1.
Colorado
–
Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
2.
United States
–
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
3.
Thomas Jefferson
–
Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
4.
County seat
–
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Romania, China, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function. In the United States, counties are the subdivisions of a state. Depending on the state, counties may provide services to the public, impose taxes. Some types of subdivisions, such as townships, may be incorporated or unincorporated. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county, a county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, in some of the colonial states, county seats include or formerly included Court House as part of their name. Most counties have only one county seat, an example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult, there have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states, Coffee County, for example, the official county seat is Greensboro, but an additional courthouse has been located in nearby High Point since 1938. For example, Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, in New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government. Historically, counties in this region have served mainly as dividing lines for the judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats, in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine the county seats are legally designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the shire town. Bennington County has two towns, but the Sheriff is located in Bennington. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments. As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county
5.
Golden, Colorado
–
Golden is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, founded during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was originally named Golden City in honor of Thomas L. Golden. Golden City served as the capital of the provisional Territory of Jefferson from 1860 to 1861, in 1867, the territorial capital was moved about 12 miles east to Denver City. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 18,867 in 2010, the Colorado School of Mines, offering programs in engineering and science, is located in Golden. It is the birthplace of the Jolly Rancher, a candy bought out by the Hershey Foods Corporation, Buffalo Bill Cody is buried nearby on Lookout Mountain. Golden City was established on 16 June 1859 along Clear Creek west of Denver, important businessmen and prospectors such as William A. H. Loveland and George West were among the first to settle in Golden. By the end of 1860, Golden City had been elected the seat of Jefferson County and was capital of the provisional Jefferson Territory. Golden City was temporarily removed from the status of capital as a result of an act passed on 5 November 1861 by the territorial government. Colorado City, a town to the south of Denver became the new temporary territorial capital. This status was revoked, however, as on 4 August 1862. It was the period between 1862 and the early 1870s that a fierce railroad competition developed between Denver, ten miles to the east, and Golden. By the mid-1860s, Golden held only a status as territorial capital rather than serve as the legitimate source of territorial power. Loveland founded the Colorado Central Railroad on 9 February 1865 to do just this, with Golden beginning talk of creating a railroad, prominent Denver residents raced to do the same. If we defeat those bonds, all hope of a railroad for the two years is gone… Gentlemen of Denver, what will you do. The fate of city is in your own hands. ”The residents of Denver voted for the bonds. By 1869, the race to Cheyenne was becoming less and less of a race. Golden, having then sidetracked into servicing various close-by mountain communities, continued to fall behind the set by the Denver railroad. However, The Colorado Central Railroad connected directly with Cheyenne seven years later, in 1877, but by that point, during the 1870s, it became home to three institutions of higher education, the Colorado University Schools, of which the Colorado School of Mines remains today
6.
Lakewood, Colorado
–
The City of Lakewood is a Home Rule Municipality which is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Lakewood is the fifth most populous city in the State of Colorado, the city population was 142,980 at the 2010 United States Census. Lakewood is west of Denver and is part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, the urban/suburban development of the community known as Lakewood was begun in 1889 by Charles Welch and W. A. H. Loveland, who platted a 13-block area along Colfax Avenue west of Denver in eastern Jefferson County, loveland, the former president of the Colorado Central Railroad, retired to the new community of Lakewood after many years of living in Golden. Until 1969, the known as Lakewood had no municipal government, relying instead on several water districts, several fire districts. Lakewood was a community with policing provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff, several volunteer staffed fire districts, however, the community had already existed for about 80 years. The City of Lakewood was incorporated in 1969 as Jefferson City, soon after, an election was held and the citys name was changed to Lakewood. This was due to a dislike of Jefferson City and the perceived notion it would be confused with existing communities in Colorado. At the time of incorporation the city population was already over 90,000, Lakewood never had a traditional downtown area. West Colfax Avenue served the area as U. S. Route 40. As such, Colfax from Harlan west to Kipling and beyond had mostly commercial establishment, several multi-business shopping centers developed followed by much larger centers at JCRS and Westland. The Villa Italia Mall on West Alameda Avenue, twenty blocks south of Colfax, reflected the southward expansion of Lakewood settlement and housed a larger concentration of retail space. As the mall went into decline, the Lakewood City Council developed a plan to demolish the Villa Italia Mall, in 2011, Lakewood was named an All-America City for the first time. Lakewood is located at 39°42′17″N 105°04′53″W at an elevation of 5,518 feet, located at the junction of U. S. Route 6 and Colorado State Highway 121 in central Colorado, the city lies immediately west of Denver and 62 miles north-northwest of Colorado Springs. Lakewood lies in the Colorado Piedmont on the edge of the Great Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Green Mountain, a mesa 6,854 feet tall, is located in the far part of the city. The city is located in the watershed of the South Platte River, from north to south, these include Lakewood Gulch, Weir Gulch, Sanderson Gulch, and Bear Creek. Two tributaries of Lakewood Gulch, Dry Gulch and McIntyre Gulch, Turkey Creek, a tributary of Bear Creek, flows northeast through the far southwestern part of the city
7.
