View source for United States

{{bdm}}
{{Coord|40|N|100|W|display=title}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = United States of America
| common_name            = the United States
| image_flag             = Flag of the United States.svg
| image_coat             = Greater coat of arms of the United States.svg
| symbol_type_article    = Great Seal of the United States#Obverse
| national_motto         = <div style="padding-bottom:0.5em;text-align:center;">"[[In God We Trust]]"<ref>{{USC|36|302}}</ref></div>{{collapsible list
|title=Other traditional mottos:
|titlestyle=background:transparent;text-align:center;line-height:1.15em;
|liststyle=text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;
|{{native phrase|la|"[[E pluribus unum]]"|italics=off}}<ref name="de facto Motto">{{cite web|publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]], [[Bureau of Public Affairs]] |year=2003|url= https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/27807.pdf|title=The Great Seal of the United States|accessdate=February 12, 2020}}</ref>{{rp|6, 15}}<br />"Out of many, one"
|{{native phrase|la|"[[Annuit cœptis]]"|italics=off}}<ref name="de facto Motto"/>{{rp|6, 15}} <br />"[[God|He]] has favored our undertakings"
|{{native phrase|la|"[[Novus ordo seclorum]]"|italics=off}}<br />"New order of the ages"
}}
| national_anthem        = {{center|"[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]"}}<div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:Star Spangled Banner instrumental.ogg]]}}</div>
| march                  = {{center|"[[The Stars and Stripes Forever]]"{{sfn|Kidder|Oppenheim|2007|p=91}}<ref name="urluscode.house.gov">{{cite web |url=http://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=112&page=1263 |title=uscode.house.gov |author= |authorlink= |vauthors= |date=August 12, 1999 |website=Public Law 105-225 |publisher=uscode.house.gov |pages=112 Stat. 1263 |language= |quote=Section 304. "The composition by John Philip Sousa entitled 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' is the national march." |accessdate=September 10, 2017}}</ref> }}<div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:March, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" · Colonel John R. Bourgeois, Director · John Philip Sousa · United States Marine Band.ogg]]}}</div>
| other_symbol           = <div style="padding:0.3em;">[[File:Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg|90px]] [[File:Great Seal of the United States (reverse).svg|90px]]</div>
| other_symbol_type      = [[Great Seal of the United States|Great Seal]]:
| image_map              = USA orthographic.svg <!-- Consensus map, see talk page. -->
| map_width              = 220px
| alt_map                = Projection of North America with the United States in green
| image_map2             = US insular areas SVG.svg
| alt_map2               = The United States and its [[Territories of the United States|territories]]
| map_caption2           = The United States, including its [[Territories of the United States|territories]]
| capital                = {{plainlist|
* [[Washington, D.C.]]
* {{coord|38|53|N|77|01|W|display=inline}}}}
| largest_city           = {{plainlist|
* [[New York City]]
* {{coord|40|43|N|74|00|W|display=inline}}}}
| official_languages     = {{nowrap|None at [[Federal government of the United States|federal level]]{{efn|English is the [[Official language of the United States|official language]] of 32 states; English and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] are both official languages in [[Hawaii]], and English and [[Alaska Native languages|20 Indigenous languages]] are official in [[Alaska]]. [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]], [[Cherokee language|Cherokee]], and [[Sioux language|Sioux]] are among many other official languages in Native-controlled lands throughout the country. [[French language|French]] is a ''de facto'', but unofficial, language in [[Maine]] and [[Louisiana]], while [[New Mexico]] law grants [[Spanish language|Spanish]] a special status. In five territories, English as well as one or more indigenous languages are official: [[Spanish language|Spanish]] in Puerto Rico, [[Samoan language|Samoan]] in American Samoa, [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]] in both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. [[Carolinian language|Carolinian]] is also an official language in the Northern Mariana Islands.{{sfn|Cobarrubias|1983|p=195}}{{sfn|García|2011|p=167}}}}}}
| languages_type         = [[National language]]
| languages              = [[English language|English]]<!-- NOTE: Just English, don't add "American English". -->
| ethnic_groups          = {{plainlist|'''By race:'''
* 76.5% [[White Americans|White]]
* 13.4% [[African Americans|Black]]
* 5.9% [[Asian Americans|Asian]]
* 2.7% [[Multiracial Americans|Other/multiracial]]
* 1.3% [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]
* 0.2% [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]]}}
{{plainlist|'''Ethnicity:'''
* 18.3% [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]]
* 81.7% non-Hispanic or Latino}}
| ethnic_groups_year     = 2018
| ethnic_groups_ref      = <ref name="2019estimate">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States |work=[[United States Census]] |access-date=January 21, 2020}}</ref>
| demonym                = [[Americans|American]]{{efn|name=demonym|The historical and informal demonym [[Yankee]] has been applied to Americans, New Englanders, or northeasterners since the 18th century.}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia and Fact-index: Ohio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uV5tvKPO684C&q=%22national+nicknames%22+Yankee&dq=%22national+nicknames%22+Yankee|year=1963|page=336}}</ref>
| government_type        = [[Federalism in the United States|Federal]] [[presidential system|presidential]] [[republic|constitutional republic]]<!-- Consensus description; do not change without addressing in talk page first -->
| leader_title1          = [[President of the United States|President]]
| leader_name1           = {{nowrap|[[Donald Trump]]}} ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
| leader_title2          = [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]{{Efn|Also president of the [[United States Senate|Senate]].}}
| leader_name2           = {{nowrap|[[Mike Pence]]}} ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
| leader_title3          = {{nowrap|[[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]]}}
| leader_name3           = {{nowrap|[[Nancy Pelosi]]}} ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]])
| leader_title4          = [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]]
| leader_name4           = [[John Roberts]]
| legislature            = [[United States Congress|Congress]]
| upper_house            = [[United States Senate|Senate]]
| lower_house            = [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]
| sovereignty_type       = [[American Revolution|Independence]]
| sovereignty_note       = from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
| established_event1     = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration]]
| established_date1      = July 4, 1776
| established_event2     = {{nowrap|[[Articles of Confederation]]}}
| established_date2      = March 1, 1781
| established_event3     = [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]]
| established_date3      = September 3, 1783
| established_event4     = {{nowrap|[[United States Constitution|Current constitution]]}}
| established_date4      = June 21, 1788
| established_event5     = [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]]
| established_date5      = September 25, 1789
| established_event6     = {{nowrap|[[Admission to the Union|Last state admitted]]}}
| established_date6      = {{nowrap|August 21, 1959{{Efn|[[Hawaii]]}}}}
| established_event7     = [[Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution|Last amendment]]
| established_date7      = May 5, 1992
| area_link              = Geography of the United States
| area_label             = Total area
| area_footnote          = {{efn|name=largestcountry}}<ref>Areas of the 50 states and the District of Columbia but not Puerto Rico nor other island territories per {{cite web| date = August 2010| title = State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates| work = [[Census.gov]]| url = https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-area.html| accessdate = March 31, 2020| quote = reflect base feature updates made in the MAF/TIGER database through August, 2010.}}</ref>
| area_rank              = 3rd/4th
| area_sq_mi             = 3,796,742
| percent_water          = 6.97
| area_label2            = Total land area
| area_data2             = {{convert|3,531,905|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}}
| population_estimate    = {{increase}} 328,239,523<ref name="2019estimate" />
| population_census      = 308,745,538{{efn|name="pop"}}<ref name=PEPANNRES2016>{{cite web |url=https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2016_PEPANNRES&src=pt |title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 |work=[[United States Census]] |access-date=July 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214010201/https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2016_PEPANNRES&src=pt |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |url-status=dead }} The 2016 estimate is as of July 1, 2016. The 2010 census is as of April 1, 2010.</ref>
| population_estimate_year = 2019
| population_estimate_rank = 3rd
| population_census_year = 2010
| population_census_rank = 3rd
| population_density_sq_mi = 87<!-- Figure uses (population/land + water area) as of July 2019. -->
| population_density_rank = 146th
| GDP_PPP                = {{increase}} {{nowrap|$22.321 trillion<!-- End nowrap. -->}}<ref name="IMFWEOUS"/>
| GDP_PPP_year           = 2020
| GDP_PPP_rank           = 2nd
| GDP_PPP_per_capita     = {{increase}} $67,426<ref name="IMFWEOUS">{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2019/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=73&pr.y=7&sy=2020&ey=2024&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=111&s=NGDPD%2CPPPGDP%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPPC&grp=0&a= |title=World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019 |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |website=IMF.org |access-date=March 30, 2020}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 11th
| GDP_nominal            = {{increase}} {{nowrap|$22.321 trillion}}<ref name="IMFWEOUS"/>
| GDP_nominal_year       = 2020
| GDP_nominal_rank       = 1st
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $67,426<ref name="IMFWEOUS"/>
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 7th
| Gini                   = 39.0<!-- Number only. -->
| Gini_year              = 2017
| Gini_change            = decrease
| Gini_ref               = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://data.oecd.org/chart/5O5t |title=Income inequality |publisher=[[OECD]] |website=data.oecd.org|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref>
| Gini_rank              = 56th
| HDI                    = 0.920<!-- Number only. -->
| HDI_year               = 2018<!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year. -->
| HDI_change             = increase<!-- Increase/decrease/steady. -->
| HDI_ref                = <ref name="UNHDR">{{cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/2019-human-development-index-ranking|title=Human Development Report 2019|language=en|publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]]|date=December 10, 2019|accessdate=December 10, 2019|format=PDF}}</ref>
| HDI_rank               = 15th
| currency               = [[{{#property:p38}}]] ($)
| currency_code          = USD
| utc_offset             = −4 to −12, +10, +11
| utc_offset_DST         = −4 to −10{{efn|name="time"}}
| date_format            = {{plainlist|
* {{abbr|mm|month}}/{{abbr|dd|day}}/{{abbr|yyyy|year}}
* {{abbr|yyyy|year}}-{{abbr|mm|month}}-{{abbr|dd|day}}}}
| electricity            = 120 V–60 Hz
| drives_on              = right{{efn|name="drive"}}
| calling_code           = [[North American Numbering Plan|+1]]
| iso3166code            = US
| cctld                  = ; [[Generic top-level domain]]: [[.com]], [[.org]], [[.net]], [[.edu]], [[.gov]], [[.mil]]
; ccTLD (generally not used in the U.S.): [[.us]], [[.pr]], [[.as]], [[.gu]], [[.mp]], [[.vi]] and, formerly, [[.um]] (removed by ICANN in 2008, but still recognized by the U.S. government as a ccTLD) 
| religion_year          =
| religion_ref           =
| area_km2               =
| today                  =
}}

The '''United States of America''' ('''USA'''), commonly known as the '''United States''' ('''U.S.''' or '''US''') or '''America''', is a country [[Contiguous United States|mostly located]] in central [[North America]], between [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]]. It consists of 50 [[U.S. state|states]], a [[Washington, D.C.|federal district]], five major [[Territories of the United States|self-governing territories]], and [[United States Minor Outlying Islands|various possessions]].{{efn|The five major territories are [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[United States Virgin Islands]]. There are eleven smaller island areas without permanent populations: [[Baker Island]], [[Howland Island]], [[Jarvis Island]], [[Johnston Atoll]], [[Kingman Reef]], [[Midway Atoll]], and [[Palmyra Atoll]]. U.S. sovereignty over [[Bajo Nuevo Bank]], [[Navassa Island]], [[Serranilla Bank]], and [[Wake Island]] is disputed.<ref>U.S. State Department, [https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/179780.htm Common Core Document to U.N. Committee on Human Rights], December 30, 2011, Item 22, 27, 80. And U.S. General Accounting Office Report, [http://www.gao.gov/archive/1998/og98005.pdf U.S. Insular Areas: application of the U.S. Constitution], November 1997, pp. 1, 6, 39n. Both viewed April 6, 2016.</ref>}} At 3.8&nbsp;million square miles (9.8&nbsp;million km<sup>2</sup>), it is the world's [[List of countries and dependencies by area|third- or fourth-largest country by total area]].{{efn|The ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' lists China as the world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) with a total area of {{cvt|9,572,900|km2}},<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/111803/China-quick-facts |title=China |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |accessdate=January 31, 2010}}</ref> and the United States as fourth-largest at {{cvt|9,526,468|km2}}. This figure for the United States is less than the one cited in the ''CIA World Factbook'' because it ''excludes'' coastal and territorial waters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/616563/United-States-quick-facts |title=United States |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |accessdate=January 31, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219194413/https://www.britannica.com/topic/616563/United-States-quick-facts|archivedate=December 19, 2013}}</ref><br />The ''[[CIA World Factbook]]'' lists the United States as the third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) with total area of {{cvt|9,833,517|km2}},<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html |title=United States |website=[[CIA World Factbook]] |publisher= |accessdate=June 10, 2016}}</ref> and China as fourth-largest at {{cvt|9,596,960|km2}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html |title=China |website=[[CIA World Factbook]] |accessdate=June 10, 2016}}</ref> This figure for the United States is greater than in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' because it ''includes'' coastal and territorial waters.|name=largestcountry}} With a 2019 estimated population of over 328&nbsp;million,<ref name="2019estimate" /> the U.S. is the [[List of countries and dependencies by population|third most populous country]] in the world. Americans are a [[race (classification of human beings)|racially]] and [[ethnic group|ethnically]] [[Multiethnic society|diverse]] population that has been shaped through centuries of [[immigration]]. The capital is [[Washington, D.C.]], and the [[List of United States cities by population|most populous city]] is [[New York City]].

[[Paleo-Indians]] [[Settlement of the Americas|migrated from Siberia]] to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago,{{sfn|Erlandson|Rick|Vellanoweth|2008|p=19}} and [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]] began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the [[Thirteen Colonies|thirteen British colonies]] established along the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]]. Numerous disputes between [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and the colonies led to the [[American Revolutionary War]] lasting between 1775 and 1783, leading to independence.<ref>Greene, Jack P., Pole, J.R., eds. (2008). ''A Companion to the American Revolution''. pp. 352–361.<br />{{cite book |author=Bender, Thomas |title=A Nation Among Nations: America's Place in World History |url=https://archive.org/details/nationamongnatio00bend |url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=Hill & Wang |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationamongnatio00bend/page/61 61] |isbn=978-0-8090-7235-4}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=4&smtid=1 |title=Overview of the Early National Period |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |date=2014 |website=Digital History |publisher=University of Houston |access-date=February 25, 2015}}</ref> Beginning in the late 18th century, the United States vigorously expanded across North America, gradually [[United States territorial acquisitions|acquiring new territories]],<ref name="MD2007" /> [[American Indian Wars|killing and displacing Native Americans]], and [[List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union|admitting new states]]. By 1848, the United States spanned the continent.<ref name="MD2007">{{cite book |last=Carlisle |first=Rodney P. |first2=J. Geoffrey |last2=Golson |title=Manifest Destiny and the Expansion of America |series=Turning Points in History Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka6LxulZaEwC&vq=annexation&dq=territorial+expansion+United+States+%22manifest+destiny%22 |year=2007 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-833-0 |page=238}}</ref>
[[Slavery in the United States|Slavery]] was legal in much of the United States until the second half of the 19th century, when the [[American Civil War]] led to [[Emancipation Proclamation|its abolition]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html |title=The Civil War and emancipation 1861–1865 |website=Africans in America |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |location=Boston |year=1999 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19991012054217/http://pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html |archivedate=October 12, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=Jeffrey H. |editor1-last=Wallenfeldt |author=Britannica Educational Publishing |series=America at War |title=The American Civil War and Reconstruction: People, Politics, and Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_0TrXXiDbUC&dq=slavery+%22American+Civil+War%22 |year=2009 |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61530-045-7 |page=264}}</ref>

The [[Spanish–American War]] and {{nowrap|[[World War I]]}} entrenched the U.S. as a world power, a status confirmed by the outcome of {{nowrap|[[World War II]]}}. It was the [[Nuclear weapons and the United States|first country to develop nuclear weapons]] and is the only country to have [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|used them in warfare]]. During the [[Cold War]], the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] competed in the [[Space Race]], culminating with the 1969 [[Apollo 11|Apollo 11 mission]], the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. The end of the Cold War and [[dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Tony |last1=Judt |first2=Denis |last2=Lacorne |title=With Us Or Against Us: Studies in Global Anti-Americanism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVDHAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |year= 2005 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4039-8085-4 |page=61}}<br />{{cite book |author=Richard J. Samuels |title=Encyclopedia of United States National Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT666 |year=2005 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-1-4522-6535-3 |page=666}}<br />{{cite book |author=Paul R. Pillar |title=Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorismusforei00pill |url-access=registration |year= 2001 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0-8157-0004-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorismusforei00pill/page/57 57]}}<br />{{cite book |author=Gabe T. Wang |title=China and the Taiwan Issue: Impending War at Taiwan Strait |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbPJ7KZ9FvIC&pg=PA179 |year= 2006 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-3434-2 |page=179}}<br />{{cite book |title=Understanding the "Victory Disease", From the Little Bighorn to Mogadishu and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgdmiw4VUHsC&pg=PA1 |publisher=Diane Publishing |isbn=978-1-4289-1052-2 |page=1|year=2004 }}<br />{{cite book |author1=Akis Kalaitzidis |author2=Gregory W. Streich |title=U.S. Foreign Policy: A Documentary and Reference Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzwYzL9KcwEC&pg=PA313 |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-38375-5 |page=313}}</ref>

The United States is a [[federal republic]] and a [[representative democracy]]. It is a founding member of the [[United Nations]], [[World Bank]], [[International Monetary Fund]], [[Organization of American States]] (OAS), [[NATO]], and other international organizations. It is a [[Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|permanent member]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]].

