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 308 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]
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In actuality, recent developments give the United States new opportunities to solve the Guantanamo problem in a way that has lasting, long-term benefits. ...
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MrsB108
Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:38:00 GM
United States. of Tara Promo Poster! Source: Seat42f. Posted by MrsB108 at 2:38 PM. 0 comments: Post a Comment · Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Favorite Vampire Diaries Character? Best New Show? ...
Q. I need three main points to help societies in the United States lose weight...such as putting tax on junk foods so not that many people can buy so much, therefore there will become less obese people.
Asked by Im Cool - Wed Apr 23 21:15:10 2008 - - 5 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Where there is a will there is a way. People will go to great lengths to stay obese because they can get Disability/ medicaid, food stamps etc... that is what we have to stop, the Get Out of Jail Free option. People do this to them selves, some are genetically pre-disposed, but ultimately, with their diet and lack of exercise they continue what their family started and pass it on.
Answered by Pat K - Wed Apr 23 21:24:57 2008
