I.

Introduction

United States of America or United States, popularly referred to as the United States or as America, a federal republic on the continent of North America, consisting of 48 contiguous states and the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii. Outlying areas include Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. The conterminous 48 states are bounded on the north by Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The northern boundary is partly formed by the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River; the southern boundary is partly formed by the Rio Grande. New York is the largest city in the United States. Washington, D.C., is the capital.

The total area of the United States (including the District of Columbia) is 9,826,630 sq km (3,794,083 sq mi), of which 1,717,854 sq km (663,267 sq mi) are in Alaska and 28,311 sq km (10,931 sq mi) are in Hawaii. Inland, coastal, and Great Lakes bodies of water cover 470,129 sq km (181,518 sq mi) of the total area. Measured along the parallel of latitude that passes through West Quoddy Head, Maine, the easternmost point in the United States, the maximum width of the conterminous 48 states is about 4,421 km (2,747 mi). The maximum length measured from the vicinity of Brownsville, Texas, due north to the Canadian frontier is about 2,572 km (1,598 mi). Mount McKinley, or Denali (6,194 m/20,320 ft), in Alaska, is the highest point in North America; Death Valley, a depression 86 m (282 ft) below sea level, in California, is the lowest point.

II.

Land and Resources

The United States has an enormous variety of physical features and a wide diversity of animal and plant life, which are discussed more fully in the individual state entries.

A.

Geological History

The present-day pattern of the landforms of the United States is the result of a long sequence of collisions and separations of large blocks of the Earth’s surface crust, a process known as plate tectonics. The oldest part of the continent is the Canadian Shield, or Laurentian Plateau, a mass of granite and related rock that underlies eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States. The shield was formed during several long periods of crustal convergence in Precambrian time (a period that stretches from the formation of the Earth to about 570 million years ago). The characteristic rock of the shield is granite. The margins of the ancient continent are more complex in structure, and include zones of granite, darker ocean-bottom rocks, fine-grained volcanic rocks, and hardened ocean sediments.

A long period of inactivity in the crust followed the formation of the shield. Erosion reduced the mountainous continent to a low plain, and the adjoining seas were filled with thick beds of sediment. Near the end of this period, great forests covered the land, and the addition of organic material to the sediment formed the vast coal and petroleum layers that stretch in a broad curve from northern Pennsylvania through West Virginia to Alabama, then west to Texas and north-west through the Great Plains states and Canadian prairies to Arctic Alaska.

The period of crustal calm ended when the North American and European land masses collided early in the fossil-forming period; southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are actually parts of the European land mass that became attached to the American plate at this time. Later, after the coal-forming age, the African and American land masses converged. The modern Appalachians are the worn-down remnants of the mountains that were built during this collision. Crustal uplift and subsequent erosion exposed ancient granite rocks all the way from New England to Alabama, as evidenced in the low Piedmont hills of Georgia and the Carolinas and the somewhat higher Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. To the west, the layers of younger sedimentary rocks still remain at the surface, crumpled and eroded, notably in the long, even ridges and valleys of central Pennsylvania, eastern Tennessee, and the Ouachita region of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Still further west and north, less intense folding created broad domes and basins. Present-day Michigan and Iowa occupy geological basins. Structural domes are centred near the Wisconsin Dells, the Bluegrass area of Kentucky, and the Nashville area of Tennessee.

After the Appalachian collision, the continent reversed direction and drifted west. The Atlantic Ocean began to widen, and the eastern United States again became a region of geological calm. The Appalachians began to erode, and the resulting sediment accumulated on the mid-continental Great Plains and on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. Meanwhile, new ranges of mountains were rising as the western United States collided with the Pacific plate. Lava erupted on to the surface in many places at different times: in northern New Mexico, central Arizona, eastern California, and southern Idaho, and especially in the region of the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington. The sandy sediments of the Great Plains were thrust sharply upward along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Montana and around smaller mountain ranges such as the Black Hills of South Dakota. Rock movement along massive faults formed California’s Sierra Nevada, the Wasatch Range in Utah, the aligned mountain ranges of Nevada, and the Teton Range in Wyoming. The land of Arizona and southern Utah was lifted, and rivers cut canyons into the level sedimentary rocks.

The major past climatic event is the Pleistocene epoch, more commonly known as the Ice Age. At least four times in the past 1 million years, great ice sheets formed in eastern Canada and the mountains of the west and spread outward. The moving ice scraped up soil and rock from Canada and the northern United States and deposited the material further south. The aligned lakes and exposed rocks of New England and northern Minnesota are the result of glacial scouring. Long Island and Cape Cod are huge glacial deposits, characterized by hills composed of rock and soil, with associated swamps and sand outwash plains; similar features are abundant throughout the former glaciated areas, from New England to the Dakotas and in the western mountain valleys. Rivers such as the Hudson, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Columbia carried huge floods of glacial meltwater and carved valleys much larger than the present-day streams require. Glacial meltwater also formed many large lakes. Today, level plains and low beach ridges mark the beds and shores respectively of Ice Age lakes on both the eastern and western edges of Vermont, around the Maumee River of north-western Ohio, in the sand counties of central Wisconsin, around the Red River of Minnesota and the Dakotas, around the Great Salt Lake of Utah, and in the Missoula Basin of Montana, and the Central Valley of California. Ice Age dust storms left thick deposits of loess (fine-grained silt or clay) on the undulating plains around the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, on the steeper bluffs of western Wisconsin and western Tennessee, and in the Palouse Hills region of eastern Washington. Times of higher sea level built beaches far up on the Gulf Coastal Plain and on slopes overlooking the Pacific Ocean, while Chesapeake Bay and many similar drowned river valleys along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Connecticut are the result of periods of lower sea level.

B.

Rivers and Lakes

The rivers of the eastern United States, principal among which are the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, and Savannah, receive rainfall in every month and are therefore reliable routes for water-borne commerce. Rivers of the interior, such as the Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois, and Mississippi, often flood in spring and decrease in size during the hot weeks of late summer and the snowy winter months. Some degree of flow regulation and flood control has been achieved on these rivers through a costly and controversial system of dams and levees. Argument over water projects is even more heated in the western United States, where mountain snowmelt is the principal source of water for the eastward-flowing Missouri, Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande rivers and the westward-flowing Colorado, Sacramento, Snake, and Columbia rivers. Most of these rivers shrink in volume as they flow away from their mountain sources; some, like the Colorado, are dammed and diverted for so many urban or agricultural uses that they no longer carry water to the sea. In Alaska the drainage system is dominated by the Yukon, a river as long as the Rio Grande but considerably greater in volume.

The five Great Lakes—Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior—occupy an interconnected set of glacially scoured basins and together serve as a major artery of transport. Glaciers also left tens of thousands of smaller lakes throughout the north-eastern United States, the upper Midwest, and much of Alaska. Among the larger of these are Champlain, Winnipesaukee, and Cayuga in the north-east and Winnebago, Red, and Mille Lacsin the Midwest. The Great Salt Lake of Utah and many smaller salt basins of the Mountain states are remnants of much larger Ice Age lakes. Many groundwater aquifers, especially those of the Great Plains, are also relics of wetter climates of the past.

C.

Climate

In general, sun intensity and, consequently, temperatures decrease from south to north; in summer, however, the decrease in intensity is partly offset by longer days in the north. Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota actually have higher record temperatures than New Mexico and Alabama. In winter, on the other hand, the short days in the north exaggerate the effect of low sun angles, creating wide temperature differences from south to north. Forests use up much solar energy to evaporate water, and therefore the humid states of the eastern United States do not get as warm as the dry western deserts. Oceans and lakes moderate temperatures, and mountains are somewhat cooler by day and much colder at night than surrounding lowlands.

The pattern of precipitation is largely a consequence of the interaction of wind and topography. The wind system of the Earth balances temperatures by taking heat from the equator and carrying it towards the poles. Two features of this global atmospheric circulation are particularly significant for the United States. One is a current of sinking air, a gentle but persistent downward movement of air from the upper atmosphere. This subsidence is part of the global convection cycle and starts with updrafts of warm and humid air near the equator; the air loses moisture as it rises to the upper atmosphere and begins to move polewards. At about latitude 30° north the air begins to sink, bringing hot and dry conditions to the south-western United States, especially in summer.

The other significant part of atmospheric circulation is the jet stream, a shifting zone of fast winds blowing high above the ground, generally from west to east. The path of the jet stream on any given day is a key to surface weather. In summer, the jet stream is usually near the Canadian border, though it may loop as far north as Alaska or as far south as Louisiana. It brings wet Pacific air onshore in Washington and Alaska, but in other western states dry air masses from Mexico and Canada dominate. In the east, by contrast, the jet can pull moist air masses northward from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Canada. In winter, the entire wind system follows the sun southward. Pacific air masses now bring clouds and rain to the coastal mountains from California to southern Alaska. The jet usually crosses the country at the latitude of Oklahoma, and cold, dry Canadian air covers the northern half of the country; however, day-to-day shifts of the jet may pull warm, moist Gulf air as far north as Illinois or bring Canadian air to Florida.

Regional weather hazards are intimately associated with the seasonal position of the jet stream and associated fronts. Torrential rains are most common near the Gulf of Mexico, which is the major source of moisture for the country. Tornadoes occur in the centre of the United States, where Canadian and Gulf air masses often collide violently; hurricanes arise out of the late-summer warmth of the Atlantic Ocean and drift towards the south-eastern states in the autumn. Southern California experiences smog and forest fires in late summer.

