine, magnesium, potash and table salt are extracted from the sea.  Potash, used mainly in fertilizers, is the most important mineral.
+
+In the Negev Desert, there are mines for phosphates, copper, clay, and gypsum.
+
+Israel has few energy sources.  It has no coal deposits or hydroelectric power resources, and only small amounts of crude oil and natural gas. As a result, Israel depends on imported crude oil for gasoline and diesel for transportation, and coal producing electricity for its energy needs.
+
+Solar energy – energy from the sun – is used widely to heat water for houses. Israel is developing other ways to use solar energy to power houses and factories.
+
+In 2008, Israel began investing in building electric cars and the stations to charge them. There may also be large natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea that Israel could develop.
+
+For 2006, Israeli exports grew by 11% to just over $29 billion; the hi-tech sector accounted for $14 billion, a 20% increase from the previous year.
+
+Because it has few natural resources, Israel imports more goods than it exports.  The country's main imports include chemicals, computer equipment, grain, iron and steel, military equipment, petroleum products, rough diamonds, and textiles.
+
+Israel's main exports are chemical products, citrus fruits, clothing, electronic equipment, fertilizers, polished diamonds, military equipment, and processed foods.  The nation's main trading partners include the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg); Germany; Italy; Switzerland; the United Kingdom; and the United States.
+
+Israel has a well-developed transportation system.  Most middle-class Israeli families either own a car or have one provided by their employer.  Paved roads reach almost all parts of the country.  Public transportation both in and between cities is provided primarily by bus.
+
+Ben-Gurion Airport is Israel's main international airport. It is near Tel Aviv.  There are smaller airports are located at Atarot, near Jerusalem, and at Eilat.  El Al, Israel's international airline, flies regularly to the United States, Canada, Europe, and parts of Africa and Asia.  Israel has three major deepwater ports: Haifa, Ashdod, and Eilat.
+
+Israel's communication system is one of the best in the Middle East.  Israel has about 30 daily newspapers, about half of which are in Hebrew.  The rest are in Arabic, Russian, Yiddish, or one of several foreign languages.  The Israel Broadcasting Authority, a public corporation set up by the government, runs the television and nonmilitary radio stations.

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+on the European continent  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
+
+Vatican City (/ˈvætkən ˈsɪti/ (listen); officially Vatican City State, Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano)[6] is an independent sovereign state and the smallest country in the world by size, at 0.44 km².[7] Its territory is completely surrounded by Italy and it is only one of three countries in the world that are enclaves of another country (the others being San Marino, also in Italy, and Lesotho in southern Africa). Also, it is the only country in the world that is an enclave of a city, as all of the land around it is part of Rome, the capital of Italy.
+
+The Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and its government, the Holy See. Its head of state is the Pope which is, religiously speaking, the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. The current Pope, Pope Francis, former cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected on 13 March 2013.
+
+Established on 11 February 1929 with the Lateran Agreement (Patti Lateranensi) signed by Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI, the Vatican City is also important for its culture and art. The Vatican's masterpieces are very well known in the world: St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museums and the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope lives. There are also hundreds of other sculptures and pictures.
+
+The Pope used to rule the Papal States, which included most of Italy. Catholic popes had generally tried to stop Italy from becoming one country because they feared they would lose their control of at least one of the Papal States.[source?] In 1861 Italy was unified under the King of Savoy, but Rome and Latium remained unconquered. On September 20, 1870 Italian troops invaded. Rome became capital of the new kingdom.
+
+The Pope claimed he was a prisoner of the Italian state and excommunicated all the people who helped invade the Papal state. This stopped Catholics from taking part in public life under Catholic government.
+
+In 1929 Benito Mussolini, decided to sign an agreement with the Holy See, called the Lateran Treaty, which created the Vatican State. Another treaty gave the Vatican money each year to compensate for the lost territories.
+
+The government structure is theocracy with the pontifical leader being the highest authority. The pope is elected by the College of Cardinals which can lead the Roman Catholic Church and the city-state itself. The Pope also holds the title of "Bishop of Rome".
+
+The religion of the city is the Roman Catholic Church.
+
+St. Peter's square seen from the basilica.
+
+The basilica, in early morning

ensimple/1853.html.txt

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+A federation is a union of a number of self-governing states or regions, which are joined together under a central government.  The central government is not able to do a lot of things that central government in more centralized states can.  These things are done by the states (or regions) in a federalized state.
+
+The United States of America is a federation. The federal (central) government has the highest executive role. However, state governments can exercise any powers as long as those powers are not assigned to the federal government (by the United States Constitution) and if those powers are not prohibited by the states themselves.
+
+Australia became a Federation in 1901.
+
+After the 1971 civil war, Pakistan became a Federation adopted in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
+
+Other examples of federal states are Austria, Belgium (since 1993), Canada, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.

ensimple/1854.html.txt

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+A federation is a union of a number of self-governing states or regions, which are joined together under a central government.  The central government is not able to do a lot of things that central government in more centralized states can.  These things are done by the states (or regions) in a federalized state.
+
+The United States of America is a federation. The federal (central) government has the highest executive role. However, state governments can exercise any powers as long as those powers are not assigned to the federal government (by the United States Constitution) and if those powers are not prohibited by the states themselves.
+
+Australia became a Federation in 1901.
+
+After the 1971 civil war, Pakistan became a Federation adopted in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
+
+Other examples of federal states are Austria, Belgium (since 1993), Canada, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.

ensimple/1855.html.txt

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+In modern politics, a state is an association which has control over a geographic area or territory. States are seen as having three main pieces:
+
+There are different forms of government a state can have, for example a republic or a monarchy. Sometimes states form their own countries. At other times many states work together to form a country (like the United States). Most states also have armed forces, civil service, law and police.
+
+The earliest states were just human settlements. A group of farmers and merchants working together could be 'states' since people can control them and protect them.
+
+More organized states could be monarchies such as early Egypt under the Pharaoh. Following this were larger more military-based states such as the Babylonian Empire or Roman Empire. The most famous early states, however, were the Ancient Greek states which had freedom, writing and a democracy.
+
+When the military-based state, the Roman Empire,and  fell, lots of little states were made and each was also military-based and controlled by a king. These states did not often work together and war raged. However, once people within the state itself started fighting (what's called a Civil war), the kings had to make peace and start parliaments.
+
+Modern states soon started in the late 15th century. The main states in Europe were:
+
+These states all tried to improve their politics and economy and became more and more like the states today. They formed proper boundaries for their lands and worked with power within the state itself more, such as the Church or the nobility. They made armies, tax systems and embassies all to help make them more powerful and stable.
+
+Types of state can be separated into two categories: democracy and dictatorship. However, just because a group of states are all democratic does not mean that they follow the same rules. Iran, Pakistan, France, Germany and the United States of America are all states. Each of them sees itself as a democracy. Each of them however has a different idea of what democracy really means.
+
+Different states of the same 'category' can also function differently. For example, two democratic states may be quite different if one has a well-trained police or army while the other does not. Therefore, the word 'state' only tells us what type of government that state follows (democratic or dictatorship) and does not tell us about the country itself.[1]
+
+There are lots of sub-types of state branching off from democracy and dictatorship. The main ones are Pluralism, Marxism and Institutionalism.
+
+Pluralism has been very popular in the United States. It shows the state as a neutral place for settling arguments between other states. Pluralism tells us that all people are not equal, but still allows each group of people to tell the state what to do. This type of state is called a polyarchy.[2]
+
+Also in a pluralist state, politics, the military and the economy are all united and work together. This means that all power in the state is 'diffused' across the people who live there.
+
+Marxism was popular in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. It was started by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism rejects the idea that a state is there for all the people living in it, and is definitely not a neutral place for settling arguments.
+
+The main job of a Marxist state is to protect capitalist-made profits and to help people make contracts to keep economy in the state fair. This is a good idea, however, the person who makes the money by using production or contracts has power over the people who do not make as much money as him. This means that the working class (the people who work in factories etc.) have hardly any power but the people who own the factories have a lot of power.[3] Basically, instead of giving power to everyone such as a polyarchy would do, only a small part of the people have power.
+
+Both Marxism and Pluralism states have to react to the activities of groups of people in the state itself. Institutionalist states do not see themselves as 'instruments' to be controlled, they are more just geographical areas. In this area, the people just form groups themselves. An Institutionalist state can be made up of both Marxist and Pluralist people, both which have the power to control themselves and not influence the other parties of the state.[4]
+
+Anarchism is when a group of people have complete freedom and do not believe in having a state at all. Anarchists are a lot like Marxists, since they do not believe that all people are equal, but they believe (opposite to Marxists) that a country can work without any organizations in it. Law and order are not necessary.
+
+Anarchists (such as Bakunin and Kropotkin in the 19th century), often want a form of Marxism but ignoring some of their rules. They want workers to manage themselves and simply get paid for what they do, rather than getting paid in wages.

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+In modern politics, a state is an association which has control over a geographic area or territory. States are seen as having three main pieces:
+
+There are different forms of government a state can have, for example a republic or a monarchy. Sometimes states form their own countries. At other times many states work together to form a country (like the United States). Most states also have armed forces, civil service, law and police.
+
+The earliest states were just human settlements. A group of farmers and merchants working together could be 'states' since people can control them and protect them.
+
+More organized states could be monarchies such as early Egypt under the Pharaoh. Following this were larger more military-based states such as the Babylonian Empire or Roman Empire. The most famous early states, however, were the Ancient Greek states which had freedom, writing and a democracy.
+
+When the military-based state, the Roman Empire,and  fell, lots of little states were made and each was also military-based and controlled by a king. These states did not often work together and war raged. However, once people within the state itself started fighting (what's called a Civil war), the kings had to make peace and start parliaments.
+
+Modern states soon started in the late 15th century. The main states in Europe were:
+
+These states all tried to improve their politics and economy and became more and more like the states today. They formed proper boundaries for their lands and worked with power within the state itself more, such as the Church or the nobility. They made armies, tax systems and embassies all to help make them more powerful and stable.
+
+Types of state can be separated into two categories: democracy and dictatorship. However, just because a group of states are all democratic does not mean that they follow the same rules. Iran, Pakistan, France, Germany and the United States of America are all states. Each of them sees itself as a democracy. Each of them however has a different idea of what democracy really means.
+
+Different states of the same 'category' can also function differently. For example, two democratic states may be quite different if one has a well-trained police or army while the other does not. Therefore, the word 'state' only tells us what type of government that state follows (democratic or dictatorship) and does not tell us about the country itself.[1]
+
+There are lots of sub-types of state branching off from democracy and dictatorship. The main ones are Pluralism, Marxism and Institutionalism.
+
+Pluralism has been very popular in the United States. It shows the state as a neutral place for settling arguments between other states. Pluralism tells us that all people are not equal, but still allows each group of people to tell the state what to do. This type of state is called a polyarchy.[2]
+
+Also in a pluralist state, politics, the military and the economy are all united and work together. This means that all power in the state is 'diffused' across the people who live there.
+
+Marxism was popular in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. It was started by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism rejects the idea that a state is there for all the people living in it, and is definitely not a neutral place for settling arguments.
+
+The main job of a Marxist state is to protect capitalist-made profits and to help people make contracts to keep economy in the state fair. This is a good idea, however, the person who makes the money by using production or contracts has power over the people who do not make as much money as him. This means that the working class (the people who work in factories etc.) have hardly any power but the people who own the factories have a lot of power.[3] Basically, instead of giving power to everyone such as a polyarchy would do, only a small part of the people have power.
+
+Both Marxism and Pluralism states have to react to the activities of groups of people in the state itself. Institutionalist states do not see themselves as 'instruments' to be controlled, they are more just geographical areas. In this area, the people just form groups themselves. An Institutionalist state can be made up of both Marxist and Pluralist people, both which have the power to control themselves and not influence the other parties of the state.[4]
+
+Anarchism is when a group of people have complete freedom and do not believe in having a state at all. Anarchists are a lot like Marxists, since they do not believe that all people are equal, but they believe (opposite to Marxists) that a country can work without any organizations in it. Law and order are not necessary.
+
+Anarchists (such as Bakunin and Kropotkin in the 19th century), often want a form of Marxism but ignoring some of their rules. They want workers to manage themselves and simply get paid for what they do, rather than getting paid in wages.

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+A liquid is a form of matter. It is settled between solid and gas. Liquid has an almost-fixed volume, but no set shape.[1]
+
+Every small force makes a liquid change its shape by flowing. Because of that, gravity makes liquids always take the shape of the container. The molecules that make up the liquid can freely move among themselves.[2]
+
+Fluids that flow slowly have a high viscosity.[3] Some fluids like tar have such a high viscosity that they may seem solid.[4]
+
+It is difficult to compress a liquid. If a liquid is cooled down until it is colder than a certain temperature, it will become a solid.  This temperature is called the melting point or freezing point and is different for every different type of liquid.  If a liquid is heated up it becomes a gas.  The temperature this happens at is called the boiling point.
+
+Examples of liquid are water, oils and blood.
+
+In a liquid, the liquid on the top presses down on the liquid underneath, so at the bottom the pressure, p, is bigger than at the top. The equation for working this out is:
+
+where z is the depth of the point below the surface and g is how strong gravity is pulling on the liquid. ρ is a number that tells us how heavy a set amount of the liquid is. We call this the density and it is different for all liquids.

