United States of America
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, or
insular areas, scattered around the
Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with more than 300 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 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$14.3 trillion (23% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 21% at
purchasing power parity).
[4][8]
The nation was founded by
thirteen colonies of
Great Britain located along the
Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the
Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the
American Revolutionary War, the first successful
colonial war of independence.
[9] A
federal 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. The
Spanish–American War and
World War I confirmed the nation's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged 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 left the United States as the sole
superpower. The country accounts for
approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.
[10]
Source: Wikipedia
National Resources:
American Civil Liberties Union
Code of Federal Regulations
Declaration of Independence
Flags of the States & Territories
Freedom of Information Act
Home School Legal Defense
Jurisdiction Over Federal Areas Within the State
Law of Nations
Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics
National Constitutions of Many Countries
State Constitutions
U.N. Charter
U.S. Code
U.S. Constitution
U.S. Supreme Court Multi-Media Database

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