The USA

The USA.

Population.

Beginning in the 1600s, the British settled the eastern part of North America. So by the time of the American Revolution (1776), the culture of the American colonists was thoroughly British.
From 1620 to 1820 the largest group of people came, not as willing immigrants, but against their will. These people (about 8 million) were West Africans brought to work as slaves, especially on the plantations of the South.
The Civil War, in the 1860s, ended slaver and established equal rights for black Americans. But many states, especially in the South, passed laws segregating and discriminating against black Americans. The Civil rights movement, in the 1950s and 1960s, helped to get rid of these laws.
Today about 12 percent of America抯 population is black. Beginning in the 1820s, the number of immigrants coming to the United States began to increase rapidly. Faced with problems in Europe – poverty, war, discrimination – immigrants hoped for, and often found, better opportunities in the United States. For the first half-century, most immigrants were from north-western Europe – from Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway.
Hispanics are people of Spanish-American origin. Hispanics come from many different countries. Three especially large groups are Mexican- Americans (who make up about two-thirds of the total Hispanic population), Puerto Ricans, and Cuban-Americans.
Since the mid-1960s, with changes in immigration laws and with conflicts in Southeast Asia, Asians have been a major immigrant group. Countries that Asian-Americans have come from include China and Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and India. Many have settled in California, Hawaii, New York, and Texas.
Government.

The United States Constitution, written in 1787, established the country抯 political system and is the basis for its laws. The United States is an indirected democracy – that is, the people rule through representatives they elect. The United States has a federalist system. This means that there are individual states, each with its own government, and there is a federal, or national, government. The Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government, other powers to the state governments, and yet other powers to both. For example, only the national government can print money, the states establish their own school systems, and both the national and the state governments can collect taxes.
Within the national government, power is divided among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
The legislative branch consists of Congress, which has two parts – the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress抯 main function is to make laws. There are 100 senators (two from each state) and 435 representatives (the number from each state depends on the size of the state抯 population).
The President is the head of the executive branch and the country. The executive branch administers the laws (decides how the laws should be carried out). In addition to the President, the Vice-President, and their staffs, the executive branch consists of departments and agencies.
There are now 14 departments, including Treasury, State, Defence, and Health and Human Services. Each department has different responsibilities. For example, the Treasury Department manages the nation抯 money, while the State Department helps make foreign policy. The President appoints the department heads, who together make up the President抯 Cabinet, or advisers. The agencies regulate specific areas. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency tries to control pollution, while the Securities and Exchange Commission regulates the stock markets.
The judicial branch interprets the laws and makes sure that new laws are in keeping with the Constitution. There are several levels of federal courts. The Supreme Court is the most important. It has nine members, who are appointed for life.
The system of checks and balances, established by the Constitution, is meant to prevent any branch from having too much power. Each branch has certain controls over the other branches. For example, Congress makes the laws but the president can veto, or reject, a law and the Supreme Court can decide a law is unconstitutional.
The United States has two main political parties – the Democratic and Republican parties.
There are not clear differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. In general, the Republicans tend to be more conservative and to have more support among the upper classes, while the Democrats tend to be more liberal and to have more support among the working classes and the poor.
Economy.

The United States is rich in natural resources. It is a leading producer of fuel (oil, natural gas, and coal) and many other minerals, including cooper, gold aluminium, iron, and lead.
The United States grows wheat, corn, and other crops and raises many cows, pigs, and chicken.
International trade is important to the United States. Major exports include machinery and high-technology equipment, chemicals, cars, aircraft, and grains. Major imports include machinery and telecommunications equipment, oil, cars, metals, and chemicals.
Today, the United States faces some major economic challenges. One important challenge is increasing its productivity. Another challenge, as the country shifts from manufacturing to services, is to train people to fill new kinds of jobs.
Education.

There are three basic levels in the U.S. educational system – elementary school, which usually goes from kindergarten to sixth grade; junior high school, from seventh through eighth or ninth grade; and high school, from ninth or tenth through twelfth grade. Children are required to be in school from the ages of 7 though 16.
About 90 percent of all children attend public school, which is free. The remaining 10 percent go to private schools, which often are associated with a religion. About half of all private schools are Catholic.
In the United States, education is mainly the responsibility of state and local governments, rather than the national government.
Entertainment.

The United States is an international centre of culture. Its major cities (like New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles) regularly host many concerts, art exhibitions, lectures, and theatrical performances.
The most popular sources of entertainment and information are television, movies, radio, and recorded music. With cable TV, a lot more programs are available, but many people still complain about the low intellectual level of TV.
Most Americans enjoy sports – both playing sports themselves and watching their favourite sports and teams. Major professional sports events – baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, as well as golf and tennis – are witnessed by tens of thousands of fans, and by millions more on TV. Boys and girls play on sports teams in school and after school. Many adult Americans regularly engage in sports like tennis, softball, golf, and bowling.
Americans also love to travel. Weekend automobile trips are a tradition for many families, as are longer summer vacation trips. Car travel is the most common leisure activity in America.
New York, the largest city in the USA, consists of some parts. Manhattan is an island just 13 miles long and 2 miles wide. It is the centre of American finance, advertising, art, theatre, publishing, fashion – and much more.
New York抯 other boroughs are Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Brooklyn alone has so many people that if it were a separate city, it would be the fourth largest in the United States!
With its grand neo-classical buildings and its tree-lined avenues, Washington, D.C. strikes the visitor as a lovely and formal city. Washington wasn抰 always this way.
President George Washington himself helped pick the spot – a marshy area where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers come together. French engineer Pierre Charles L扙nfant created a design based on Versailles, a palace built for King Louis XIV in the 17th century.
During the War of 1812, the British burned parts of Washington. This episode did, however, give the White House its name. The president抯 house was one of the buildings burned, and after the war it was painted white to cover up the marks.
Washington has one major business, and that business is government. The executive departments (Treasury, Agriculture, Education, etc.) are located in Washington. Many of the people who live in Washington work for the federal government.
When you抮e in Washington you can tour the White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You won抰 be able to see the president at work though. White House offices, as well as living quarters, are closed to the public. However, if you visit Capitol Hill, you might be able to see some important members of the other two branches of government: The Supreme Court has a public gallery, as do the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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