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United States of America :
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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
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 several
territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 308 million
people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area,
and the third largest 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. 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).
Indigenous peoples, probably of Asian descent, have inhabited what is now the
mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American
population was greatly reduced after European contact by disease and warfare.
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. 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. 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.
The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen
states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against
British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on
territory separated from the claims of the existing states:
Kentucky from
Virginia;
Tennessee from
North Carolina; and
Maine from
Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories
obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions
comprises Vermont,
Texas, and
Hawaii: each was an independent republic
before joining the union. During the American Civil War,
West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most
recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959. The states do not
have the right to secede from the union.
The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas
considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the
federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll,
an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. The United
States also possesses five major overseas territories:
Puerto Rico and the
United States Virgin Islands in
the Caribbean; and American Samoa,
Guam, and the
Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific. Those born in the territories
(except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship. American citizens residing
in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens
residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income
tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the
U.S. Congress.
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US websites :
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DiscoverAmerica.com
DiscoverAmerica.com serves as the Official
Travel and Tourism Website of the United States. The website is operated by
Discover America LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Travel, and was
developed through a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of
Commerce. U.S. Travel is the non-profit, trade organization located in
Washington D.C. that represents over 1,700 travel related organizations. U.S.
Travel's mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the
United States.
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Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is
the central government entity established by the United States Constitution,
which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the
individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the
legislative, executive, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers
and the system of "checks and balances," each of these branches has some
authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches,
and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches. The
policies of the federal government have a broad impact on both the domestic and
foreign affairs of the United States. In addition, the powers of the federal
government as a whole are limited by the Constitution, which, per the Tenth
Amendment, states that all powers not expressly assigned to the federal
government are reserved to the states or to the people.
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National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an
agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the
primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and
health-related research. It consists of 27 separate institutes and centers which
includes the Office of the Director.
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President of the United States
The President of the United States is the head
of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest
political official in the United States by influence and recognition. The
President leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of
only two nationally elected federal officers (the other being the Vice President
of the United States).
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United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the
Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting
economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of
Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed to the
Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, and its bureaus and agencies
specializing in labor were transferred to the new Department of Labor.
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United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior
(DOI) is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government
responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the
administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians, and to insular areas of the United States.
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United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (often
referred to as the State Department), is the United States federal executive
department responsible for international relations of the United States,
equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries. The Department was
created in 1789 and was the first executive department established.
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United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives,
commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United
States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition
and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the
Constitution (which does not use the terms "upper" and "lower"). Each state
receives representation in the House in proportion to its population but is
entitled to at least one Representative. The most populous state, California,
currently has 53 representatives. The total number of voting representatives is
currently fixed at 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The
presiding officer of the House is the speaker, and is elected by the members of
the House.
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United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of
the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of
Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are
established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution (which does not use the
terms "upper" and "lower"). Each U.S state is represented by two senators,
regardless of population. This ensures equal representation of each state in the
Senate. Senators serve staggered six-year terms. The chamber of the United
States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol building, in
Washington, D.C., the national capital. The House of Representatives convenes in
the south wing of the same building.
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White House
The White House is the official residence and
principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800
of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the
residence of every U.S. President since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved
into the home in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the
building outward, creating two colonnades which were meant to conceal stables
and storage.
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