A highly [[developed country]], the United States is the world's [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|largest economy]] and accounts for approximately a quarter of global [[gross domestic product]] (GDP).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2015/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=23&pr.y=9&sy=2014&ey=2014&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=512%2C668%2C914%2C672%2C612%2C946%2C614%2C137%2C311%2C962%2C213%2C674%2C911%2C676%2C193%2C548%2C122%2C556%2C912%2C678%2C313%2C181%2C419%2C867%2C513%2C682%2C316%2C684%2C913%2C273%2C124%2C868%2C339%2C921%2C638%2C948%2C514%2C943%2C218%2C686%2C963%2C688%2C616%2C518%2C223%2C728%2C516%2C558%2C918%2C138%2C748%2C196%2C618%2C278%2C624%2C692%2C522%2C694%2C622%2C142%2C156%2C449%2C626%2C564%2C628%2C565%2C228%2C283%2C924%2C853%2C233%2C288%2C632%2C293%2C636%2C566%2C634%2C964%2C238%2C182%2C662%2C453%2C960%2C968%2C423%2C922%2C935%2C714%2C128%2C862%2C611%2C135%2C321%2C716%2C243%2C456%2C248%2C722%2C469%2C942%2C253%2C718%2C642%2C724%2C643%2C576%2C939%2C936%2C644%2C961%2C819%2C813%2C172%2C199%2C132%2C733%2C646%2C184%2C648%2C524%2C915%2C361%2C134%2C362%2C652%2C364%2C174%2C732%2C328%2C366%2C258%2C734%2C656%2C144%2C654%2C146%2C336%2C463%2C263%2C528%2C268%2C923%2C532%2C738%2C944%2C578%2C176%2C537%2C534%2C742%2C536%2C866%2C429%2C369%2C433%2C744%2C178%2C186%2C436%2C925%2C136%2C869%2C343%2C746%2C158%2C926%2C439%2C466%2C916%2C112%2C664%2C111%2C826%2C298%2C542%2C927%2C967%2C846%2C443%2C299%2C917%2C582%2C544%2C474%2C941%2C754%2C446%2C698%2C666&s=NGDPD&grp=0&a= |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2015 |date= |accessdate= |website= |publisher=}}</ref> The United States is the world's [[List of countries by imports|largest importer]] and the [[List of countries by exports|second-largest exporter]] of goods, by value.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2087rank.html|title=The World Factbook |publisher= Central Intelligence Agency|website=CIA.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2078rank.html|title=The World Factbook |publisher= Central Intelligence Agency|website=CIA.gov}}</ref> Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total,<ref name="urlPopulation Clock">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/popclock/ |title=Population Clock |date=May 16, 2020 |website=U.S. and World Population Clock |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce |quote=The United States population on May 23, 2020 was: 329,686,270 |accessdate=May 24, 2020}}</ref> it holds [[List of countries by total wealth|29.4% of the total wealth in the world]], the largest share held by any country.<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Wealth Report |url=https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute/global-wealth-report.html |website=Credit Suisse |accessdate=February 11, 2019 |date=October 2018}}</ref> Despite [[Income inequality in the United States|income]] and [[Wealth inequality in the United States|wealth disparities]], the United States continues to [[International rankings of the United States|rank very high]] in measures of socioeconomic performance, including [[List of countries by average wage|average wage]], [[Disposable household and per capita income#Median|median income]], [[List of countries by wealth per adult#Tables|median wealth]], [[Human Development Index|human development]], [[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|per capita GDP]], and worker productivity.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500395_162-3228735.html |title=U.S. Workers World's Most Productive |publisher=CBS News |date=February 11, 2009 |accessdate=April 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=AV_AN_WAGE|title=Average annual wages|website=stats.oecd.org|access-date=February 2, 2019}}</ref> It is the foremost [[United States Armed Forces|military]] power in the world, making up more than a third of [[List of countries by military expenditures|global military spending]],<ref>[https://www.sipri.org/publications/2019/sipri-fact-sheets/trends-world-military-expenditure-2018 Trends in World Military Expenditure] Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.</ref> and is a leading [[Politics of the United States|political]], [[Culture of the United States|cultural]], and [[Science and technology in the United States|scientific]] force internationally.<ref>[[#Cohen|Cohen, 2004: History and the Hyperpower]]<br />[[#BBC18may|BBC, April 2008: Country Profile: United States of America]]<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.researchtrends.com/issue8-november-2008/geographical-trends-of-research-output/ |title=Geographical trends of research output |publisher=Research Trends |accessdate=March 16, 2014}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.openaccessweek.org/profiles/blogs/the-top-20-countries-for-scientific-output |title=The top 20 countries for scientific output |publisher=Open Access Week |accessdate=March 16, 2014}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2012/statistics-trends/granted-patents.html |title=Granted patents |publisher=European Patent Office|accessdate=March 16, 2014}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
<!-- linked -->
{{See also|Naming of the Americas|Names for United States citizens|American (word)}}

The first known use of the name "[[Americas|America]]" dates back to 1507, when it appeared on a world map created by the German cartographer [[Martin Waldseemüller]]. On this map, the name applied to [[South America]] in honor of the Italian explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]].{{sfn|Sider|2007|p=226}} After returning from his expeditions, Vespucci first postulated that the [[West Indies]] did not represent Asia's eastern limit, as initially thought by [[Christopher Columbus]], but instead were part of an entirely separate landmass thus far unknown to the Europeans.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Szalay |first1=Jessie |title=Amerigo Vespucci: Facts, Biography & Naming of America |url=https://www.livescience.com/42510-amerigo-vespucci.html |publisher=[[Live Science]] |accessdate=June 23, 2019 |date=September 20, 2017}}</ref> In 1538, the Flemish cartographer [[Gerardus Mercator]] used the name "America" on his own world map, applying it to the entire [[Western Hemisphere]].<ref name="Cohen">{{cite web|url=http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html |title=The Naming of America: Fragments We've Shored Against Ourselves |author=Jonathan Cohen |accessdate=February 3, 2014}}</ref>

The first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" dates from a January 2, 1776 letter written by [[Stephen Moylan]], Esq., to [[Joseph Reed (politician)|Lt. Col. Joseph Reed]], [[George Washington]]'s [[aide-de-camp]] and Muster-Master General of the [[Continental Army]]. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the [[American Revolutionary War|revolutionary war]] effort.<ref>DeLear, Byron (July 4, 2013) [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0704/Who-coined-United-States-of-America-Mystery-might-have-intriguing-answer Who coined 'United States of America'? Mystery might have intriguing answer.] "Historians have long tried to pinpoint exactly when the name 'United States of America' was first used and by whom{{nbsp}}... This latest find comes in a letter that Stephen Moylan, Esq., wrote to Col. Joseph Reed from the Continental Army Headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., during the Siege of Boston. The two men lived with Washington in Cambridge, with Reed serving as Washington's favorite military secretary and Moylan fulfilling the role during Reed's absence." ''Christian Science Monitor'' (Boston, MA).</ref><ref>Touba, Mariam (November 5, 2014) [http://blog.nyhistory.org/coined-phrase-united-states-america-may-never-guess/ Who Coined the Phrase 'United States of America'? You May Never Guess] "Here, on January 2, 1776, seven months before the Declaration of Independence and a week before the publication of Paine's ''Common Sense'', Stephen Moylan, an acting secretary to General George Washington, spells it out, 'I should like vastly to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain' to seek foreign assistance for the cause." ''New-York Historical Society Museum & Library''</ref><ref>Fay, John (July 15, 2016) [http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/The-forgotten-Irishman-who-named-the-United-States-of-America.html The forgotten Irishman who named the 'United States of America'] "According to the NY Historical Society, Stephen Moylan was the man responsible for the earliest documented use of the phrase 'United States of America'. But who was Stephen Moylan?" ''IrishCentral.com''</ref> The first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in ''[[The Virginia Gazette]]'' newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776.<ref>{{cite newspaper|newspaper=The Virginia Gazette |title=''"To the inhabitants of Virginia", by A PLANTER''. Dixon and Hunter's. April 6, 1776, Williamsburg, Virginia. Letter is also included in Peter Force's ''American Archives'' |url=http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/VGIssueThumbs.cfm?IssueIDNo=76.DH.16 |issue=1287 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219053616/http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/VGIssueThumbs.cfm?IssueIDNo=76.DH.16 |archivedate=December 19, 2014 |volume=5}}</ref>

The second draft of the [[Articles of Confederation]], prepared by [[John Dickinson]] and completed no later than June 17, 1776, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the 'United States of America{{' "}}.{{sfn|Safire|2003|p=199}} The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America{{' "}}.{{sfn|Mostert|2005|p=18}} In June 1776, [[Thomas Jefferson]] wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].{{sfn|Safire|2003|p=199}} This draft of the document did not surface until June 21, 1776, and it is unclear whether it was written before or after Dickinson used the term in his June 17 draft of the Articles of Confederation.{{sfn|Safire|2003|p=199}}

The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms are the "U.S.," the "USA," and "America." Colloquial names are the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States." "[[Columbia (name)|Columbia]]," a name popular in poetry and songs of the late 18th century, derives its origin from [[Christopher Columbus]]; it appears in the name "[[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]]." Many landmarks and institutions in the Western Hemisphere bear his name, including the country of [[Colombia]].{{sfn|Brokenshire|1993|page=49}}

The phrase "United States" was originally plural, a description of a collection of independent states—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]], ratified in 1865.{{sfn|Greg|1892|p=276}} The singular form—e.g., "the United States is"—became popular after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States." The difference is more significant than usage; it is a difference between a collection of states and a unit.<ref>G. H. Emerson, ''The Universalist Quarterly and General Review'', Vol. 28 (Jan. 1891), p. 49, quoted in {{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002663.html |author=Zimmer, Benjamin |date=November 24, 2005 |title=Life in These, Uh, This United States |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |accessdate=January 5, 2013}}</ref>

A [[Citizenship of the United States|citizen of the United States]] is an "[[Americans|American]]." "United States," "American" and "U.S." refer to the country adjectivally ("American values," "U.S.&nbsp;forces"). In English, the word "[[American (word)|American]]" rarely refers to topics or subjects not directly connected with the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Kenneth G. |title=The Columbia guide to standard American English |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetos00wils_0 |url-access=registration |date=1993 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-06989-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetos00wils_0/page/27 27–28]}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of the United States|Timeline of United States history|American business history|Economic history of the United States|Labor history of the United States}}

=== Indigenous peoples and pre-Columbian history ===
{{Further|Native Americans in the United States|Pre-Columbian era}}
[[File:66000251-2CO.jpg|thumb|The [[Cliff Palace]], built by ancient Native American [[Ancestral Puebloans|Puebloans]] around 1190 AD]]

It has been generally accepted that the [[Prehistoric migration and settlement of the Americas from Asia|first inhabitants of North America]] migrated from [[Siberia]] by way of the [[Beringia|Bering land bridge]] and arrived at least 12,000 years ago; however, increasing evidence suggests an even earlier arrival.{{sfn|Erlandson|Rick|Vellanoweth|2008|p=19}}{{sfn|Savage|2011|page= 55}}{{sfn|Haviland|Walrath|Prins|2013|page=219}} After crossing the land bridge, the [[Paleo-Indians]] moved southward along the Pacific coast{{sfn|Fladmark|2017|pages= 55–69}} and through an interior ice-free corridor.{{sfn|Meltzer|2009|page= 129}} The [[Clovis culture]], which appeared around 11,000 BC, was initially believed to represent the first wave of human settlement of the Americas.{{sfn|Waters|Stafford|2007|pages=1122–1126}}{{sfn|Flannery|2015|pages=173–185}} Increasing evidence has also been found for "pre-Clovis" cultures, including the recent discovery of tools dating back some 15,550 years.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} It is likely these represent the first of three major waves of migration into North America.{{sfn|Gelo|2018|pages=79-80}}

Over time, indigenous cultures in North America grew increasingly complex, and some, such as the [[pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] [[Mississippian culture]] in the southeast, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies.{{sfn|Lockard|2010|page= 315}} The Mississippian culture flourished in the south from 800 to 1600 AD, extending from the Mexican border down through Florida.{{sfn|Inghilleri|2016|page= 117}} Its city state [[Cahokia]] is the largest, most complex pre-Columbian [[archaeology|archaeological site]] in the modern-day United States.{{sfn|Martinez|Sage|Ono|2016|page= 4}} In the [[Four Corners]] region, [[Ancestral Puebloan]] culture developed from centuries of agricultural experimentation.{{sfn|Fagan|2016|page=390}}

Three [[UNESCO World Heritage Sites]] in the United States are credited to the Pueblos: [[Mesa Verde National Park]], [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park]], and [[Taos Pueblo]].{{sfn|Martinez|Bordeaux|2016|page=602}}{{sfn|Weiss|Jacobson|2000|page=180}} The earthworks constructed by Native Americans of the [[Poverty Point]] culture have also been designated a [[World Heritage Site|UNESCO World Heritage site]]. In the southern [[Great Lakes]] region, the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] was established at some point between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.<ref name="Dean Snow">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7e82KQoX6IC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=iroquois+basque |title=The Iroquois |author=Dean R. Snow |publisher=Blackwell Publishers, Ltd. |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-55786-938-8 |accessdate=July 16, 2010}}</ref> Most prominent along the Atlantic coast were the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] tribes, who practiced hunting and trapping, along with limited cultivation.

=== Effects on and interaction with native populations ===
{{Further|American Indian Wars|Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American disease and epidemics}}
[[File:AlutiiqDancer.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Alaska]]n [[Alutiiq people|Alutiiq]] dancer in traditional festival garb]]

With the progress of [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]] in the territories of the contemporary United States, the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were often [[American Indian Wars|conquered and displaced]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul Joseph |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idw0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA590 |date=October 11, 2016 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4833-5988-5 |page=590}}</ref> The [[Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|native population of America declined]] after European arrival for various reasons,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-native-american-slavery-20160505-snap-story.html|title=The new book 'The Other Slavery' will make you rethink American history|last=Treuer|first=David|newspaper= [[The Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref><ref>[[#Stannard|Stannard, 1993]] p. [https://archive.org/details/americanholocaus00stan xii]</ref> primarily diseases such as [[smallpox]] and [[measles]].<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qubTdDk1H3IC&pg=PA205 The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208032805/https://books.google.com/books?id=qubTdDk1H3IC&pg=PA205 |date=February 8, 2016}}''". Arthur C. Aufderheide, Conrado Rodríguez-Martín, Odin Langsjoen (1998). [[Cambridge University Press]]. p. 205. {{ISBN|0-521-55203-6}}</ref><ref>[[#Bianchine|Bianchine, Russo, 1992]] pp. 225–232</ref>

Estimating the native population of North America at the time of European contact is difficult.{{sfn|Perdue|Green|2005|page=40}}{{sfn|Haines|Haines|Steckel|2000|page=12}} [[Douglas H. Ubelaker]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] estimated that there was a population of 92,916 in the south Atlantic states and a population of 473,616 in the Gulf states,{{sfn|Thornton|1998|page=34}} but most academics regard this figure as too low.{{sfn|Perdue|Green|2005|page=40}} [[Anthropologist]] [[Henry F. Dobyns]] believed the populations were much higher, suggesting 1,100,000 along the shores of the gulf of Mexico, 2,211,000 people living between [[Florida]] and [[Massachusetts]], 5,250,000 in the [[Mississippi Valley]] and tributaries and 697,000 people in the [[Florida peninsula]].{{sfn|Perdue|Green|2005|page=40}}{{sfn|Haines|Haines|Steckel|2000|page= 12}}

In the early days of colonization, many European settlers were subject to food shortages, disease, and attacks from Native Americans. Native Americans were also often at war with neighboring tribes and allied with Europeans in their [[colonial war]]s. In many cases, however, natives and settlers came to depend on each other. Settlers traded for food and animal pelts; natives for guns, ammunition and other European goods.<ref>[[#Ripper2008|Ripper, 2008]] p. 6</ref> Natives taught many settlers to cultivate corn, beans, and squash. European missionaries and others felt it was important to "civilize" the Native Americans and urged them to adopt European agricultural techniques and lifestyles.<ref>[[#Ripper2008|Ripper, 2008]] p. 5</ref><ref>[[#Calloway1998|Calloway, 1998]], p. 55</ref>

=== European settlements ===
{{further|Colonial history of the United States|European colonization of the Americas|Thirteen Colonies}}
[[File:Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, by William Halsall.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|''[[Mayflower]] in [[Plymouth Harbor]]'' by [[William Halsall]]]]

With the advancement of European colonization in North America, the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were often [[American Indian Wars|conquered and displaced]].{{sfn|Joseph|2016|page=590}} The first Europeans to arrive in the contiguous United States were Spanish [[conquistador]]s such as [[Juan Ponce de León]], who made his first visit to [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] in 1513. Even earlier, [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in [[Puerto Rico]] on his [[Columbus's second voyage|1493 voyage]]. The Spanish set up the first settlements in Florida and New Mexico such as [[St. Augustine, Florida|Saint Augustine]]<ref name="Saint Augustine">{{cite web |title=St. Augustine Florida, The Nation's Oldest City |url=http://staugustine.com/history/nations-oldest-city |website=staugustine.com |language=en}}</ref> and [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]. The French established their own as well along the [[Mississippi River]]. Successful [[English overseas possessions|English settlement]] on the eastern coast of North America began with the [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia Colony]] in 1607 at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] and with the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims']] [[Plymouth Colony]] in 1620. Many settlers were [[English Dissenters|dissenting Christian groups]] who came seeking [[freedom of religion|religious freedom]]. The continent's first elected legislative assembly, Virginia's [[House of Burgesses]], was created in 1619. The [[Mayflower Compact]], signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking, and the [[Fundamental Orders of Connecticut]], established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.<ref name="Remini2–3">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Remini|2007|pp=2–3}}</ref><ref name="Johnson26–30">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Johnson|1997|pp=26–30}}</ref>

Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, though other industries were formed. [[Cash crops]] included tobacco, rice, and wheat. Extraction industries grew up in furs, fishing and lumber. Manufacturers produced rum and ships, and by the late colonial period, Americans were producing one-seventh of the world's iron supply.<ref>[[#Walton|Walton, 2009]], chapter 3</ref> Cities eventually dotted the coast to support local economies and serve as trade hubs. English colonists were supplemented by waves of [[Scotch-Irish American|Scotch-Irish]] immigrants and other groups. As coastal land grew more expensive, freed [[Indentured servitude|indentured servants]] claimed lands further west.<ref>[[#Lemon|Lemon, 1987]]</ref>

[[File:North America 1748.PNG|thumb|upright=1.36|left|European territorial claims during the mid-18th century]]

A large-scale slave trade with English privateers began.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=L. P. |title=Elizabethan Seamen and the African Slave Trade |journal=The Journal of Negro History |volume=9 |issue=1 |date=1924 |pages=1–17 |jstor=2713432|doi=10.2307/2713432 }}</ref> Because of less disease and better food and treatment, the life expectancy of slaves was much higher in North America than further south, leading to a rapid increase in the numbers of slaves.<ref>[[#Tadman|Tadman, 2000]], p. 1534</ref><ref>[[#Schneider|Schneider, 2007]], p. 484</ref> Colonial society was largely divided over the religious and moral implications of slavery, and colonies passed acts for and against the practice.<ref name=Lien522>[[#Lien|Lien, 1913]], p. 522</ref><ref name=Davis7>[[#Davis96|Davis, 1996]], p. 7</ref> But by the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were replacing indentured servants for cash crop labor, especially in the South.<ref name="Quirk2011">[[#Quirk|Quirk, 2011]], p. 195</ref>

With the establishment of the [[Province of Georgia]] in 1732, the [[Thirteen Colonies|13 colonies]] that would become the United States of America were administered by the British as overseas dependencies.<ref name="BilhartzElliott2007">{{cite book |author1=Bilhartz, Terry D. |author2=Elliott, Alan C. |title=Currents in American History: A Brief History of the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J65Z_Ura2EIC&pg=PA7 |year=2007 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-1817-7}}</ref> All nonetheless had local governments with elections open to most free men.<ref name="Wood1998">{{cite book |author=Wood, Gordon S. |title=The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdDRJLxBhl4C&pg=PA263 |year=1998 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-0-8078-4723-7 |page=263}}</ref> With extremely high birth rates, low death rates, and steady settlement, the colonial population grew rapidly. Relatively small Native American populations were eclipsed.<ref>[[#Walton|Walton, 2009]], pp. 38–39</ref> The [[Christian revival]]ist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the [[First Great Awakening|Great Awakening]] fueled interest both in religion and in religious liberty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foner |first1=Eric |title=The Story of American Freedom |date=1998 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-04665-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyofamericanf00fone/page/4 4]–5 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofamericanf00fone|url-access=registration |quote=story of American freedom. }}</ref>

During the [[Seven Years' War]] (known in the United States as the [[French and Indian War]]), British forces seized Canada from the French, but the [[French language|francophone]] population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], who were being conquered and displaced, the 13 British colonies had a population of over 2.1 million in 1770, about a third that of Britain. Despite continuing, new arrivals, the rate of natural increase was such that by the 1770s only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas.<ref>[[#Walton|Walton, 2009]], p. 35</ref> The colonies' distance from Britain had allowed the development of self-government, but their unprecedented success motivated [[monarchy|monarchs]] to periodically seek to reassert royal authority.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_52678 | author=Otis, James |year=1763 }}</ref>

In 1774, the [[Spanish Navy]] ship ''Santiago'', under [[Juan José Pérez Hernández|Juan Pérez]], entered and anchored in an inlet of [[Nootka Sound]], Vancouver Island, in present-day British Columbia. Although the Spanish did not land, natives paddled to the ship to trade [[fur]]s for [[abalone]] shells from [[California]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pethick |first=Derek |title=The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 |url=https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth |url-access=registration |year=1980 |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |location=Vancouver |isbn=978-0-88894-279-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth/page/8 8–9]}}</ref> At the time, the Spanish were able to monopolize the trade between [[Asia]] and North America, granting limited licenses to the [[Portugal|Portuguese]]. When the [[Russians]] began establishing a growing [[fur trading]] system in [[Alaska]], the Spanish began to challenge the Russians, with Pérez's voyage being the first of many to the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pethick |first=Derek |title=The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 |url=https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth |url-access=registration |year=1980 |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |location=Vancouver |isbn=978-0-88894-279-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth/page/7 7–8]}}</ref>{{efn|Spain sent [[Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest|several expeditions to Alaska]] to assert its long-held claim over the Pacific Northwest, which dated back to the 16th century. During the decade 1785–1795 British merchants, encouraged by [[Sir Joseph Banks]] and supported by their government, made a sustained attempt to develop this trade despite Spain's claims and navigation rights. The endeavors of these merchants did not last long in the face of Spain's opposition. The challenge was also opposed by a Japanese holding obdurately to national seclusion.<ref>Robert J. King, "'The long wish'd for object'—Opening the trade to Japan, 1785–1795", ''The Northern Mariner / le marin du nord'', vol. XX, no. 1, January 2010, pp. 1–35.</ref>}}

During his [[James Cook#Third voyage (1776–79)|third and final voyage]], [[Captain James Cook]] became the first European to begin formal contact with Hawaii.<ref>{{cite book |last=Collingridge |first=Vanessa |authorlink=Vanessa Collingridge |title=Captain Cook: The Life, Death and Legacy of History's Greatest Explorer |year=2003 |publisher=Ebury Press |page=380 |isbn=978-0-09-188898-5}}</ref> Captain Cook's last voyage included sailing along the coast of North America and Alaska searching for a [[Northwest Passage]] for approximately nine months.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Derek |title=Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery |date=1999 |publisher=Sasquatch Books |pages=42–43 |isbn=978-1-57061-215-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl57oHrVXGoC}}</ref>

=== Independence and expansion (1776–1865) ===
{{further|American Revolutionary War|United States Declaration of Independence|American Revolution|Territorial evolution of the United States}}
[[File:Declaration independence.jpg|thumb|''[[Declaration of Independence (Trumbull)|Declaration of Independence]]'', by [[John Trumbull]] (1819), depicts the [[Committee of Five]] presenting their draft of the Declaration to the [[Second Continental Congress|Continental Congress]]]]

The [[American Revolutionary War]] was the first successful colonial war of independence against a European power. Americans had developed an ideology of "[[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]]" asserting that government rested on the will of the people as expressed in their local legislatures. They demanded their [[Rights of Englishmen|rights as Englishmen]] and "no taxation without representation". The British insisted on administering the empire through Parliament, and [[American Revolution|the conflict]] escalated into war.<ref name="Humphrey2003">{{cite book |author=Humphrey, Carol Sue |title=The Revolutionary Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1776 To 1800 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19NWMZ6Ec_sC&pg=PA8 |year=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn=978-0-313-32083-5 |pages=8–10}}</ref>

The [[Second Continental Congress]] unanimously adopted the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which asserted that Great Britain was not protecting Americans' unalienable rights. July 4 is celebrated annually as [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]].<ref name="YoungNash2011" /> In 1777, the [[Articles of Confederation]] established a decentralized government that operated until 1789.<ref name="YoungNash2011">{{cite book |author1=Fabian Young, Alfred |author2=Nash, Gary B. |author3=Raphael, Ray |title=Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEzaLJ4u_MEC&pg=PA4 |year=2011 |publisher=Random House Digital |isbn=978-0-307-27110-5 |pages=4–7}}</ref>

[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Map of [[United States territorial acquisitions|territorial acquisitions of the United States]] between 1783 and 1917]]

Following the decisive Franco-American [[Siege of Yorktown|victory at Yorktown]] in 1781,<ref>Greene and Pole, ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' p 357. Jonathan R. Dull, ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution'' (1987) p. 161. Lawrence S. Kaplan, "The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge", ''International History Review'', Sept 1983, Vol. 5 Issue 3, pp. 431–442</ref> Britain signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|peace treaty of 1783]], and American sovereignty was internationally recognized and the country was granted all lands east of the [[Mississippi River]]. Nationalists led the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Philadelphia Convention]] of 1787 in writing the [[United States Constitution]], [[Ratification of the United States Constitution|ratified]] in state conventions in 1788. The federal government was reorganized into three branches, on the principle of creating salutary checks and balances, in 1789. [[George Washington]], who had led the [[Continental Army]] to victory, was the first [[President of the United States|president]] elected under the new constitution. The [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]], forbidding federal restriction of [[Natural and legal rights|personal freedoms]] and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.<ref name="BoyerJr.2007">[[#Boyer|Boyer, 2007]], pp. 192–193</ref>

Although the federal government criminalized the international slave trade in 1808, after 1820, cultivation of the highly profitable cotton crop exploded in the [[Deep South]], and along with it, the slave population.<ref name="Cogliano2008">{{cite book |author=Cogliano, Francis D. |title=Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1f-wAfE0mpsC&pg=PA219 |year=2008 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-2733-6 |page=219}}</ref><ref>[[#Walton|Walton, 2009]], p. 43</ref><ref>[[#Gordon|Gordon, 2004]], pp. 27,29</ref> The [[Second Great Awakening]], especially 1800–1840, converted millions to [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] Protestantism. In the North, it energized multiple social reform movements, including [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]];<ref name="Clark2012iu">{{cite book|author=Clark, Mary Ann |title=Then We'll Sing a New Song: African Influences on America's Religious Landscape |url=https://archive.org/details/thenwellsingnews0000clar/page/47 |date=May 2012 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-0881-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/thenwellsingnews0000clar/page/47 47] }}</ref> in the South, Methodists and Baptists proselytized among slave populations.<ref>Heinemann, Ronald L., et al., Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: a history of Virginia 1607–2007, 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-8139-2609-4}}, p. 197</ref>

Americans' eagerness to [[United States territorial acquisitions|expand westward]] prompted a long series of [[American Indian Wars]].<ref name="BillingtonRidge2001j">{{cite book|author1=Billington, Ray Allen |author2=Ridge, Martin |author-link2=Martin Ridge (historian) |title=Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier |url=https://archive.org/details/westwardexpansio00bill/page/22 |year=2001 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=978-0-8263-1981-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westwardexpansio00bill/page/22 22] }}</ref> The [[Louisiana Purchase]] of French-claimed territory in 1803 almost doubled the nation's area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Louisiana Purchase |publisher=National Park Services |url=http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/upload/louisiana_purchase.pdf |accessdate=March 1, 2011}}</ref> The [[War of 1812]], declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism.<ref name="Wait1999">{{cite book |author=Wait, Eugene M. |title=America and the War of 1812 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=puuQ30N0EsIC&pg=PA78 |year=1999 |publisher=Nova Publishers |isbn=978-1-56072-644-9 |page=78}}</ref> A series of military incursions into Florida led [[Adams–Onís Treaty|Spain to cede]] it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819.<ref name="KloseJones1994">{{cite book|author1=Klose, Nelson |author2=Jones, Robert F. |title=United States History to 1877 |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstateshist00klos_0/page/150 |year=1994 |publisher=Barron's Educational Series |isbn=978-0-8120-1834-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstateshist00klos_0/page/150 150] }}</ref> The expansion was aided by [[Steam engine|steam power]], when [[steamboats]] began traveling along America's large water systems, many of which were connected by new [[canal]]s, such as the [[Erie Canal|Erie]] and the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal|I&M]]; then, even faster railroads began their stretch across the nation's land.<ref>Winchester, pp. 198, 216, 251, 253</ref>

[[File:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg|thumb|[[San Francisco]] harbor during the [[California Gold Rush]]]]

From 1820 to 1850, [[Jacksonian democracy]] began a set of reforms which included wider white male suffrage; it led to the rise of the [[Second Party System]] of Democrats and Whigs as the dominant parties from 1828 to 1854. The [[Trail of Tears]] in the 1830s exemplified the [[Indian Removal Act|Indian removal policy]] that forcibly resettled Indians into the west on [[Indian reservations]]. The U.S. annexed the [[Republic of Texas]] in 1845 during a period of expansionist [[Manifest destiny]].<ref name="Morrison1999">{{cite book |author=Morrison, Michael A. |title=Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTaxzMlkVEMC&pg=PA13 |date=April 28, 1997 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-4796-1 |pages=13–21}}</ref> The 1846 [[Oregon Treaty]] with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day [[Northwestern United States|American Northwest]].<ref name="Kemp2010">{{cite book |author=Kemp, Roger L. |title=Documents of American Democracy: A Collection of Essential Works |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHawgM-WnlUC&pg=PA180 |year=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4210-2 |page=180 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> Victory in the [[Mexican–American War]] resulted in the 1848 [[Mexican Cession]] of California and much of the present-day [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]].<ref name="McIlwraithMuller2001">{{cite book|author1=McIlwraith, Thomas F. |author2=Muller, Edward K. |title=North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent |url=https://archive.org/details/northamericahist00mcil/page/61 |year=2001 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-0019-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/northamericahist00mcil/page/61 61] |accessdate=October 25, 2015 }}</ref>
The [[California Gold Rush]] of 1848–49 spurred migration to the Pacific coast, which led to the [[California Genocide]]<ref>Madley, Benjamin (2016). ''An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873''. Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-23069-7}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGKL6E9_J6IC&pg=PA143|title=California Indians, Genocide of|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Indian History [4 volumes]|first1=Bruce E.|last1=Johansen|first2=Barry M.|last2=Pritzker|date=July 23, 2007|pages=226–231|publisher=ABC-CLIO|via=Google Books|isbn=9781851098187}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/murderstatecalif0000lind|url-access=registration|title=Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846–1873|last=Lindsay|first=Brendan C.|year=2012|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-4021-6|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/revealing-the-history-of-genocide-against-californias-native-americans|title=Revealing the history of genocide against California's Native Americans|last=Wolf|first=Jessica|website=UCLA Newsroom|language=en|access-date=July 8, 2018}}</ref> and the creation of additional western states.<ref name="Rawls1999">{{cite book |author=Rawls, James J. |title=A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPUsIaHZTm0C&pg=PA20 |year=1999 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21771-3 |page=20}}</ref> After the Civil War, new transcontinental [[Rail transportation in the United States#History|railways]] made relocation easier for settlers, expanded internal trade and increased conflicts with Native Americans.<ref name="Black2011kj">{{cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |authorlink=Jeremy Black (historian) |title=Fighting for America: The Struggle for Mastery in North America, 1519–1871 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIst_CSWOqIC&pg=PA275 |year=2011 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35660-4 |page=275}}</ref> In 1869, a new [[Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant#Indian affairs and Peace Policy|Peace Policy]] nominally promised to protect Native Americans from abuses, avoid further war, and secure their eventual U.S. citizenship. Nonetheless, large-scale conflicts continued throughout the West into the 1900s.

=== Civil War and Reconstruction era ===
{{further|American Civil War|Reconstruction era}}
[[File:Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg.jpg|thumb|President [[Abraham Lincoln]] in [[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania|Gettysburg]], [[Pennsylvania]], November 19, 1863]]

Irreconcilable sectional conflict regarding [[Slavery in the United States|the slavery]] of [[Africans]] and [[African Americans]] ultimately led to the [[Origins of the American Civil War|American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Stuart Murray |title=Atlas of American Military History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ_sy7mmmxQC&pg=PA76 |year=2004 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-3025-5 |page=76 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}<br />{{cite book |author=Harold T. Lewis |title=Christian Social Witness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr-xNru5vZkC&pg=PA53 |year=2001 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-56101-188-9 |page=53}}</ref> Initially, states entering the Union had alternated between [[Slave states and free states|slave and free states]], keeping a sectional balance in the Senate, while free states outstripped slave states in population and in the House of Representatives. But with additional western territory and more free-soil states, tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over federalism and disposition of the territories, as well as whether to expand or restrict slavery.<ref name="O'Brien2002qs">{{cite book |author=Patrick Karl O'Brien |title=Atlas of World History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA184 |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521921-0 |page=184 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref>

With the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 election]] of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Abraham Lincoln]], conventions in thirteen slave states ultimately declared secession and formed the [[Confederate States of America]] (the "South" or the "Confederacy"), while the federal government (the "[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]") maintained that secession was illegal.<ref name="O'Brien2002qs" /> In order to bring about this secession, military action was initiated by the secessionists, and the Union responded in kind. The ensuing war would become the deadliest military conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of approximately 618,000 soldiers as well as many civilians.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vinovskis |first=Maris |date=1990 |title=Toward A Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays |page=4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge; New York |isbn=978-0-521-39559-5}}</ref> The Union initially simply fought to keep the country united. Nevertheless, as casualties mounted after 1863 and Lincoln delivered his [[Emancipation Proclamation]], the main purpose of the war from the Union's viewpoint became the abolition of slavery. Indeed, when the Union ultimately won the war in April 1865, each of the states in the defeated South was required to ratify the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]], which prohibited slavery.