Heavy winter snows in the eastern United States are caused by the rapid cooling of Gulf air, amplified in the Great Lakes region by local lake breezes. December and March are the major months for snow in Minnesota and the Dakotas; in January there is a time of intense cold and little snowfall, because Gulf air cannot penetrate that far north. Finally, the occasional kona (west coast) storms of Hawaii are wintertime incursions of North Pacific air that occur when the jet stream curves far to the south. Normal weather consists of trade winds that cause rain only on the north-eastern slopes of each island.

D.

Natural Resources

The United States is exceedingly rich in natural resources, and the climate is favourable for a diversity of crops and forest products. There are significant deposits of many important minerals, including more than a fifth of the world’s coal, and the Corn Belt, a region stretching from western Ohio to central Nebraska, is the largest expanse of prime farmland in the world. Despite this, the United States imports more than 80 per cent of its bauxite, magnesium, platinum, tin, and tungsten; and although it produced about 57 per cent of its petroleum needs in the mid-1990s, new domestic discoveries tend to be small and costly to recover.

Agricultural exports have helped compensate for mineral imports, but the price is high: more than a third of the nation’s topsoil has been lost to erosion. There is also concern about the rapid conversion of prime cropland to urban and other non-farm uses.

Nevertheless, the environmental picture is not all bleak. Because of government regulations, water pollution diminished considerably during the 1970s; forests are growing more rapidly than they are being cut in most regions; and substantial areas have been set aside as wilderness preserves and national parks. In the future the questions of acid rain, toxic-waste disposal, water supply, and climate change will continue to be major national environmental issues.

E.

Soils

The United States can be divided into five major soil regions: (1) the deep, black mollisols of the mid-continent (the country’s most fertile), in an area stretching from Illinois west to Nebraska and the Dakotas; (2) the leached red ultisols of the south-eastern and western coast mountains, which are considerably less fertile; (3) the coarse and acid spodosols in the north-eastern United States and in the high western mountains; (4) the moderately fertile grey or brown alfisols found around the Great Lakes, on the southern Great Plains, and in the Central Valley of California; and (5) the dry, salty aridsols of the desert Southwest. Superimposed on these broad patterns are local geological exceptions, such as the black clay vertisols of Texas and the organic histosols, which are peat and muck soils found in swampy places such as the Florida Everglades or the Minnesota bogs.

F.

Vegetation

At the time European settlement began, about 50 per cent of the United States was covered by forests; today, the figure is about 30 per cent. Similarly, grasslands and other natural vegetative cover decreased in extent as the continent was settled.

Northern Alaska, the northernmost part of the United States, is characterized by a windswept tundra, a region of lichens, mosses, hardy low shrubs, and flowering plants. Inland and to the south, the growing season lengthens and certain trees can survive. A few species of conifers, notably spruces and firs, dominate a vast evergreen forest, interspersed with lichen-covered rocky areas, grassy swamps, and aspen-choked fire scars. This forest, known as the taiga, stretches south-east from interior Alaska and reaches into northern New England and the Great Lakes region. South of the taiga the growing season is longer and more tree species can survive; the forest contains both conifer and deciduous trees, including pines, maples, elms, birches, oaks, hickory, beech, and sycamore. This type of mixed forest covered the region around the Great Lakes and most of the New England and Middle Atlantic states when European settlers arrived.

Still further south, the forest reaches its maximum diversity. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee contains more tree species than Europe. The Gulf of Mexico coast is even warmer than this mountainous area, but its plains and low hills do not support as complex a forest. Moreover, the sandy soils and hot summers encourage fires, which suppress oaks and other hardwoods and favour the fast-growing pines that now represent the major forest resource of the nation. Other species found here include southern magnolia, pecan, red gum, and black gum (tupelo). A number of subtropical and tropical trees flourish in southern Florida. Along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, salt marshes and groves of cypress and mangrove help to buttress the shore against the eroding forces of wind and water.

The diversity of the forest also decreases west of the Appalachian Mountains. First, the mountaintop spruces, firs, and mountain ashes disappear. Then rainfall decreases in quantity and reliability, and fires become more frequent. The lush hardwood forests of the Mississippi Valley slowly dwindle in size and complexity; oak-hickory forests give way to isolated stands of oak and then to tall grass prairies, which, before cultivation, occupied the present Corn Belt from Indiana to the eastern Great Plains.

Further west, the climate becomes still drier, and the tall bluestem grasses yield to shorter grama and wheatgrass ranges. The grasses of the northern Great Plains grow only during the short summer and flower in late summer or early autumn. By contrast, the grasses of the southern Great Plains grow rapidly in spring, flower early, and then lie dormant during the hot, dry summers. Both kinds of grass become less productive as rainfall continues to diminish towards the west. Shrubby sagebrush (in the north) and mesquite and juniper (in Texas) are typical invaders on poorer grasslands that have been overgrazed or protected from fires.

A gradual transition to true desert vegetation is interrupted by the Rocky Mountains and other ranges, the elevation of which both increases rainfall and decreases temperature and evaporation. Trees become prominent on the lower and middle slopes. Hardy pines and junipers dominate at lower elevations, giving way to aspens, firs, and spruces at higher elevations. Still higher, the spruces and firs become stunted and widely spaced. Above this zone is treeless tundra. Shrubby low-lying deserts alternate with forested (and occasionally tundra- or ice-capped) mountains across all of the Mountain states and into the Pacific states. This region is agriculturally productive only when massive investments are made in irrigation. Death Valley, which lies below sea level, is but one of the many nearly barren lowlands. Vegetation in these regions includes species such as sagebrush, juniper, piñon, rabbitbrush, mesquite, creosote bush, and yucca; the cactus “forests” that form a popular image of deserts are actually found on the slopes of mountain ranges in the Mojave Desert of southern Arizona and California. On the higher but still relatively dry Colorado Plateau are ponderosa and piñon pines.

The hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters of coastal southern California produce a distinctive shrub vegetation known as chaparral. Further north on the western slopes of the coastal hills and Sierra Nevada, where there is enough rain to permit rapid growth but a long enough dry season to discourage competition from numerous species, forests of giant sequoia and redwood grow. Still further north, in western Oregon and Washington, where the dry periods extend only to a few weeks in midsummer, a true rainforest appears, consisting primarily of a great variety of conifers. Douglas firs, true firs, hemlocks, cedars, spruces, and pines each occupy their own preferred elevation zone, and together constitute the second-richest forest resource for the nation. The coastal forests of Alaska have fewer species than the rich rainforest to the south but a faster growth than the taiga to the north.

The natural vegetation of Hawaii is conditioned by its isolation and by the interplay of its mountains and the moist trade winds. Forests dominated by guava trees on the windward (north-east) coasts of the islands graduate to a rich but swampy rainforest at moderate elevations, where the annual rainfall may exceed 10,000 mm (400 in). The high mountains support shrub forest, and patches of tundra are found on the summits of the highest peaks, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. The dry leeward (south-west) coasts are virtual deserts, with spiny koa and kiawe shrubs growing on the slightly wetter slopes.

G.

Animals

In the Arctic areas and regions of mountain tundra are found burrowing marmots, ground squirrels, cold-water fish such as grayling and trout, and an occasional bear. Alaskan coastal waters are the habitat of a number of large mammals, including walrus and fur seals. Caribou and wapiti spend summers on the tundra but migrate into the conifer forest for winter. The hardwood forests of the eastern United States contain elk, black bears, deer, foxes, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and a diversity of small birds. Along the Gulf of Mexico coast live larger and more colourful birds such as pelicans, flamingos, and green kingfishers; as well as alligators and warm-water fish such as catfish. Several varieties of venomous snakes are also found there.

Bison (buffalo) are popularly associated with the grasslands, although in fact they once ranged over most of eastern North America before becoming nearly extinct through hunting; they now exist only in captivity or in protected areas. Gophers, rabbits, prairie dogs, ferrets, and other burrowing species are the creatures best suited to the grasslands, which were once swept by fires. The mountainous western states, especially Alaska, are the last refuges in the United States of most big-game animals: elk, pronghorn, moose, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, timber wolves, and, in a few remote areas, brown bears. The Kodiak bear, the largest carnivore in North America, is found in Alaska. The deserts have fewer small animals, and almost no large ones; kangaroo rats, lizards, and wide-ranging birds are typical animals in such harsh regions. The animals of Hawaii include many endemic species, but many of these have been driven nearly to extinction by human alteration of the habitat. Hawaii’s only indigenous mammal is the bat.

III.

Population

The population of the United States is highly mobile. In the 1980s and early 1990s redistribution from the north-central and north-eastern states to the south and west continued to be a major trend, as the American population became increasingly diverse in its ethnic composition, characteristics, language, and religion.

According to the 1990 census, the resident population of the United States was 248,709,873. The population grew by 22,164,068 people—or 9.8 per cent—during the decade from 1980 to 1990. This increase was not evenly distributed: about 12 million, or 54.3 per cent of the growth, occurred in the states of California, Texas, and Florida. The population of the United States was 301,139,950 (2007 estimate). It was estimated to have reached 300 million on October 17, 2006.

Another trend evident during the 1980s was that although urban areas grew at a somewhat higher rate than rural areas, growth rates were low in some of the largest metropolitan areas, and from 1980 to 1990 the population of a number of major cities—such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit—decreased substantially.

A.

Ethnic Composition

The United States is becoming a more diverse society racially and ethnically. While the total population increased by 9.8 per cent between 1980 and 1990 and by an estimated 7.4 per cent between 1990 and 1997, the black population grew by 14.2 per cent from 26.7 million in 1980 to 30.5 million in 1990 and had reached an estimated 33.8 million by 1997. The number of persons of Hispanic origin increased by 53 per cent from 14.6 million in 1980 to 22.4 million in 1990 and by an estimated 29.7 per cent to 30.0 million between 1990 and 1997. The Native American population, including Inuit and Aleut, also increased, from 1.4 million in 1980 to 2.1 million in 1990; the population grew by 12.1 per cent between 1990 and 1997, reaching 2.3 million. The number of Asians and Pacific Islanders was 7.5 million in 1990, double the 1980 figure of 3.7 million; by 1997 the number had reached 10.0 million.

