The United States of America

The United States of America
(the United States, the States, the U.S., the USA, and America)

THE USA PROFILE
Type of the state: Federal presidential constitutional republic
Flag: Stars and Stripes
Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner
Motto: In God We Trust
(It first appeared on Us coins after April 22, 1864, when it was written on a 2-cent piece. Theafter, Congress extended its use to other coins. On July 30, 1956, it became the national motto.)
Capital: Washington, D.C.
The largest city: New York
Total area: 9 826 675 sq.km
Population: 312 392 000 (2011)

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area (after Russia, Canada and China), and the third largest by both land area At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area (after Russia, Canada and China), and the third largest by both land area and population (after China and India).
Currency: United States dollar ($)

The 44th President of the USA:
Barack Obama

The Vice President of the USA:
Joe Biden

The Flag of the USA
The thirteen-star, thirteen-stripe national flag of the United States of America was adopted on June 14, 1777. There was one star and one stripe for every state in the new country. Gradually, as new states were added to the Union, a new star was added to the national flag. There are now fifty stars on the American flag, one for each state. The thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen states.

National Anthem:
“The Star- Spangled Banner”

The national anthem of the USA was written during the war of 1812. In 1814 Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer wrote a poem titled “Defence of Fort McHenry” which could be sung to the tune of one popular song of that time. On September 20, 1814 the poem was published in the Baltimore newspaper. The song was caught on and everyone was singing it. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson ordered that “The Star-Spangled Banner” would be played at all state occasions. In 1931 the Congress of the USA declared it the National Anthem.

The Star- Spangled Banner
Oh, say! Can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave?
O’er the land of the free and home of the brave?

“America, the Beautiful!”
Many people wanted to make “America, the Beautiful” the national anthem instead of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, because it was not written as a result of a war. The tune is easier to sing, and the whole country is praised, not only the flag. “America, the Beautiful” was written by Katherine Lee Bates. She chose the music of a hymn by Samuel Ward. The words and music travelled around the world, and today Mexico, Canada and Australia sing it with their own countries’ names instead of “America”.

The origin of the word “America”
For a while after the first voyage of Columbus in 1492, America was called the “New World”. Later, it was decided by map-makers in Europe to name the New World after a man named Amerigo Vespucci.

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian merchant and adventurer who made three trips to the New World. Columbus became the first explorer to reach the mainland of South America in 1498, but Amerigo Vespucci soon wrote a book in which he claimed to have gone there in 1497. This was not true, but people did not know for many years that Amerigo Vespucci was lying.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE USA
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 Pacific and Caribbean.

The USA is divided into three areas: Eastern area – a highland, where the Appalachian Mountains are situated, Central area – a plain, and Western area which is mountainous and includes the Cordilleras and the Rocky Mountains.

The highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains is 2, 037 metres high. The highest peak of the Cordilleras in the USA is 4, 418 metres high. The Appalachian Mountains are very old. The Rocky Mountains are considered to be young.

The highest point is Mount McKinley, Denali Borough, Alaska +20,320 ft (6,194 m) above sea level

The lowest point is Death Valley, Inyo County, California −282 ft (−86 m) below sea level.

Between the Appalachian and Cordilleran there are vast valleys known by the general name of the Great Valley. Another large valley is the Mississippi Lowland.

The north-eastern part of the USA is the region of the five Great Lakes (Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario) which are connected by channels cut by rapids. The greatest of these rapids is the Niagara Falls. The St. Lawrence River joins the water of the five lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. In the west of the USA there is another lake called the Great Salt Lake.

The Niagara Falls

The main rivers of the USA
The main rivers of the USA are the Mississippi (it is the second largest river in the world after the Nile; it is the largest river in the USA); the Missouri, the Yukon, the Colorado, the Columbia, the St. Lawrence and the Hudson.

CLIMATE
The USA have several climatic regions: from continental climate in New England to subtropical in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. The weather ranges from the warm, wet conditions of the Appalachian Highland to the desert conditions of some of the western states. Average summer and winter temperatures are different in every climatic region.

The Political System of the USA
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States (the head of state and head of government), Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.

The US is the oldest continuous democracy in the world. It was established in 1789, although not all features of the system were as democratic as they are now.