The government enacted [[Reconstruction Amendments|three constitutional amendments]] in the years after the war: the aforementioned Thirteenth as well as the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] providing citizenship to the nearly four million [[African American]]s who had been slaves,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1860a-02.pdf |title=1860 Census |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |accessdate=June 10, 2007}} Page 7 lists a total slave population of 3,953,760.</ref> and the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]] ensuring in theory that African Americans had the right to vote. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in [[Federalism in the United States|federal power]]<ref>De Rosa, Marshall L. (1997). ''The Politics of Dissolution: The Quest for a National Identity and the American Civil War''. Edison, NJ: Transaction. p. 266. {{ISBN|1-56000-349-9}}.</ref> aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the South while guaranteeing the rights of the newly freed slaves.

[[Reconstruction (United States)|Reconstruction]] began in earnest following the war. While President Lincoln attempted to foster friendship and forgiveness between the Union and the former Confederacy, [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|his assassination]] on April 14, 1865, drove a wedge between North and South again. Republicans in the federal government made it their goal to oversee the rebuilding of the South and to ensure the rights of African Americans. They persisted until the [[Compromise of 1877]] when the Republicans agreed to cease protecting the rights of African Americans in the South in order for Democrats to concede the [[1876 United States presidential election|presidential election of 1876]].

Southern white Democrats, calling themselves "[[Redeemers]]," took control of the South after the end of Reconstruction. From 1890 to 1910 the Redeemers established so-called [[Jim Crow laws]], [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchising]] most blacks and some poor whites throughout the region. Blacks faced [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], especially in the South.<ref>{{cite book |author=Shearer Davis Bowman |title=Masters and Lords: Mid-19th-Century U.S. Planters and Prussian Junkers |url=https://archive.org/details/masterslordsmid10000bowm |url-access=registration |year=1993 |publisher=Oxford UP |page=[https://archive.org/details/masterslordsmid10000bowm/page/221 221]|isbn=978-0-19-536394-4 }}</ref> They also occasionally experienced vigilante violence, including [[Lynching in the United States|lynching]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Jason E. Pierce |title=Making the White Man's West: Whiteness and the Creation of the American West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJPgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT256 |year=2016 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |page=256|isbn=978-1-60732-396-9 }}</ref>

=== Further immigration, expansion, and industrialization ===
{{Main|Economic history of the United States|Technological and industrial history of the United States}}
[[File:Photograph of Immigrants on a Ferry Boat Near Ellis Island - NARA - 594479.gif|thumb|right|[[Ellis Island]], in [[New York Harbor]], was a major entry point for European [[immigration to the United States|immigration]] into the U.S.<ref name="PriceBenton-Short2008">{{cite book |author1=Marie Price |author2=Lisa Benton-Short |title=Migrants to the Metropolis: The Rise of Immigrant Gateway Cities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tb5HMB63xAC&pg=PA51 |year=2008 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-3186-6 |page=51}}</ref>]]

In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented [[History of immigration to the United States|influx of immigrants]] from [[Southern Europe|Southern]] and [[Eastern Europe]] supplied a surplus of labor for the country's industrialization and transformed its culture.<ref name="Powell2009qwet">{{cite book |author=John Powell |title=Encyclopedia of North American Immigration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNCX6UsdZYkC&pg=PA74 |year=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1012-7 |page=74 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> National infrastructure including [[First Transcontinental Telegraph|telegraph]] and [[First Transcontinental Railroad|transcontinental railroads]] spurred economic growth and greater settlement and development of the [[American frontier|American Old West]]. The later invention of [[Incandescent light bulb|electric light]] and the [[telephone]] would also affect communication and urban life.<ref>Winchester, pp. 351, 385</ref>

The United States fought [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]] west of the Mississippi River from 1810 to at least 1890.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes, 1850-1890|last=Michno|first=Gregory|date=2003|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing|isbn=978-0-87842-468-9}}</ref> Most of these conflicts ended with the cession of Native American territory and their confinement to [[Indian reservation]]s. This further expanded acreage under mechanical cultivation, increasing surpluses for international markets.<ref>{{cite web |title=Toward a Market Economy |url=http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/history/us-history-i/economic-growth-and-development-18151860/toward-a-market-economy |website=CliffsNotes |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |accessdate=December 23, 2014}}</ref> Mainland expansion also included the [[Alaska Purchase|purchase of Alaska]] from [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in 1867.<ref>{{cite web |title=Purchase of Alaska, 1867 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/alaska-purchase |publisher=U.S. Department of State |website=Office of the Historian |accessdate=December 23, 2014}}</ref> In 1893, pro-American elements in Hawaii [[Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii|overthrew]] the [[Kingdom of Hawaii|monarchy]] and formed the [[Republic of Hawaii]], which the U.S. [[Newlands Resolution|annexed]] in 1898. [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]], and the [[Philippines]] were ceded by Spain in the same year, following the [[Spanish–American War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Spanish–American War, 1898 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-american-war |publisher=U.S. Department of State |website=Office of the Historian |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> [[American Samoa]] was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the end of the [[Second Samoan Civil War]].<ref>Ryden, George Herbert. ''The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa''. New York: Octagon Books, 1975.</ref> The [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]] were purchased from Denmark in 1917.<ref>{{cite web |title=Virgin Islands History |url=http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/history/ |publisher=Vinow.com |accessdate=January 5, 2018}}</ref>

[[Gilded Age|Rapid economic development]] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries fostered the rise of many prominent industrialists. [[Business magnate|Tycoons]] like [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]], [[John D. Rockefeller]], and [[Andrew Carnegie]] led the nation's progress in [[Railways|railroad]], [[Petroleum industry|petroleum]], and [[History of the steel industry (1850–1970)|steel]] industries. Banking became a major part of the economy, with [[J. P. Morgan]] playing a notable role. The American economy boomed, becoming the world's largest, and the United States achieved [[great power]] status.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kirkland |first1=Edward |title=Industry Comes of Age: Business, Labor, and Public Policy |pages=400–405 |edition=1961}}</ref> These dramatic changes were accompanied by social unrest and the rise of [[People's Party (United States)|populist]], [[History of the socialist movement in the United States|socialist]], and [[Anarchism in the United States|anarchist]] movements.<ref>[[#Zinn|Zinn, 2005]], pp. 321–357</ref> This period eventually ended with the advent of the [[Progressive Era]], which saw significant reforms including [[women's suffrage]], [[Prohibition in the United States|alcohol prohibition]], regulation of consumer goods, greater [[United States antitrust law|antitrust measures]] to ensure competition and attention to worker conditions.<ref>Paige Meltzer, "The Pulse and Conscience of America" The General Federation and Women's Citizenship, 1945–1960,"&nbsp;''Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies''&nbsp;(2009), Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp. 52–76.</ref><ref>James Timberlake,&nbsp;''Prohibition and the Progressive Movement, 1900–1920''&nbsp;(Harvard UP, 1963)</ref><ref>George B. Tindall, "Business Progressivism: Southern Politics in the Twenties,"&nbsp;''South Atlantic Quarterly''&nbsp;62 (Winter 1963): 92–106.</ref>

=== World War I, Great Depression, and World War II ===
{{further|World War I|Great Depression|World War II}}
[[File:Empire State Building (aerial view).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Empire State Building]] was the tallest building in the world when completed in 1931, during the [[Great Depression]].]]

The United States remained neutral from the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914 until 1917, when it joined the war as an "associated power," alongside the formal [[Allies of World War I]], helping to turn the tide against the [[Central Powers]]. In 1919, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] took a leading diplomatic role at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] and advocated strongly for the U.S. to join the [[League of Nations]]. However, the Senate refused to approve this and did not ratify the [[Treaty of Versailles]] that established the League of Nations.<ref name="autogenerated418">McDuffie, Jerome; Piggrem, Gary Wayne; Woodworth, Steven E. (2005). ''U.S. History Super Review''. Piscataway, NJ: Research & Education Association. p. 418. {{ISBN|0-7386-0070-9}}.</ref>

In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|constitutional amendment]] granting [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]].<ref name="voris">{{cite book |last1=Voris |first1=Jacqueline Van |title=Carrie Chapman Catt: A Public Life |series=Women and Peace Series |year=1996 |publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY |location=New York City |isbn=978-1-55861-139-9 |page=vii |quote=Carrie Chapmann Catt led an army of voteless women in 1919 to pressure Congress to pass the constitutional amendment giving them the right to vote and convinced state legislatures to ratify it in 1920.&nbsp;... Catt was one of the best-known women in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century and was on all lists of famous American women.}}</ref> The 1920s and 1930s saw the rise of [[radio]] for [[mass communication]] and the invention of early [[television]].<ref>Winchester pp. 410–411</ref> The prosperity of the [[Roaring Twenties]] ended with the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] and the onset of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. After his election as president in 1932, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] responded with the [[New Deal]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Welfare: A History of the American Response to Need |first1=June |last1=Axinn |first2=Mark J. |last2=Stern |isbn=978-0-205-52215-6 |edition=7th |publisher=Allyn & Bacon |location=Boston |year=2007}}</ref> The [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of millions of African Americans out of the American South began before World War I and extended through the 1960s;<ref>{{cite book |last=Lemann |first=Nicholas |title=The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America |page=6 |year=1991 |location=New York |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-394-56004-5}}</ref> whereas the [[Dust Bowl]] of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.<ref>{{cite book |author=James Noble Gregory |title=American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qNdtGwnXYrIC |year=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507136-8 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-mass-exodus-plains/ |title=Mass Exodus From the Plains |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |year=2013 |website=American Experience |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |accessdate=October 5, 2014}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html |title=The Migrant Experience |last1=Fanslow |first1=Robin A. |date=April 6, 1997 |website=American Folklore Center |publisher=Library of Congress |accessdate=October 5, 2014}}<br />{{cite book |author=Walter J. Stein |title=California and the Dust Bowl Migration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGuGAAAAIAAJ |year=1973 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-8371-6267-6 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Normandyx.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. troops landing on [[Omaha Beach]] during the [[invasion of Normandy]], June 6, 1944]]

At first effectively neutral during [[Military history of the United States during World War II|World War II]], the United States began supplying materiel to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in March 1941 through the [[Lend-Lease]] program. On December 7, 1941, the [[Empire of Japan]] launched a surprise [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], prompting the United States to join the Allies against the [[Axis powers]].<ref name="Pearl Harbor">{{cite web |last1=Yamasaki |first1=Mitch |title=Pearl Harbor and America's Entry into World War II: A Documentary History |url=http://www.hawaiiinternment.org/static/ush_yamasaki_documentary_history.pdf |publisher=World War II Internment in Hawaii |accessdate=January 14, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213122046/http://www.hawaiiinternment.org/static/ush_yamasaki_documentary_history.pdf |archivedate=December 13, 2014}}</ref> Although Japan attacked the United States first, the U.S. nonetheless pursued a "[[Europe first]]" defense policy.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stoler|first1=Mark A.|title=George C. Marshall and the "Europe-First" Strategy, 1939–1951: A Study in Diplomatic as well as Military History|url=http://marshallfoundation.org/marshall/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2014/04/EDStoler.pdf|accessdate=April 4, 2016}}</ref> The United States thus left its vast Asian colony, the [[Philippines]], isolated and fighting a losing struggle against [[Japanese occupation of the Philippines|Japanese invasion and occupation]], as military resources were devoted to the [[European Theater of Operations, United States Army|European theater]]. During the war, the United States was referred to as one of the "[[Four Policemen]]"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iup.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=37681 |title=The Four Policemen and. Postwar Planning, 1943–1945: The Collision of Realist and. Idealist Perspectives |last=Kelly |first=Brian |accessdate=June 21, 2014}}</ref> of Allies power who met to plan the postwar world, along with Britain, the Soviet Union and China.{{sfn|Hoopes|Brinkley|1997|p=100}}{{sfn|Gaddis|1972|p=25}} Although the nation lost around 400,000 military personnel,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf |title=American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics |publisher=Congressional Research Service |last=Leland |first=Anne |last2=Oboroceanu |first2=Mari–Jana |date=February 26, 2010 |accessdate=February 18, 2011}} p. 2.</ref> it emerged [[World War II casualties#Human losses by country|relatively undamaged]] from the war with even greater economic and military influence.<ref>Kennedy, Paul (1989). ''The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers''. New York: Vintage. p. 358. {{ISBN|0-679-72019-7}}</ref>

[[File:Trinity Detonation T&B.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity test]] of the [[Manhattan Project]]'s nuclear weapon|alt=Nuclear explosion from the Trinity Test]]

The United States played a leading role in the [[Bretton Woods Conference|Bretton Woods]] and [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]] conferences with the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and other Allies, which signed agreements on new international financial institutions and Europe's postwar reorganization. As an [[Victory in Europe Day|Allied victory was won in Europe]], a 1945 [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|international conference]] held in [[San Francisco]] produced the [[United Nations Charter]], which became active after the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/55407.htm |title=The United States and the Founding of the United Nations, August 1941 – October 1945 |date=October 2005 |accessdate=June 11, 2007 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Historian}}</ref> The United States and Japan then fought each other in the largest naval battle in history, the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]].<ref name="Woodward1947">{{cite book | title=The Battle for Leyte Gulf | last=Woodward | first=C. Vann | authorlink=C. Vann Woodward | year=1947 | publisher=Macmillan | location=New York | isbn=1-60239-194-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Largest Naval Battles in Military History: A Closer Look at the Largest and Most Influential Naval Battles in World History|url=http://militaryhistory.norwich.edu/largest-naval-sea-battles-in-military-history/|website=Military History|publisher=Norwich University|accessdate=March 7, 2015}}</ref> The United States eventually developed the [[Manhattan Project|first nuclear weapons]] and used them on Japan [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]; the Japanese [[Surrender of Japan|surrendered]] on September 2, ending World War II.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/08/06/commentary/japan-surrender-world-war-ii/ |title=Why did Japan surrender in World War II? {{!}} The Japan Times|newspaper=The Japan Times|access-date=February 8, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Pacific War Research Society (2006). ''Japan's Longest Day''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|4-7700-2887-3}}.</ref>

=== Cold War and civil rights era ===
{{Main|History of the United States (1945–1964)|History of the United States (1964–1980)|History of the United States (1980–1991)}}
{{Further|Cold War|Civil Rights Movement|War on Poverty|Space Race|Reaganomics}}
[[File:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] gives his famous "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech at the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]], 1963]]

After World War II, the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] competed for power, influence, and prestige during what became known as the [[Cold War]], driven by an ideological divide between [[capitalism]] and [[communism]].<ref name="WaggAndrews2012">{{cite book |last1=Wagg |first1=Stephen |last2=Andrews |first2=David |title=East Plays West: Sport and the Cold War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmjLR5YyUhEC&pg=PR11 |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-24167-5 |page=11}}</ref> They dominated the military affairs of [[Europe]], with the U.S. and its [[NATO]] allies on one side and the USSR and its [[Warsaw Pact]] allies on the other. The U.S. [[Containment|developed a policy of containment]] towards the expansion of communist influence. While the U.S. and Soviet Union engaged in [[proxy war]]s and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict.

The United States often opposed [[Third World]] movements that it viewed as Soviet-sponsored, and occasionally pursued direct action for [[United States involvement in regime change|regime change]] against left-wing governments, even supporting right-wing authoritarian governments at times.<ref>[[#Blakeley|Blakeley, 2009]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=rft8AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 92]</ref> American troops fought communist [[People's Liberation Army|Chinese]] and [[North Korea]]n forces in the [[Korean War]] of 1950–53.<ref name="Proxy" /> The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the [[Sputnik 1|first artificial satellite]] and its 1961 launch of the [[Vostok 1|first manned spaceflight]] initiated a "[[Space Race]]" in which the United States became the first nation to [[Apollo 11|land a man on the moon]] in 1969.<ref name="Proxy">{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Collins (astronaut) |title=Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space |url=https://archive.org/details/liftoff00coll |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Grove Press |year=1988}}</ref> A proxy war in Southeast Asia eventually evolved into full American participation, as the [[Vietnam War]].

At home, the U.S. experienced [[Post–World War II economic expansion|sustained economic expansion]] and a [[Post–World War II baby boom|rapid growth of its population]] and [[American middle class|middle class]]. Construction of an [[Interstate Highway System]] transformed the nation's infrastructure over the following decades. Millions moved from farms and [[inner city|inner cities]] to large [[suburb]]an housing developments.<ref>Winchester, pp. 305–308</ref><ref name=IntHighways>{{cite web |last1=Blas |first1=Elisheva |title=The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways |url=http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/N10_NHD_Blas_Junior.pdf |website=societyforhistoryeducation.org |publisher=Society for History Education |accessdate=January 19, 2015}}</ref> In 1959 [[Hawaii]] became the 50th and last U.S. state added to the country.<ref name="Lightner2004">{{cite book |author=Richard Lightner |title=Hawaiian History: An Annotated Bibliography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yei4fDrecWsC&pg=PA141 |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-28233-1 |page=141}}</ref> The growing [[Civil Rights Movement]] used [[nonviolence]] to confront segregation and discrimination, with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] becoming a prominent leader and figurehead. A combination of court decisions and legislation, culminating in the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]], sought to end racial discrimination.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dallek |first=Robert |year=2004 |title=Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President |page=[https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonpo00dall/page/169 169] |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-515920-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/lyndonbjohnsonpo00dall/page/169 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=97 |title=Our Documents—Civil Rights Act (1964) |publisher=United States Department of Justice |accessdate=July 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/651003.asp |title=Remarks at the Signing of the Immigration Bill, Liberty Island, New York |date=October 3, 1965 |accessdate=January 1, 2012 |archiveurl=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516063650/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/651003.asp |archivedate=May 16, 2016 }}</ref> Meanwhile, a [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture movement]] grew which was fueled by [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|opposition to the Vietnam war]], [[black nationalism]], and the [[sexual revolution]].