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+The Papal States, officially the State of the Church (Italian: Stato della Chiesa, Italian pronunciation: [ˈstato della ˈkjɛːza]; Latin: Status Ecclesiasticus;[2] also Dicio Pontificia), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the Pope, from the 8th century until 1870.
+
+By 1861, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy. In 1870, the Pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, except the Vatican.
+
+Coordinates: 42°49′16″N 12°36′10″E / 42.82111°N 12.60278°E / 42.82111; 12.60278

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+This article lists the 50 states of the United States. It also lists their populations, date they became a state or agreed to the United States Declaration of Independence, their total area, land area, water area and the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives.
+
+Washington D.C. is not one of the 50 states. It is a city inside the District of Columbia (a federal district that is not part of any state). The United States also has sovereignty over 14 other territories. These are not included in this list.
+
+Click on any state to learn more about this state.
+
+[1]

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+Amedeo Modigliani (12 June 1884 - 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor. Modigliani was born in Livorno. He spent his youth in Italy. From 1906, he was active in Paris, where he met other painters, such as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuși. Modigliani died from meningitis in Paris, at the age of 35. Today, he is mostly known for his artistic nudes, which were seen as scandalous at the time.

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+Australia, formally the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country and sovereign state in the southern hemisphere, located in Oceania. Its capital city is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney.
+
+Australia is the sixth biggest country in the world by land area, and is part of the Oceanic and Australasian regions. Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands on the Australian tectonic plate are together called Australasia, which is one of the world's great ecozones. When other Pacific islands are included with Australasia, it is called Oceania.
+
+25 million[10] people live in Australia, and about 85% of them live near the east coast. [11] The country is divided up into six states and two territories, and more than half of Australia's population lives in and around the cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
+
+Australia is known for its mining (coal, iron, gold, diamonds and crystals), its production of wool, and as the world's largest producer of bauxite.[12] Its emblem is a flower called the Golden Wattle.
+
+Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometers is on the Indo-Australian plate.[13] The continent of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, was separated from the other continents of the world many millions of years ago. Because of this, many animals and plants live in Australia that do not live anywhere else. These include animals like the kangaroo, the koala, the emu, the kookaburra, and the platypus.
+
+People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago. These native Australians are called the Australian Aborigines. For the history of Australia, see History of Australia.
+
+Most of the Australian colonies, having been settled from Britain, became mostly independent democratic states in the 1850s and all six combined as a federation on 1 January 1901. The first Prime Minister of Australia was Edmund Barton in 1901. Australia is a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations. It is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia and Head of State and a Governor-General who is chosen by the Prime Minister to carry out all the duties of the Queen in Australia.
+
+Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.[14] The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
+
+In 2013 according to world bank Australia had just over 23.13 million people. Most Australians live in cities along the coast, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Hobart and Adelaide. The largest inland city is Canberra, which is also the nation's capital. The largest city is Sydney.[15]
+
+Australia is a very big country, but much of the land is very dry, and the middle of the continent is mostly desert. Only the areas around the east, west and south coast have enough rain and a suitable climate (not too hot) for many farms and cities.
+
+The Australian Aboriginal people arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago or even earlier.[16][17][18] Until the arrival of British settlers in 1788, the Aboriginal people lived by hunting and gathering food from the land. They lived in all sorts of climates and managed the land in different ways. An example of Aboriginal land management was the Cumberland Plain where Sydney is now. Every few years the Aboriginal people would burn the grass and small trees.[19] This meant that a lot of grass grew back, but not many big trees. Kangaroos like to live on grassy plains, but not in forests. The kangaroos that lived on the plain were a good food supply for the Aboriginal people. Sometimes, Aborigines would name a person after an animal, and they could not eat that animal to help level out the food population.
+
+Aboriginal people did not usually build houses, except huts of grass, leaves and bark. They did not usually build walls or fences, and there were no horses, cows or sheep in Australia that needed to be kept in pens. The only Aboriginal buildings that are known are fish-traps made from stones piled up in the river, and the remains of a few stone huts in Victoria and Tasmania.[20][21][22] The Aboriginal people did not use metal or make pottery or use bows and arrows or weave cloth. In some parts of Australia the people used sharp flaked-stone spearheads, but most Aboriginal spears were made of sharply pointed wood. Australia has a lot of trees that have very hard wood that was good for spear making. The boomerang was used in some areas for sport and for hunting.
+
+The Aboriginal people did not think that the land belonged to them. They believed that they had grown from the land, so it was like their mother, and they belonged to the land.
+
+In the 1600s, Dutch merchants traded with the islands of Batavia (now Indonesia), to the north of Australia and several different Dutch ships touched on the coast of Australia. The Dutch governor, van Diemen, sent Abel Tasman on a voyage of discovery and he found Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen's Land. Its name was later changed to honour the man who discovered it.
+
+The British Government was sure that there must be a very large land in the south, that had not been explored. They sent Captain James Cook to the Pacific Ocean. His ship, HMS Endeavour, carried the famous scientists, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Solander who were going to Tahiti where they would watch the planet Venus pass in front of the Sun. Captain Cook's secret mission was to find "Terra Australis" (the Land of the South).
+
+The voyage of discovery was very successful, because they found New Zealand and sailed right around it. Then they sailed westward. At last, a boy, William Hicks, who was up the mast spotted land on the horizon. Captain Cook named that bit of land Point Hicks. They sailed up the coast and Captain Cook named the land that he saw "New South Wales". At last they sailed into a large open bay which was full of fish and stingrays which the sailors speared for food. Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander went ashore and were astonished to find that they did not know what any of the plants or birds or animals that they saw were. They collected hundreds of plants to take back to England.
+
+Captain Cook saw the Aboriginal people with their simple way of life. He saw them fishing and hunting and collecting grass seeds and fruit. But there were no houses and no fences. In most parts of the world, people put up a house and a fence or some marker to show that they own the land. But the Aboriginal people did not own the land in that way. They belonged to the land, like a baby belongs to its mother. Captain Cook went home to England and told the government that no-one owned the land. This would later cause a terrible problem for the Aboriginal people.
+
+In the 1700s, in England, laws were tough, many people were poor and gaols (jails) were full. A person could be sentenced to death for stealing a loaf of bread. Many people were hung for small crimes. But usually they were just thrown in gaol. Often they were sent away to the British colonies in America. But by the 1770s, the colonies in America became the United States. They were free from British rule and would not take England's convicts any more, so England needed to find a new and less populated place.
+
+By the 1780s the gaols of England were so full that convicts were often chained up in rotting old ships. The government decided to make a settlement in New South Wales and send some of the convicts there. In 1788 the First Fleet of eleven ships set sail from Portsmouth carrying convicts, sailors, marines, a few free settlers and enough food to last for two years. Their leader was Captain Arthur Phillip. They were to make a new colony at the place that Captain Cook had discovered, named Botany Bay because of all the unknown plants found there by the two scientists.
+
+Captain Phillip found that Botany Bay was flat and windy. There was not much fresh water. He went with two ships up the coast and sailed into a great harbor which he said was "the finest harbor in the world!" There were many small bays on the harbor so he decided on one which had a good stream of fresh water and some flat shore to land on. On 26 January 1788, the flag was raised and New South Wales was claimed in the name of King George III of England, and the new settlement was called Sydney.
+
+For the first few years of the settlement, things were very difficult. No-one in the British Government had thought very hard about what sort of convicts should be sent to make a new colony. Nobody had chosen them carefully. There was only one man who was a farmer. There was no-one among the convicts who was a builder, a brick-maker or a blacksmith. No-one knew how to fix the tools when they broke. All of the cattle escaped. There were no cooking pots. All the plants were different so no-one knew which ones could be eaten. It was probable that everyone in the new colony would die of starvation.
+
+Somehow, the little group of tents with a hut for the Governor, Arthur Phillip, and another hut for the supply of food, grew into a small town with streets, a bridge over the stream, a windmill for grinding grain and wharves for ships. By the 1820s there was a fine brick house for the Governor. There was also a hospital and a convict barracks and a beautiful church which are still standing today. Settlements had spread out from Sydney, firstly to Norfolk Island and to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), and also up the coast to Newcastle, where coal was discovered, and inland where the missing cattle were found to have grown to a large herd. Spanish Merino sheep had been brought to Sydney, and by 1820, farmers were raising fat lambs for meat and also sending fine wool back to the factories of England.
+
+While the settlement was growing in New South Wales, it was also growing in Tasmania. The climate in Tasmania was more like that in England, and farmers found it easy to grow crops there.
+
+Because Australia is such a very large land, it was easy to think that it might be able to hold a very large number of people. In the early days of the colony, a great number of explorers went out, searching for good land to settle on.
+When the settlers looked west from Sydney, they saw a range of mountains which they called the Blue Mountains. They were not very high and did not look very rugged but for many years no-one could find their way through them. In 1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and a 17-year-old called William Charles Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains and found land on the other side which was good for farming. A road was built and the governor, Lachlan Macquarie founded the town of Bathurst on the other side, 100 miles from Sydney.
+
+Some people, like Captain Charles Sturt were sure that there must be a sea in the middle of Australia and set out to find it. Many of the explorers did not prepare very well, or else they went out to explore at the hottest time of year. Some died like Burke and Wills. Ludwig Leichhardt got lost twice. The second time, he was never seen again. Major Thomas Mitchell was one of the most successful explorers. He mapped the country as he went, and his maps remained in use for more than 100 years. He travelled all the way to what is now western Victoria, and to his surprise and annoyance found that he was not the first white person there. The Henty brothers had come from Tasmania, had built themselves a house, had a successful farm and fed the Major and his men on roast lamb and wine.
+
+The gold rushes of New South Wales and Victoria started in 1851 leading to large numbers of people arriving to search for gold. The population grew across south east Australia and made great wealth and industry. By 1853 the gold rushes had made some poor people, very rich.
+
+The transportation of convicts to Australia ended in the 1840s and 1850s and more changes came. The people in Australia wanted to run their own country, and not be told what to do from London. The first governments in the colonies were run by governors chosen by London. Soon the settlers wanted local government and more democracy. William Wentworth started the Australian Patriotic Association (Australia's first political party) in 1835 to demand democratic government. In 1840, the city councils started and some people could vote. New South Wales Legislative Council had its first elections in 1843, again with some limits on who could vote. In 1855, limited self-government was given by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. In 1855, the right to vote was given to all men over 21 in South Australia. The other colonies soon followed. Women were given the vote in the Parliament of South Australia in 1895 and they became the first women in the world allowed to stand in elections.[23][24]
+
+Australians had started parliamentary democracies all across the continent. But voices were getting louder for all of them to come together as one country with a national parliament.
+
+Until 1901, Australia was not a nation, it was six separate colonies governed by Britain. They voted to join together to form one new country, called the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. Australia was still part of the British Empire, and at first wanted only British or Europeans to come to Australia. But soon it had its own money, and its own Army and Navy.
+
+In Australia at this time, the trade unions were very strong, and they started a political party, the Australian Labor Party. Australia passed many laws to help the workers.[26]
+
+In 1914, the First World War started in Europe. Australia joined in on the side of Britain against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Australian soldiers were sent to Gallipoli, in the Ottoman Empire. They fought bravely, but were beaten by the Turks. Today Australia remembers this battle every year on ANZAC Day. They also fought on the Western Front. More than 60,000 Australians were killed.
+
+Australia had a really hard time in the Great Depression of the 1930s and joined Britain in a war against Nazi Germany when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. But in 1941 lots of Australian soldiers were captured in the Fall of Singapore by Japan. Then Japan started attacking Australia and people worried about invasion. But with help from the United States Navy, the Japanese were stopped. After the war, Australia became a close friend of the United States.
+
+When the war ended, Australia felt that it needed many more people to fill the country up and to work. So the government said it would take in people from Europe who had lost their homes in the war. It did things like building the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Over the next 25 years, millions of people came to Australia. They came especially from Italy and Greece, other countries in Europe. Later they also came from countries like Turkey and Lebanon. An important new party, the Liberal Party of Australia was made by Robert Menzies in 1944 and it won lots of elections from 1949 until in 1972, then Gough Whitlam won for the Labor Party. Whitlam made changes, but he made the Senate unhappy and the Governor-General sacked him and forced an election in 1975. Then Malcolm Fraser won a few elections for the Liberal Party.
+
+In the 1960s many people began coming to Australia from China, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in Asia. Australia became more multicultural. In the 1950s and 1960s Australia became one of the richest countries in the world, helped by mining and wool. Australia started trading more with America, than Japan. Australia supported the United States in wars against dictatorships in Korea and Vietnam and later Iraq. Australian soldiers also helped the United Nations in countries like East Timor in 1999.
+
+In 1973, the famous Sydney Opera House opened. In the 1970s, 80s and 90s lots of Australian movies, actors and singers became famous around the world. In the year 2000, Sydney had the Summer Olympics.
+
+In the 1980s and 90s, the Labor Party under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, then the Liberal Party under John Howard made lots of changes to the economy. Australia had a bad recession in 1991, but when other Western countries had trouble with their economies in 2008, Australia stayed strong.
+
+Today Australia is a rich, peaceful and democratic country. But it still has problems. Around 4-5% of Australians could not get a job in 2010. A lot of land in Australia (like Uluru) has been returned to Aboriginal people, but lots of Aborigines are still poorer than everybody else. Every year the government chooses a big number of new people from all around the world to come as immigrants to live in  Australia. These people may come because they want to do business, or to live in a democracy, to join their family, or because they are refugees. Australia took 6.5 million immigrants in the 60 years after World War Two, including around 660,000 refugees.[27]
+
+Julia Gillard became the first woman Prime Minister of Australia in 2010 when she replaced her colleague Kevin Rudd of the Labor Party.
+
+Australia is made up of six states, and two mainland territories. Each state and territory has its own Parliament and makes its own local laws. The Parliament of Australia sits in Canberra and makes laws for the whole country, also known as the Commonwealth or Federation.
+
+The Federal government is led by the Prime Minister of Australia, who is the member of Parliament chosen as leader. The current Prime Minister is Scott Morrison.
+
+The leader of Australia is the Prime Minister, although the Governor-General represents the Queen of Australia, who is also the Queen of Great Britain, as head of state. The Governor-General, currently His Excellency David Hurley, is chosen by the Prime Minister.
+
+Australia was colonised by people from Britain,[28] but today people from all over the world live there. English is the main spoken language, and Christianity is the main religion, though all religions are accepted and not everybody has a religion. Australia is multicultural, which means that all its people are encouraged to keep their different languages, religions and ways of life, while also learning English and joining in with other Australians.
+
+Famous Australian writers include the bush balladeers Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson who wrote about life in the Australian bush. More modern famous writers include Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally and Colleen McCullough. In 1973, Patrick White won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is seen as one of the great English-language writers of the twentieth century.
+
+Australian music has had lots of world-wide stars, for example the opera singers Nellie Melba and Joan Sutherland, the rock and roll bands Bee Gees, AC/DC and INXS, the folk-rocker Paul Kelly (musician), the pop singer Kylie Minogue and Australian country music stars Slim Dusty and John Williamson. Australian Aboriginal music is very special and very ancient: it has the famous digeridoo woodwind instrument.
+
+Australian TV has produced many successful programs for home and overseas - including Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Home and Away and Neighbours - and produced such well known TV stars as Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage), Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) and The Wiggles. Major Australian subgroups such as the Bogan have been shown on Australian TV in shows such as Bogan Hunters and Kath & Kim.[29]
+
+Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and the multi-cultural SBS), three commercial television networks, three pay-TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has its daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review.
+
+Australian movies have a very long history. The world's first feature movie was the Australian movie The Story of the Kelly Gang of 1906.[30]  In 1933, In the Wake of the Bounty, directed by Charles Chauvel, had Errol Flynn as the main actor.[31] Flynn went on to a celebrated career in Hollywood. The first Australian Oscar was won by 1942's Kokoda Front Line!, directed by Ken G. Hall.[32] In the 1970s and 1980s lots of big Australian movies and movie stars became world famous with movies like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli (with Mel Gibson), The Man From Snowy River and Crocodile Dundee.[33] Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger became global stars during the 1990s and Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman made a lot of money in 2008.
+
+Australia is also a popular destination for business conferences and research, with Sydney named as one of the top 20 meeting destinations in the world.[34]
+
+Sport is an important part of Australian culture because the climate is good for outdoor activities. 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly take part in organised sporting activities.[35] In international sports, Australia has very strong teams in cricket, hockey, netball, rugby league and rugby union, and performs well in cycling, rowing and swimming. Local popular sports include Australian Rules Football, horse racing, soccer and motor racing. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games since 1896, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia has hosted the 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics, and has ranked in the top five medal-winners since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and are to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held regularly in Australia include the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, annual international cricket matches and the Formula One Australian Grand Prix. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and elite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest-rated television programs include the Summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football competitions.
+
+The main sporting leagues for males are the Australian Football League, National Rugby League, A-League and NBL.
+For women, they are ANZ Netball Championships, W-League and WNBL.
+
+Famous Australian sports players include the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, the swimmer Ian Thorpe and the athlete Cathy Freeman.
+
+Just 60 years ago, Australia had only one big art festival. Now Australia has hundreds of smaller community-based festivals, and national and regional festivals that focus on specific art forms.[36]
+
+Australia is home to many animals that can be found nowhere else on Earth, which include: the Koalas,the Kangaroos, the Wombat, the Numbat, the Emu, among many others. Most of the marsupials in the world are found only on the continent.
+
+Africa
+
+Antarctica
+
+Asia
+
+Australia
+
+Europe
+
+North America
+
+South America
+
+Afro-Eurasia
+
+Americas
+
+Eurasia
+
+Oceania
+