These figures are accounted for both by migration from Asia, Latin America, and other areas and by higher population growth rates among blacks. During much of its history, the United States had an official policy of admitting more immigrants from Europe than from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Changes were made in immigration policy during the 1970s that resulted in large numbers of non-European immigrants entering the United States. Census figures reported for 1990 showed that whites constituted about 80 per cent of the population; blacks, 12.1 per cent; Native Americans, 0.8 per cent; and Asians and Pacific Islanders, 2.9 per cent. Hispanics, who may also be counted among other groups, made up 9 per cent of the population. According to the 1990 census, the largest group, about 58 million Americans, was partly or solely of German ancestry; Irish ancestry was reported by 38.7 million Americans, and English ancestry by another 32.7 million. Figures released in 2003 showed that the Hispanic population was the fastest growing ethnic group in the US and, numbering 38.8 million, had become the second largest minority in the country.

B.

Population Characteristics

The United States is experiencing a decline in children as a percentage of the population, and an increase in young adults and the elderly. Although still increasing to 60 million, the portion of the population aged 14 and younger decreased by about 0.8 per cent from 1970 to 1992. The proportion of people aged 25 to 34 increased by 0.6 per cent during the same period, while that of people aged 65 and older grew 55.6 per cent, to 31.1 million, from 1970 to 1990. The median age of the population reported in 1990 was 32.9 years; by 1997 it had grown to 34.9 years. By race and ethnic group, the country’s white population in 1990 was oldest. Asians and Pacific Islanders constituted the second-oldest group, followed by blacks, with people of Hispanic origin forming the youngest group.

The structure of the American family continues to change in response to social and economic pressures. As more adults are postponing marriage, or not marrying at all, so are more adults ending their marriages through divorce. As the annual marriage rate per 1,000 population decreased from 10.8 to 9.1 between 1970 and 1994, the divorce rate rose from 3.5 to 4.6; after reaching a peak of 5.3 in 1981, however, the annual divorce rate actually declined during the remainder of the 1980s. Births among all unmarried women represented 11 per cent of all births in 1970; by 1993 the overall share had grown to 31 per cent.

Trends in the spatial distribution of the population continued to be uneven during the 1980s and early 1990s, as above-average growth occurred in the South and West at the expense of the north-central and north-eastern states. In 1993 the estimated population distribution was North-East, 51.4 million; Midwest, 61.1 million; South, 89.4 million; and West, 56 million. The average population density for the United States as a whole was about 33 persons per sq km (85 per sq mi) in 2007. This represents a substantial increase over the average densities of 1.7 people per sq km (4.5 per sq mi) in 1790; 3 per sq km (7.9 per sq mi) in 1850; 9.9 per sq km (25.6 per sq mi) in 1900; and 19.5 per sq km (50.6 per sq mi) in 1950.

Among the total population of the United States, the non-white and Hispanic-origin populations have remained highly concentrated. In 1995, for example, it was estimated that blacks constituted more than 20 per cent of the population in eight states: Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, and North Carolina. In the District of Columbia in 1990, 66 per cent of the population was black. About 46 per cent of the Native Americans lived in the West, and almost all of the Inuit and Aleuts lived in Alaska. Nearly half of the 7.3 million Asians and Pacific Islanders lived in California and Hawaii. About 65 per cent of the 22.4 million people of Hispanic origin resided in California, Texas, New York, and Florida.

Data from the 1980 census showed that the proportion of the population living in urban areas grew only by about 0.1 per cent between 1970 and 1980; according to the 1990 census, the pace of urban growth increased between 1980 and 1990, as the total urban population rose to a new high with an increase of 13.5 per cent over 1980. In 2005 urban dwellers made up about 81 per cent of the population, or some 242 million people. Rural residents made up 19 per cent of the population, or about 57.7 million people.

C.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the inhabitants of the British colonies that formed the nucleus of the United States varied from region to region. Throughout the New England area the dominant faith was Congregationalism, established by Separatist and Puritan groups who were dissidents from the Church of England; settlers of the South Atlantic region adhered officially to the Church of England; and the Middle Atlantic region was a haven for a variety of sects and creeds.

The New England Separatists and Puritans came to North America in order to worship in their own way, without interference from the Church of England. The first group to reach New England were the Separatists called the Pilgrims, who in 1620 founded the Plymouth Colony. The colony, with its Church, was absorbed eventually by the more powerful Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was founded in 1629 by Puritans.

Religion was the focal point of social and political life in New England. Until 1691 the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a theocracy, in which church attendance was compulsory, and Church membership a qualification for voting and holding office. Non-Congregationalist denominations, notably the Baptists and Quakers (see Friends, Society of), were regarded with hostility and often persecuted by the colonial government. Noteworthy among those who rebelled against this alliance between Church and State was Roger Williams, who in 1636 left the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded the community of Providence, located in what is now the state of Rhode Island. Williams, whose colony became a haven for people of many creeds, established the first Baptist Church in America in 1639.

In the South Atlantic coastal region, which comprised Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the Church of England was the established Church. Clergy of non-Anglican denominations—for example, Baptist and Presbyterian—were frequently prohibited from preaching and from performing marriage ceremonies.

The Middle Atlantic colonies provided a more congenial climate for freedom of religion. The first European settlers of the Middle Atlantic region were the Dutch, who founded the colony of New Netherland in 1625, bringing to it the beliefs and practices of the Reformed Church. The first organized group of Jewish settlers in North America arrived in New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, in 1654. After New Netherland was seized by the British in 1664, the Church of England became influential there, and by the beginning of the 18th century it was the established Church of the four most populous counties of New York. Delaware and New Jersey, which had been parts of New Netherland, maintained a complete separation of Church and State. The territory now comprising Maryland was granted in 1632 to the Calvert family, who were English Roman Catholics. Members of the family colonized the region in 1634 with the aim of providing a haven for their persecuted co-religionists; eventually, Anglicanism was made the established religion of Maryland. Pennsylvania, under the terms of a charter granted in 1681, was founded by the English Quaker William Penn as a haven for adherents of all religions. Lutheranism was established during the colonial period in Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware. Presbyterianism was introduced on a large scale into the Middle Atlantic colonies by Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Methodists settled in the Middle Atlantic region, notably in New York, during the latter half of the 18th century.

A liberalizing influence on the religion of colonial America was the revivalist movement known as the Great Awakening, which developed in the middle of the 18th century. Inspired by the evangelical preaching of several ministers, most prominently the Congregationalist clergyman Jonathan Edwards in New England, the Presbyterian minister Gilbert Tennent in the Middle Atlantic region, and the visiting British evangelist George Whitefield, the movement eventually spread to all the colonies. The general effect of the Great Awakening was to increase the strength of the Methodist and Baptist denominations, and to pave the way for the separation of Church and State when the United States became an independent nation.

The ratification in 1788 of the Constitution of the United States marked the beginning of a new era in American religion. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” After the adoption of the Constitution those states with established religions gradually eliminated their Church-State ties; the last state to do so was Massachusetts, which disestablished its Church in 1833.

During the first half of the 19th century the population of the United States was overwhelmingly Protestant; it included relatively few Catholics and Jews, and almost no adherents of such non-Christian religions as Islam and Buddhism. The number of Roman Catholics greatly increased from about 1820 by the arrival of large numbers of Irish immigrants; as a result of potato famines more than 1 million people emigrated from Ireland to the United States between 1845 and 1855. Following the unsuccessful popular uprisings of 1848 in Germany, large numbers of German Lutherans migrated to the United States. In the latter half of the century most of the immigration was from countries in southern and eastern Europe—notably, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Russia—from which came large numbers of Catholics and Jews.

Among the religious developments of the 19th century was the founding of several indigenous American denominations, among which were The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, known popularly as the Mormons; the Church of Christ, Scientist; the Seventh-Day Adventist Church; and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Today, the largest single American religious group consists of Roman Catholics, representing about 25 per cent of the population. Among the major Protestant groups are Baptists (19.4 per cent), Methodists (8 per cent), Presbyterians (2.8 per cent), Pentecostals (1.8 per cent) (see Pentecostal Churches), and Episcopalians (1.7 per cent; see Episcopal Church). The Orthodox Church has a large following. The largest non-Christian religion in the United States is Judaism (2 per cent), and Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism also have significant numbers of adherents.

See also Fundamentalism; Missionary Movements.

D.

Language

English is the main language of the United States and is spoken by the great majority of US residents. However, nearly 32 million residents aged five or older speak a language other than English at home. Of this total, approximately 54 per cent speaks Spanish, making it the second most widely spoken language in the United States. Other languages spoken include Chinese, Tagalog, Polish, Korean, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Japanese, Greek, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu, Russian, Yiddish, Thai and Lao, Persian, French Creole, Armenian, and Navaho.

E.

Education

In most of the United States illiteracy has been virtually eliminated, though census estimates suggest that 2.4 per cent of the population over the age of 25 is functionally illiterate—that is, they are unable to read and write well enough to meet the demands of everyday life. Nevertheless, among Americans aged 25 and older in 1995, about 82 per cent had completed high school, compared with about 25 per cent in 1940. In 1995 nearly 23 per cent of the population had completed four or more years of college education.