[[File:Reagan and Gorbachev hold discussions.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. president [[Ronald Reagan]] (left) and [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet general secretary]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] [[Geneva Summit (1985)|in Geneva]], 1985]]

The launch of a "[[War on Poverty]]" expanded entitlements and welfare spending, including the creation of [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] and [[Medicaid]], two programs that provide health coverage to the elderly and poor, respectively, and the [[means-tested]] [[Food Stamp Program]] and [[Aid to Families with Dependent Children]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/lbjsm.html |title=Social Security |website=ssa.gov |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref>

The 1970s and early 1980s saw the onset of [[stagflation]]. After his election in 1980, President [[Ronald Reagan]] responded to economic stagnation with [[Reaganomics|free-market oriented reforms]]. Following the collapse of [[détente]], he abandoned "containment" and initiated the more aggressive "[[rollback]]" strategy towards the USSR.<ref>[[#Soss|Soss, 2010]], p. 277</ref><ref>[[#Fraser|Fraser, 1989]]</ref><ref>[[#Ferguson|Ferguson, 1986]], pp. 43–53</ref><ref>[[#Williams|Williams]], pp. 325–331</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Niskanen |first=William A. |title=Reaganomics: an insider's account of the policies and the people |url=https://archive.org/details/reaganomicsinsid00nisk/page/363 |year=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-505394-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reaganomicsinsid00nisk/page/363 363] |accessdate=October 25, 2015 }}</ref> After a surge in female labor participation over the previous decade, by 1985 the majority of women aged 16 and over were employed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women in the Labor Force: A Databook |url=http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2012.pdf |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |accessdate=March 21, 2014 |page=11 |year=2013}}</ref>

The late 1980s brought a "[[Cold War (1985–91)|thaw]]" in relations with the USSR, and [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|its collapse]] in 1991 finally ended the Cold War.<ref>{{cite book |last=Howell |first=Buddy Wayne |title=The Rhetoric of Presidential Summit Diplomacy: Ronald Reagan and the U.S.-Soviet Summits, 1985–1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LctvjhxJ-bsC |year=2006 |publisher=Texas A&M University |isbn=978-0-549-41658-6 |page=352 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kissinger |first=Henry |authorlink=Henry Kissinger |title=Diplomacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IZboamhb5EC&lpg=PA731 |year=2011 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-2631-8 |pages=781–784 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}<br />{{cite book |last=Mann |first=James |title=The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgZyXNIrvB4C&pg=PT12 |year=2009 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-4406-8639-9 |page=432}}<br /></ref><ref>[[#Hayes|Hayes, 2009]]</ref><ref>[[#ushistory13|USHistory.org, 2013]]</ref> This brought about [[unipolarity]]<ref>[[Charles Krauthammer]], "The Unipolar Moment", ''Foreign Affairs'', 70/1, (Winter 1990/1), 23–33.</ref> with the U.S. unchallenged as the world's dominant superpower. The concept of [[Pax Americana]], which had appeared in the post-World War II period, gained wide popularity as a term for the post-Cold War [[new world order (politics)|new world order.]]

== Geography, climate, and environment ==
{{Main|Geography of the United States|Climate of the United States|Environment of the United States}}
[[File:USA-satellite.jpg|thumb|A satellite composite image of the conterminous United States.|alt=Satellite image of the contiguous United States]]

The [[Contiguous United States|48 contiguous states]] and the District of Columbia occupy a combined area of {{convert|3,119,884.69|sqmi|km2}}. Of this area, {{convert|2,959,064.44|sqmi|km2}} is contiguous land, composing 83.65% of total U.S. land area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/279.html#as|work=The World Factbook|publisher=cia.gov|title = Field Listing: Area}}</ref><ref name="urlState Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates—Geography—U.S. Census Bureau">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-area.html |title=State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates—Geography—U.S. Census Bureau |website=State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce |quote= |accessdate=September 11, 2017}}</ref>  [[Hawaii]], occupying an archipelago in the central [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]], southwest of North America, is {{convert|10931|sqmi|km2|0}} in area. The populated territories of [[Puerto Rico]], [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], [[Northern Mariana Islands]], and [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]] together cover {{convert|9185|sqmi|km2|0}}.<ref name="Land Area of US and states">{{cite web |title=2010 Census Area |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf |website=census.gov |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |page=41 |accessdate=January 18, 2015}}</ref> Measured by only land area, the United States is third in size behind [[Russia]] and China, just ahead of Canada.<ref name="CIA Factbook Area">{{cite web |title=Area |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2147.html |website=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |accessdate=January 15, 2015}}</ref>

The United States is the world's third- or fourth-[[List of countries and dependencies by area|largest nation by total area]] (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and nearly equal to [[China]]. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and [[India]] are counted, and how the total size of the United States is measured.{{efn|name=largestcountry}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/616563/United-States |title=United States |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=January 8, 2018}} (given in square miles, excluding)</ref><ref name="WF">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html |title=United States |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |website=The World Factbook |date=January 3, 2018 |accessdate=January 8, 2018}}</ref>

The [[Atlantic coastal plain|coastal plain]] of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] seaboard gives way further inland to [[deciduous]] forests and the rolling hills of the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Geographic Regions of Georgia |url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/geography/article/geographic-regions-of-georgia |website=Georgia Info |publisher=Digital Library of Georgia |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> The [[Appalachian Mountains]] divide the eastern seaboard from the [[Great Lakes]] and the grasslands of the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]].<ref name="NAU">{{cite web |last=Lew |first=Alan |title=PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE US |url=http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/gsp220/text/chapters/ch2.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409112252/http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/gsp220/text/chapters/ch2.html |archivedate=April 9, 2016 |website=GSP 220—Geography of the United States |publisher=North Arizona University |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> The [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]–[[Missouri River]], the world's [[List of rivers by length|fourth longest river system]], runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile [[prairie]] of the [[Great Plains]] stretches to the west, interrupted by [[U.S. Interior Highlands|a highland region]] in the southeast.<ref name="NAU" />

[[File:US 50 states Köppen_with_territories.png|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Köppen climate classification]]s of U.S. states and territories]]

The [[Rocky Mountains]], west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking around {{convert|14000|ft}} in [[Colorado]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Harms |first=Nicole |title=Facts About the Rocky Mountain Range |url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/rocky-mountain-range-11967.html |website=Travel Tips |publisher=USA Today |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> Farther west are the rocky [[Great Basin]] and deserts such as the [[Chihuahuan Desert|Chihuahua]] and [[Mojave Desert|Mojave]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Great Basin |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/242919/Great-Basin |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> The [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] and [[Cascade Range|Cascade]] mountain ranges run close to the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific coast]], both ranges reaching altitudes higher than {{convert|14000|ft}}. The [[Extreme points of the United States|lowest and highest points]] in the [[Contiguous United States|contiguous]] United States are in the state of [[California]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount Whitney, California |url=http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=2829 |publisher=Peakbagger |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> and only about {{convert|84|mi|km}} apart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Find Distance and Azimuths Between 2 Sets of Coordinates (Badwater 36-15-01-N, 116-49-33-W and Mount Whitney 36-34-43-N, 118-17-31-W) |url=http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/distance?dlat=36&mlat=15&slat=01&ns=1&dlon=116&mlon=49&slon=33&ew=1&dlat2=36&mlat2=34&slat2=43&sn=1&dlon2=118&mlon2=17&slon2=31&we=1&iselec=1 |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> At an elevation of {{convert|20310|ft|1}}, Alaska's [[Denali]] is the highest peak in the country and in North America.<ref>{{cite web |last=Poppick |first=Laura |title=US Tallest Mountain's Surprising Location Explained |url=http://www.livescience.com/39245-us-tallest-mountain-location-explained.html |publisher=LiveScience |accessdate=May 2, 2015}}</ref> Active [[volcano]]es are common throughout Alaska's [[Alexander Archipelago|Alexander]] and [[Aleutian Islands]], and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The [[supervolcano]] underlying [[Yellowstone National Park]] in the [[Rockies]] is the continent's largest volcanic feature.<ref>{{cite web |last=O'Hanlon |first=Larry |title=America's Explosive Park |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/under/under.html |date=March 14, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050314034001/http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/under/under.html |archive-date=March 14, 2005 |publisher=Discovery Channel |accessdate=April 5, 2016}}</ref>

The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the [[100th meridian west|100th meridian]], the climate ranges from [[humid continental climate|humid continental]] in the north to [[humid subtropical climate|humid subtropical]] in the south.<ref>{{cite web |last=Boyden |first=Jennifer |title=Climate Regions of the United States |url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/climate-regions-united-states-21570.html |website=Travel Tips |publisher=USA Today |accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid]]. Much of the Western mountains have an [[alpine climate]]. The climate is [[Desert climate|arid]] in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, [[Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean]] in [[coastal California]], and [[oceanic climate|oceanic]] in coastal [[Oregon]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is [[Subarctic climate|subarctic]] or [[Polar climate|polar]]. Hawaii and the southern tip of [[Florida]] are [[Tropical climate|tropical]], as well as its territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Map of Köppen–Geiger Climate Classification |url=http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/pdf/kottek_et_al_2006_A4.pdf|access-date=August 19, 2015}}</ref> States bordering the [[Gulf of Mexico]] are prone to [[Tropical cyclone|hurricanes]], and most of the world's [[tornado]]es occur in the country, mainly in [[Tornado Alley]] areas in the Midwest and South.<ref>{{cite news |author=Perkins, Sid |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020511/bob9.asp |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701131631/http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020511/bob9.asp |archivedate=July 1, 2007 |title=Tornado Alley, USA |access-date=September 20, 2006 |date=May 11, 2002 |work=Science News}}</ref> Overall, the United States has the world's most violent weather, receiving more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=USA has the world's most extreme weather|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/05/16/extreme-weather-north-america/2162501/|last=Rice|first=Doyle|website=USA TODAY|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>

=== Wildlife and conservation ===
{{Main|Fauna of the United States|Flora of the United States}}
{{See also|Category:Biota of the United States}}
[[File:Bald Eagle Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[bald eagle]] has been the [[National bird of the United States|national bird]] of the United States since 1782.<ref name="McDougall2004">{{cite book |author=Len McDougall |title=The Encyclopedia of Tracks and Scats: A Comprehensive Guide to the Trackable Animals of the United States and Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XOc2_u7z6cC&pg=PA325 |year=2004 |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=978-1-59228-070-4 |page=325}}</ref>|alt=A bald eagle]]

The U.S. ecology is [[megadiverse countries|megadiverse]]: about 17,000 species of [[vascular plant]]s occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and more than 1,800 species of [[flowering plant]]s are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.<ref>{{cite web |author=Morin, Nancy |url=http://www.fungaljungal.org/papers/National_Biological_Service.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724222726/http://www.fungaljungal.org/papers/National_Biological_Service.pdf |title=Vascular Plants of the United States |publisher=National Biological Service |website=Plants |accessdate=October 27, 2008 |archivedate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> The United States is home to 428 mammal species, 784 bird species, 311 reptile species, and 295 amphibian species,<ref name="Current Results # of native species in the US">{{cite web |last1=Osborn |first1=Liz |title=Number of Native Species in United States |url=http://www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/Plants-Animals/number-of-native-species-in-united-states.php |publisher=Current Results Nexus |accessdate=January 15, 2015}}</ref> as well as about 91,000 insect species.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/buginfo/bugnos.htm |title=Numbers of Insects (Species and Individuals) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=January 20, 2009}}</ref>

There are 62 [[List of areas in the United States National Park System|national parks]] and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and [[wilderness]] areas.<ref>{{cite press release |title=National Park Service Announces Addition of Two New Units |url=http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=639 |date=February 28, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001195645/http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=639 |archive-date=October 1, 2006 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=February 10, 2017}}</ref> Altogether, the government owns about 28% of the country's land area,<ref name="NYTimes Federal Land">{{cite news |last1=Lipton |first1=Eric |last2=Krauss |first2=Clifford |title=Giving Reins to the States Over Drilling |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us/romney-would-give-reins-to-states-on-drilling-on-federal-lands.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0 |accessdate=January 18, 2015 |newspaper=New York Times |date=August 23, 2012}}</ref> mostly in the [[Western United States|western states]].<ref name="AKLeg CRS Federal Land">{{Cite report|url=http://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=31&docid=47224|title=Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data|publisher=Congressional Research Service|date=March 3. 2017|access-date=June 18, 2020|last1=Vincent|first1=Carol H.|last2=Hanson|first2=Laura A.|last3=Argueta|first3=Carla N.|page=2}}</ref> Most of this land is [[protected area|protected]], though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching, and about .86% is used for military purposes.<ref name="Federal Land Ownership">{{cite web |last1=Gorte |first1=Ross W. |last2=Vincent |first2=Carol Hardy. |last3=Hanson |first3=Laura A. |last4=Marc R. |first4=Rosenblum |title=Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42346.pdf |website=fas.org |publisher=Congressional Research Service |accessdate=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Fed Land Uses">{{cite web |title=Chapter 6: Federal Programs to Promote Resource Use, Extraction, and Development |url=http://www.doi.gov/pmb/oepc/wetlands2/v2ch6.cfm |website=doi.gov |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318005744/http://www.doi.gov/pmb/oepc/wetlands2/v2ch6.cfm |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |accessdate=January 19, 2015 |archivedate=March 18, 2015}}</ref>

[[Environmental issues in the United States|Environmental issues]] include debates on oil and [[nuclear binding energy|nuclear energy]], dealing with air and water pollution, the economic costs of protecting wildlife, logging and [[deforestation]],<ref>{{cite web |author=The National Atlas of the United States of America |url=http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_forest.html |title=Forest Resources of the United States |publisher=Nationalatlas.gov |date=January 14, 2013 |accessdate=January 13, 2014 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507195541/http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_forest.html |archivedate=May 7, 2009 |df=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/gtr587.pdf |title=Land Use Changes Involving Forestry in the United States: 1952 to 1997, With Projections to 2050 |year=2003 |accessdate=January 13, 2014}}</ref> and international responses to global warming.<ref>[[#Daynes|Daynes & Sussman, 2010]], pp. 3, 72, 74–76, 78</ref><ref>Hays, Samuel P. (2000). ''A History of Environmental Politics since 1945''.</ref> The most prominent environmental agency is the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA), created by presidential order in 1970.<ref name="Collin2006">{{cite book |last=Collin |first=Robert W. |title=The Environmental Protection Agency: Cleaning Up America's Act |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVPoqXeTYTwC&pg=PA1 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33341-5 |page=1 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the [[Wilderness Act]].<ref>Turner, James Morton (2012). ''The Promise of Wilderness''</ref> The [[Endangered Species Act]] of 1973 is intended to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]].<ref name="Office">{{cite book |title=Endangered species Fish and Wildlife Service |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8BEuUPJb58C&pg=PA1 |publisher=General Accounting Office, Diane Publishing |isbn=978-1-4289-3997-4 |page=1 |accessdate=October 25, 2015|year=2003 }}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Americans|Demographics of the United States|Race and ethnicity in the United States}}

=== Population ===
{{See also|List of U.S. states by population|List of United States cities by population}}
{{US Census population
|1610= 350
|1620= 2302
|1630= 4646
|1640= 26634
|1650= 50368
|1660= 75058
|1670= 111935
|1680= 151507
|1690= 210372
|1700= 250888
|1710= 331711
|1720= 466185
|1730= 629445
|1740= 905563
|1750= 1170760
|1760= 1593625
|1770= 2148076
|1780= 2780369
|1790= 3929214
|1800= 5308483
|1810= 7239881
|1820= 9638453
|1830= 12866020
|1840= 17069453
|1850= 23191876
|1860= 31443321
|1870= 38558371
|1880= 50189209
|1890= 62979766
|1900= 76212168
|1910= 92228496
|1920= 106021537
|1930= 123202624
|1940= 132164569
|1950= 151325798
|1960= 179323175
|1970= 203211926
|1980= 226545805
|1990= 248709873
|2000= 281421906
|2010= 308745538
|align=right
|estyear=2019<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219|title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States|website=www.census.gov|language=en|access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref>
|estimate=328239523
|footnote=1610–1780 population data.<ref>{{cite web |title=CT1970p2-13: Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics |url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf |website=census.gov |accessdate=August 20, 2015 |page=1168 |date=2004}}</ref><br />Note that the census numbers do<br />not include [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] until 1860.<ref name="Census1860">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |title=Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States |website=census.gov |accessdate=May 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 }}</ref>
}}
[[File:United States Map of Population by State (2015).svg|thumb|upright=1.36|Population by state (2015):<br>
{{legend|#ecf3f7|580k–2.8M}}
{{legend|#cfdfeb|2.8M–5.28M}}
{{legend|#b0cde1|5.28M–8.26M}}
{{legend|#90bad8|8.26M–11.6M}}
{{legend|#6ea7d2|11.6M–19.6M}}
{{legend|#4c96cb|19.6M–26.5M}}
{{legend|#3182bd|26.5M–38.4M}}
{{legend|#004374|38.4M+}}
]]
The [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] officially estimated the country's population to be 328,239,523 as of July 1, 2019.<ref name="auto"/> In addition, the Census Bureau provides a continuously updated [[U.S. and World Population Clock|U.S. Population Clock]] that approximates the latest population of the 50 states and District of Columbia based on the Bureau's most recent demographic trends.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/popclock/|title=Population Clock|website=www.census.gov}}</ref> According to the clock, on May 23, 2020, the U.S. population exceeded 329 million residents, with a net gain of one person every 19 seconds, or about 4,547 people per day. The United States is the third most populous nation in the world, after [[China]] and [[India]]. In 2018 the [[median age]] of the United States population was 38.1 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=The World Factbook: United States|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=November 10, 2018}}</ref>