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+In modern politics, a state is an association which has control over a geographic area or territory. States are seen as having three main pieces:
+
+There are different forms of government a state can have, for example a republic or a monarchy. Sometimes states form their own countries. At other times many states work together to form a country (like the United States). Most states also have armed forces, civil service, law and police.
+
+The earliest states were just human settlements. A group of farmers and merchants working together could be 'states' since people can control them and protect them.
+
+More organized states could be monarchies such as early Egypt under the Pharaoh. Following this were larger more military-based states such as the Babylonian Empire or Roman Empire. The most famous early states, however, were the Ancient Greek states which had freedom, writing and a democracy.
+
+When the military-based state, the Roman Empire,and  fell, lots of little states were made and each was also military-based and controlled by a king. These states did not often work together and war raged. However, once people within the state itself started fighting (what's called a Civil war), the kings had to make peace and start parliaments.
+
+Modern states soon started in the late 15th century. The main states in Europe were:
+
+These states all tried to improve their politics and economy and became more and more like the states today. They formed proper boundaries for their lands and worked with power within the state itself more, such as the Church or the nobility. They made armies, tax systems and embassies all to help make them more powerful and stable.
+
+Types of state can be separated into two categories: democracy and dictatorship. However, just because a group of states are all democratic does not mean that they follow the same rules. Iran, Pakistan, France, Germany and the United States of America are all states. Each of them sees itself as a democracy. Each of them however has a different idea of what democracy really means.
+
+Different states of the same 'category' can also function differently. For example, two democratic states may be quite different if one has a well-trained police or army while the other does not. Therefore, the word 'state' only tells us what type of government that state follows (democratic or dictatorship) and does not tell us about the country itself.[1]
+
+There are lots of sub-types of state branching off from democracy and dictatorship. The main ones are Pluralism, Marxism and Institutionalism.
+
+Pluralism has been very popular in the United States. It shows the state as a neutral place for settling arguments between other states. Pluralism tells us that all people are not equal, but still allows each group of people to tell the state what to do. This type of state is called a polyarchy.[2]
+
+Also in a pluralist state, politics, the military and the economy are all united and work together. This means that all power in the state is 'diffused' across the people who live there.
+
+Marxism was popular in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. It was started by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism rejects the idea that a state is there for all the people living in it, and is definitely not a neutral place for settling arguments.
+
+The main job of a Marxist state is to protect capitalist-made profits and to help people make contracts to keep economy in the state fair. This is a good idea, however, the person who makes the money by using production or contracts has power over the people who do not make as much money as him. This means that the working class (the people who work in factories etc.) have hardly any power but the people who own the factories have a lot of power.[3] Basically, instead of giving power to everyone such as a polyarchy would do, only a small part of the people have power.
+
+Both Marxism and Pluralism states have to react to the activities of groups of people in the state itself. Institutionalist states do not see themselves as 'instruments' to be controlled, they are more just geographical areas. In this area, the people just form groups themselves. An Institutionalist state can be made up of both Marxist and Pluralist people, both which have the power to control themselves and not influence the other parties of the state.[4]
+
+Anarchism is when a group of people have complete freedom and do not believe in having a state at all. Anarchists are a lot like Marxists, since they do not believe that all people are equal, but they believe (opposite to Marxists) that a country can work without any organizations in it. Law and order are not necessary.
+
+Anarchists (such as Bakunin and Kropotkin in the 19th century), often want a form of Marxism but ignoring some of their rules. They want workers to manage themselves and simply get paid for what they do, rather than getting paid in wages.

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+Solid is one of the three common states of matter. The molecules in solids are closely bound together, they can only vibrate. This means solids have a definite shape that only changes when a force is applied. This is different to liquids and gases which move randomly, a process called flow.
+
+When a solid becomes a liquid, this is called melting. Liquids become solid by freezing. Some solids, like dry ice, can turn into gas without turning liquid first. This is called sublimation.
+
+The forces between the atoms in a solid can take many forms. For example, a crystal of sodium chloride (common salt) is made up of ionic sodium and chlorine, which are held together by ionic bonds. In diamond or silicon, the atoms share electrons and make covalent bonds. In metals, electrons are shared in metallic bonding. Some solids, like most organic compounds, are held together with "van der Waals forces" coming from the polarization of the electronic charge cloud on each molecule. The dissimilarities between the types of solid come from the differences between their bonding.
+
+Most metals are strong, dense, and good conductors of electricity and heat. The mass of the elements in the periodic table, those to the left of a diagonal line drawn from boron to polonium, are metals. Mixtures of two or more elements in which the big component is a metal are known as alloys.
+
+People have been using metals for many purposes since prehistoric times.
+The strength and relialbility of metals has led to their widespread use in making of buildings and other things, as well as in most vehicles, many tools, pipes, road signs and railroad tracks. Iron and aluminium are the two most commonly used metals. They are also the most common metals in the Earth's crust. Iron is most commonly used in the form of an alloy, steel, which has up to 2.1% carbon, making it much harder than pure iron.
+
+Since metals are good conductors of electricity, they are valuable in electrical tools and for carrying an electric current over long distances with little energy loss. Because of this, electrical power grids rely on metal cables to get electricity. Home electrical systems, for example, are wired with copper for its good conducting uses. The high thermal conductivity of most metals also makes them useful for stovetop cooking utensils.
+
+Minerals are natural solids formed through many geological processes under high pressures. To be thought as a true mineral, a substance must have a crystal structure with uniform physical things throughout. Minerals differ in composition from pure elements and simple salts to very complex silicates with thousands of known forms. In contrast, a rock sample is a random aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and has no specific chemical composition. Most of the rocks of the Earth's crust have quartz (crystalline SiO2), feldspar, mica, chlorite, kaolin, calcite, epidote, olivine, augite, hornblende, magnetite, hematite, limonite and a few other minerals. Some minerals, like quartz, mica or feldspar are common, while others have been found in only a few places in the world. The largest group of minerals by far is the silicates (most rocks are ≥95% silicates), which are made largely of silicon and oxygen, also with ions of aluminium, magnesium, iron, calcium and other metals.

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+The Papal States, officially the State of the Church (Italian: Stato della Chiesa, Italian pronunciation: [ˈstato della ˈkjɛːza]; Latin: Status Ecclesiasticus;[2] also Dicio Pontificia), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the Pope, from the 8th century until 1870.
+
+By 1861, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy. In 1870, the Pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, except the Vatican.
+
+Coordinates: 42°49′16″N 12°36′10″E / 42.82111°N 12.60278°E / 42.82111; 12.60278

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

ensimple/1870.html.txt

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

ensimple/1871.html.txt

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

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+Summer is one of the four seasons. It is the hottest season of the year. In some places, summer is the wettest season (with the most rain), and in other places, it is a dry season. Four seasons are found in areas which are not too hot or too cold. Summer happens to the north and south sides of the Earth at opposite times of the year. In the north part of the world, summer takes place between the months of June and September, and in the south part of the world, it takes place between December and March. This is because when the north part of the Earth points towards the Sun, the south part points away.
+
+Many people in rich countries travel in summer, to seaside resorts, beaches, camps or picnics. In some countries, they celebrate things in the summer as well as enjoying cool drinks. Other countries get snow in the summer just like winter.