Education is offered at all levels from pre-kindergarten to graduate school by both public and private institutions. Elementary and secondary education involves 12 years of schooling, the successful completion of which leads to a high school diploma. Although public education can be defined in various ways, one key concept is the accountability of school officials to the voters. In theory, responsibility for operating the public education system in the United States is local. In fact, much of the local control has been superseded, and state legislation controls financing methods, academic standards, and policy and curriculum guidelines. Because public education is separately developed within each state, variations exist from one state to another.

Public elementary and secondary education is supported financially by three levels of government—local, state, and federal. Local school districts often levy property taxes, which are the major source of financing for the public school systems. One of the problems that arises because of the heavy reliance on local property tax is a disparity in the quality of education received by students. Rich communities can afford to pay more per student than poorer communities; consequently, the disparity in wealth affects the quality of education received. Some states have taken measures to level this imbalance by distributing property tax collections to school districts based on the number of students enrolled.

A unique feature of higher education in the United States is the device known as accreditation, which includes voluntary self-evaluation by a school and appraisal by a group of its peers. This process operates through nationally recognized accrediting agencies and associations and certain state bodies. These agencies or associations have established educational criteria to evaluate institutions in terms of their own objectives and to ascertain whether programmes of educational quality are being maintained.

Before the American Civil War, public school segregation was common both in the South and in the North. In every southern state except Kentucky and Maryland, laws existed that forbade the teaching of reading and writing to slaves. In 1867, after the end of the Civil War, schools for blacks began to be established in various parts of the South. For nearly a century, until 1954, most education facilities in the southern states remained racially segregated by state laws. Not only were schools segregated but, in schools for blacks, the physical conditions and facilities were poor, transport to such schools was meagre or non-existent, and expenditures per black pupil fell below those per white pupil.

In the northern states during this same period, most black children also attended separate schools. Sometimes this was the result of state laws; more often it was the result of policy decisions, either officially acknowledged or clandestine.

In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States declared racial segregation in schools illegal, in its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision. Since then progress has been made towards desegregation; however, widespread de facto segregation still exists today in both suburban and urban areas.

In 1995 some 60,808 public elementary and 20,282 public secondary schools were in operation in the United States, in addition to 5,131 special-purpose or combined schools. Enrolment in public schools in 1995 totalled about 32.1 million elementary pupils and about 12.6 million secondary students. In addition, private elementary and secondary schools together enrolled about 5.8 million students in 1995. The largest system of private education in the United States is that of the Roman Catholic Church, with some 2.5 million students in 1996.

The first American colleges were small and attended by an aristocratic student body. The earliest institutions were established in the United States between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries: Harvard University (1636), the College of William and Mary (1693), Yale University (1701), the University of Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754), Brown University (1764), Rutgers University (1771), and Dartmouth College (1769). These private institutions initially prepared students for careers in theology, law, medicine, and teaching only.

An important development occurred in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, which donated public lands to the several states and territories to provide colleges with the resources necessary to teach such branches of learning as agriculture and the mechanical arts. The Morrill Act was designed to promote the liberal and practical education of the new industrial population. In addition to creating colleges, the Morrill Act extended education to groups that would benefit from higher education regardless of financial background and greatly accelerated the admission of women to institutions of higher learning.

Higher education, like elementary and secondary education, has historically been racially segregated in the United States. Before 1954 most blacks gained access to higher education only by attending colleges and universities established for blacks, nearly all of which were located in the southern states. With the gradual dissolution of most traditional racial barriers, more and more blacks enrolled in institutions where whites made up the majority of the student body. By 1994 only about 19 per cent of all black students were enrolled in the 103 historically black colleges and universities.

Although tuition and fees generally are substantially lower at public institutions than at private ones, the other student costs are about the same. The average cost for tuition, fees, and room and board for the 1995 academic year at private four-year colleges was about $20,010. At public four-year colleges the average combined cost was about $7,082.

F.

Performing Arts

The first American symphony orchestra, the Philharmonic Society of New York, was established in 1842; the first classes in a music conservatory were held at Oberlin College in 1865. In the 20th century major American composers such as Charles Ives, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and John Cage won international fame. Gospel music, the blues, and jazz were African-American creations. Jazz gained worldwide attention through performers such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis. See also American Music; Popular Music; Rock Music.

Major symphony orchestras in the 1990s included the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and St Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition to these large orchestral ensembles, a growing number of chamber groups such as the Juilliard String Quartet, Guarneri String Quartet, and Kronos Quartet were flourishing in universities and communities throughout the country. Leading opera companies included the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Washington Opera, the Santa Fe Opera Company, and the Houston Grand Opera.

The New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, both founded in the 1930s, exert an important creative influence on contemporary American dance. Other major groups include the travelling companies of Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor, the San Francisco Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet in New York, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Tulsa Ballet, the Boston Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia. Well-known choreographers include George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, and Mark Morris. See also Dance; Popular and Social Dance.

Drama in the United States in the 1980s continued to experience an audience boom that began in the mid-1970s. Broadway shows in New York relied heavily on revivals, long-running shows, and stage spectaculars in addition to new plays. Prominent experimental groups included The New York Shakespeare Festival; La Mama, Etc., Experimental Theatre Club; and the Guthrie Theatre Company in Minneapolis. Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, John Guare, August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, Sam Shepard, and David Mamet are among the best-known contemporary playwrights. Musical comedies have flourished under the influence of a number of creative teams, including Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.

G.

Literature, Film, Architecture, and Art

The first major American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), and other works about the frontier. The Romantic period of American literature, from about 1830 to 1865, introduced important novelists such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), in which he explored New England’s Puritan heritage; and Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick (1851), a complex and poetic novel of the sea. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1850-1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe became a best-seller and a vehicle for anti-slavery sentiments.

Realism, prominent in American literature from the close of the Civil War until about the beginning of the 20th century, was the product of a new mass audience and the experience of industrialization. Major figures of this time included writers as diverse as the humorist Mark Twain, with his classic tales of boyhood, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); and Henry James, a stylistic innovator whose works, such as The Portrait of a Lady (1881) and The Ambassadors (1903), were landmarks in the development of the American novel.

In Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925), Theodore Dreiser described how spiritually empty industrial America had become. This marked the new age of Naturalism, which ran until about 1930. Important novelists of this period included Edith Wharton (Ethan Frome, 1911; The Age of Innocence, 1920); Willa Cather (O Pioneers!, 1913; My Ántonia, 1918); F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby, 1925); Sinclair Lewis (Main Street, 1920; Babbitt, 1922), the first American to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1930; Ernest Hemingway, also a Nobel Prize winner (1954), noted for his terse, carefully crafted prose in works such as The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929); Zora Neale Hurston, a novelist and folklorist (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937); Richard Wright (Native Son, 1940; Black Boy, 1945); and William Faulkner, whose innovative techniques and thoughtful characterizations in such novels as The Sound and the Fury (1929), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936) won him the Nobel Prize in 1949. Modernist Gertrude Stein (The Making of Americans, 1925; Everybody’s Autobiography, 1936) experimented radically with language, following the example of Impressionist painters.

Hemingway and Faulkner remained leading writers into the 1950s; they were joined by John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, 1939; Nobel Prize winner, 1962); Robert Penn Warren (All the King’s Men, 1946); James Jones (From Here to Eternity, 1951); James Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain, 1953); Norman Mailer (The Naked and the Dead, 1948; The Executioner’s Song, 1979); and Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita, 1955; Pale Fire, 1962). Novelists of contemporary note include Flannery O’Connor (Wise Blood, 1952); Carson McCullers (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, 1940); Eudora Welty (The Ponder Heart, 1954; The Optimist’s Daughter, 1969), well known also for her short stories; Saul Bellow (The Adventures of Augie March, 1953; Humboldt’s Gift, 1975; Nobel Prize, 1976); Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Slaughterhouse-Five, 1969); John Updike (Rabbit, Run, 1960); Louise Erdrich (Love Medicine, 1984); Toni Morrison (Beloved, 1987; Nobel Prize, 1993); and Alice Walker (The Color Purple, 1982).

Distinctive American poetry first appeared in the 19th century, with the musical and highly rhythmic works of Edgar Allan Poe, the experimental democratic chant of Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, 1855), and the tightly wrought lyrical verse of Emily Dickinson. Modern American poetry began in the early 20th century with the lyrics and dramatic poems of the New England poet Robert Frost; the Cantos of Ezra Pound, the founder of Imagism; and the prairie realism of Carl Sandburg. It has continued to be enriched by such gifted poets as Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ntozake Shange, Anne Sexton, Denise Levertov, Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsberg, Howard Nemerov, Richard Wilbur, and Adrienne Rich. For more information on American prose and poetry, see American Literature.

Hollywood, an unincorporated district within Los Angeles, has been one of the most influential and productive international film capitals. Contemporary trends in film in the United States include escapist films bent on capturing mass audiences and emphasizing imaginative production techniques rather than content; and an opposing move towards the use of film as a medium of social criticism or artistic expression for more sophisticated audiences. Recent film stars, such as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, and Jodie Foster, have tended to be less glamorous (or less glamorously presented) and to portray characters more humanly flawed than their classic Hollywood predecessors, such as Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Marilyn Monroe. Other recent trends are the upsurge in the production of American documentary films; films written, produced, and directed by women and by black and coloured film-makers; and independent films. See also American Cinema.

