1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Flag of the United States
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The flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag, is the national flag of the United States. S. Nicknames for the flag include The Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, the current design of the U. S. flag is its 27th, the design of the flag has been modified officially 26 times since 1777. The 48-star flag was in effect for 47 years until the 49-star version became official on July 4,1959, the 50-star flag was ordered by the then president Eisenhower on August 21,1959, and was adopted in July 1960. It is the version of the U. S. flag and has been in use for over 56 years. At the time of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the flag contemporaneously known as the Continental Colors has historically been referred to as the first national flag. The name Grand Union was first applied to the Continental Colors by George Preble in his 1872 history of the American flag, the flag closely resembles the British East India Company flag of the era, and Sir Charles Fawcett argued in 1937 that the company flag inspired the design. Both flags could have been constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign. However, an East India Company flag could have nine to 13 stripes. In any case, both the stripes and the stars have precedents in classical heraldry, Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year. While scholars still argue about this, tradition holds that the new flag was first hoisted in June 1777 by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment. The first official U. S. flag flown during battle was on August 3,1777, Massachusetts reinforcements brought news of the adoption by Congress of the official flag to Fort Schuyler. A voucher is extant that Capt. Swartwout of Dutchess County was paid by Congress for his coat for the flag, the 1777 resolution was most probably meant to define a naval ensign. In the late 18th century, the notion of a flag did not yet exist. The flag resolution appears between other resolutions from the Marine Committee, on May 10,1779, Secretary of the Board of War Richard Peters expressed concern it is not yet settled what is the Standard of the United States. However, the term, Standard, referred to a standard for the Army of the United States. Each regiment was to carry the standard in addition to its regimental standard. The national standard was not a reference to the national or naval flag, the appearance was up to the maker of the flag. Some flag makers arranged the stars into one big star, in a circle or in rows, one arrangement features 13 five-pointed stars arranged in a circle, with the stars arranged pointing outwards from the circle, the so-called Betsy Ross flag
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Timeline of United States history
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This is a timeline of United States history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political and economic events in the United States and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of the United States, some dates before September 14,1752, when the British government adopted the Gregorian calendar, may be given in the Old Style
4.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
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Andrew Jackson
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Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson served in Congress, as president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the common man against what he saw as a corrupt aristocracy and to preserve the Union. Jackson was born in 1767 somewhere near the border between North and South Carolina, into a recently immigrated Scots-Irish farming family. During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson acted as a courier, at age 13, he was captured and mistreated by the British. He moved to Tennessee and practiced as a lawyer, in 1791, he married Rachel Donelson Robards. The couple later learned that Rachels previous husband had failed to finalize their divorce, Jackson served briefly in the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate. Upon returning to Tennessee, he was appointed a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court, in 1801, Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tennessee militia, and was elected its commander the following year. He built the Hermitage plantation in 1804, in 1806, he killed a man in a duel over a matter of honor regarding his wife. He led Tennessee militia and U. S. Army regulars during the Creek War of 1813-1814, Jackson won a decisive victory in the War of 1812 over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans, making him into a national hero. Because Spanish Florida was a refuge for blacks escaping slavery, who allied with the Seminole Indians, Jackson invaded the territory in 1816 to destroy the Negro Fort. He led an invasion in 1818, as part of the First Seminole War, resulting in the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819. Jackson briefly served as Floridas first Territorial Governor in 1821, Jackson was nominated by several state legislatures to be a candidate for president in 1824. Although he earned a plurality in both the electoral and popular vote against three major candidates, Jackson failed to get a majority and lost in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams, Jacksons supporters founded what became the Democratic Party. He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams, building and expanding upon his base of support in the West and South, he won in a landslide. He blamed the death of his wife, Rachel, which occurred after the election, on the Adams campaigners, as president, Jackson faced a threat of secession by South Carolina over the Tariff of Abominations, which Congress had enacted under Adams. In contrast to several of his successors, he denied the right of a state to secede from the union or to nullify federal law. The Nullification Crisis was defused when the tariff was amended and Jackson threatened the use of force if South Carolina attempted to secede. Jackson believed strongly in majority rule and he supported direct election of senators and abolition of the Electoral College, believing that these reforms would provide average citizens with greater power