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+In chemistry, alcohol is a general term which refers to many organic compounds used in industry and science as reagents, solvents, and fuels. Alcohols are carbohydrates which are  made of an alkyl group with one or more hydroxyl (-OH) groups bound to its carbon atoms. Alcohol is colorless, and also transparent.
+
+There are two ways of naming alcohols: Common names, and IUPAC names.
+
+The hydroxyl (OH) group makes alcohols polar. Alcohols are very weakly acidic. Most alcohols are highly flammable.
+
+The simplest two alcohols are methanol (or methyl alcohol) and ethanol (or ethyl alcohol), which have the following structures:
+
+Methanol
+
+Ethanol
+
+IUPAC nomenclature is used when describing more complex alcohols.
+
+In common usage, "alcohol" often means ethanol or "grain alcohol". (See also: alcoholic proof).
+
+Other commonly used alcohols include:

ensimple/1877.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Ethernet is a way of connecting computers together in a local area network or LAN. It has been the most widely used method of linking computers together in LANs since the 1990s. The basic idea of its design is that multiple computers have access to it and can send data at any time. This is comparatively easy to engineer.
+
+If two computers send data at the same time, a collision will occur. When this happens, the data sent is not usable. In general, both computers will stop sending, and wait a random amount of time, before they try again. A special protocol was developed to deal with such problems. It is called Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection or CSMA/CD.
+
+There are different Ethernet standards.  Today, Ethernet cables look like thick telephone cables.  They connect to boxes called hubs or switches. Each cable runs from a computer's network interface card (NIC) to such a box. This cable is called 10BaseT or 100BaseT, or 1000BaseT Cable.
+
+All cable types:
+
+Today, the cables for 10BaseT, 100BaseT, and 1000BaseT are the same. Their transmission medium is unshielded twisted pair for Category 5 (UTP-Cat5) or 5e. Shielded cable (STP-Cat5 or Cat5e) can be used when there is a lot of electrical noise, and Category 6 (UTP-Cat6 or STP-Cat6) works better with faster signals such as 1GBit or 10GBit.
+
+Other devices, such as video game consoles, can also be connected using the same kind of cabling. Certain computer peripherals, for example printers and certain hard disks can be directly connected to the network with such cables.
+
+Ethernet can go at different speeds. In the beginning, Ethernet was at 10 MBits per second. The Ethernet most often used today is at 100 MBits per second.  Most new computers now have the NIC built in, and can go at 1GBit per second. There are also standards for 1GBit per second and 10 GBit per second.  100 MBit can usually talk to 10 MBit, and 1 GBit can talk to 100 MBit and usually to 10 MBit (both full and half duplex).
+

ensimple/1878.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It has one of the longest and most well known histories as a country in Africa and the world. Ethiopia was one of the few countries in Africa that escaped the Scramble for Africa. It avoided being colonized until 1935, when it was invaded by the Italians, who took over the country. Ethiopia used to be called Abyssinia. The word "Ethiopia" is from the Greek word Αἰθιοπία meaning sun light burned face.  It is the most populous landlocked country in the world, having lost its Red Sea ports when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.
+
+The Kingdom of Aksum, the first known kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and over time changed King Ezana to Christianity, making Christianity Ethiopia's religion. For this, he received the title "Abba Selama". At different times, including a time in the 6th century, Axum ruled most of modern-day Yemen just across the Red Sea.
+
+The line of rulers of the actual Axumite kings ended around 950 AD when they were overthrown by the Jewish Queen Gudit;[5] then it was followed by the Zagwe dynasty for around 300 years. Around 1270 AD, the Solomonid dynasty came to control Ethiopia, claiming that they were related to the kings of Axum (though their claim was unscientific, they were even southern Ethiopia people, like from Shewa and such). They called themselves Neguse Negest ("King of Kings," or Emperor), basing their claims on their direct relation to king Solomon and the queen of Sheba.[6]
+
+During the rule of Emperor Lebna Dengel, Ethiopia made its first good contact with a European country, Portugal in 1520. When the Empire was attacked by Somali General and Imam, Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Portugal responded to Lebna Dengel's request for help with 400 musketeers, helping his son Gelawdewos beat al-Ghazi and remake his rule. However, Jesuit missionaries over time offended the Orthodox faith of the local Ethiopians, and in the mid-17th century Emperor Fasilidos got rid of these missionaries. At the same time, the Oromo people began to question the Ethiopian Christian authorities in the Abyssinian territories, and wanted to keep their own religion.
+
+All of this led to Ethiopia's isolation during the 1700s. The Emperors became figureheads, controlled by warlords like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray. But Amharic is the national language of Ethiopia. Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that made friendship between the two nations; however, it was not until the reign of Tewodros II that Ethiopia began to take part in world matters once again.
+
+In 1896 Italy was decisively defeated in the battle of Adwa by Emperor Menelik; an Amhara Emperor from the province of Shewa. This battle dispelled the notion that Europeans were superior and couldn't be defeated by a black army. It gave rise to the Pan African movement and hope to other African countries who were conquered. This victory made Ethiopia the only African country to successfully repel a European power during The Scramble of Africa. In 1936 Italy once again attacked, and succeeded in occupied Ethiopia until 1941. The 5 year occupation ended, Emperor Haile Selassie regained the throne.
+
+Revolutionaries overthrew and killed the emperor in 1974. The resulting civil war lasted until 1991. Eritrea became independent and later fought the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.
+
+Before 1996, Ethiopia was divided into 13 provinces. Ethiopia now has ethnically based regional countries, zones, districts, and neighborhoods.
+
+There are nine regions, sixty-eight zones and two chartered cities. Ethiopia is further divided into 550 woredas and several special woredas.
+
+The nine regions and two chartered cities (in italics) are:
+
+Coffee production is a longstanding tradition in Ethiopia.

ensimple/1879.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It has one of the longest and most well known histories as a country in Africa and the world. Ethiopia was one of the few countries in Africa that escaped the Scramble for Africa. It avoided being colonized until 1935, when it was invaded by the Italians, who took over the country. Ethiopia used to be called Abyssinia. The word "Ethiopia" is from the Greek word Αἰθιοπία meaning sun light burned face.  It is the most populous landlocked country in the world, having lost its Red Sea ports when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.
+
+The Kingdom of Aksum, the first known kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and over time changed King Ezana to Christianity, making Christianity Ethiopia's religion. For this, he received the title "Abba Selama". At different times, including a time in the 6th century, Axum ruled most of modern-day Yemen just across the Red Sea.
+
+The line of rulers of the actual Axumite kings ended around 950 AD when they were overthrown by the Jewish Queen Gudit;[5] then it was followed by the Zagwe dynasty for around 300 years. Around 1270 AD, the Solomonid dynasty came to control Ethiopia, claiming that they were related to the kings of Axum (though their claim was unscientific, they were even southern Ethiopia people, like from Shewa and such). They called themselves Neguse Negest ("King of Kings," or Emperor), basing their claims on their direct relation to king Solomon and the queen of Sheba.[6]
+
+During the rule of Emperor Lebna Dengel, Ethiopia made its first good contact with a European country, Portugal in 1520. When the Empire was attacked by Somali General and Imam, Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Portugal responded to Lebna Dengel's request for help with 400 musketeers, helping his son Gelawdewos beat al-Ghazi and remake his rule. However, Jesuit missionaries over time offended the Orthodox faith of the local Ethiopians, and in the mid-17th century Emperor Fasilidos got rid of these missionaries. At the same time, the Oromo people began to question the Ethiopian Christian authorities in the Abyssinian territories, and wanted to keep their own religion.
+
+All of this led to Ethiopia's isolation during the 1700s. The Emperors became figureheads, controlled by warlords like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray. But Amharic is the national language of Ethiopia. Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that made friendship between the two nations; however, it was not until the reign of Tewodros II that Ethiopia began to take part in world matters once again.
+
+In 1896 Italy was decisively defeated in the battle of Adwa by Emperor Menelik; an Amhara Emperor from the province of Shewa. This battle dispelled the notion that Europeans were superior and couldn't be defeated by a black army. It gave rise to the Pan African movement and hope to other African countries who were conquered. This victory made Ethiopia the only African country to successfully repel a European power during The Scramble of Africa. In 1936 Italy once again attacked, and succeeded in occupied Ethiopia until 1941. The 5 year occupation ended, Emperor Haile Selassie regained the throne.
+
+Revolutionaries overthrew and killed the emperor in 1974. The resulting civil war lasted until 1991. Eritrea became independent and later fought the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.
+
+Before 1996, Ethiopia was divided into 13 provinces. Ethiopia now has ethnically based regional countries, zones, districts, and neighborhoods.
+
+There are nine regions, sixty-eight zones and two chartered cities. Ethiopia is further divided into 550 woredas and several special woredas.
+
+The nine regions and two chartered cities (in italics) are:
+
+Coffee production is a longstanding tradition in Ethiopia.