During the colonial period and the early years of the United States, American architecture in the main followed the trends of British architecture. The first true American contribution to international architecture was the skyscraper, pioneered in Chicago in the late 19th century by architects such as Louis Henri Sullivan (see Chicago School). Subsequent developments incorporated European Modernism to produce the box-shaped, glass-curtain-wall skyscraper common in American cities, and first exemplified by the Secretariat Building of the United Nations in New York. In the 1980s new forms emerged that borrowed stylistic elements from various periods in the history of architecture, incorporating them into buildings that also made use of the newest technology. Examples of this so-called Postmodern architecture included the AT&T Building in New York, a skyscraper designed by Philip C. Johnson and topped with a pediment; and the Public Office Building by Michael Graves in Portland, Oregon, which incorporated Romantic and Classical elements. See also American Art and Architecture; Modern Art and Architecture.

Portraits were the first paintings to be produced in significant numbers in America, including those of famous historical figures painted by John Singleton Copley in the 18th century. Landscape paintings, such as those of Asher B. Durand of the Hudson River School and the dramatic seascapes of Winslow Homer, were prominent during the 19th century. Thomas Eakins achieved a striking realism in his portraits towards the end of that century.

European Modernism was introduced into the United States at the Armory Show in 1913. This exposition of international art, which opened in New York and travelled to Chicago and Boston, was seen by more than 250,000 Americans. Armory Show ideas influenced many American artists, including John Marin and Georgia O’Keeffe, and became embodied in the collections and philosophy of the Museum of Modern Art, which was founded in New York in 1929. Following World War II, New York supplanted Paris as the leading centre of the art world; innovative art exhibited and often produced there has included works by the Abstract Expressionist painters Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell and the sculptor David Smith; and by the Pop Art painters Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and sculptor George Segal. See also Painting; Sculpture.

H.

Museums and Libraries

Major American art museums include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which has come to represent the “establishment” in modern art; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., which also houses modern art; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Museums that house extensive collections of art objects, paintings, and sculpture from all parts of the world from prehistory to the present include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the M. H. de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

The United States has more than 7,000 museums, including many historical, science, and art museums. Among the more prominent museums of science are the American Museum of Natural History in New York; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, both in Chicago; the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; the Maryland Academy of Sciences in Baltimore; and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

In 1993 the United States had more than 32,414 libraries. Approximately 47 per cent of these were public libraries and their branches, and 4,619 were college and university libraries. The foremost is the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Other libraries with vast collections include the public libraries of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Portland, Oregon; and the libraries at academic institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, the University of Michigan, Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin. Many of these libraries contain special and rare book collections, such as those of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Other noted collections include those of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York; and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

IV.

Economy

The United States has been the world’s leading industrial nation since early in the 20th century. Until the second half of the 19th century, agriculture remained the dominant economic activity. After the American Civil War, great advances were made in the production of basic industrial goods. By World War I, exports of manufactured goods had become more important than the export of raw materials; as manufacturing grew, agriculture became increasingly mechanized and efficient, employing fewer and fewer workers. The most important development in the economy since World War II has been the tremendous growth of service industries, government, professional services, trade, and financial activities. Today, service industries make up the most important sector of the economy, employing almost 75 per cent of the workforce. Industry employs approximately 23 per cent of the labour force; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing, about 3 per cent.

From the 1930s onward the government has played an increasingly active role in the economy. Even though the economy in the 1990s was based on free enterprise, the government regulated business in various ways, including legislating to reduce environmental pollution, and to protect consumers from unsafe products and workers from unsafe working conditions. More than 15 per cent of the US labour force works for the government. The federal budget for 2005 included estimated expenditures of US$2,289 billion. Revenue was estimated at US$2,633 billion. The United States has consistently recorded annual budget deficits of US$100 billion or more since the early 1980s, although the amount of the deficit has been declining since the early 1990s.

In the mid-1990s the United States led all nations of the world in the yearly value of its economic production. The nation’s annual GDP was about US$12,417 billion in 2005. With a per-capita GDP of about US$41,889.60 (2005), the people of the United States have one of the world’s highest standards of living.

The US economy consists of three main sectors: the primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary economic activities are those directly involving the natural environment, including agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining. The primary sector usually contributes about 3 per cent of annual GDP. Secondary economic activities involve processing or combining materials into new products, and include manufacturing and construction. This sector accounts for approximately 21 per cent of GDP. Tertiary economic activities involve the output of services rather than goods, for example wholesale and retail trade, banking, government, and transport. The tertiary is the most important sector by far and accounts for almost 76 per cent of annual GDP.

A.

Agriculture

Farming accounts for less than 2 per cent of annual GDP and employs less than 3 per cent of US workers, yet the nation leads the world in many aspects of agricultural production. Farmers not only produce enough to meet domestic needs, they also enable the United States to export more farm products per year than any other nation in the world. The total annual value of farm output increased from about US$55 billion in 1970 to about US$202 billion in 1994. Excluding inflation, the increase in the farm output was 2 per cent annually.

The small subsistence farm run by a farmer primarily to meet personal needs has virtually disappeared from the American scene; most agricultural products are grown on large commercial farms for shipment to urban and industrial markets. The number of farms in the United States decreased from more than 5.6 million in 1950 to about 2.1 million in 1995. At the same time, average farm size increased from 86 hectares (213 acres) to 190 hectares (469 acres). In the mid-1990s livestock and livestock products accounted for 49 per cent of the value of all farm marketings, and crops for the remainder. California led all states in the yearly value of farm receipts; it was followed by Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, and Minnesota.

Beef cattle rank as the most valuable product of the nation’s farms, accounting for almost one fifth of total annual farm receipts. Many are raised on large ranches in south-western states. Dairy products represent about 11 per cent of the yearly value of farm marketings and are the second most valuable item coming from American farms. Other major livestock and livestock products include pigs, chickens, eggs, turkeys, and sheep and lambs.

Leading agricultural crops are maize, vegetables, soya beans, fruits and nuts, wheat, cotton, and tobacco. Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Indiana together produce about two thirds of the annual maize crop, while Kansas usually leads all states in yearly wheat production. For more than a century and a half, cotton was the predominant cash crop in the South. Today, however, it is no longer important in some of the traditional cotton-growing areas east of the Mississippi River and is now concentrated in relatively flat areas amenable to large-scale mechanization, such as the lower Mississippi Valley, the plains of Texas, and the valleys of California and Arizona. Tobacco remains an important cash crop. The leading tobacco-producing states are North Carolina and Kentucky.

Other leading crops include peanuts, peaches, tomatoes, and apples. More than 75 per cent of the oranges and about 50 per cent of the tomatoes are produced in Florida; some 84 per cent of the grapes are raised in California; and about 50 per cent of the commercial apples come from orchards in Washington state. Additional major vegetable crops are sugar cane, rice, sorghum grain, dry beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms; valuable fruit crops include cantaloupe melons and watermelons, cherries, pears, plums and prunes, and strawberries. Major nut crops include almonds, pecans, and walnuts.

B.

Forestry

Forests cover around 33 per cent of the United States, or about 303 million hectares (749 million acres). About 73 per cent of the commercial forestland is privately owned by farmers, timber companies, paper mills, and other wood-using industries. The remaining 27 per cent is owned by federal, state, and local governments. Softwoods make up about three quarters of the production, and hardwoods about one quarter. Nearly half the timber output is used for timber, and about one third is converted to pulpwood, which is subsequently used to manufacture paper. Most of the remaining output goes into plywood and veneer. Douglas fir and southern yellow pine are the primary softwoods used for timber, and oak is the most important hardwood. About half of the nation’s timber and all the fir plywood come from the forests of the Pacific states, an area dominated by softwoods.

C.

Fishing

In 2004 the United States had an annual fish catch of about 5.57 million tonnes, with a value of approximately US$3 billion. The United States is usually sixth among the nations of the world in weight of total catch, ranking behind China, Japan, Peru, Chile, and Russia. In addition to commercial fishing, sport fishing is popular in many states.

Marine species dominate commercial landings, with freshwater fish representing only a small portion of the total catch. Shellfish account for only about 15 per cent of the weight of the total catch but 45 per cent of the value. The most valuable species caught are salmon (16 per cent of the total catch value), shrimp (13 per cent), and crabs (13 per cent). Other important species include scallops, lobster, flounder, Pacific cod, clams, and oysters.

Alaska leads all states in both the volume and value of the catch; important species caught at Alaska ports include pollack and salmon. Other leading fishing states, ranked by value, are Louisiana, Massachusetts, Texas, Maine, California, Florida, Washington, and Virginia. Measured by value of the catch, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is the nation’s leading fishing port, followed by New Bedford, Massachusetts. Important species caught in the New England region include lobsters, scallops, clams, oysters, and cod; in the Chesapeake Bay, crabs; and in the Gulf of Mexico, menhaden and shrimp.

Much of the annual tonnage of commercial freshwater fish comes from farms. The most important species raised on farms are catfish, trout, salmon, oysters, and crayfish. The total annual output of private catfish and trout farms in the mid-1990s was 232,800 tonnes, valued at more than US$380 million.

D.

Mining

The United States ranks among world leaders in value of annual mineral production. Mining contributes about 1.4 per cent of annual GDP and employs about 0.5 per cent of the workers. Minerals are produced in all states, but Texas, Louisiana, Alaska, California, Wyoming, and Oklahoma typically account for half of the value of the nation’s annual mineral production. Texas alone accounts for more than one fifth of the value of total US output.

The three chief mineral products are fuels. In order of value, they are natural gas, petroleum, and coal. In the early 1990s the United States produced 25 per cent of the world’s natural gas, 19 per cent of its coal, and 11 per cent of its crude oil. Sixty per cent of the nation’s most valuable mineral, natural gas, is produced in Texas and Louisiana. Petroleum accounted for nearly one third of US fuel production and about one quarter of the annual value of all minerals produced in the United States. Texas, Alaska, and California together yield more than half of the nation’s petroleum.