Organiasation of Command:
“The constitution has divided the powers of government into three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judiciary, lodging each with a distinct magistracy. The Legislative it has given completely to the Senate and House of Representatives. It has declared that the Executive powers shall be vested in the President, submitting special articles of it to a negative by the Senate, and it has vested the Judiciary power in the courts of justice, with certain exceptions also in favor of the Senate.”
~Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Executive Appointments, 1790. ME 3:15

The executive branch is headed by the President and is independent of the legislature.
Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The judicial branch (or judiciary), composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, exercises judicial power (or judiciary). The judiciary's function is to interpret the United States Constitution and federal laws and regulations. This includes resolving disputes between the executive and legislative branches. The federal government's layout is explained in the Constitution.

The executive branch:
First in succession line to President in case of death, resignation or removal
President of the Senate

The judicial branch:

Legislative Arm:

POLITICAL PARTIES
Two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have dominated American politics since the American Civil War, although other parties have also existed.

Major Political Parties in the USA
Republicans
Democrats

The Republican Party

The Democratic Party

American Symbols
Symbols

The flag “Stars and Stripes”
The colours of the flag are red, white and blue.
There are 50 stars to represent 50 states.
The 13 stripes represent the first thirteen colonies.

The Great Seal
On July 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were given the task of creating a seal for the United States of America.
Seal would be a symbol of an independent nation and a free people Parts of the Seal
The color white signifies purity and innocence
Red, hardiness and valor
Blue signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

Do you see a pattern of thirteen in the Great Seal?
13 stars in the crest above the eagle
13 stripes in the shield upon the eagle's breast
13 arrows in the eagle's left claw
13 olives and leaves in the eagles' right claw
13 letters in the motto carried by the eagle, E Pluribus Unum
Great Seal
Why thirteen? Thirteen represents the first thirteen states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

The Bald Eagle
The bald eagle is the symbol of the USA because it symbolizes courage, strength, and freedom.
The bald eagle can be seen in many places like the President’s flag, and on a one dollar bill.

The Liberty Bell
The liberty bell is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It rang when Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.
In 1846 a crack appeared.

Liberty Bell
Cast in London, England in 1752
The Liberty Bell rang when the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence
It become the symbol of freedom in the United States.
The bell weighs about 2000 pounds and is made mostly of copper (70%) and tin (25%).
Shortly after its arrival in Philadelphia the Bell cracked.
Local craftsmen recast the bell 2 times using the metal from the old bell, but it still cracked.
Today, the Liberty Bell hangs in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell Pavilion on Market Street for all to see and is still gently rung each July 4th..

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty
She was a gift from France.
She stands in New York Harbour.
She´s also known as Lady Liberty because she is a symbol of freedom and democracy.
She represented hope and freedom to the immigrants who came here from other countries.

Statue of Liberty
Located in New York
Gift from the people of France
Statue is 151 feet (46 meters) tall (305 feet including base and pedestal),
the Statue of Liberty official name is Liberty Enlightening the World.
The statue, made of copper sheets with an iron framework
Lady Liberty is escaping the chains of tyranny, which lie at her feet.
Her right hand holds aloft a burning torch that represents liberty
. Her left hand holds a tablet inscribed with the date "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals), the day the United States declared its independence from England.
She is wearing flowing robes
Crown has seven rays of her spiked crown symbolize the seven seas and continents.

Mount Rushmore
Memorial in honour of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.
It is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Presidents
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Theodor Roosevelt
Abraham
Lincoln

The White House
It is the home of the President.
It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
George Washington is the only President who didn’t live there.
The President’s Office is called the Oval Office.

The White House
The White House is the home of the President of the United States. It is located in Washington, D.C. Every President except George Washington has lived there.
The President’s office is called the Oval Office. Here the President does the business of the country.

Uncle Sam
Congress adopted Uncle Sam as an official symbol in 1961.
He is best known for his army recruiting posters, which said…

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam
The exact origins of Uncle Sam as a symbol for the United States are unknown.
But the most widely accepted theory is that Uncle Sam was named after Samuel Wilson.
Samuel Wilson was a businessman from Troy, NY.
He supplied the U.S. Army with beef in barrels.
The barrels were labeled "U.S."
When asked what the initials stood for, one of Wilson's workers said it stood for
“Uncle Sam Wilson. “
The suggestion that the meat shipments came from "Uncle Sam" led to the idea that Uncle Sam symbolized the Federal Government and the association stuck.
In 1961, Congress passed a resolution that recognized Samuel Wilson as the inspiration for the symbol Uncle Sam.
Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist drew the first “Uncle Sam”.
The most famous picture of Uncle Sam appeared on an Army recruiting poster. The poster was designed in World War I, and was used again in World War II. The caption reads
"I Want You for U.S. Army."
James Montgomery Flagg drew this picture, and served as the model too!

Supreme Court Building

U.S. Capitol
Building
Home of Senate
House of Rep.