ensimple/188.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+The United States of America is a federal republic of fifty states, a federal district, and several territories.[8][9][10] It is commonly called the United States, the United States of America (shortened to U.S. and U.S.A.), and also sometimes just America.
+
+The country is mostly in North America. There are forty-eight states that border each other and Washington, D.C., the capital district. These states are between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They are 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 its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses some territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
+
+At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 327 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by land area and by population.
+
+The United States is one of the world's most ethnically mixed and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[11] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$20.4 trillion (about a quarter of worldwide GDP).[12]
+
+The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which announced their independence from Great Britain and their creation of a cooperative union. The disobedient states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[13] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its approval the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, making up ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many basic civil rights and freedoms, was approved in 1791.
+
+In the 19th century, the United States got land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and took over the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Arguments between the farming-based South and industrial North over the growth of the institution of slavery and states' rights began the American 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, the national wealth was the world's largest.[14] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States came out from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the breaking up of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only superpower. The country accounts for about half of worldwide military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[15]
+
+The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[16]
+
+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)[17] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[18] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[19] Measured by 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 Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet.
+
+The United States, with its large size and geographical 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-dry. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is dry in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not unusual—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes happen within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[21]
+
+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.[22] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[23] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[24]
+
+The Endangered 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 wilderness areas.[25] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[26] 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.[26]
+
+It is believed that the indigenous peoples of the continental United States, including the natives of Alaska, moved in from Asia. They began arriving twelve or forty thousand years ago, if not earlier.[27] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced farming, grand construction, and state-level communities. The native population of America decreased after Europeans arrived, and for different reasons, mostly sicknesses such as smallpox and measles.[28]
+
+In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached some Caribbean islands, making the first contact with the native people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first recorded European coming on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the area 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 Colony of Virginia in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of relocation; 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.[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
+
+Tensions between American colonials and the British during the rebel period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Announcing that "all men are created equal" and are born with "certain natural rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated every year as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak federal government that operated until 1789.
+
+After the British defeat by American forces helped by the French, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American land west to the Mississippi River. A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those wishing to establish a strong national government, with powers of taxation. The United States Constitution was approved in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and President—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and certifying a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
+
+Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states permanently stopped 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 different social reform movements, including abolitionism.
+
+Americans' eagerness to expand westward caused a long series of Indian Wars and an Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed land under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size. The War of 1812, declared against Britain over different complaints and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give up it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The United States took over the Republic of Texas in 1845. The idea of Manifest destiny became popular during this time.[30] 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 of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further encouraged western relocation. 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 murdered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, which were valuable to the plains Indians, caused many native cultures to become gone forever.
+
+Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the mostly 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 American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation committed the Union to end slavery. Following the Union victory in 1865, three changes to the U.S. Constitution secured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[31] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a big increase in federal power.[32]
+
+After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused the Reconstruction, where policies were put together directed at getting back and rebuilding the Southern states while securing the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended this era, and the Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and a never-before-seen inflow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made the country's industrialization grow rapidly. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, gave labor and changed American culture. High tax protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking laws encouraged growth also. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the native monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was ended in a secret and successful plan led by American residents; the United States took over the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year proved that the United States was a world power and led to the addition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Philippines gained independence fifty years later; Puerto Rico and Guam are still U.S. territories.
+
+As the First World War erupted in Europe in 1914, the United States declared itself neutral. Afterward, the Americans sympathized with the British and French, even though many citizens, especially those from Ireland and Germany, were against the intervention.[33] In 1917, they joined the Allies, adding to the defeat of the Central Powers. Unwilling to participate in European affairs, the Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which established the League of Nations, applying a policy of unilateralism, which bordered on isolationism.[34] In 1920, the Women's rights movement gained the approval of a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote.[35]
+
+For most of the 1920s, the country enjoyed a period of success, decreasing the inequality in the balance of payments while profiting from industrial farms. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a series of policies that increased government interference in the economy.[36] From 1920 to 1933 a prohibition banning alcohol was in place.[37] The Dust Bowl of the 1930s left many poor farmer communities and encouraged a new wave of emigration to the West Coast.[38]
+
+The United States, officially neutral during the early stages of World War II, began supplying supplies to the Allies in March 1941, through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the country joined the Allies fight against the Axis Powers, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II boosted the economy by providing investment capital and jobs, making many women enter the labor market. Of the significant fighters, the United States was the only nation to be enriched by war.[39] The discussions at Bretton Woods and Yalta created a new system of international organization that placed the country and the Soviet Union at the heart of world affairs. In 1945, when the end of the Second World War in Europe came, an international gathering held in San Francisco drafted the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force after the war.[40] Having developed the first nuclear weapon, the government decided to use it in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of that same year. Japan gave up on September 2, ending the war.[41]
+
+In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed after the Second World War, controlling the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The first supported liberal democracy and capitalism, while the second favored communism and an economy planned by the government. Both supported several dictatorships and participated in proxy wars. Between 1950 and 1953, U.S. troops fought Chinese communist forces in the Korean War.[42] From the break with the USSR and the start of the Cold War until 1957, McCarthyism also called the Second Red Dread, developed within the United States. The State unleashed a wave of political mistreatment and a campaign of prejudice against Communists, which some authors point out as of a totalitarian state. Hundreds of people were arrested, including celebrities, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people lost their jobs.[43] The abuse ended when the courts declared it unconstitutional.[44]
+
+In 1961, the Soviet launch of the first human-crewed spacecraft caused President John F. Kennedy to propose to the country to be the first to send "a man to the Moon", a fact completed in 1969.[45] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear conflict with the Soviet forces in Cuba, while the economy grew and expanded steadily. A growing movement for civil rights, represented and led by African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel, used nonviolence to deal with segregation and discrimination.[46] After Kennedy's murder in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed during the term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, led a civil war in Southeast Asia, assistant to the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A generalized counterculture movement grew, driven by opposition to war, black nationalism and the sexual revolution. A new wave of feminist movements also emerged, led by Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other women who sought political, social and economic equity.
+
+In 1974, as a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president to resign, to avoid being dismissed on charges such as obstruction of justice and abuse of power, and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.[47] The presidency of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s was marked by stagflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 announced a change in U.S. policy, which was reflected in significant changes in taxes and fiscal expenses. His second term brought with it the Iran–Contra affair and the significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The later Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
+
+Under President George H. W. Bush, the country took on a global dominant role worldwide, as in the Gulf War (1991). The longest economic expansion in modern American history, from March 1991 to March 2001, spanned the presidency of Bill Clinton and the dot-com bubble.[48] A civil lawsuit and a sex scandal led to his impeachment in 1998, although he managed to finish his period. The 2000 presidential elections, one of the most competitive in American history, they were settled by the Supreme Court: George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president, even though he gained fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore.[49]
+
+On September 11, 2001, the terrorists of the Al-Qaeda group attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City (which were destroyed) and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., in a series of attacks that ended the life of nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the "War on Terror." At the end of 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, toppled the Taliban government and destroyed Al-Qaeda's training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, Bush began to push for a regime change to take place in Iraq.[50][51] With NATO's lack of support and without a clear UN order for military intervention, Bush organized the coalition of the willing; The coalition forces quickly invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled the statue of dictator Saddam Hussein. The following year, Bush was re-elected as the most voted president in an election.
+
+In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, which would end up being the deadliest natural disaster in national history, caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast: the city of New Orleans was devastated, with 1833 dead.[52]
+
+On November 4, 2008, during a global economic downturn, Barack Obama was elected president, having been the first African American to take office. In May 2011, American Special forces managed to kill Osama bin Laden, hiding in Pakistan. The following year, Barack Obama was re-elected. Under his second term, he led the war against the Islamic State and restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
+
+On November 8, 2016, the Republican Party leader Donald Trump defeated former First Lady Hillary Clinton for presidency in an unusual election and whose plans have been described by political analysts as populist, protectionist and nationalist, assuming office on January 20, 2017.[53]
+
+The massacres in Orlando of June 12, 2016 at the gay disco Pulse (51 dead) and in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 (60) are listed as the largest massacres in the country since 9/11.[54]
+
+The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[55] The government is controlled by a system of checks and balances from the United States Constitution. The constitution is the country's main legal document. There are three branches. They are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. State governments and the federal government work in very similar ways. Each state has its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch of a state government is led by a governor, instead of a president.
+
+The executive branch is the part of the government that enforces the law.  Members of the U.S. Electoral College elect a president who is the leader of the executive branch, as well as the leader of the armed forces. The president may veto a bill that the Congress has passed, so it does not become a law. The President may also make "executive orders" to ensure that people follow the law.
+
+The president is in charge of many departments that control much of the day-to-day actions of government. For example, Department of Commerce makes rules about trade.  The president chooses the heads of these departments, and also nominates federal judges.  However, the Senate, part of the legislative branch, must agree with all of the people the president chooses. The president may serve two 4-year terms.
+
+The legislative branch makes laws. The legislative branch is called the United States Congress. Congress is divided into two "houses".
+
+One house is the House of Representatives.  The Representatives are each elected by voters from a set area within a state.  The number of Representatives a state has is based on how many people live there.  Representatives serve two-year terms. The total number of representatives today is 435. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House.
+
+The other house is the Senate. In the Senate, each state is represented equally, by two senators. Because there are 50 states, there are 100 senators.  The President's treaties or appointments of officials need the Senate's approval. Senators serve six-year terms. The Vice President of the United States serves as president of the Senate.  In practice, the vice president is usually absent from the Senate, and a senator serves as president pro tempore, or temporary president, of the Senate.
+
+Representatives and senators propose laws, called "bills", in their respective houses. A bill may be voted upon by the entire house right away or may first go to a small group, known as a committee, which may recommend a bill for a vote by the whole house. If one house votes to pass a bill, the bill then gets sent to the other house; if both houses vote for it, it is then sent to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress. If Congress votes again and passes the bill with at least a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law and cannot be vetoed by the president.
+
+Under the American system of federalism, Congress may not make laws that directly control the states; instead, Congress may use the promise of federal funds, or special circumstances such as national emergencies, to encourage the states to follow federal law. This system is both complex and unique.
+
+The judicial branch is the part of government that interprets what the law means. The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court and many lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides that a law is not allowed by the Constitution, the law is said to be "struck down" and is no longer a valid law.
+
+The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges, called justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. One of these justices, called the chief justice, heads the court. A Supreme Court justice serves until he or she dies or resigns (quits in the middle of his or her term). When that happens, the president nominates someone new to replace the justice who left. If the Senate agrees with that choice, the person becomes a justice. If the Senate does not agree with the president's choice, then the president must nominate someone else.
+
+Famous court cases such as Marbury v Madison (which was decided in 1803) have firmly established that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the United States Constitution and has the power to strike down any law that conflicts with it.[56]
+
+The United States of America consists of 50 states, 5 territories and 1 district (Washington D.C.). States can make laws about things inside the state, but federal law is about things dealing with more than one state or dealing with other countries. In some areas, if the federal government makes laws that say different things from the state laws, people must follow the federal law because the state law is not a law any more. Each state has a constitution of its own, different from the federal (national) Constitution. Each of these is like the federal Constitution because they say how each state's government is set up, but some also talk about specific laws.
+
+The federal and most state governments are dominated by two political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. There are many smaller parties; the largest of these are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. People help in political campaigns that they like. They try to persuade politicians to help them; this is called lobbying. All Americans are allowed to do these things, but some have and spend more money than others, or in other ways do more in politics. Some people think this is a problem, and lobby for rules to be made to change it.
+
+Since 2017, the president is a Republican, and Congress is also Republican-controlled, so the Republicans have more power in the federal government.  There are still many powerful Democrats who can try to stop the Republicans from doing things that they believe will be bad for the country. Also, members of a party in power do not always agree on what to do. If enough people decide to vote against Republicans in the next election, they will lose power. In a republic like the United States, no party can do whatever they want. All politicians have to argue, compromise, and make deals with each other to get things done. They have to answer to the people and take responsibility for their mistakes.
+
+The USA's large cultural, economic, and military influence has made the foreign policy of the United States, or relations with other countries, a topic in American politics, and the politics of many other countries.
+
+The United States conquered and bought new lands over time, and grew from the original 13 colonies in the east to the current 50 states, of which 48 of them are joined together to make up the contiguous United States. These states, called the "lower 48", can all be reached by road without crossing a border into another country. They go from the Atlantic east to the Pacific in the west. There are two other states which are not joined to the lower 48 states. Alaska can be reached by passing through British Columbia and the Yukon, both of which are part of Canada. Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Washington, D.C., the national capital, is a federal district that was split from the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1791. Not part of any US state, it used to be in the shape of a square, with the land west of the Potomac River coming from Virginia, and the land east of the river coming from Maryland. In 1846, Virginia took back its part of the land. Some people living in DC want it to become a state, or for Maryland to take back its land, so that they can have the right to vote in Congress.
+
+The United States consists of sixteen lands that are not states, many of which are colonial territories. None of them have any land borders with the rest of the US. People live in five of these places, which are de facto American:
+
+The Philippines was a possession of the United States. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific island nations were governed by the United States as a United Nations "Trust Territory". All of these places have become independent: the Philippines in 1946, Palau in 1947, and Micronesia in 1986.
+
+The U.S. armed forces has bases in many countries, and the U.S. Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay was rented from Cuba after that country had a Communist revolution.
+
+All the states are divided into administrative subdivisions. Most of them are called counties, but Louisiana uses the word "parish," and Alaska uses the word "borough."
+
+There are many cities in the United States. One city in each state is the state capital, where the government of the state meets and the governor works. This city is not always the largest in its state. For example, the city with the most people living in it is New York City in New York State, but the state capital is Albany. Some other big cities are Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan.
+
+The United States is very influential in global economics, politics, and the military. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. It is a member of the G7,[57] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[58] and strong ties with Canada,[59] Australia,[60] New Zealand,[61] Japan,[62] South Korea,[63] and Israel.[64]
+
+The president is the commander-in-chief of the country'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, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[65]
+
+The military budget of the United States in 2011 was more than $700 billion, 41% of global military spending and equal to the next 14 largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.7% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top 15 military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[66] U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranked 23rd globally in 2012 according to the CIA.[67] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, was a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion was proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[68] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[69] 4,484 service members were killed during the Iraq War.[70] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan in April 2012;[71] by November 8, 2013 2,285 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[72]
+
+The United States has a capitalist economy. The country has rich mineral resources, with many gold, coal and uranium deposits. Farming makes the country among the top producers of, among others, corn (maize), wheat, sugar, and tobacco. Housing contributes about 15% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of  the United States[73]America produces cars, airplanes, and electronics. About 3/4 of Americans work in the service industry.
+
+The United States of America has people of many different race and ethnic backgrounds. 80% of the people in the United States descend from European immigrants. Many people are descended from Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, and Italy.[74]  13% of the people in the United States are African-American. Most of them descend from the African slaves that were brought to America. Asian-Americans make up only 5% of the population in America but make up a bigger portion in the west coast. For example, in California, Asian-Americans make up 13% of the population of that state. Hispanic-Americans or people of Latin origins make up 15% of the nation. The original peoples, called Native American, American Indians, or Amerindians and Inuit (Eskimos) are a very small group.
+
+11% of the people in the United States are foreign born. 18% speak a language other than English at home. For people 25 and older, 80% are high school graduates while 25% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
+
+The 2000 Census counted self-reported ancestry. It identified 43 million German-Americans, 30.5 million Irish-Americans, 24.9 million African-Americans, 24.5 million English-Americans, and 18.4 million Mexican-Americans.
+
+The social structure of the United States has a big range. This means that some Americans are much, much richer than others. The average (median) income for an American was $37,000 a year in 2002. However, the richest 1% of Americans have as much money as the poorest 90%. 51% of all households have access to a computer and 41% had access to the Internet in 2000, a figure which had grown to 75% in 2004. Also, 67.9% of American families owned their homes in 2002.  There are 200 million cars in the United States, two for every three Americans. The debt has grown to over $21,000,000,000,000.
+
+There are many different religions in the U.S.  Statistically, the largest religion is Christianity, including groups such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Mormonism. Other religions include Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Druidry, Baha'i, Raelism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism and Jainism.[75] Religions which were founded within the United States include Eckankar, Satanism and Scientology.  Native American religions have various animistic beliefs.
+
+The United States is one of the most religious countries in the Western World, and most Americans believe in God. The number of Christians in the U.S. has gone down. 86.2% called themselves Christian in 1990 and 78.4% said this in 2007. The others include Judaism (2.3%), Islam (0.8%), Buddhism (0.7%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). Those who have no religion are at 16.1%. There is a large difference between those who say that they belong to a religion and those who are members of a religious body of that religion.[76]
+
+Doubts about the existence of a God, gods or goddesses are higher among young people.[77] Among the non-religious population of the U.S., there are deists, humanists, ignotic, atheists, and agnostics.[78]
+
+English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[79][80] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[81]
+
+While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[82] Other states, such as California, order the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[83] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions.
+
+Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and is more widely spoken than English there.
+
+In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[84] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[85]
+
+American popular culture goes out to many places in the world. It has a large influence on most of the world, especially the Western world. American music is heard all over the world, and American movies and television shows can be seen in most countries.
+
+[86]
+
+The American flag is made up of 50 stars on a blue background, and has 13 stripes, seven red and six white. It is one of many symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle. The 50 stars represent the 50 states. The red stands for courage. The blue stands for justice. The white represents peace and cleanliness. The 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.[87]
+
+LawConstitutionBill of RightsSeparation of powers
+
+EnforcementDepartment of Justice (DoJ)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
+
+LegislatureHouseSenate
+
+ExecutiveCabinetFederal agenciesForeign policy
+
+JudiciarySupreme CourtAppeals
+
+IntelligenceCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA)Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)National Security Agency (NSA)
+
+MilitaryArmyMarine CorpsNavyAir ForceCoast Guard

ensimple/1880.html.txt

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+Mount Etna is a volcano on the east coast of Sicily, part of southern Italy. It is the largest active volcano in Europe. Mount Etna erupts every few years.
+
+Etna's most destructive eruption in historic times started on 11 March 1669. It produced lava flows that destroyed 10 villages and reached the town of Catania five weeks later, on 15 April. Many buildings were destroyed and few people were killed.
+
+Major twentieth century eruptions occurred in 1928, 1949, 1971, 1983 and 1992, as well as the 2001 eruption. In 1971, it buried the Etna Observatory (built in the late 19th century) under lava. The 1992 eruption saw the town of Zafferana threatened by a lava flow, but successful diversion efforts saved the town with the loss of only one building a few hundred metres outside it.
+
+In 2002–2003, the biggest series of eruptions for many years threw up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as Libya, on the far side of the Mediterranean Sea. Seismic activity in this eruption caused the eastern flanks of the volcano to slip by up to two metres, and many houses on the flanks of the volcano were damaged.  The eruption also destroyed the Rifugio Sapienza, a ski resort on the southern flank of the volcano.