In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants ([[Second-generation immigrants in the United States|second-generation]] Americans) in the United States, accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 14, 2019|title=Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States|work=[[Migration Policy Institute]]|url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states}}</ref> The United States has a very diverse population; 37 [[American ancestries|ancestry groups]] have more than one million members.<ref name="An2000">{{cite web|title=Ancestry 2000|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf|last=|first=|date=June 2004|website=|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|url-status=live|archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041204015245/http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf|archivedate=December 4, 2004|access-date=December 2, 2016|df=}}</ref> [[German Americans]] are the largest ethnic group (more than 50 million)—followed by [[Irish Americans]] (circa 37 million), [[Mexican American]]s (circa 31 million) and [[English Americans]] (circa 28 million).<ref>{{cite web|title=Table 52. Population by Selected Ancestry Group and Region: 2009|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0052.pdf|date=2009|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225031832/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0052.pdf|archivedate=December 25, 2012|access-date=February 11, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Immigration Numbers Update: 13 Million Mexicans Immigrated to US in 2013, But Chinese Migrants Outnumber Other Latin Americans|url=http://www.latinpost.com/articles/20628/20140903/immigration-numbers-update-13-million-mexicans-immigrated-2013-chinese-migrants.html|last=Oleaga|first=Michael|publisher=Latin Post|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905071238/http://www.latinpost.com/articles/20628/20140903/immigration-numbers-update-13-million-mexicans-immigrated-2013-chinese-migrants.htm|archivedate=September 5, 2014|accessdate=December 28, 2014}}</ref>

[[White Americans]] (mostly [[European Americans|European ancestry]]) are the largest [[race (human classification)|racial group]] at 73.1% of the population; [[African Americans]] are the nation's largest [[minority group|racial minority]] and third-largest ancestry group.<ref name="An2000" /> [[Asian Americans]] are the country's second-largest racial minority; the three largest Asian American ethnic groups are [[Chinese Americans]], [[Filipino Americans]], and [[Indian Americans]].<ref name="An2000" /> The largest American community with European ancestry is [[German Americans]], which consists of [[Race and ethnicity in the United States#2015 American Community Survey|more than 14% of the total population]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Selected Social Characteristics in the United States—2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/DP02/0100000US|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213005057/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/DP02/0100000US|archive-date=February 13, 2020|access-date=March 29, 2020}}</ref> In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] or [[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]] ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some [[Native Hawaiians|native Hawaiian]] or [[Pacific Islands Americans|Pacific island]] ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).<ref name="Cen2010Race">{{cite web|title=Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|author1=Humes, Karen R.|author2=Jones, Nicholas A.|date=March 2011|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf|archivedate=April 29, 2011|accessdate=March 29, 2011|author3=Ramirez, Roberto R.|df=}}</ref> The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010, more than 18.5 million (97%) of whom are of Hispanic ethnicity.<ref name="Cen2010Race" />

[[Minority group|Minorities]], defined by the Census Bureau as all individuals aside from non-Hispanic, non-multiracial [[Non-Hispanic whites|whites]], constituted 37% of the population in 2012.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, (V2015)|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_1YR_DP05&prodType=table|website=census.gov|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212212412/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_1YR_DP05&prodType=table|archive-date=February 12, 2020|access-date=October 15, 2016}}</ref> More than 50% of infants less than a year old are members of minority groups.<ref name="pewcensus">{{cite news|last=Cohn|first=D'vera|date=June 23, 2016|title=It's official: Minority babies are the majority among the nation's infants, but only just|work=Pew Research Center|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/23/its-official-minority-babies-are-the-majority-among-the-nations-infants-but-only-just/|access-date=November 11, 2019}}</ref><ref name="exner">{{cite news|author=Exner, Rich|date=July 3, 2012|title=Americans under age one now mostly minorities, but not in Ohio: Statistical Snapshot|work=The Plain Dealer|location=Cleveland, OH|url=http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/06/americas_under_age_1_populatio.html|accessdate=July 29, 2012}}</ref> These groups are projected to collectively make up a majority of the population by 2044.<ref name="pewcensus" />

In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents (including many eligible to become citizens), 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants.<ref name="KeyFindings" /> Among current living immigrants to the U.S., the top five countries of birth are Mexico, China, India, the Philippines and [[El Salvador]]. Until 2017 and 2018, the United States led the word in [[refugee resettlement]] for decades, admitted more refugees than the rest of the world combined.<ref name="PewRefugees">{{cite web|title=Key facts about refugees to the U.S.|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/07/key-facts-about-refugees-to-the-u-s/|author=Jens Manuel Krogstad|date=October 7, 2019|publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref> From fiscal year 1980 until 2017, 55% of refugees came from Asia, 27% from Europe, 13% from Africa, and 4% from Latin America.<ref name="PewRefugees" />

A 2017 [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] poll concluded that 4.5% of adult Americans identified as [[LGBT]] with 5.1% of women identifying as LGBT, compared with 3.9% of men.<ref>{{cite web|title=In U.S., Estimate of LGBT Population Rises to 4.5%|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/234863/estimate-lgbt-population-rises.aspx|website=Gallup.com|accessdate=September 14, 2018}}</ref> The highest percentage came from the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] (10%), while the lowest state was [[North Dakota]] at 1.7%.<ref>{{cite web|title=LGBT Percentage Highest in D.C., Lowest in North Dakota|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/160517/lgbt-percentage-highest-lowest-north-dakota.aspx|last=Gates|first=Gary J.|last2=Newport|first2=Frank|date=February 15, 2013|website=|publisher=Gallup|accessdate=November 11, 2019}}</ref>

A 2017 United Nations report projected that the U.S. would be one of nine countries in which world population growth through 2050 would be concentrated.<ref name=APPopulous>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nigeria-pass-u-s-world-s-3rd-most-populous-country-n775371|publisher=NBC News|title=Nigeria to Pass U.S. as World's 3rd Most Populous Country by 2050, UN Says|agency=Associated Press|date=June 22, 2017}}</ref> A 2020 U.S. Census Bureau report projected the population of the country could be anywhere between 320 million and 447 million by 2060, depending on the rate of in-migration; in all projected scenarios, a lower fertility rate and increases in life expectancy would result in an aging population.<ref>{{cite web|author=Sandra Johnson|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1146.pdf|title=A Changing Nation: Population Projections Under Alternative Immigration Scenarios|date=February 2020|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref>

The population growth of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans]] is a major [[demographic transition|demographic trend]]. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent<ref name="Cen2010Race" /> are identified as sharing a distinct "[[Race and ethnicity in the United States Census|ethnicity]]" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of [[Mexican Americans|Mexican descent]].<ref name="CB2007">{{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/07_1YR/B03001 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212084606/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/07_1YR/B03001 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |title=B03001. Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin |website=2007 American Community Survey |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=September 26, 2008}}</ref> Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.<ref name="Cen2010Summary">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.2010.html |title=2010 Census Data |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=March 29, 2011}}</ref>

The United States has an annual birth rate of 13 per 1,000, which is five births per 1,000 below the world average.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2054.html |title=Field Listing: Birth Rate |publisher=The World Factbook |website=Central Intelligence Agency |year=2014 |accessdate=January 21, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211213638/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2054.html |archivedate=December 11, 2007 }}</ref> Its [[population growth]] rate is positive at 0.7%, [[Total fertility rate#Developed or developing countries|higher than that of many developed nations]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW/countries |title=Population growth (annual %) |publisher=The World Bank |website=United Nations Population Division |year=2014 |accessdate=January 21, 2015}}</ref> In fiscal year 2017, more than a million [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] (most of whom entered through [[family reunification]]) were granted [[Lawful permanent residents (United States)|legal residence]].<ref name="LPR">[https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Lawful_Permanent_Residents_2017.pdf "U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents: 2017"]. [[Office of Immigration Statistics]] ''Annual Flow Report''.</ref> In absolute numbers, the number of foreign-born U.S. residents is at a record high (44.4 million in 2017); however as a proportion of the overall population, the current foreign-born share (13.6% of the total population) is lower than the share at the peak in 1890 (14.8% of the total population).<ref name="KeyFindings">{{cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/17/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/|title=Key findings about U.S. immigrants|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=June 17, 2019}}</ref>

About 82% of Americans live in [[United States urban area|urban areas]] (including suburbs);<ref name="WF" /> about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-state=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_box_head_nbr=GCT-P1&-mt_name=&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=&-format=US-1&-_lang=en |title=United States—Urban/Rural and Inside/Outside Metropolitan Area |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403024532/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-state=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_box_head_nbr=GCT-P1&-mt_name=&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=&-format=US-1&-_lang=en |archivedate=April 3, 2009 |access-date=September 23, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2008, 273 [[List of United States cities by population|incorporated municipalities]] had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than one million residents, and four cities had over two million (namely [[New York City|New York]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Chicago]], and [[Houston]]).<ref name="PopEstBigCities">{{cite web |url=http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/census/popestimate/copy_of_2008-subcounty-population-hawaii/SUB_EST2008_01.pdf |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5lpvuJk99?url=http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/census/popestimate/copy_of_2008-subcounty-population-hawaii/SUB_EST2008_01.pdf |archivedate=December 7, 2009 |title=Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places Over 100,000, Ranked by July 1, 2008 Population: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 |website=2008 Population Estimates |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division |date=July 1, 2009 }}</ref> Estimates for the year 2018 show that 53 [[List of Metropolitan Statistical Areas|metropolitan areas]] have populations greater than one million. Many metros in the South, Southwest and West grew significantly between 2010 and 2018. The [[Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex|Dallas]] and [[Greater Houston|Houston]] metros increased by more than a million people, while the [[Washington metropolitan area|Washington, D.C.]], [[Miami metropolitan area|Miami]], [[Atlanta metropolitan area|Atlanta]], and [[Phoenix metropolitan area|Phoenix]] metros all grew by more than 500,000 people.

=== Language ===
{{Main|Languages of the United States}}
{{See also|Language Spoken at Home in the United States of America|List of endangered languages in the United States|Language education in the United States}}

[[English language|English]] (specifically, [[American English]]) is the [[de facto]] [[national language]] of the United States. Although there is no [[official language]] at the federal level, some laws—such as [[Naturalized citizen of the United States|U.S. naturalization requirements]]—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. 12% of the population speaks [[Spanish language in the United States|Spanish]] at home, making it the second most common language. Spanish is also the most widely taught second language.<ref name=Lang>"Language Spoken at Home by the U.S. Population, 2010", American Community Survey, [[U.S. Census Bureau]], in ''World Almanac and Book of Facts 2012'', p. 615.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Welles |first=Elizabeth B. |title=Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Learning, Fall 2002 |url=http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf |date=Winter–Spring 2004 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618133404/http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf |archivedate=June 18, 2009 |journal=ADFL Bulletin |volume=35 |page=7 |number=2–3 |doi=10.1632/adfl.35.2.7 |access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref>

Both [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] and English are official languages in [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/con/conart15.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724231656/http://hawaii.gov/lrb/con/conart15.html |archivedate=July 24, 2013 |title=The Constitution of the State of Hawaii, Article XV, Section 4 |publisher=Hawaii Legislative Reference Bureau |date=November 7, 1978 |accessdate=June 19, 2007}}</ref> In addition to English, [[Alaska]] recognizes [[Alaska Native languages|twenty official Native languages]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Chapel|first1=Bill|title=Alaska OKs Bill Making Native Languages Official |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/21/305688602/alaska-oks-bill-making-native-languages-official |website=NPR.org |date=April 21, 2014}}</ref>{{efn|[[Inupiaq language|Inupiaq]], [[Central Siberian Yupik language|Siberian Yupik]], [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language|Central Alaskan Yup'ik]], [[Alutiiq language|Alutiiq]], [[Aleut language|Unanga]] (Aleut), [[Denaʼina language|Denaʼina]], [[Deg Xinag language|Deg Xinag]], [[Holikachuk language|Holikachuk]], [[Koyukon language|Koyukon]], [[Upper Kuskokwim language|Upper Kuskokwim]], [[Gwichʼin language|Gwichʼin]], [[Lower Tanana language|Tanana]], [[Upper Tanana language|Upper Tanana]], [[Tanacross language|Tanacross]], [[Hän language|Hän]], [[Ahtna language|Ahtna]], [[Eyak language|Eyak]], [[Tlingit language|Tlingit]], [[Haida language|Haida]], and [[Coast Tsimshian dialect|Tsimshian]].}} and South Dakota recognizes [[Sioux language|Sioux]].<ref name=LakotaCommon>{{cite web|url=https://eu.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/22/south-dakota-recognizes-official-indigenous-language-governor-noem/3245113002/|title=South Dakota recognizes official indigenous language|publisher=[[Argus Leader]]|accessdate=March 26, 2019}}</ref> While neither has an official language, [[New Mexico]] has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as [[Louisiana]] does for English and [[French language in the United States|French]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Dicker, Susan J. |title=Languages in America: A Pluralist View |year=2003 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/languagesinameri00dick/page/216 216, 220–225] |location=Clevedon, UK |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-85359-651-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/languagesinameri00dick/page/216 }}</ref> Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=ccp&group=00001-01000&file=412.10-412.30 |title=California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 412.20(6) |publisher=Legislative Counsel, State of California |accessdate=December 17, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722010302/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=ccp&group=00001-01000&file=412.10-412.30 |archivedate=July 22, 2010}} {{cite web |url=http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/allforms.htm |title=California Judicial Council Forms |publisher=Judicial Council, State of California |accessdate=December 17, 2007}}</ref>

Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: [[Samoan language|Samoan]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?menu=004&LangID=96 |title=Samoan |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |website=UCLA Language Materials Project |publisher=UCLA |accessdate=October 4, 2014}}<br />{{cite book |author1=Frederick T.L. Leong |author2=Mark M. Leach |title=Suicide Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups: Theory, Research, and Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrKTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT185 |year=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-91680-0 |page=185}}<br />{{cite book |author=Robert D. Craig |title=Historical Dictionary of Polynesia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01U5DrqoMJgC&pg=PR33 |year=2002 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-4237-3 |page=33 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> is officially recognized by [[American Samoa]] and [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]]<ref>{{cite book |author1=Nessa Wolfson |author2=Joan Manes |title=Language of Inequality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywvo0fNRGqgC&pg=PA176 |year=1985 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-009946-1 |page=176 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}<br />{{cite book |author1=Lawrence J. Cunningham |author2=Janice J. Beaty |title=A History of Guam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkaLkgHEFvIC&pg=PA203 |date=2001 |publisher=Bess Press |isbn=978-1-57306-047-9 |page=203}}<br />{{cite book |author=Eur |title=The Far East and Australasia 2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LclscNCTz9oC&pg=PA1137 |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-85743-133-9 |page=1137 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> is an official language of [[Guam]]. Both [[Carolinian language|Carolinian]] and Chamorro have official recognition in the [[Northern Mariana Islands]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Yaron Matras |author2=Peter Bakker |title=The Mixed Language Debate: Theoretical and Empirical Advances |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZMRV8y6T8AC&pg=PA301 |year=2003 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-017776-3 |page=301 |quote=in the Northern Marianas, Chamarro, Carolinian ( = the minority language of a group of Carolinian immigrants), and English received the status of co-official languages in 1985(Rodriguez-Ponga 1995:24–28).}}</ref>
Spanish is an official language of [[Puerto Rico]] and is more widely spoken than English there.<ref name=PuertoRicoTranslation>{{cite web |url=http://www.puertorico.com/translation/ |title=Translation in Puerto Rico |website=Puerto Rico Channel |accessdate=December 29, 2013}}</ref>