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Tennessee
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Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States, Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, Tennessees capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 654,610. Memphis is the states largest city, with a population of 655,770, the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1,1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and this sharply reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. This city was established to house the Manhattan Projects uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the worlds first atomic bomb, Tennessees major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, the town was located on a river of the same name, and appears on maps as early as 1725. The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain, some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean meeting place, winding river, according to ethnographer James Mooney, the name can not be analyzed and its meaning is lost. The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, the spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlakes Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created Tennessee County, the county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new out of the Southwest Territory. Other sources differ on the origin of the nickname, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states, the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessees eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River
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Vice President of the United States
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The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is elected, together with the president. The Office of the Vice President of the United States assists, as the president of the United States Senate, the vice president votes only when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Currently, the president is usually seen as an integral part of a presidents administration. The Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the president as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence of Indiana is the 48th and current vice president and he assumed office on January 20,2017. The formation of the office of vice president resulted directly from the compromise reached at the Philadelphia Convention which created the Electoral College, the delegates at Philadelphia agreed that each state would receive a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that states allocation of Representatives and Senators. The delegates assumed that electors would typically choose to favor any candidate from their state over candidates from other states, under a plurality election process, this would tend to result in electing candidates solely from the largest states. Consequently, the delegates agreed that presidents must be elected by a majority of the number of electors. To guard against such stratagems, the Philadelphia delegates specified that the first runner-up presidential candidate would become vice president, the process for selecting the vice president was later modified in the Twelfth Amendment. Each elector still receives two votes, but now one of those votes is for president, while the other is for vice president. The requirement that one of those votes be cast for a candidate not from the electors own state remains in effect. S, other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. As President of the Senate, the president has two primary duties, to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheneys tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority, as President of the Senate, the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes that was surpassed by John C. Calhoun with 31. Adamss votes protected the presidents sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, on at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters
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John C. Calhoun
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John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina, and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority rights in politics. He began his career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the Souths secession from the Union in 1860–1861, Calhoun began his political career in the House of Representatives. He then served as Secretary of War under President James Monroe, Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency in the 1824 election. After failing to support, he let his name be put forth as a candidate for vice president. The Electoral College elected Calhoun for vice president by an overwhelming majority and he served under John Quincy Adams and continued under Andrew Jackson, who defeated Adams in the election of 1828. During his terms as president, he made a record of 31 tie-breaking votes in Congress. Calhoun had a relationship with Jackson primarily due to the Nullification Crisis. In 1832, with only a few remaining in his second term, he resigned as vice president. He sought the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1844, but lost to surprise nominee James K. Polk, Calhoun served as Secretary of State under John Tyler from 1844 to 1845. As Secretary of State, he supported the annexation of Texas as a means to extend the slave power and he then returned to the Senate, where he opposed the Mexican–American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Compromise of 1850 before his death in 1850. Calhoun often served as a virtual party-independent who variously aligned as needed with Democrats, later in life, Calhoun became known as the cast-iron man for his rigid defense of Southern beliefs and practices. His concept of republicanism emphasized approval of slavery and minority rights, as embodied by the Southern states—he owned dozens of slaves in Fort Hill. Calhoun also asserted that slavery, rather than being an evil, was a positive good. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a concurrent majority whereby the minority could sometimes block proposals that it infringed on their liberties. To this end, Calhoun supported states rights and nullification, through which states could declare null, Calhoun was one of the Great Triumvirate or the Immortal Trio of Congressional leaders, along with his Congressional colleagues Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. In 1957, a Senate Committee headed by Senator John F. Kennedy selected Calhoun as one of the five greatest United States Senators of all time