United States Census Bureau
–
The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
8.
Colorado's 1st congressional district
–
Colorados 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of Colorado based primarily in the City and County of Denver in the central part of the state. The district includes all of the City and County of Denver and the suburbs of Glendale, Englewood, Sheridan. The district has been represented by Democrat Diana DeGette since 1997, based in the heart of Metropolitan Denver, this district is by far the most liberal district in the non-coastal parts of the American West. While there is some GOP strength in the areas, it remains overwhelmingly Democratic. Following the census the 1st district took in additional area in the suburbs which included parts of Jefferson County and parts or all of the cities of Columbine. As with most urban districts, Colorados 1st Congressional District is racially diverse and has proven to be friendly territory for Democrats, only two Republicans have been elected to the districts Congressional seat since the Great Depression. Dean M. Gillespie was the representative from 1944 to 1947. As of April 2015, there is one member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Colorados 1st congressional district who is currently living at this time. Colorados congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
9.
Colorado's 2nd congressional district
–
Colorados 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of Colorado. The district is located in the part of the state and encompasses the northwestern suburbs of Denver including Boulder, Northglenn, Thornton. The district also includes the towns of Vail, Grand Lake. Redistricting in 2011 has moved Larimer County, including the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, the district is currently represented by Democrat Jared Polis, who is one of seven openly gay members of the House of Representatives. Polis succeeded fellow Democrat Mark Udall who subsequently served in the U. S. Senate from 2009 to 2015. While there are towns in the rural parts of the district that tilt Republican. Following the census, the 2nd district stretched further north to the Wyoming border while losing the western portion of Eagle County and this district is anchored in Boulder and Adams counties which have the bulk of population in the district. A liberal base around the city of Boulder, coupled with a sizable Latino population in the Adams County portion of district, usually bodes well for Democrats. As of April 2015, there are three members of the U. S. House of Representatives from Colorados 2nd congressional district who are currently living at this time. Colorados congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
10.
Colorado's 7th congressional district
–
Colorados 7th congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of Colorado. Located in the part of the state, the district encompasses much of the northern and western parts of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area, including Golden, Lakewood, Arvada. The district is represented by Democrat Ed Perlmutter. The 7th Congressional District was created following the 2000 U. S. Census and it consists of portions of Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson counties. The boundaries were drawn by a court after the legislature failed to agree on a redistricting plan. As originally drawn, the 7th was a fair fight district that was not considered safe for either party, the seats original congressman, Republican Bob Beauprez, gave up the seat in 2006 to run for governor, and was succeeded by Democrat Ed Perlmutter. Since then, the district has trended increasingly Democratic, allowing Perlmutter to strengthen his hold on the seat, election results from presidential races As of May 2016, there is one surviving former member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Colorados 7th congressional district. Colorados congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
Jefferson County, Colorado