ensimple/1881.html.txt

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+A star is a very large ball of bright glowing hot matter in space. That matter is called plasma. Stars are held together by gravity. They give out heat and light because they are very hot.
+
+Stars are hot because nuclear reactions happen inside them. Those reactions are called nuclear fusion.  Nuclear fusion makes light and heat and makes bigger and bigger chemical elements. Stars have a lot of hydrogen. Nuclear fusion changes hydrogen into helium. When a star gets old, it starts to change the helium into other bigger chemical elements, like carbon and oxygen. Fusion makes a lot of energy. The energy makes the star very hot. The energy produced by stars moves (radiates) away from them. Much of the energy leaves as light. The rest leaves as other kinds of electromagnetic radiation.
+
+The star nearest to Earth is the Sun. The energy from the Sun supports almost all life on Earth by providing light for plants. Plants turn the light into energy in a process called photosynthesis.[1] The energy from the Sun also causes weather and humidity on Earth.
+
+We can see other stars in the night sky when the Sun goes down. Like the Sun, they are made mostly of hydrogen and a little bit of helium plus other elements. Astronomers often compare those other stars to the Sun. For example, their mass is given in solar masses. A small star may be 0.2 solar masses, a big one 4.0 solar masses.
+
+The Earth and other planets move around (orbit) the Sun. The Sun and all things that orbit the Sun are called the Solar System. Many other stars have planets orbiting them: those planets are called exoplanets. If you were on an exoplanet, our Sun would look like a star in the sky, but you could not see the Earth because it would be too far away.
+
+Proxima Centauri is the star that is closest to our Sun. It is 39.9 trillion kilometres away. This is 4.2 light years away. This means that light from Proxima Centauri takes 4.2 years to reach Earth.
+
+Astronomers think there is a very large number of stars in the Universe. The observable Universe contains more than 2 trillion (1012) galaxies[2] and, overall, as many as an estimated 1×1024 stars[3][4] (more stars than all the grains of sand on planet Earth).[5] That is, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, which is many times more than the few hundred billion stars in the Milky Way (our galaxy).
+
+Most stars are very old. They are usually thought to be between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. The oldest stars are 13.7 billion years old. That is as old as the Universe. Some young stars are only a few million years old. Young stars are mostly brighter than old ones.
+
+Stars are different sizes. The smallest stars are neutron stars, which are actually dead stars. They are no bigger than a city. A neutron star has a large amount of mass in a very small space.
+
+Hypergiant stars are the largest stars in the Universe. They have a diameter over 1,500 times bigger than the Sun. If the Sun was a hypergiant star, it would reach out to as far as Jupiter.
+
+The star Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star. Although these stars are very large, they also have low density.
+
+Some stars look brighter than other stars. This difference is measured in terms of apparent magnitude. There are two reasons why stars have different apparent magnitude. If a star is very close to us it will appear much brighter. This is just like a candle. A candle that is close to us appears brighter. The other reason a star can appear brighter is that it is hotter than another cooler star.
+
+Stars give off light but also give off a solar wind and neutrinos. These are very small particles of matter.
+
+Stars are made of mass and mass makes gravity. Gravity makes planets orbit stars. This is why the Earth orbits the Sun. The gravity of two stars can make them go around each other. Stars that orbit each other are called binary stars. Scientists think there are many binary stars. There are even groups of three or more stars that orbit each other. Proxima Centauri is a small star that orbits other stars.
+
+Stars are not spread evenly across all of space. They are grouped into galaxies. A galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.
+
+Stars have been important to people all over the world for all of history. Stars have been part of religious practices. Long ago, people believed that stars could never die.
+
+Astronomers organized stars into groups called constellations. They used the constellations to help them see the motion of the planets and to guess the position of the Sun.[6] The motion of the Sun and the stars was used to make calendars. The calendars were used by farmers to decide when to plant crops and when to harvest them.[8]
+
+Stars are made in nebulae. These are areas that have more gas than normal space. The gas in a nebula is pulled together by gravity. The Orion nebula is an example of a place where gas is coming together to form stars.
+
+Stars spend most of their lives combining (fusing) hydrogen with hydrogen to make energy. When hydrogen is fused it makes helium and it makes a lot of energy. To fuse hydrogen into helium it must be very hot and the pressure must be very high. Fusion happens at the center of stars, called "the core".
+
+The smallest stars (red dwarfs) fuse their hydrogen slowly and live for 100 billion years. Red dwarfs live longer than any other type of star. At the end of their lives, they become dimmer and dimmer. Red dwarfs do not explode.
+
+When very heavy stars die, they explode. This explosion is called a supernova. When a supernova happens in a nebula, the explosion pushes the gas in the nebula together. This makes the gas in the nebula very thick (dense). Gravity and exploding stars both help to bring the gas together to make new stars in nebulas.
+
+Most stars use up the hydrogen at their core. When they do, their core becomes smaller and becomes hotter. It becomes so hot it pushes away the outer part of the star. The outer part expands and it makes a red giant star. Astro-physicists think that in about 5 billion years, the Sun will be a red giant. Our Sun will be so large it will eat the Earth. After our Sun stops using hydrogen to make energy, it will use helium in its very hot core. It will be hotter than when it was fusing hydrogen. Heavy stars will also make elements heavier than helium. As a star makes heavier and heavier elements, it makes less and less energy. Iron is a heavy element made in heavy stars.
+
+Our star is an average star. Average stars will push away their outer gases. The gas it pushes away makes a cloud called a planetary nebula. The core part of the star will remain. It will be a ball as big as the Earth and called a white dwarf. It will fade into a black dwarf over a very long time.
+
+Later in large stars,  heavier elements are made by fusion. Finally the star makes a supernova explosion. Most things happen in the universe so slowly we do not notice. But supernova explosions happen in only 100 seconds. When a supernova explodes its flash is as bright as a 100 billion stars. The dying star is so bright it can be seen during the day. Supernova means "new star" because people used to think it was the beginning of a new star. Today we know that a supernova is the death of an old star. The gas of the star is pushed away by the explosion. It forms a giant cloud of gas called a planetary nebula. The crab nebula is a good example. All that remains is a neutron star. If the star was very heavy, the star will make a black hole. Gravity in a black hole is extremely strong. It is so strong that even light cannot escape from a black hole.
+
+The heaviest elements are made in the explosion of a supernova. After billions of years of floating in space, the gas and dust come together to make new stars and new planets.  Much of the gas and dust in space comes from supernovae. Our Sun, the Earth, and all living things are made from star dust.
+
+Astronomers have known for centuries that stars have different colors. When looking at an electromagnetic spectrum, ultraviolet waves are the shortest, and infrared are the longest.[9]   The visible spectrum has wavelengths between these two extremes.
+
+Modern instruments can measure very precisely the color of a star.  This allows astronomers to determine that star's temperature, because a hotter star's black-body radiation has shorter wavelengths.  The hottest stars are blue and violet, then white, then yellow, and the coolest are red.[10] Knowing the color and absolute magnitude, astronomers can place the star on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and estimate its habitable zone and other facts about it.
+
+For example, our Sun is white, and the Earth is the perfect distance away for life. If our Sun was a hotter, blue star, however, Earth would have to be much farther away or else it would be too hot to have water and sustain life.

ensimple/1882.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+A star is a very large ball of bright glowing hot matter in space. That matter is called plasma. Stars are held together by gravity. They give out heat and light because they are very hot.
+
+Stars are hot because nuclear reactions happen inside them. Those reactions are called nuclear fusion.  Nuclear fusion makes light and heat and makes bigger and bigger chemical elements. Stars have a lot of hydrogen. Nuclear fusion changes hydrogen into helium. When a star gets old, it starts to change the helium into other bigger chemical elements, like carbon and oxygen. Fusion makes a lot of energy. The energy makes the star very hot. The energy produced by stars moves (radiates) away from them. Much of the energy leaves as light. The rest leaves as other kinds of electromagnetic radiation.
+
+The star nearest to Earth is the Sun. The energy from the Sun supports almost all life on Earth by providing light for plants. Plants turn the light into energy in a process called photosynthesis.[1] The energy from the Sun also causes weather and humidity on Earth.
+
+We can see other stars in the night sky when the Sun goes down. Like the Sun, they are made mostly of hydrogen and a little bit of helium plus other elements. Astronomers often compare those other stars to the Sun. For example, their mass is given in solar masses. A small star may be 0.2 solar masses, a big one 4.0 solar masses.
+
+The Earth and other planets move around (orbit) the Sun. The Sun and all things that orbit the Sun are called the Solar System. Many other stars have planets orbiting them: those planets are called exoplanets. If you were on an exoplanet, our Sun would look like a star in the sky, but you could not see the Earth because it would be too far away.
+
+Proxima Centauri is the star that is closest to our Sun. It is 39.9 trillion kilometres away. This is 4.2 light years away. This means that light from Proxima Centauri takes 4.2 years to reach Earth.
+
+Astronomers think there is a very large number of stars in the Universe. The observable Universe contains more than 2 trillion (1012) galaxies[2] and, overall, as many as an estimated 1×1024 stars[3][4] (more stars than all the grains of sand on planet Earth).[5] That is, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, which is many times more than the few hundred billion stars in the Milky Way (our galaxy).
+
+Most stars are very old. They are usually thought to be between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. The oldest stars are 13.7 billion years old. That is as old as the Universe. Some young stars are only a few million years old. Young stars are mostly brighter than old ones.
+
+Stars are different sizes. The smallest stars are neutron stars, which are actually dead stars. They are no bigger than a city. A neutron star has a large amount of mass in a very small space.
+
+Hypergiant stars are the largest stars in the Universe. They have a diameter over 1,500 times bigger than the Sun. If the Sun was a hypergiant star, it would reach out to as far as Jupiter.
+
+The star Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star. Although these stars are very large, they also have low density.
+
+Some stars look brighter than other stars. This difference is measured in terms of apparent magnitude. There are two reasons why stars have different apparent magnitude. If a star is very close to us it will appear much brighter. This is just like a candle. A candle that is close to us appears brighter. The other reason a star can appear brighter is that it is hotter than another cooler star.
+
+Stars give off light but also give off a solar wind and neutrinos. These are very small particles of matter.
+
+Stars are made of mass and mass makes gravity. Gravity makes planets orbit stars. This is why the Earth orbits the Sun. The gravity of two stars can make them go around each other. Stars that orbit each other are called binary stars. Scientists think there are many binary stars. There are even groups of three or more stars that orbit each other. Proxima Centauri is a small star that orbits other stars.
+
+Stars are not spread evenly across all of space. They are grouped into galaxies. A galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.
+
+Stars have been important to people all over the world for all of history. Stars have been part of religious practices. Long ago, people believed that stars could never die.
+
+Astronomers organized stars into groups called constellations. They used the constellations to help them see the motion of the planets and to guess the position of the Sun.[6] The motion of the Sun and the stars was used to make calendars. The calendars were used by farmers to decide when to plant crops and when to harvest them.[8]
+
+Stars are made in nebulae. These are areas that have more gas than normal space. The gas in a nebula is pulled together by gravity. The Orion nebula is an example of a place where gas is coming together to form stars.
+
+Stars spend most of their lives combining (fusing) hydrogen with hydrogen to make energy. When hydrogen is fused it makes helium and it makes a lot of energy. To fuse hydrogen into helium it must be very hot and the pressure must be very high. Fusion happens at the center of stars, called "the core".
+
+The smallest stars (red dwarfs) fuse their hydrogen slowly and live for 100 billion years. Red dwarfs live longer than any other type of star. At the end of their lives, they become dimmer and dimmer. Red dwarfs do not explode.
+
+When very heavy stars die, they explode. This explosion is called a supernova. When a supernova happens in a nebula, the explosion pushes the gas in the nebula together. This makes the gas in the nebula very thick (dense). Gravity and exploding stars both help to bring the gas together to make new stars in nebulas.
+
+Most stars use up the hydrogen at their core. When they do, their core becomes smaller and becomes hotter. It becomes so hot it pushes away the outer part of the star. The outer part expands and it makes a red giant star. Astro-physicists think that in about 5 billion years, the Sun will be a red giant. Our Sun will be so large it will eat the Earth. After our Sun stops using hydrogen to make energy, it will use helium in its very hot core. It will be hotter than when it was fusing hydrogen. Heavy stars will also make elements heavier than helium. As a star makes heavier and heavier elements, it makes less and less energy. Iron is a heavy element made in heavy stars.
+
+Our star is an average star. Average stars will push away their outer gases. The gas it pushes away makes a cloud called a planetary nebula. The core part of the star will remain. It will be a ball as big as the Earth and called a white dwarf. It will fade into a black dwarf over a very long time.
+
+Later in large stars,  heavier elements are made by fusion. Finally the star makes a supernova explosion. Most things happen in the universe so slowly we do not notice. But supernova explosions happen in only 100 seconds. When a supernova explodes its flash is as bright as a 100 billion stars. The dying star is so bright it can be seen during the day. Supernova means "new star" because people used to think it was the beginning of a new star. Today we know that a supernova is the death of an old star. The gas of the star is pushed away by the explosion. It forms a giant cloud of gas called a planetary nebula. The crab nebula is a good example. All that remains is a neutron star. If the star was very heavy, the star will make a black hole. Gravity in a black hole is extremely strong. It is so strong that even light cannot escape from a black hole.
+
+The heaviest elements are made in the explosion of a supernova. After billions of years of floating in space, the gas and dust come together to make new stars and new planets.  Much of the gas and dust in space comes from supernovae. Our Sun, the Earth, and all living things are made from star dust.
+
+Astronomers have known for centuries that stars have different colors. When looking at an electromagnetic spectrum, ultraviolet waves are the shortest, and infrared are the longest.[9]   The visible spectrum has wavelengths between these two extremes.
+
+Modern instruments can measure very precisely the color of a star.  This allows astronomers to determine that star's temperature, because a hotter star's black-body radiation has shorter wavelengths.  The hottest stars are blue and violet, then white, then yellow, and the coolest are red.[10] Knowing the color and absolute magnitude, astronomers can place the star on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and estimate its habitable zone and other facts about it.
+
+For example, our Sun is white, and the Earth is the perfect distance away for life. If our Sun was a hotter, blue star, however, Earth would have to be much farther away or else it would be too hot to have water and sustain life.