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South Carolina
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South Carolina /ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia across the Savannah River, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U. S. Constitution, doing so on May 23,1788. South Carolina became the first state to vote to secede from the Union on December 20,1860, after the American Civil War, it was readmitted into the United States on June 25,1868. South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 23rd most populous U. S. state and its GDP as of 2013 was $183.6 billion, with an annual growth rate of 3. 13%. The capital and largest city is Columbia with a 2013 population of 133,358, South Carolina is named in honor of King Charles I of England, under whose reign the English colony was first formed, with Carolus being Latin for Charles. There is evidence of activity in the area about 12000 years ago. Along the Savannah River were the Apalachee, Yuchi, and the Yamasee, further west were the Cherokee, and along the Catawba River, the Catawba. These tribes were village-dwellers, relying on agriculture as their food source. The Cherokee lived in wattle and daub houses made with wood and clay, about a dozen separate small tribes summered on the coast harvesting oysters and fish, and cultivating corn, peas and beans. Travelling inland as much as 50 miles mostly by canoe, they wintered on the plain, hunting deer and gathering nuts. The names of these survive in place names like Edisto Island, Kiawah Island. The Spanish were the first Europeans in the area, in 1521, founding San Miguel de Gualdape, established with 500 settlers, it was abandoned within a year by 150 survivors. In 1562 French settlers established a settlement at what is now the Charlesfort-Santa Elena archaeological site on Parris Island, three years later the Spanish built a fort on the same site, but withdrew following hostilities with the English navy. In 1629, King Charles I of England established the Province of Carolina an area covering what is now South and North Carolina, Georgia, in the 1670s, English planters from the Barbados established themselves near what is now Charleston. Settlers built rice plantations in the South Carolina Lowcountry, east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, settlers came from all over Europe. Plantation labor was done by African slaves who formed the majority of the population by 1720, another cash crop was the Indigo plant, a plant source of blue dye, developed by Eliza Lucas. Meanwhile, in Upstate South Carolina, west of the Fall Line, was settled by farmers and traders. Colonists overthrew the rule, seeing more direct representation
10.
Chief Justice of the United States
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The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices, the eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1789 until 1866, the office was known as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice also serves as a spokesperson for the judicial branch. The Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over oral arguments, when the court renders an opinion, the Chief Justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the courts opinion. The Chief Justice also has significant agenda-setting power over the courts meetings, in the case of an impeachment of a President of the United States, which has occurred twice, the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice also has the duty of administering the oath of office of the President of the United States. The first Chief Justice was John Jay, the 17th and current Chief Justice is John G. Roberts, Jr. The office was known as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and is still informally referred to using that title. However,28 U. S. C. §1 specifies that the title is Chief Justice of the United States, the title was changed from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Congress in 1866 at the suggestion of the sixth Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase. Chase wished to emphasize the Supreme Courts role as a branch of government. The first Chief Justice commissioned using the new title was Melville Fuller in 1888, use of the previous title when referring to Chief Justices John Jay through Roger B. Taney is technically correct, as that was the title during their time on the court. The other eight members of the court are officially Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chief Justice is the only member of the court to whom the Constitution refers as a Justice, and only in Article I. Article III of the Constitution refers to all members of the Supreme Court simply as Judges, the Chief Justice is nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed to sit on the Court by the United States Senate. The salary of the Chief Justice is set by Congress, the Constitution prohibits Congress from lowering the salary of any judge, including the Chief Justice, while that judge holds office. As of 2015, the salary is $258,100 per year, which is higher than that of the Associate Justices. Three serving Associate Justices have received promotions to Chief Justice, Edward Douglass White in 1910, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1941, Associate Justice Abe Fortas was nominated to the position of Chief Justice of the United States, but his nomination was filibustered by Senate Republicans in 1968. Despite the failed nomination, Fortas remained an Associate Justice until his resignation the following year, there have been 21 individuals nominated for Chief Justice, of whom 17 have been confirmed by the Senate, although a different 17 have served
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Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
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Media related to 1831 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
