United States of America

!

This article is a stub. Please help Ameriwiki by expanding it.

Flag of the United States of America

The United States of America is a country occupying the central part of the North American continent, bounded by Canada to its north, Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to its south, the Atlantic Ocean to its east and the Pacific Ocean to its west. It originated as a federation of thirteen British colonies which declared independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. It later grew through the Lousiana Purchase, Mexican-American War and Alaska Purchase, adding the states of Lousiana, Texas and Alaska, respectively. The annexation of the previously independent Kingdom of Hawaii added the state of Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Today it constitutes fifty states, and a number of external territories (such as Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, etc.)

It has a federal, constitutional republic form of government. The head of state, head of the executive branch of government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces is the President. The current president is Barack Obama. Each of its 50 states has 2 senators who serve in the Senate (or "Upper house") for 6 year terms. Its 435 House representatives ("lower house") each serve 2 year terms. Each state has different amounts of representatives, depending on its population, however each state must have at least 1 representative.

Its capital is the District of Columbia (D.C.), located northeast of Virginia. It is not included in any state but has its own non-voting representative.