ensimple/1883.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+A star is a very large ball of bright glowing hot matter in space. That matter is called plasma. Stars are held together by gravity. They give out heat and light because they are very hot.
+
+Stars are hot because nuclear reactions happen inside them. Those reactions are called nuclear fusion.  Nuclear fusion makes light and heat and makes bigger and bigger chemical elements. Stars have a lot of hydrogen. Nuclear fusion changes hydrogen into helium. When a star gets old, it starts to change the helium into other bigger chemical elements, like carbon and oxygen. Fusion makes a lot of energy. The energy makes the star very hot. The energy produced by stars moves (radiates) away from them. Much of the energy leaves as light. The rest leaves as other kinds of electromagnetic radiation.
+
+The star nearest to Earth is the Sun. The energy from the Sun supports almost all life on Earth by providing light for plants. Plants turn the light into energy in a process called photosynthesis.[1] The energy from the Sun also causes weather and humidity on Earth.
+
+We can see other stars in the night sky when the Sun goes down. Like the Sun, they are made mostly of hydrogen and a little bit of helium plus other elements. Astronomers often compare those other stars to the Sun. For example, their mass is given in solar masses. A small star may be 0.2 solar masses, a big one 4.0 solar masses.
+
+The Earth and other planets move around (orbit) the Sun. The Sun and all things that orbit the Sun are called the Solar System. Many other stars have planets orbiting them: those planets are called exoplanets. If you were on an exoplanet, our Sun would look like a star in the sky, but you could not see the Earth because it would be too far away.
+
+Proxima Centauri is the star that is closest to our Sun. It is 39.9 trillion kilometres away. This is 4.2 light years away. This means that light from Proxima Centauri takes 4.2 years to reach Earth.
+
+Astronomers think there is a very large number of stars in the Universe. The observable Universe contains more than 2 trillion (1012) galaxies[2] and, overall, as many as an estimated 1×1024 stars[3][4] (more stars than all the grains of sand on planet Earth).[5] That is, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, which is many times more than the few hundred billion stars in the Milky Way (our galaxy).
+
+Most stars are very old. They are usually thought to be between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. The oldest stars are 13.7 billion years old. That is as old as the Universe. Some young stars are only a few million years old. Young stars are mostly brighter than old ones.
+
+Stars are different sizes. The smallest stars are neutron stars, which are actually dead stars. They are no bigger than a city. A neutron star has a large amount of mass in a very small space.
+
+Hypergiant stars are the largest stars in the Universe. They have a diameter over 1,500 times bigger than the Sun. If the Sun was a hypergiant star, it would reach out to as far as Jupiter.
+
+The star Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star. Although these stars are very large, they also have low density.
+
+Some stars look brighter than other stars. This difference is measured in terms of apparent magnitude. There are two reasons why stars have different apparent magnitude. If a star is very close to us it will appear much brighter. This is just like a candle. A candle that is close to us appears brighter. The other reason a star can appear brighter is that it is hotter than another cooler star.
+
+Stars give off light but also give off a solar wind and neutrinos. These are very small particles of matter.
+
+Stars are made of mass and mass makes gravity. Gravity makes planets orbit stars. This is why the Earth orbits the Sun. The gravity of two stars can make them go around each other. Stars that orbit each other are called binary stars. Scientists think there are many binary stars. There are even groups of three or more stars that orbit each other. Proxima Centauri is a small star that orbits other stars.
+
+Stars are not spread evenly across all of space. They are grouped into galaxies. A galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.
+
+Stars have been important to people all over the world for all of history. Stars have been part of religious practices. Long ago, people believed that stars could never die.
+
+Astronomers organized stars into groups called constellations. They used the constellations to help them see the motion of the planets and to guess the position of the Sun.[6] The motion of the Sun and the stars was used to make calendars. The calendars were used by farmers to decide when to plant crops and when to harvest them.[8]
+
+Stars are made in nebulae. These are areas that have more gas than normal space. The gas in a nebula is pulled together by gravity. The Orion nebula is an example of a place where gas is coming together to form stars.
+
+Stars spend most of their lives combining (fusing) hydrogen with hydrogen to make energy. When hydrogen is fused it makes helium and it makes a lot of energy. To fuse hydrogen into helium it must be very hot and the pressure must be very high. Fusion happens at the center of stars, called "the core".
+
+The smallest stars (red dwarfs) fuse their hydrogen slowly and live for 100 billion years. Red dwarfs live longer than any other type of star. At the end of their lives, they become dimmer and dimmer. Red dwarfs do not explode.
+
+When very heavy stars die, they explode. This explosion is called a supernova. When a supernova happens in a nebula, the explosion pushes the gas in the nebula together. This makes the gas in the nebula very thick (dense). Gravity and exploding stars both help to bring the gas together to make new stars in nebulas.
+
+Most stars use up the hydrogen at their core. When they do, their core becomes smaller and becomes hotter. It becomes so hot it pushes away the outer part of the star. The outer part expands and it makes a red giant star. Astro-physicists think that in about 5 billion years, the Sun will be a red giant. Our Sun will be so large it will eat the Earth. After our Sun stops using hydrogen to make energy, it will use helium in its very hot core. It will be hotter than when it was fusing hydrogen. Heavy stars will also make elements heavier than helium. As a star makes heavier and heavier elements, it makes less and less energy. Iron is a heavy element made in heavy stars.
+
+Our star is an average star. Average stars will push away their outer gases. The gas it pushes away makes a cloud called a planetary nebula. The core part of the star will remain. It will be a ball as big as the Earth and called a white dwarf. It will fade into a black dwarf over a very long time.
+
+Later in large stars,  heavier elements are made by fusion. Finally the star makes a supernova explosion. Most things happen in the universe so slowly we do not notice. But supernova explosions happen in only 100 seconds. When a supernova explodes its flash is as bright as a 100 billion stars. The dying star is so bright it can be seen during the day. Supernova means "new star" because people used to think it was the beginning of a new star. Today we know that a supernova is the death of an old star. The gas of the star is pushed away by the explosion. It forms a giant cloud of gas called a planetary nebula. The crab nebula is a good example. All that remains is a neutron star. If the star was very heavy, the star will make a black hole. Gravity in a black hole is extremely strong. It is so strong that even light cannot escape from a black hole.
+
+The heaviest elements are made in the explosion of a supernova. After billions of years of floating in space, the gas and dust come together to make new stars and new planets.  Much of the gas and dust in space comes from supernovae. Our Sun, the Earth, and all living things are made from star dust.
+
+Astronomers have known for centuries that stars have different colors. When looking at an electromagnetic spectrum, ultraviolet waves are the shortest, and infrared are the longest.[9]   The visible spectrum has wavelengths between these two extremes.
+
+Modern instruments can measure very precisely the color of a star.  This allows astronomers to determine that star's temperature, because a hotter star's black-body radiation has shorter wavelengths.  The hottest stars are blue and violet, then white, then yellow, and the coolest are red.[10] Knowing the color and absolute magnitude, astronomers can place the star on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and estimate its habitable zone and other facts about it.
+
+For example, our Sun is white, and the Earth is the perfect distance away for life. If our Sun was a hotter, blue star, however, Earth would have to be much farther away or else it would be too hot to have water and sustain life.

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+In English, adopt may mean 1) to take something up, such as an opinion ('we adopt the view that ....'), or 2) for a grown person to care for another person's child as if it was their own. This article is about the adoption of children.
+
+Before adoption laws there was trouble when people gave their children away, and later wanted them back again. These days, children may be put in foster care for a short time, and after, the child may go back to the parents again. But legal adoption lasts for ever. After legal adoption the adoptive parent(s) have all rights and responsibilities to the child. The biological parents have no legal rights or responsibilities to the child at all. Legal adoptions may only be cancelled if they were not done as the law says.
+
+In the West, till not long ago, public opinion was that people should only have children if they were married. Everything else meant shame, not only for the parents, but also for a child whose parents were not married. Many children of unmarried parents were given for adoption, and adoptive parents would make out they were biological parents and try to keep secret that their child was adopted.
+
+Today there is still secrecy about adoption. General opinion is that all adoptions are good, but even so, experts know that adoption can be trouble. Some ask questions about the family love for an adopted child.[1] Almost one out of three people asked say that adopted children have trouble behaving, have more illness, and are more easily addicted to drugs and alcohol. But adoptive parents were described by almost 90 percent as “lucky, advantaged, and unselfish” [2]
+
+In many countries there are strong opinions on adoption. In some places single women may adopt a child, but single men may not. Some people say men are more likely to abuse children than women [3] Opinions are changing fast, and many places these days homosexual couples may adopt children.
+
+Many adopted people are pleased with their adoption. But many others are not. For example, experts have looked into adopted people's identity problems - their idea of self.[4][5] Though the law says adoption lasts for ever, people from troubled adoptions want to know about their biological parents more than people from happy adoptions. Inter-racial adoption may also have problems for the adopted child's idea of self, of culture, and of where they come from.
+
+Many grown people who had a troubled adoption look into their family history. Even some people who were happily adopted want to know more about where they came from. In some countries, people can read about their adoption at a public records office. In other countries adoption records are kept secret.
+
+In England and Wales, people adopted after 1975 may easily read parts of their adoption records. For people adopted earlier than 1975 there are more complex rules. In Scotland, adopted people have always been able to find their birth records with details of their biological mother, and possibly their father. But all over the United Kingdom there are rules that limit the details which public records may give out about living people.
+
+Meetings between adopted people and their biological parents have different effects. In England and Wales, about 40% of these meetings do not lead to a long lasting relationship.[6]
+
+Many women are sad after giving a child up for adoption. Some women never forget, and remember the child on birthdays, and some even say they think of the child every day.[7] Many feel they were forced to give their child away, and that they did not get any help. Many can not take in what happened to them. They want people to know what happened, and to make sure that it does not happen again.

