^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language.
^ c. Whether the United States or the People's Republic of China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories.
^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States.The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 309 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest both by land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $14.4 trillion (a quarter of nominal global GDP and a fifth of global GDP at purchasing power parity).[4][8]
Indigenous peoples, probably of Asian origin, have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[9] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked 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 economy was the world's largest.[10] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for two-fifths of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]
Contents |
|
US Department of State
The United States has long been a leader in the fight against corruption. We led the way in 1977 with our Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminalizing ...
and more »
870px x 578px | 68.30kB
[source page]
James H Ward United States Navy
admin
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:07:44 GM
I Truly Do Miss You (. United States. of America) You opened it. Good Luck. Tonight at midnight your true love will realize they love you. Something good will happen to you at 1:00PM-4:40PM tomorrow, it could be anywhere. ...
Q. Hi, I am doing a "proposal" that is aim at targeting the deficiencies that prisons across the United States suffered, especially the State of California. In this proposal, I have to provide details of the common problems that affect prisoners inside prison who suffer from mental health problems. This proposal will consider the economic crisis that limits the government of California from providing better mental health treatment inside prison. So, which of the 50 states provides better mental health treatment to prisoners, excluding the State of California? Mmm, perhaps cost or something like that. Thank You!
Asked by Saul S - Wed Dec 2 02:43:31 2009 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Not so much an answer but an observation, my dear pal was on death row in San Quentin and he often wrote about how so many guys became so mentally ill that they were no longer fit for execution. Sadly this proved to be true when he took his own life in June this year, says it all for me. Peace
Answered by gerry mac - Wed Dec 2 14:20:39 2009