Coal, the third leading mineral, accounts for about one sixth of the yearly value of all US mining output, much of it produced in mines in the Appalachians. Wyoming, Kentucky, and West Virginia, which together produce more than half of the annual US output, are the leading coal mining states. Nuclear energy, which is used to supplement petroleum, natural gas, and coal, is produced from uranium that is mined chiefly in Texas, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Important metals mined in the United States include gold, copper, iron ore, zinc, magnesium, lead, and silver. Leading industrial minerals are materials used in construction—clays, lime, salt, phosphate rock, boron, and potassium salts. In the mid-1990s the United States produced about 51 per cent of the world’s mica, 48 per cent of its magnesium, 45 per cent of its molybdenum, 33 per cent of its phosphate rock, 23 per cent of its elemental sulphur, and 13 per cent of its lead. Most of the iron ore comes from the Superior Upland region, especially the Mesabi Range of north-eastern Minnesota. About 60 per cent of the nation’s copper output is mined in Arizona; phosphate rock is mined in large quantities in Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, and Tennessee; Arizona, Colorado, and Utah are the chief sources of molybdenum; Missouri, Idaho, and Alaska are among the leading producers of lead; Alaska and Tennessee, of zinc. More than four fifths of the nation’s potash is produced in New Mexico. Nevada, Alaska, and Idaho are important sources of silver; and Nevada, California, and Utah, are leading producers of gold.

E.

Manufacturing

About 15 per cent of annual GDP is accounted for by manufacturing, which employs about one sixth of the nation’s workers. The total value of manufacturers’ shipments in the 1990s was approximately US$2,820 billion annually. Although manufacturing remains a key component of the US economy, it has declined in relative importance since the late 1960s. From 1970 to 1995 the overall number of employees in manufacturing declined from 20.7 million to 20.5 million, while the total labour force grew by more than 46.2 million people.

Perhaps the most important change in recent decades has been the growth of manufacturing outside the north-eastern and north-central regions. The nation’s industrial core developed in the north-east and this is still the location of the greatest concentration of industry, but it has become relatively less significant than in the past. In the early 1990s about half of the nation’s manufacturing employees were found in the 21 north-eastern and north-central states that extend from New England to Kansas; in 1947 about 75 per cent of the manufacturing employees lived in the same region. Since 1947 the South’s share of the nation’s manufacturing workers has increased from 19 to 32 per cent, and that in the West has grown from 7 to 18 per cent. Within the North, manufacturing is centred in the Middle Atlantic and eastern north-central states, which account for about 37 per cent of the annual value added by all manufacturing in the United States. Located in this area are five of the top seven manufacturing states—New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan—which together are responsible for approximately 27 per cent of the value added by manufacturing in all states each year.

The greatest gains in manufacturing in the South have been in Texas, and the most phenomenal growth in the West has been in California, which in the early 1990s was the leading manufacturing state, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the annual value added by manufacturing.

Ranked by value of manufacturers’ shipments, the leading categories of US manufactured goods are processed foods, transport equipment, chemicals, industrial machinery, and electronic equipment.

All varieties of industrial machinery accounted for about 10 per cent of the yearly value added by manufacture in the mid-1990s. Industrial machinery includes engines, farm equipment, various kinds of construction machinery, office machines, and refrigeration equipment. Transport equipment includes cars, trucks, aeroplanes, space vehicles, ships and boats, and railway equipment. Michigan, with its huge motor industry, is a leading producer of transport equipment. California is a leader in the aerospace industry.

Food processing accounted for about 11 per cent of the overall annual value added by manufacture in the mid-1990s, and the chemical industry contributed about the same. Texas and Louisiana are leaders in chemical manufacturing. The petroleum and natural gas produced and refined in both states are basic raw materials used in manufacturing many chemical products. Food processing is an important industry in several states noted for the production of food crops and livestock, or both. California has a large fruit- and vegetable-processing industry. Meat-packing in Illinois and dairy-processing in Wisconsin make both states leaders in food manufacturing.

The electronic equipment industry includes the manufacture of electric industrial apparatus, household appliances, radio and television equipment, electronic components, and communications devices. California, Illinois, Indiana, and Massachusetts are all leaders in the production of electronic equipment, which is one of the fastest-growing sectors of US industry.

The manufacture of fabricated metal and primary metal is concentrated in the nation’s industrial core region. Iron ore from the Lake Superior district, as well as that imported from Canada and other countries, and Appalachian coal are the basis for a huge iron and steel industry. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan are leading states in the value of primary metal output. The fabricated metal industry, which includes the manufacture of cans and other containers, hardware, and metal forgings and stampings, is important in the same states.

The rubber and plastics industry is located mainly in the nation’s industrial core region. Ohio, which has a large concentration of tyre-manufacturing plants, has long been a leader in this industry.

Printing and publishing is a widespread industry, with newspapers published throughout the country. New York, with its book-publishing industry, is the leading state.

Paper-products manufacture is important, particularly in those states with sizeable timber resources, especially softwood trees used to make most paper. The manufacture of paper and paperboard contributes significantly to the economies of Wisconsin, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

Other major US manufactures include textiles, clothing, precision instruments, timber, furniture, tobacco products, leather goods, and stone, clay, and glass items.

F.

Tourism

Each year travellers in the United States spend over US$350 billion on transport, food and drinks, various kinds of amusement, and motel and hotel accommodation. Travel and tourism have contributed substantially to the growth of such businesses as motels, restaurants, car-rental agencies, amusement parks, and various retail outlets, including those that sell cameras and film, clothing, sporting goods, gifts, and souvenirs.

In recent decades visitors from overseas have become an increasingly important part of the US tourist business. By 1995 the number of overseas visitors—chiefly from Western Europe, Japan, Latin America, and the Caribbean—was an estimated 43 million, and their expenditure had risen to about US$58.4 billion. Millions of visitors from Canada and Mexico cross the border every year; estimated annual expenditure in the United States by Canadian and Mexican travellers totalled US$6 billion and US$5 billion respectively.

New York is a popular destination among both domestic and foreign travellers, and tourism is a mainstay of the economies of California and Florida. Conveniently located within a day’s journey of the eastern United States, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular national park in the United States, receiving nearly 9 million recreational visits annually.

G.

Energy

Measured in terms of heat-producing capacity (British thermal units, or Btu), petroleum provides about 39 per cent of the total energy consumed in the United States. It supplies about 97 per cent of the energy used to power the nation’s transport system, and it is used to heat millions of houses and factories.

Natural gas is the source of about 24 per cent of the energy consumed for industrial and domestic purposes; coal provides about 22 per cent. Its major uses are in the generation of electricity, which uses more than three quarters of all the coal consumed, and in the manufacture of steel.

Water power generates about 4 per cent and nuclear power about 7 per cent of the nation’s energy. Both are employed mainly to produce electricity for residential and industrial use.

Some 33 per cent of the energy consumed in the United States is used in the generation of electricity. The nation’s generating plants have a total installed capacity of about 741.6 million kilowatts and produce about 3.9 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. Coal is the most commonly used fuel by electric power plants, and 55 per cent of the nation’s yearly electricity is generated in coal-fired plants. Natural gas accounts for about 10 per cent of the electricity produced, and refined petroleum for about 2 per cent; hydroelectric facilities generate about 7 per cent, and nuclear power plants about 20 per cent.

For many years, petroleum appeared abundant and cheap, and it became the basis for an American lifestyle based on extensive use of the private car. Since 1947, when the United States became a net importer of oil, annual domestic production has not been enough to meet the demands of the highly mobile American society.

In 1970 domestic crude-oil production reached a record high of 3.5 billion barrels, but this had to be supplemented by imports amounting to 12 per cent of the nation’s overall crude oil supply. In 1995 about 50 per cent of the crude oil needs of the United States were met by net imports. However, abundant domestic supplies of coal allow the United States to export part of its annual production. See Energy Supply, World.

H.

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit is the United States dollar. The US decimal currency consists of coins and paper money, issued by the US Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve issues paper money called Federal Reserve notes, which constitute almost all the paper money in the United States. The Treasury issues United States notes, which come in $100 denominations, as well as all coins.

Coins are made in six denominations—the penny, or 1¢; the nickel, or 5¢; the dime, or 10¢; the quarter, or 25¢; the half-dollar, or 50¢; and the dollar, or 100¢. Federal Reserve notes are issued in six denominations—$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were discontinued in 1969, and $2 bills were stopped in 1976; however, some of these notes remain in circulation. In 1995 the basic US money supply, including currency and funds in checking accounts, was nearly US$1,300 billion.

In 1995 the United States had 11,970 insured banks with a total of nearly 81,893 banking offices. Because of mergers and closures, the number of banks steadily declined in the 1980s and 1990s while the number of bank offices increased. Combined assets were approximately US$4,310 billion. Banks in the United States are chartered under the laws of either a state or the federal government. State-chartered banks are regulated by officials of the state in which they are located; national banks are under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Federal Reserve System, created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, is the central banking organization of the United States. All national banks are required by law to belong to the Federal Reserve System. State banks may voluntarily become members if they meet certain requirements. Each member bank operates within the district of 1 of the 12 Federal Reserve banks. About 60 per cent of all commercial banking offices belong to banks affiliated with the Federal Reserve System.

In 1995 the United States had about 2,029 savings and loan associations, with combined assets of more than US$1,000 billion. See also Banking; Finance; Money.

I.

Commerce and Trade

The United States is the world’s leading trading nation, with a trade volume of US$1,330 billion in 1995. Total merchandise exports in 2004 amounted to US$818 billion, and imports to US$1,525 billion. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the nation’s imports of expensive foreign petroleum and of manufactured goods from Canada and Asia (especially Japan) created a trade imbalance. From 1984 to 1990 the annual merchandise trade deficit regularly exceeded US$100 billion.