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+
+
+†Homo sapiens idaltu White  2003
+Homo sapiens sapiens
+
+A human is a member of the species Homo sapiens, which means 'wise man' in Latin.[3] Carolus Linnaeus put humans in the mammalian order of primates.[1] Humans are a type of hominid, and chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are their closest living relatives.
+
+Humans are mammals. They are also social animals. They usually live in groups. They help and protect each other. They care for their children. Humans are bipedal, which means they walk on two legs.
+
+Humans have a very complex brain, which is much larger than that of the other living apes. They use language, make ideas, and feel emotions. This brain, and the fact that arms are not needed for walking, lets humans use tools. Humans use tools far more than any other species.
+
+There are humans living on every continent.[4][5] As of 2020, there were over 7,600 million people living on Earth.[6]
+
+Humans have a long period of development after birth. Their life depends less on instinct than other animals, and more on learning. Humans are also born with their brains not so well developed as those of other mammals. This makes for an unusually long childhood, and which makes family life important. If their brains were better developed at birth, they would be larger, and this would make birth more difficult. In birth, the baby's head has to get through the 'birth canal', a passageway through the mother's pelvis.
+
+Many animals use signs and sounds to communicate with each other. But humans have a complex system called language. It allows them to express ideas by using words. Humans are capable of making abstract ideas and communicating them to others. Human language can express things that are not present, or talk about events that are not happening at that time.[7] The things might be elsewhere, and the events may also have occurred at another place or time.[8]
+
+No known animals have a system of communication that is as elaborate as human language. By using words to communicate with each other, humans make complex communities with laws, traditions and customs. Humans like to understand the world around them. They try to explain things through myth, science and philosophy. Wanting to understand things has helped  humans make important discoveries.
+
+Humans are the only species living today known to build fires, to cook their food and wear clothes. Humans use more technology than any other animal on Earth ever has. Humans like things that are beautiful and like to make art, literature and music. Humans use education and teaching to pass on skills, ideas and customs to the next generations.
+
+Humans are part of the animal kingdom. They are mammals, which means that they give birth to their young, and females feed their babies with breast milk. Humans belong to the order of primates. Apes like gorillas and orangutans are also primates. The closest living relatives of humans are the two chimpanzee species: the common chimpanzee and the bonobo. Scientists have examined the genes of humans and chimpanzees, and compared their DNA. The studies showed that 95% to 99% of the DNA of humans and chimpanzees is the same.[9][10][11][12][13]
+
+Biologists explain the similarity between humans and other hominoids by their descent from a common ancestor. In 2001, a hominid skull was discovered in Chad. The skull is about 7 million years old, and has been classified as Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This skull may show that the date at which humans started to evolve (develop differently) from other primates is 2 million years earlier than scientists had previously thought.[14]
+
+Humans are part of a subfamily called the Homininae (or hominins), inside the hominids or great apes.
+
+Long ago, there used to be other types of hominins on Earth. They were like modern humans, but not the same. Homo sapiens are the only type of hominins who are alive today.[15] The earliest known fossils of genus Homo have been called Homo habilis (handy man). The first fossils of Homo habilis were found in Tanzania. Homo hablilis is thought to have lived about 2.2 to 1.7 million years ago.[16] Another human species thought to be an ancestor of the modern human is Homo erectus.[17] There are other extinct species of Homo known today. Many of them were likely our 'cousins', as they developed differently than our ancestors.[18] A theory called the Sahara pump theory has been used to tell how different species of plants and animals moved from Africa to the Middle East, and then elsewhere. Early humans may have moved from Africa to other parts of the world in the same way.
+
+The first truly modern humans seem to have appeared between 300,000,[19] and 200,000 years ago in East Africa.[20][21][22] In paleontology, 200,000 years are a "short" time. So, scientists speak of a "recent single origin" of humans. These early humans later moved out from Africa. By about 90,000 years ago they had moved into Eurasia. This was the area where Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, had been living for a long time (at least 350,000 years).
+
+By about 42 to 44,000 years ago Homo sapiens had reached western Europe, including Britain.[23] In Europe and western Asia, Homo sapiens replaced the neanderthals by about 35,000 years ago. The details of this event are not known.
+
+At roughly the same time Homo sapiens arrived in Australia. Their arrival in the Americas was much later, about 15,000 years ago.[24] All these earlier groups of modern man were hunter-gatherers.
+
+Early human history is commonly divided into three ages. The time periods are labeled with the material used for tools.
+
+The "Stone Age" is commonly subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods.
+
+Up to about 10 thousand years ago most humans were hunter-gatherers. They did not live in one place, but moved around as the seasons changed. The start of planting crops for food, called farming made the Neolithic revolution. Some people chose to live in settlements. This also led to the invention of metal tools and the training of animals. About 6000 years ago the first proper civilizations began in places like Egypt, India, and Syria. The people formed governments and armies for protection. They competed for area to live and resources and sometimes they fought with each other. About 4000 years ago some states took over or conquered other states and made empires. Examples include ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
+
+Some modern day religions also began at this time such as Judaism and Hinduism. From the Middle Ages and beyond humanity saw an explosion of new technology and inventions. The printing press, the car, the train, and electricity are all examples of this kind of invention. As a result of the developments in technology, modern humans live in a world where everyone is connected, for example by telephone or by internet. People now control and change the environment around them in many different ways.
+
+In early times, humans usually settled near to water and other natural resources. In modern times if people need things they can transport them from somewhere else. So basing a settlement close to resources is no longer as important as it once was. Since 1800, the number of humans, or population, has increased by six billion.[25] Most humans (61%) live in Asia. The rest live in the Americas (14%), Africa (14%), Europe (11%), and Oceania (0.5%).
+
+Most people live in towns and cities. This number is expected to get higher. In 2005 the United Nations said that by the end of that year, over half the world would be living in cities. This is an important change in human settlement patterns: a century earlier in 1900 only 14% of people lived in cities, in 2000 47% of the world's population lived in cities. In developed countries, like the United States, 80% of the population live in cities.[26]
+
+Humans have a large effect on the world. Humans are at the top of the food chain and are generally not eaten by any animals. Humans have been described as super predators because of this.[27] Because of industry and other reasons humans are said to be a big cause of global climate change.[28]
+
+Human body measurements differ. The worldwide average height for an adult human male is about 172 cm (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in), and the worldwide average height for adult human females is about 158 cm (5 ft 2 in). The average weight of an adult human is 54–64 kg (119–141 lb) for females and 70–83 kg (154–183 lb) for males.[29][30] Body weight and body type is influenced by genetics and environment. It varies greatly among individuals.
+
+Human hair grows on the underarms, the genitals, legs, arms, and on the top of the head in adults of both genders. Hair will usually grow on the face of most adult males, and on the chest and back of many adult males. In human children of both genders, long hair grows only on the top of the head. Although it might look like humans have fewer hairs than most primates, they actually do not. The average human has more hair follicles, where hair grows from, than most chimpanzees have.[31] Human hair can be black, brown, red or blond.[32] When humans get older hair can turn grey or white.
+
+Human skin colors vary greatly. They can be a very pale pink all the way to dark brown. There is a reason why people in tropical areas have dark skins. The dark pigment (melanin) in the skin protects them against ultraviolet rays in sunlight. The damage caused by UV rays can and does cause skin cancer in some people. Therefore, in more sunny areas, natural selection favors darker skin color.[33][34] Sun tanning has nothing to do with this issue, because it is just a temporary process which is not inherited. In colder climates the advantage of light-colored skin is that it radiates less heat. Therefore, in less sunny areas, natural selection favors lighter skin color.[35][36][37]
+
+Humans are not as strong as other primates of the same size. An average female orangutan is at least three times as strong as an average human.[38]
+
+The average human male needs 7 to 8 hours sleep a day. People who sleep less than this are generally not as healthy. A child needs more sleep, 9 to 10 hours on average.
+
+The human life cycle is quite like most other mammals. The young grow inside the female mother for nine months. After this time the baby is pushed out of the woman's vagina.
+
+However, unlike most other mammals, human childbirth is somewhat dangerous.   Babies' heads are large, and the mothers pelvis bones are not very wide. Since people walk on two legs, their hips are fairly narrow. This means that birth can be difficult. Rarely, mother or baby may die in childbirth.[39] The number of mothers dying in childbirth is less in the 21st century. This is because of better medication and treatment. In many poor countries the number of mothers dying is higher. Sometimes it is up to 10 times as many as richer countries.[40]
+
+The average human baby weighs 3–4 kg at birth and is 50–60 cm tall. Babies are often smaller in poorer countries.[41] Babies in poor countries may die early because of this.[42]
+
+Humans have four stages in their lives: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
+
+Life expectancy is how long you are expected to live. This depends on many things including where you live. The highest life expectancy is for people from Monaco, 89.52 years. The lowest is for people from Chad where life expectancy is only 49.81 years.[43]
+
+Psychology is the study of how the human mind works. The human brain is the main controller of what a person does. Everything from moving and breathing to thinking is done by the brain. The human neocortex is huge compared with other mammals, and gives us our thinking ability, and the ability to speak and understand language.
+
+Neurology is the study of how the brain works, psychology is the study of how and why people think and feel. Many aspects of life are also influenced by the hormone system, including growth and sexual development. The hormonal system (especially the pituitary gland) is partly controlled by the brain.
+
+Human behaviour is hard to understand, so sometimes psychologists study animals because they may be simpler and easier to know. Psychology overlaps with many other sciences including medicine, biology, computer science and linguistics.
+
+Language at its most basic is talking, reading and writing. The study of language is called linguistics. Humans have the most complicated languages on Earth. Although almost all animals communicate, human language is unique. Its use of syntax, and its huge learnt vocabulary are its main features.[8][44] There are over 7,300 languages spoken around the world. The world's most spoken first language is Mandarin Chinese, and the most spoken language is English.[45] This includes speakers of English as a second language.
+
+Art has existed almost as long as humans. People have been doing some types of art for thousands of years as the picture on the right shows. Art represents how someone feels in the form of a painting, a sculpture or a photograph.
+
+Music has also been around for thousands of years. Music can be made with only your voice but most of the time people use instruments. Music can be made using simple instruments only such as simple drums all the way up to electric guitars, keyboards and violins. Music can be loud, fast, quiet, slow or many different styles. Music represents how the people who are playing the music feel.
+
+Literature is anything made or written using language. This includes books, poetry, legends, myths and fairy tales. Literature is important as without it many of the things we use today, such as Wikipedia, would not exist.
+
+Humans often categorize themselves by race or ethnicity. Modern biologists know that human gene sequences are very similar compared to many other animals.[46][47][48][49] This is because of the "recent single origin" of modern humans.[50] That is one reason why there is only one human race.[51][52]:360
+
+Ethnic groups are often linked by linguistic, cultural, ancestral, and national or regional ties. Race and ethnicity can lead to different social treatment called racism.
+
+Religion is a belief of faith in a higher being, spirit, or any system of ideas that a group of people believe in. To have faith in a belief is to have the belief without proof that it is true. Faith can bring people together because they all believe in the same thing. Some of the things religions talk about are what happens after death, why humans exist, how humans came to exist (creation), and what is good to do and not to do (morality). Some people are very religious. Many people believe in one all-powerful god; some people believe in more than one god; some people are atheists, who do not believe in a god; and some people are agnostics, who are not sure if there is a god.
+
+Technology are the things and methods which humans use to make tasks easier. Science is understanding how the universe and the things in it work. Technology used to be quite simple. It was passed on by people telling others, until writing was invented. This allowed technology to develop much quicker. Now people understand more and more about the world and the universe. The use of the telescope by Galileo, Einstein's theory of relativity, lasers, and computing are all scientific discoveries. Technology is of great importance to science, to medicine, and to everyday life.
+
+A war is a lethal fight between large groups of people, usually countries or states. A war involves the use of lethal weapons as both sides try to kill the other. It is estimated that during the 20th century, between 167 and 188 million humans died because of war.[53] The people who fight for a state in wars are called soldiers. The people who fight in wars, but not for a state, are usually called "fighters".
+
+Modern wars are very different from wars a thousand or even a hundred years ago. Modern war involves sabotage, terrorism, propaganda, and guerrilla warfare. In modern-day wars, civilians (people who are not soldiers) are often targets. An example of this is the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945,[54] about half on the days of the bombings. Since then, thousands more have died from wounds or illness because of exposure to radiation released by the bombs.[55] In both cities, the overwhelming majority of the dead were civilians. In Germany, Austria, and Great Britain, conventional bombs were used. About 60,595 British,[56] and 550,000 German,[57] civilians were killed by planes bombing cities.