The [[List of most commonly learned foreign languages in the United States|most widely taught foreign languages]] in the United States, in terms of enrollment numbers from kindergarten through university [[undergraduate education]], are Spanish (around 7.2 million students), French (1.5 million), and [[German language in the United States|German]] (500,000). Other commonly taught languages include [[Latin]], [[Japanese language education in the United States|Japanese]], [[American Sign Language|ASL]], [[Italian language in the United States|Italian]], and [[Chinese language in the United States|Chinese]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ReportSummary2011.pdf |title=Foreign Language Enrollments in K–12 Public Schools |date=February 2011 |publisher=American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) |access-date=October 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf |title=Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013 |last1=Goldberg |first1=David |last2=Looney |first2=Dennis |last3=Lusin |first3=Natalia |date=February 2015 |publisher=Modern Language Association |access-date=May 20, 2015}}</ref> 18% of all Americans claim to speak both English and another language.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/collegeprose/2012/08/27/americas-foreign-language-deficit/ |title=America's Foreign Language Deficit |author1=David Skorton |author2=Glenn Altschuler |lastauthoramp=yes |website=Forbes}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:center; margin-left:1em; font-size: 90%"
|+ Languages spoken at home by more than one million persons in the U.S. (2016)<ref name="MLA Data">{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/map_data |title=United States |publisher=[[Modern Language Association]]|access-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B16001&prodType=table |title=American FactFinder—Results |first=U.S. Census |last=Bureau |publisher= |access-date=May 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212213140/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B16001&prodType=table |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{efn|Source: 2015 [[American Community Survey]], [[U.S. Census Bureau]]. Most respondents who speak a language other than English at home also report speaking English "well" or "very well". For the language groups listed above, the strongest English-language proficiency is among speakers of German (96% report that they speak English "well" or "very well"), followed by speakers of French (93.5%), Tagalog (92.8%), Spanish (74.1%), Korean (71.5%), Chinese (70.4%), and Vietnamese (66.9%).}}
|-
! Language !! Percent of<br />population !! Number of<br />speakers !! Number who<br />speak English<br />very well !! Number who<br />speak English<br />less than<br />very well
|-
| [[English language|English]] <small>(only)</small> || ~80% || 237,810,023 || N/A || N/A
|-
| [[Spanish language|Spanish]]<br /><small>(including [[Spanish-based creole languages|Spanish Creole]] but excluding residents of [[Puerto Rico]])</small> || 13% || 40,489,813 || 23,899,421 || 16,590,392
|-
| [[Chinese language|Chinese]]<br /><small>(all varieties, including [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] and [[Cantonese]])</small> || 1.0% || 3,372,930 || 1,518,619 || 1,854,311
|-
| [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]<br /><small>(including [[Filipino language|Filipino]])</small> || 0.5% || 1,701,960 || 1,159,211 || 542,749
|-
| [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] || 0.4% || 1,509,993 || 634,273 || 875,720
|-
| [[Arabic language|Arabic]]<br /><small>(all varieties)</small> || 0.3% || 1,231,098 || 770,882 || 460,216
|-
| [[French language|French]]<br /><small>(including [[French Patois|Patois]] and [[Cajun French|Cajun]])</small> || 0.3% || 1,216,668 || 965,584 || 251,087
|-
| [[Korean language|Korean]] || 0.2% || 1,088,788 || 505,734|| 583,054
|}

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in the United States}}
<!-- There is no agreement to insert a picture to this section so please cease to do so. There are too many religious traditions in this country and it is wrong to venerate one over all others with a picture placed in this section. To avoid senseless arguments do not add any pictures to this section. -->
{{Pie chart
| thumb = right
| caption = Religion in the United States (2017)<ref name="Gallup2017religion">{{cite web |last=Newport |first=Frank |title=2017 Update on Americans and Religion |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/224642/2017-update-americans-religion.aspx |website=[[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] |accessdate=February 25, 2019}}</ref>
| label1=[[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]]
| value1=48.5
| color1=DodgerBlue
| label2=[[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholicism]]
| value2=22.7
| color2=#d4213d
| label3=[[Mormonism]]
| value3=1.8
| color3=DeepSkyBlue
| label4=[[Irreligion in the United States|No religion]]
| value4=21.3
| color4=Honeydew
| label5=[[American Jews|Judaism]]
| value5=2.1
| color5=Blue
| label6=[[Islam in the United States|Islam]]
| value6=0.8
| color6=Green
| label7=Other non-Abrahamic religion (e.g. [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Sikhism]])
| value7=2.9
| color7=Orange
}}

The [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the [[Free Exercise Clause|free exercise]] of religion and forbids Congress from passing laws respecting its [[Establishment Clause|establishment]].

In a 2013 survey, 56% of Americans said religion played a "very important role in their lives," a far higher figure than that of any other Western nation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/Religion.aspx#1 |title=Religion |publisher=Gallup |date=June 2013 |accessdate=January 10, 2014}}</ref> In a 2009 Gallup poll, 42% of Americans said they attended church weekly or almost weekly; the figures ranged from a low of 23% in [[Vermont]] to a high of 63% in [[Mississippi]].<ref name="gallup.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/125999/mississippians-go-church-most-vermonters-least.aspx |title=Mississippians Go to Church the Most; Vermonters, Least |publisher=Gallup |accessdate=January 13, 2014}}</ref>

In a 2014 survey, 70.6% of adults in the United States identified themselves as [[Christianity in the United States|Christians]];<ref>{{cite web|title=Church Statistics and Religious Affiliations|url=http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations|publisher=Pew Research|access-date=September 23, 2014}}</ref> [[Protestantism|Protestants]] accounted for 46.5%, while [[Catholic Church in the United States|Roman Catholics]], at 20.8%, formed the largest single denomination.<ref name="Pew">{{cite web|title="Nones" on the Rise|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/|year=2012|publisher=Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life|accessdate=January 10, 2014}}</ref> In 2014, 5.9% of the U.S. adult population claimed a non-Christian religion.<ref name="pew2015" /> These include [[American Jews|Judaism]] (1.9%), [[Islam in the United States|Islam]] (0.9%), [[Hinduism in the United States|Hinduism]] (0.7%), and [[Buddhism in the United States|Buddhism]] (0.7%).<ref name="pew2015" /> The survey also reported that 22.8% of Americans described themselves as [[agnosticism|agnostic]], [[atheism|atheist]] or simply having [[irreligion|no religion]]—up from 8.2% in 1990.<ref name="Pew" /><ref name="ARIS">{{cite web|title=American Religious Identification Survey 2001|url=http://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/ARIS/ARIS-PDF-version.pdf?ext=.pdf|author1=Barry A. Kosmin|author2=Egon Mayer|date=December 19, 2001|publisher=CUNY Graduate Center|access-date=September 16, 2011|author3=Ariela Keysar}}</ref><ref name="The Future of the Global Muslim Population">{{cite web|title=United States|url=http://features.pewforum.org/muslim-population-graphic/#/United%20States|accessdate=May 2, 2013}}</ref> There are also [[Unitarian Universalist]], [[Scientologist]], [[Bahá'í Faith|Baha'i]], [[Sikh]], [[Jainism|Jain]], [[Shinto]], [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]], [[Confucianism|Confucian]], [[Satanism|Satanist]], [[Taoism|Taoist]], [[Neo-Druidism|Druid]], [[Native American religion|Native American]], [[Afro-American religion|Afro-American]], [[Traditional African religions|traditional African]], [[Wicca]]n, [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]], [[Religious humanism|humanist]] and [[deism|deist]] communities.<ref>Media, Minorities, and Meaning: A Critical Introduction, p. 88, Debra L. Merskin—2010</ref><ref>[[Birger A. Pearson]] (2007). [https://books.google.com/books/about/Ancient_Gnosticism.html?id=QPvQUPMtFgQC Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature]. P. 240. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3258-8}}.</ref>

[[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]] is the largest Christian religious grouping in the United States, accounting for almost half of all Americans. [[Baptists]] collectively form the largest branch of Protestantism at 15.4%,<ref name="pew2014">{{cite web|title=America's Changing Religious Landscape|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/|date=May 12, 2015|publisher=Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life|accessdate=}}</ref> and the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] is the largest individual Protestant denomination at 5.3% of the U.S. population.<ref name="pew2014" /> Apart from Baptists, other Protestant categories include [[nondenominational Protestants]], [[Methodists]], [[Pentecostals]], unspecified Protestants, [[Lutherans]], [[Presbyterians]], [[Congregationalists]], other [[Reformed]], [[Episcopalians]]/[[Anglicans]], [[Quakers]], [[Adventists]], [[Holiness movement|Holiness]], [[Christian fundamentalists]], [[Anabaptists]], [[Pietists]], and [[List of Protestant churches|multiple others]].<ref name="pew2014" />

As with other Western countries, the U.S. is becoming less religious. [[Irreligion]] is growing rapidly among Americans under 30.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/12/pew-survey-doubt-of-god-growing-quickly-among-millennials/ |author=Merica, Dan |title=Pew Survey: Doubt of God Growing Quickly among Millennials |publisher=CNN |date=June 12, 2012|access-date=June 14, 2012}}</ref> Polls show that overall American confidence in organized religion has been declining since the mid to late 1980s,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/us-confidence-in-organized-religion-at-low-point_n_1669100.html |title=American Confidence in Organized Religion at All Time Low |access-date=July 14, 2012 |date=July 12, 2012 |work=Huffington Post |first=Samreen |last=Hooda}}</ref> and that younger Americans, in particular, are becoming increasingly irreligious.<ref name="pew2015">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/ |title=America's Changing Religious Landscape |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]: Religion & Public Life |date=May 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx |title=Religion Among the Millennials |publisher=The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life |accessdate=August 29, 2012}}</ref> In a 2012 study, the Protestant share of the U.S. population had dropped to 48%, thus ending its status as religious category of the majority for the first time.<ref name="Nones of the Rise">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/10/NonesOnTheRise-full.pdf |title="Nones" on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation |publisher= |access-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826234925/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/10/NonesOnTheRise-full.pdf |archive-date=August 26, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19892837 |title=US Protestants no longer a majority—study |website=BBC News}}</ref> Americans with no religion have 1.7 children compared to 2.2 among Christians. The unaffiliated are less likely to marry with 37% marrying compared to 52% of Christians.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/22/mormons-more-likely-to-marry-have-more-children-than-other-u-s-religious-groups/ |title=Mormons more likely to marry, have more children than other U.S. religious groups |date=May 22, 2015 |website=Pew Research Center}}</ref>

The [[Bible Belt]] is an informal term for a region in the [[Southern United States]] in which socially conservative [[evangelical Protestantism]] is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. By contrast, religion plays the least important role in [[New England]] and in the [[Western United States]].<ref name="gallup.com" />

=== Family structure ===
{{Main|Family structure in the United States}}

{{As of|2018}}, 52% of Americans age 15 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 32% had never been married.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/marital.html|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|website=Historical Marital Status Tables |title=Table MS-1. Marital Status of the Population 15 Years Old and Over, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin: 1950 to Present|accessdate=September 11, 2019}}</ref> Women now work mostly outside the home and receive the majority of [[Educational attainment in the United States|bachelor's degrees]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/news/articles/female_college.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609151527/http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/news/articles/female_college.html |archivedate=June 9, 2007 |title=Women's Advances in Education |publisher=Columbia University, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy |year=2006 |accessdate=June 6, 2007}}</ref>

The U.S. [[teenage pregnancy]] rate is 26.5 per 1,000 women. The rate has declined by 57% since 1991.<ref name="tbirthrate">{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_01.pdf |title=Births: Final Data for 2013, tables 2, 3 |publisher=U.S. Department of Health & Human Services |accessdate=July 23, 2015}}</ref> [[Roe v. Wade|Abortion is legal]] throughout the country. Abortion rates, currently 241 per 1,000 live births and 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44, are falling but remain higher than most Western nations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5511a1.htm |author=Strauss, Lilo T. |title=Abortion Surveillance—United States, 2003 |accessdate=June 17, 2007 |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health |website=MMWR |date=November 24, 2006|display-authors=etal}}</ref> In 2013, the average age at first birth was 26 and 41% of births were to unmarried women.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/births.htm |title=FASTSTATS—Births and Natality |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |date=November 21, 2013 |accessdate=January 13, 2014}}</ref>

The [[total fertility rate]] in 2016 was 1820.5 births per 1000 women.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Vital Statistics Volume 67, Number 1, January 31, 2018|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdf|website=Center for Disease Control|accessdate=February 3, 2018}}</ref> [[Adoption in the United States]] is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to other Western countries).<ref>{{cite news |last=Jardine |first=Cassandra |title=Why adoption is so easy in America |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3354960/Why-adoption-is-so-easy-in-America.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=October 31, 2007}}</ref> {{As of|2001}}, with more than 127,000 adoptions, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of the total number of adoptions worldwide.{{update inline|date=September 2019}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/child-adoption.pdf |title=Child Adoption: Trends and policies |publisher=United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs |year=2009 |accessdate=October 25, 2015}}</ref> [[Same-sex marriage in the United States|Same-sex marriage]] [[Obergefell v. Hodges|is legal]] nationwide, and it is legal for same-sex [[LGBT adoption in the United States|couples to adopt.]] [[Polygamy]] is illegal throughout the U.S.<ref name=quietly>{{cite web |title=Some Muslims in U.S. Quietly Engage in Polygamy |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90857818 |website=NPR.org [[All Things Considered]] |language=en}}</ref>

The U.S. has the world's highest rate of children living in [[Single parents in the United States|single-parent]] households.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/|title=U.S. has world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households|website=Pew Research Center|language=en-US|access-date=March 17, 2020}}</ref>

=== Health ===
{{See also|Health care in the United States|Health care reform in the United States|Health insurance in the United States}}
[[File:Texas medical center.jpg|thumb|The [[Texas Medical Center]] in downtown [[Houston]] is the largest medical complex in the world.]]

The United States had a [[life expectancy]] of 78.6 years at birth in 2017, which was the third year of declines in life expectancy following decades of continuous increase. The recent decline, primarily among the age group 25 to 64, is largely due to sharp increases in the [[drug overdose]] and [[Suicide in the United States|suicide]] rates; the country has one of the highest suicide rates among wealthy countries.<ref>{{cite news |last=Achenbach |first=Joel |date=November 26, 2019 |title='There's something terribly wrong': Americans are dying young at alarming rates|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/theres-something-terribly-wrong-americans-are-dying-young-at-alarming-rates/2019/11/25/d88b28ec-0d6a-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html|work=[[The Washington Post]] |location= |access-date=December 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2020/new-international-report-health-care-us-suicide-rate-highest-among-wealthy|title=New International Report on Health Care: U.S. Suicide Rate Highest Among Wealthy Nations {{!}} Commonwealth Fund|website=www.commonwealthfund.org|language=en|access-date=March 17, 2020}}</ref> Life expectancy was highest among Asians and Hispanics and lowest among blacks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mortality in the United States, 2017 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db328.htm |website=www.cdc.gov |access-date=December 27, 2018 |date=November 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Lenny |title=U.S. life expectancy declines again, a dismal trend not seen since World War I |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-life-expectancy-declines-again-a-dismal-trend-not-seen-since-world-war-i/2018/11/28/ae58bc8c-f28c-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html |access-date=December 27, 2018 |work=Washington Post |date=November 29, 2018}}</ref> According to CDC and Census Bureau data, deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug overdoses hit record highs in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last= Kight|first=Stef W.|date=March 6, 2019 |title=Deaths by suicide, drugs and alcohol reached an all-time high last year|url=https://www.axios.com/deaths-suicide-drugs-alcohol-mortality-rate-epidemic-18971e4f-760f-415d-910d-046de83c967c.html|work=[[Axios (website)|Axios]]|location= |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref>

Increasing [[obesity in the United States]] and health improvements elsewhere contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 11th in the world in 1987, to 42nd in 2007, and as of 2017 the country had the lowest life expectancy among Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK, and seven countries of western Europe.<ref>{{cite news |author=MacAskill, Ewen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/13/usa.ewenmacaskill |title=US Tumbles Down the World Ratings List for Life Expectancy |date=August 13, 2007 |work=The Guardian |accessdate=August 15, 2007 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/|title=How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?|website=Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker|language=en-US|access-date=March 17, 2020}}</ref> Obesity rates have more than doubled in the last 30 years and are the highest in the industrialized world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mexico Obesity Rate Surpasses The United States', Making It Fattest Country in the Americas |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/mexico-obesity_n_3567772.html |website=Huffington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Schlosser, Eric |year=2002 |title=Fast Food Nation |url=https://archive.org/details/fastfoodnationti00eric |url-access=registration |publisher=Perennial |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-093845-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fastfoodnationti00eric/page/240 240]}}</ref> Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_adult_03.htm |title=Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2003–2004 |accessdate=June 5, 2007 |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics}}</ref> Obesity-related [[diabetes mellitus type 2|type{{nbsp}}2 diabetes]] is considered epidemic by health care professionals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/25/12/2451#R3-101329 |title=Fast Food, Central Nervous System Insulin Resistance, and Obesity |year=2005 |accessdate=June 17, 2007 |website=[[Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology]] |publisher=American Heart Association}}</ref>

In 2010, [[coronary artery disease]], [[lung cancer]], [[stroke]], [[chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]]s, and traffic accidents caused the most years of life lost in the U.S. [[Low back pain]], [[major depressive disorder|depression]], [[musculoskeletal disorder]]s, [[neck pain]], and [[anxiety]] caused the most years lost to disability. The most harmful [[risk factor]]s were poor diet, [[tobacco smoking]], obesity, [[Hypertension|high blood pressure]], [[Hyperglycemia|high blood sugar]], [[physical inactivity]], and alcohol use. [[Alzheimer's disease]], drug abuse, [[kidney disease]], cancer, and falls caused the most additional years of life lost over their age-adjusted 1990 per-capita rates.<ref name=Murray2013>{{cite journal |first=Christopher J.L. |last=Murray |title=The State of US Health, 1990–2010: Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |doi=10.1001/jama.2013.13805 |date=July 10, 2013 |volume=310 |issue=6 |pages=591–608 |pmid=23842577 |pmc=5436627 }}</ref> U.S. teenage pregnancy and abortion rates are substantially higher than in other Western nations, especially among blacks and Hispanics.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Teen Pregnancy |url=https://www.cdc.gov/TeenPregnancy/AboutTeenPreg.htm |publisher=Center for Disease Control |accessdate=January 24, 2015}}</ref>

Health-care coverage in the United States is a combination of public and private efforts and is not [[universal health care|universal]]. In 2017, 12.2% of the population did not carry [[health insurance]].<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Uninsured Rate Steady at 12.2% in Fourth Quarter of 2017 |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/225383/uninsured-rate-steady-fourth-quarter-2017.aspx |website=Gallup}}</ref> The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue.<ref>{{cite news |author=Abelson, Reed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/health/policy/10health.html |title=Ranks of Underinsured Are Rising, Study Finds |date=June 10, 2008 |work=The New York Times |accessdate=October 25, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Blewett, Lynn A. |title=How Much Health Insurance Is Enough? Revisiting the Concept of Underinsurance |date=December 2006 |volume=63 |issue=6 |pages=663–700 |doi=10.1177/1077558706293634 |pmid=17099121 |issn=1077-5587 |journal=Medical Care Research and Review|display-authors=etal}}</ref> [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act|Federal legislation]], passed in early 2010, roughly halved the uninsured share of the population, though the bill and its ultimate effect are issues of controversy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Health Care Law 54% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law |url=http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/health_care_law |publisher=Rasmussen Reports |accessdate=October 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Debate on ObamaCare to intensify in the wake of landmark Supreme Court ruling |url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/29/debate-on-obamacare-to-intensify-in-wake-landmark-supreme-court-ruling/ |work=Fox News |date=June 29, 2012 |accessdate=October 14, 2012}}</ref> The U.S. health-care system far [[List of countries by total health expenditure (PPP) per capita|outspends]] any other nation, measured both in per capita spending and as percentage of GDP.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dll.umaine.edu/ble/U.S.+HCweb.pdf |title=The U.S. Healthcare System: The Best in the World or Just the Most Expensive? |year=2001 |accessdate=November 29, 2006 |publisher=University of Maine |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20070309142240/http://dll.umaine.edu:80/ble/U.S.%20HCweb.pdf |archivedate=March 9, 2007}}{{cbignore}}</ref> At the same time, the U.S. is a global leader in medical innovation.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Whitman, Glen |author2=Raad, Raymond |title=Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/bending-productivity-curve-why-america-leads-world-medical-innovation |publisher=The Cato Institute |accessdate=October 9, 2012}}</ref>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in the United States|Higher education in the United States}}
[[File:University-of-Virginia-Rotunda.jpg|thumb|The [[University of Virginia]], founded by [[Thomas Jefferson]] in 1819, is one of the many public universities in the United States. Universal government-funded education exists in the United States, while there are also many privately funded institutions.]]