Non-agricultural products usually account for approximately 90 per cent of the yearly value of exports and agricultural products for about 10 per cent. Machinery and transport equipment make up the leading categories of exports, amounting together to about 33 per cent of the value of all exports. Other leading exports include electrical equipment, chemicals, precision instruments, and food products.

Canada, Japan, and Mexico are the country’s most important trade partners; they provide the markets for about 41 per cent of total annual exports and are the source of about 44 per cent of imports. Chief trading partners for exports are Canada, Japan, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and South Korea; chief trading partners for imports are Canada, Japan, Mexico, China, Germany, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Leading sources of US petroleum imports are Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, and Nigeria.

J.

Labour

In 2006 the United States had a total employed civilian labour force of about 151 million. Primary occupations in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining engage only about 3 per cent of the employed population, and secondary occupations in manufacturing and construction employ about 23 per cent. The service activities in the large tertiary sector employ about three quarters of the workers.

By the end of the 1930s the labour union movement in the United States had become widely accepted, and in the mid-1990s organized labour was still one of the most powerful economic forces in the country. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) was the leading grouping of unions; about 80 per cent of the union members in the United States belonged to a group affiliated with the AFL-CIO. While the labour movement did help to achieve a higher standard of living for US workers, in the 1980s and early 1990s the number of work hours had begun to increase, while wages failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living. In recent decades the percentage of workers belonging to labour unions has declined.

K.

Transport

The development of transport facilities was of crucial importance in the growth of the United States. The first routes were natural waterways; the earliest overland routes were rough trails suitable for travel on foot or horseback. No surfaced roads existed until the 1790s, when the first turnpikes were built, some under private auspices and some by state government. Besides the overland roads, many canals were constructed between the late 18th century and 1850 to link navigable rivers and lakes in the eastern United States and in the Great Lakes region. Steam railways began to appear in the East in the 1820s. The first transcontinental railway was constructed between 1862 and 1869 by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies, both of which received large subsidies from the federal government. Transcontinental railways were the chief means of transport used by European settlers who populated the West in the latter part of the 19th century and were also of utmost importance for moving goods from one part of the country to another. The railways continued to expand until 1917, when the length of operated track reached a peak of about 407,165 km (253,000 mi). Thereafter, motor transport became a serious competitor both for passengers and freight.

Air transport began to compete with other modes of transport in the United States after World War I. The first commercial flights in the United States were made in 1918 and carried mail. Passenger service began to gain importance in the late 1920s, but not until the advent of commercial jet craft after World War II did air transport become a leading mode of travel.

During the early 1990s railways annually handled 37.4 per cent of the total freight traffic, trucks carried 27.6 per cent of the freight, and oil pipelines conveyed 19.3 per cent. Some 15.3 per cent was shipped on inland waterways. Although the freight handled by airlines amounted to only 0.4 per cent of the total, much of the cargo consisted of high-priority or high-value items.

Private cars accounted for about 80 per cent of the total annual passenger traffic. Airlines came second, carrying nearly 18 per cent; buses were responsible for 1.1 per cent, and railways carried 0.7 per cent.

In 2001 the United States had about 6.4 million km (4 million mi) of streets, roads, and highways. About 21 per cent of the roadways were in urban areas. The National Interstate Highway System, 74,847 km (46,508 mi) in length, connected the nation’s principal cities and carried nearly one quarter of all the road and street traffic. Around 482 passenger vehicles per 1,000 people were registered.

As of 1992, Class I railways—the 13 largest railway companies in the United States—operated 74 per cent of the total amount of track, employed 89 per cent of the railway workers, and generated 91 per cent of the railway revenue. Overall, the United States had 228,999 km (142,293 mi) of operated railway track in 2005. Railways employ about 223,000 people and transport nearly 25 million cars of freight each year. Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), a federally subsidized concern, operates almost all the intercity passenger trains in the United States; it carried more than 51 million passengers annually in the early 1990s, including some 29 million metropolitan commuters.

The United States has a relatively small merchant marine. In 1995 only 543 vessels of 1,000 gross tonnes and over were registered in the United States, of which only 354 were privately owned. Many American shipowners register their ships in foreign countries such as Liberia and Panama, however, so they can operate the ship at a lower cost.

The leading seaport in the United States in the early 1990s was the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana. Other leading ports included New York; Houston; Valdez Harbor, Alaska; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Corpus Christi, Texas; Long Beach, California; Norfolk Harbor, Virginia; Tampa Harbor, Florida; and Los Angeles. Although it no longer ranks first among US seaports, the Port of New York remains a significant destination for both passenger and freight traffic.

The inland waterway network of the United States has three main components—the Mississippi river system, the Great Lakes, and coastal waterways. About 60 per cent of the annual freight traffic is on the Mississippi and its tributaries, about 19 per cent is on the Great Lakes, and the remaining 21 per cent is on the coastal waterways.

The Mississippi river system has a combined network of waterways that exceed about 24,000 km (15,000 mi) in length; St Louis, Missouri, is the leading port. The Great Lakes carry more commerce than any other lakes in the world. The leading Great Lakes seaport is Duluth, Minnesota-Superior, Wisconsin. Ocean-going vessels can sail between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean via the St Lawrence Seaway (opened in 1959). The Intracoastal Waterway is a navigable, toll-free shipping route extending for about 1,740 km (1,080 mi) along the Atlantic Coast and for about 1,770 km (1,100 mi) along the Gulf of Mexico coast. About 45 per cent of the total annual traffic on all coastal waterways is on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, about 30 per cent is on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, and about 25 per cent is on Pacific Coast waterways.

Airlines in the United States annually carry 528 million passengers, the vast majority of whom are domestic travellers. In the mid-1990s, the nation had about 5,474 public and 12,896 private airports. Among the busiest are Chicago-O’Hare International Airport; Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, in Texas; William B. Hartsfield International Airport, near Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles International Airport; and San Francisco International Airport.

L.

Communications

All radio and television broadcasting stations in the United States must be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. In 1997 about 1,285 television broadcasters were in operation. All states had television stations, and more than 40 per cent were concentrated in nine states: Texas, California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and North Carolina. A rapidly growing number of households (estimated at 60.5 million in the mid-1990s) subscribed to cable television. More than 98 per cent of households had at least one television set.

Commercial radio stations in 1997 numbered about 3,702 AM stations and about 4,665 FM stations.

There were 1,520 daily newspapers published in the United States in 1996, with a circulation of approximately 57 million copies. The top daily newspapers are the Wall Street Journal (published in New York), USA Today (published in Arlington, Virginia), the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, each with a circulation in excess of 1 million. Other leading newspapers, each with a daily circulation of more than 500,000, included the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Boston Globe, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nearly 21,300 periodicals were published in 1997. These ranged from specialized journals reaching only a small number of professionals to major news magazines such as Newsweek, with a circulation of about 3.2 million a week; and Time, with a circulation of about 4.2 million a week. In 1992 about 49,300 new books were published; the leading categories were sociology and economics, juvenile, and fiction. Book sales in 1994 totalled some 2.1 billion.

V.

Government

The supreme law of the land is the Constitution of the United States, which was drafted by a convention in 1787, ratified by the required two thirds of the states by June 1788, and put into effect in 1789. The Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress or by a special national convention called for the purpose, subject to ratification by vote of three quarters of the legislatures of the states or state conventions. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were adopted in 1791. These provide for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, the right to petition the government, and various due process and criminal procedure rights for individuals. Seventeen additional amendments were adopted between 1795 and 1992, abolishing slavery, providing for an income tax, and providing for universal suffrage for all people 18 or older, among other purposes.

The Constitution provides for a union of states, now numbering 50, each with its own constitution, republican form of government, and reserved powers, within a federal system. The national government is responsible for external affairs and has concurrent powers with states, commonwealths, and self-governing territories over domestic matters. The chief of state is the president of the United States and the seat of government is the District of Columbia, which has limited home rule and no voting representation in the national legislature.

The Constitution establishes three separate branches of government: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Each branch has its own area of authority. These areas overlap, making it necessary for the three branches to share in, and compete for, the power to govern effectively. Each branch has some constitutional authority that it can use to impede the functioning of the other branches, creating a system of checks and balances. The purpose of this somewhat cumbersome machinery of government is to prevent the concentration of power in a small group of politicians.

Since the adoption of the Constitution, the national government has increased its functions in economic and social matters and has shared more responsibilities with the states.

A.

Executive

Article II of the Constitution provides for a president and vice-president chosen by a majority of voters in the Electoral College for a fixed term of four years. The 22nd Amendment (1951) limits presidents to two terms in office. By state law, electors are chosen by a plurality of the popular vote in each state and in the District of Columbia. In almost all cases the winner of the popular vote is elected president. In 2000, 51 per cent of the electorate, translated as 105 million people, voted. The 2004 election saw a significant increase, with more than 115 million citizens voting, around 60 per cent of the electorate—the largest turnout percentage since the 1960s.

The US president typically has a greater range of functions than prime ministers in parliamentary governments because the president serves as ceremonial chief of state as well as head of government. Unlike most presidents in other nations, the US president is also the head of his or her party, an important legislative leader, and the chief executive.

The Constitution makes the president commander-in-chief of the US armed forces. The president’s authority to deploy forces on his or her own initiative is regulated by Congress under Article I, Section 8, which reserves to Congress the power to declare war, and under provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

The president’s diplomatic powers include negotiation and ratification of treaties, with the consent of two thirds of the Senate; the appointment of ambassadors to foreign nations, also with the consent of the Senate; and the reception of foreign ambassadors. The president negotiates, on his or her own authority, executive agreements with leaders of other nations.

By law the president prepares an executive budget and an economic report, which are submitted to Congress each year. The president submits requests for legislation, the most important of which usually regard taxation and other economic and military matters. The president also exercises executive authority over the various government departments and agencies.

An extensive advisory system serves the president. Aides in the White House, where the president resides and has offices, provide advice, manage press relations, schedule appointments and travel, and communicate with Congress, government departments, lobbying groups, and the president’s political party. Staff agencies in the executive office include the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares presidential budget requests and controls spending; the National Security Council, which is concerned with the nation’s defence; and the Council of Economic Advisers. The president’s Cabinet also serves as a source of information and advice. It consists of the heads of the governmental departments and a few other officials, such as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the US ambassador to the UN. The Cabinet has no power of its own.

The executive branch of the government comprises 15 departments. Some government agencies are not directly supervised by the president. These include independent establishments such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Reserve System.

B.

Legislature

All legislative powers granted by the Constitution in Article I are exercised by the Congress of the United States. Congress consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate contains 100 senators, 2 representing each state—a provision of the Constitution not subject to amendment. The 435 members of the House are elected by the different states on the basis of their population at the most recent US census. California has the largest number of representatives, 53; several states, such as Delaware and Vermont, have only 1. Representatives serve two-year terms, and senators six-year terms. Every two years all 435 members of the House are elected, and one third of the senators. In presidential election years about 45 per cent of eligible adults vote for members of Congress; in other election years only about 35 per cent vote.

The Senate and House are organized by the majority party in each chamber, which chooses the presiding officer, the majority leader, and the chairs of each committee. Through much of American history the party controlling the White House did not control both houses of Congress. This situation, known as divided government, can lead to reduced output of legislation and an increase in presidential vetoes of bills passed by Congress. Unlike the chief executives of parliamentary systems in other countries, the US president neither resigns nor calls for new elections, even when majorities in Congress reject the president’s programmes.

Congress has extensive powers in domestic affairs, including the power to tax, borrow money and pay debts, coin money and regulate its value, and regulate commerce among the states. Congress helps to establish and oversee the departments and agencies of the executive branch; it also establishes the lower federal courts and determines their jurisdiction. Congress has the power to declare war, raise and maintain the armed forces, establish tariffs, and regulate commerce with foreign nations.

A bill is passed by Congress by majority vote of those present in each chamber; it is then sent to the president. The president may sign the bill to indicate approval, or allow the bill to become law without signing it; or may veto the bill and return it to Congress, giving reasons for this action. The president’s veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the members of Congress voting in each chamber.

Each house of Congress has some distinct powers. Revenue measures must originate in the House of Representatives. The House, with a majority vote, can initiate proceedings to impeach (charge with misconduct) the president. If the Electoral College cannot produce a majority to elect a president, the House chooses one of the top three contenders. If both the president and the vice-president die, are incapacitated, or are removed from office, the Speaker of the House becomes president.

The Senate advises on and consents to presidential treaties and to nominations for major executive officials, ambassadors, justices of the Supreme Court, and federal judges. The Senate tries all impeachments, with a two-thirds vote necessary to convict. In the event of a deadlock in the Electoral College, the Senate chooses the vice-president from the top two contenders. The president pro tempore of the Senate comes after the Speaker of the House in the line of succession to the presidency.

The legislative branch also includes agencies such as the Congressional Budget Office, the General Accounting Office, the Library of Congress, and the Government Printing Office.

C.

Political Parties

Two major political parties exist in the United States in the 1990s. The Democratic Party was founded in the 1790s as the Anti-Federalists, became the Democratic-Republican Party in 1801, and was renamed the Democratic Party in 1828. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 as a third party and became one of the two major parties in 1860. Parties other than the Democratic and Republican parties are of only minor importance in most national and state elections, and no third-party candidate has ever won the presidency. Third parties have played only a minor role in Congress.

In the late 20th century the Democrats were split into two major factions. The northern Democrats as a rule favoured national action to solve social problems, emphasized government regulation of the economy, and advocated strong action to aid minorities. The southern Democrats were more conservative in fiscal, economic regulation, and social matters.

Republicans were less divided in their economic approach, favouring reduced social services to help balance the budget to lower inflation, and tax cuts to promote industrial development. Division among Republicans occurred on social issues involving such matters as abortion and civil rights, however. Political Parties in the United States.

D.

Judiciary

The federal court system derives its powers from Article III of the Constitution. The system includes the Supreme Court of the United States, established by the Constitution; and 12 courts of appeal (sometimes called circuit courts), 91 district courts, and special courts such as the Tax Court, the Claims Court, and the Court of Veterans’ Appeals, all established by Congress. See Courts in the United States.

The federal courts perform two constitutional functions. First, they interpret the meaning of laws and administrative regulations; this is known as statutory construction. Second, the courts determine whether any law passed by Congress or state legislatures, or any administrative action taken by the national or state executive branches, violates the US Constitution; this is known as judicial review. Federal courts can declare null and void laws or actions, at the national and state levels, that violate the Constitution.

The nine justices of the Supreme Court and the other federal judges are nominated by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The president, in making district court nominations, usually follows the recommendations of senators from the president’s party. All federal judges and justices of the Supreme Court serve on good behaviour for life. They may be removed from office only through the process of impeachment, which has been used fewer than 20 times, and never successfully against a Supreme Court justice.

Decisions of the Supreme Court that involve the statutory construction of laws may be overturned by Congress. Decisions involving judicial review may be checked and balanced in either of two ways. The president and Senate may deliberately fill vacancies on the Supreme Court with new justices who can be expected to overturn the decision; or the Constitution can be amended, as was the case after the Supreme Court ruled income tax unconstitutional.

E.

State and Local Government

The US Constitution provides for a federal system, with those powers not exercised by the national government retained by the states. States are denied the power to conduct foreign relations, enter into treaties or alliances, or lay tariffs. They may not coin currency, levy taxes on interstate commerce, or prevent the movement of persons across their borders. States may cooperate with one another through creation of interstate compacts, which require the approval of Congress. These often involve water resources, navigation, pollution control, or port development.

The national government and states are closely linked in an administrative system of cooperative federalism. This includes categorical grant programmes, in which the national government establishes operating standards and pays up to 90 per cent of the cost of programmes administered by the states; block grants for general purposes such as education or community development; and revenue sharing, whereby the national government distributes money to states and localities each year.

The major functions of the states include qualified control of voter eligibility requirements; administration of state and national elections; supervision of municipal and county government; promotion and regulation of commerce, industry, and agriculture; and maintenance of highways, prisons, hospitals, and mental-health facilities. The states also support extensive systems of higher education. They share with local units of government the responsibility for welfare, medical care for indigents, employment services, and other social services.

Almost all states are divided into territorial units called counties. In 1997 the United States had 3,043 counties. Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes, which are similar to counties. Alaska has no counties as such; much of the state is organized into 16 boroughs. In a number of states, such as Connecticut, counties have virtually no governmental function. In several states, notably Virginia, one or more cities are independent of any county organization and thus constitute primary divisions of the state. In relatively heavily populated areas, communities are organized into a total of 19,296 municipalities, which include cities, towns, villages, and boroughs. Municipalities generally provide basic services, including police, sanitation, and fire protection. Education at the elementary and secondary levels is usually supervised by school boards, which share authority over finance, curriculum, and teacher certification with state government. Also important are so-called special districts, which are independent, limited-purpose local government units dealing with water supply, flood control, fire protection, community development, housing, and other matters.

F.

Health and Welfare

Through cooperative federalism, the national and state governments provide social services to individuals. The Social Security Act of 1935 provides financial protection to wage earners and their families when the wage earner retires, becomes disabled, or dies. Contributions are financed through payroll taxes and employer contributions, and benefits are indexed against the effects of inflation.

The national government and states also help fund unemployment insurance programmes. Health programmes include Medicare, a health insurance programme for the elderly, and Medicaid, a programme of assistance to the poor (see Medicare and Medicaid). The United States has extensive medical facilities of the highest quality, but gaining access to them remains a problem for a substantial segment of the population. It has been estimated that more than 30 million Americans have no private health insurance coverage and do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid; perhaps twice that number either have inadequate basic coverage or do not have adequate coverage for catastrophic illness.

Federal, state, and local grants provide income assistance for the blind, disabled, and elderly poor, and assistance to poor families with dependent children. School lunch programmes for needy children and a food stamp programme for poor families are also provided.

G.

Defence

The president is commander-in-chief of the US armed forces. The president’s orders commanding these forces are passed through the office of the Secretary of Defense to the various military commands. The military heads of the army, navy, air force, and marines serve as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chair is designated by the president. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advise the president and Congress on military strategy and recommend expenditure levels and weapons systems.

Although the Selective Service System registers all male citizens over the age of 18, since 1973 the armed forces have been composed entirely of men and women volunteers. At the beginning of 2004 the armed forces consisted of 1,473,960 active-duty military personnel, including some 502,000 in the army, 173,595 in the marines, 376,750 in the navy, and 379,500 in the air force. United States Coast Guard personnel numbered 37,300 in the mid-1990s.

Major collective security agreements to which the United States is a party include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and ANZUS, which links Australia and New Zealand with the United States.

H.

International Organizations

The United States is a member of the UN and has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. It also belongs to many UN agencies such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Labour Organization, and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, the United States plays a major role in numerous other international organizations, such as the Organization of American States and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

VI.

History

In addition to cross-references contained in the following account of US history, the reader is referred to the history sections of articles on the individual states and to separate articles