American [[state school|public education]] is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the [[United States Department of Education]] through restrictions on federal grants. In most states, children are required to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, [[kindergarten]] or [[first grade]]) until they turn 18 (generally bringing them through [[twelfth grade]], the end of [[high school]]); some states allow students to leave school at 16 or 17.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/dt150.asp |title=Ages for Compulsory School Attendance ... |accessdate=June 10, 2007 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics}}</ref>

About 12% of children are enrolled in [[parochial school|parochial]] or [[nonsectarian]] [[private school]]s. Just over 2% of children are [[homeschooling|homeschooled]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/statistics.html |title=Statistics About Non-Public Education in the United States |accessdate=June 5, 2007 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Non-Public Education}}</ref> The U.S. spends more on education per student than any nation in the world, spending more than $11,000 per elementary student in 2010 and more than $12,000 per high school student.<ref name="education spending">{{cite news |last=AP |title=U.S. education spending tops global list, study shows |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57590921/u.s-education-spending-tops-global-list-study-shows/ |publisher=CBS |accessdate=October 5, 2013 |date=June 25, 2013}}</ref>{{needs update|date=June 2020}} Some 80% of U.S. college students attend [[public university|public universities]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Education for the Common Good |author=Rosenstone, Steven J. |publisher=University of Minnesota |url=http://cla.umn.edu/news/clatoday/summer2002/dean.php |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801114734/http://cla.umn.edu/news/clatoday/summer2002/dean.php |date=December 17, 2009 |accessdate=March 6, 2009 |archivedate=August 1, 2014}}</ref>

Of Americans 25 and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a [[bachelor's degree]], and 9.6% earned graduate degrees.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf |title=Educational Attainment in the United States: 2003 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=August 1, 2006}}</ref> The basic [[literacy]] rate is approximately 99%.<ref name="WF" /><ref>For more detail on U.S. literacy, see [http://nces.ed.gov/NAAL/PDF/2006470.PDF A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st century], U.S. Department of Education (2003).</ref> The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Human Development Indicators |year=2005 |publisher=United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports |accessdate=January 14, 2008 |url=http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_HDI.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620235428/http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_HDI.pdf |archivedate=June 20, 2007}}</ref>

The United States has many private and public [[Lists of American institutions of higher education|institutions of higher education]]. The majority of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717074903/http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010 |archivedate=July 17, 2011 |title=QS World University Rankings |publisher=Topuniversities |accessdate=July 10, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html |title=Top 200—The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010–2011 |magazine=Times Higher Education |accessdate=July 10, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html |title=Academic Ranking of World Universities 2014 |publisher=Shanghai Ranking Consultancy |accessdate=May 29, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119210953/http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html |archivedate=January 19, 2015 }}</ref> There are also local [[community college]]s with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition.

In 2018, [[Universitas 21|U21]], a network of research-intensive universities, ranked the United States first in the world for breadth and quality of higher education, and 15th when GDP was a factor.<ref>{{cite web |title=U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems 2019 {{!}} Universitas 21 |url=https://universitas21.com/network/u21-open-resources-and-publications/u21-rankings/u21-ranking-national-higher-education |publisher=Universitas 21 |accessdate=April 2, 2019}}</ref> As for public expenditures on higher education, the U.S. trails some other [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]] nations but spends more per student than the OECD average, and more than all nations in combined public and private spending.<ref name="education spending" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Education at a Glance 2013 |url=http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20%28eng%29--FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf |publisher=OECD |accessdate=October 5, 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2018}}, [[Student debt|student loan debt]] exceeded 1.5 trillion dollars.<ref>{{cite news |title=Student Loan Debt Exceeds One Trillion Dollars |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/04/24/151305380/student-loan-debt-exceeds-one-trillion-dollars |accessdate=September 8, 2013 |work=NPR|date=April 4, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Krupnick |first=Matt |date=October 4, 2018 |title=Student loan crisis threatens a generation's American dream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/oct/04/student-loan-crisis-threatens-a-generations-american-dream |work=The Guardian |location= |access-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref>

== Law enforcement and crime ==
{{Main|Law enforcement in the United States|Crime in the United States}}
{{See also|Law of the United States|Human rights in the United States#Justice system|Incarceration in the United States|Police brutality in the United States}}
[[File:NYPD impala.JPG|thumb|The [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]] (NYPD) is the largest in the country.|alt=A police car belonging to the New York Police Department]]

Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police departments and [[sheriff]]'s offices, with [[state police]] providing broader services. [[Federal law enforcement in the United States|Federal agencies]] such as the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) and the [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals Service]] have specialized duties, including protecting [[civil rights]], [[National Security of the United States|national security]] and enforcing [[U.S. federal courts]]' rulings and federal laws.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, Who Governs & What They Do |publisher=Chiff.com |url=http://www.chiff.com/police/federal-police-agencies.htm |accessdate=August 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210040432/http://www.chiff.com/police/federal-police-agencies.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> State courts conduct most criminal trials while [[Federal judiciary of the United States|federal courts]] handle certain designated crimes as well as certain appeals from the state criminal courts.

A cross-sectional analysis of the [[World Health Organization]] Mortality Database from 2010 showed that United States "homicide rates were 7.0 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grinshteyn |first1=Erin |last2=Hemenway |first2=David |date=March 2016 |url=http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/fulltext |title=Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010 |journal=[[The American Journal of Medicine]] |volume=129 |issue=3 |pages=226–273 |doi=10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.10.025 |pmid=26551975 |accessdate=June 18, 2017|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2016, the US murder rate was 5.4 per 100,000.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rawlinson|first1=Kevin|date=December 7, 2017|title=Global homicide rate rises for first time in more than a decade|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/07/global-homicide-rate-rises-first-time-decade-venezuela-jamaica|accessdate=December 26, 2018}}</ref> Gun ownership rights, guaranteed by the [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]], continue to be the subject of [[Gun politics in the United States|contention]].[[File:US incarceration timeline-clean.svg|thumb|Total incarceration in the United States by year]]
The United States has the [[United States incarceration rate|highest documented incarceration rate]] and [[Incarceration in the United States|largest prison population]] in the world.<ref>[[United States#Haymes et al|Haymes et al., 2014]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=qnHfBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA389#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 389]</ref> As of 2020, the [[Prison Policy Initiative]] reported that there were some 2.3 million people incarcerated.<ref name="WholePie2020">{{cite report|url=https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html|title=Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020|authors=Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner|date=March 24, 2020|publisher=Prison Policy Initiative}}</ref>  The imprisonment rate for all prisoners sentenced to more than a year in state or federal facilities is 478 per 100,000 in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Prisoners in 2013|url=http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf|website=Bureau of Justice Statistics}}</ref> According to the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], the majority of inmates held in federal prisons are convicted of drug offenses.<ref>{{cite web|title=Federal Bureau of Prisons: Statistics|url=http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/|website=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=March 4, 2015}}</ref> About 9% of prisoners are held in [[Incarceration in the United States#Privatization|privatized prisons]].<ref name="WholePie2020" /> The practice of privately operated prisons began in the 1980s and has been a subject of contention.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Donna|first1=Selman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lBraTDtiSgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PR11#v=onepage|title=Punishment for Sale: Private Prisons, Big Business, and the Incarceration Binge|last2=Leighton|first2=Paul|date=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-0173-6|location=New York City|page=xi}}<br />{{cite book|last=Harcourt|first=Bernard|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066168|title=The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order|date=2012|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-06616-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/illusio_har_2011_00_4464/page/235 235 & 236]|authorlink=Bernard Harcourt}}<br />{{cite book|last=Gottschalk|first=Marie|url=https://archive.org/details/caughtt_got_2015_00_7661|title=Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics|date=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-16405-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/caughtt_got_2015_00_7661/page/70 70]|author-link=Marie Gottschalk|url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[Capital punishment]] is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and at the state level in 30 states.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Connor |first1=Tracy |last2=Chuck |first2=Elizabeth |title=Nebraska's Death Penalty Repealed With Veto Override |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nebraskas-death-penalty-repealed-veto-override-n365456 |accessdate=June 11, 2015 |work=NBC News |date=May 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Simpson |first=Ian |title=Maryland becomes latest U.S. state to abolish death penalty |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-maryland-deathpenalty-idUSBRE9410TQ20130502 |date=May 2, 2013 |accessdate=April 6, 2016 |agency=Reuters}}</ref> No executions took place from 1967 to 1977, owing in part to a [[Furman v. Georgia|U.S. Supreme Court ruling]] striking down arbitrary imposition of the death penalty. Since the decision there have been more than 1,300 executions, a majority of these taking place in three states: Texas, Virginia, and [[Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/views-executions |title=Searchable Execution Database |accessdate=October 10, 2012 |publisher=[[Death Penalty Information Center]]}}</ref> Meanwhile, [[Capital punishment in the United States#States without capital punishment|several states]] have either abolished or struck down death penalty laws. In 2019, the country had the sixth-highest number of executions in the world, following China, [[Iran]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Iraq]], and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/1847/2020/en/ |title=Death Sentences and Executions 2019 |accessdate=May 30, 2020 |year=2019 |publisher=Amnesty International USA}}</ref>

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of the United States}}
{{See also|Economic history of the United States}}

{| class="infobox" style="{{float lert}} font-size: 90%; border: 1px solid #999; width: 325px;"
|- style="background:#f5f5f5"
! colspan="3" | Economic indicators
|-
| Nominal [[gross domestic product|GDP]] || $20.66 trillion <small>(Q3 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;"|<ref name="BEA">{{cite web |title=GDP Estimates |url=https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm |website=Bureau of Economic Analysis |publisher=Bureau of Economic Analysis |access-date=August 25, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| Real GDP growth || 3.5% <small>(Q3 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;"|<ref name="BEA" />
|-
| ||2.1% <small>(2017)</small>|| style="text-align:right;"|<ref name="BEA" />
|-
| [[Consumer price index|CPI]] inflation || 2.2% <small>(November 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;" |<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf |title=Consumer Price Index—November 2018 |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |accessdate=December 19, 2018 |date=November 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[Employment-to-population ratio]] || 60.6% <small>(November 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;" |<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000 |title=Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |accessdate=December 19, 2018 |date=December 19, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[Unemployment in the United States|Unemployment]] || 3.7% <small>(November 2018)</small>|| style="text-align:right;" |<ref>{{cite web |title=The Employment Situation—November 2018 |url=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm |website=Bureau of Labor Statistics |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |date=December 7, 2018 |accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[Labor force#Labor force in the United States|Labor force]] participation rate || 62.9% <small>(November 2018)</small> ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 |title=Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |date= December 19, 2018 |website=Bureau of Labor Statistics |publisher=United States Department of Labor |accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[National debt of the United States|Total public debt]] || $21.85 trillion <small>(November 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;" |<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd/2018/opds112018.pdf |title=Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States |publisher=Treasury Direct |accessdate=December 19, 2018 |date=November 30, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[Wealth in the United States|Household net worth]] || $109.0 trillion <small>(Q3 2018)</small> || style="text-align:right;" |<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20181206/z1.pdf |title=Federal Reserve Statistical Release |date=December 6, 2018 |accessdate=December 19, 2018 |website=Federal Reserve |publisher=Federal Reserve}}</ref>
|}

According to the [[International Monetary Fund]], the U.S. GDP of $16.8 trillion constitutes 24% of the [[gross world product]] at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at [[purchasing power parity]] (PPP).<ref name=IMF_GDP>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/02/weodata/index.aspx |publisher=International Monetary Fund |title=World Economic Outlook Database: United States |date=October 2014 |accessdate=November 2, 2014}}</ref> The United States is the [[List of countries by imports|largest importer]] of goods and [[List of countries by exports|second-largest exporter]], though [[List of countries by exports per capita|exports per capita]] are relatively low. In 2010, the total [[Foreign trade of the United States|U.S. trade deficit]] was $635 billion.<ref name="Trade">{{cite web|title=Trade Statistics|url=http://greyhill.com/trade-statistics|publisher=Greyhill Advisors|accessdate=October 6, 2011}}</ref> [[Canada]], [[China]], [[Mexico]], [[Japan]], and [[Germany]] are its top trading partners.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top Ten Countries with which the U.S. Trades|url=https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/current/balance.html|date=August 2009|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=October 12, 2009}}</ref>

From 1983 to 2008, U.S. real compounded annual GDP growth was 3.3%, compared to a 2.3% weighted average for the rest of the [[G7]].<ref name=Hagopian>{{cite journal |author=Hagopian, Kip |last2=Ohanian |first2=Lee |title=The Mismeasure of Inequality |journal=Policy Review |date=August 1, 2012 |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/123566 |accessdate=August 22, 2013 }}</ref> The country ranks ninth in the world in [[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|nominal GDP per capita]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/selbasicFast.asp |title=United Nations Statistics Division—National Accounts|website=unstats.un.org|access-date=June 1, 2018}}</ref> and sixth in [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|GDP per capita at PPP]].<ref name="IMF_GDP" /> The [[United States dollar|U.S. dollar]] is the world's primary [[reserve currency]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/cofer/eng/cofer.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007054940/http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/cofer/eng/cofer.pdf |title=Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves |publisher=International Monetary Fund |accessdate=April 9, 2012 |archivedate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>[[File:Photos NewYork1 032.jpg|thumb|left|The [[New York Stock Exchange]] on [[Wall Street]] is the [[List of stock exchanges|world's largest stock exchange]] (per [[market capitalization]] of its listed companies)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/global-stock-market-capitalization-chart-2014-11?IR=T|title=The NYSE Makes Stock Exchanges Around The World Look Tiny|publisher=|accessdate=March 26, 2017}}</ref> at $23.1&nbsp;trillion as of April 2018.<ref name="Largest stock markets in the world">{{cite web|title=Largest stock exchange operators worldwide as of April 2018, by market capitalization of listed companies (in trillion U.S. dollars) |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/270126/largest-stock-exchange-operators-by-market-capitalization-of-listed-companies/|publisher=Statista|accessdate=February 18, 2019}}</ref> |alt=A large flag is stretched over Roman style columns on the front of a large building.]]

In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 86.4% of the economy.<ref>{{cite web|title=GDP by Industry|url=http://greyhill.com/gdp-by-industry/|publisher=Greyhill Advisors|accessdate=October 13, 2011}}</ref> While its economy has reached a [[post-industrial society|postindustrial]] level of development, the United States remains an industrial power.<ref name="Econ">{{cite web|title=USA Economy in Brief|url=http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/economy-in-brief/page3.html|publisher=U.S. Dept. of State, International Information Programs|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312123609/http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/economy-in-brief/page3.html|archivedate=March 12, 2008}}</ref> [[Consumer spending]] comprised 68% of the U.S. economy in 2015.<ref>[http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=hh3 "Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)/Gross Domestic Product (GDP)"] ''FRED Graph'', Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis</ref> In August 2010, the American labor force consisted of 154.1 million people (50%). With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. It has a smaller [[welfare state]] and redistributes less income through government action than most European nations.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Isabelle Joumard |author2=Mauro Pisu |author3=Debbie Bloch |title=Tackling income inequality The role of taxes and transfers |url=http://www.oecd.org/eco/public-finance/TacklingincomeinequalityTheroleoftaxesandtransfers.pdf |publisher=OECD |accessdate=May 21, 2015 |date=2012}}</ref>

The United States is the only advanced economy that does not [[List of statutory minimum employment leave by country|guarantee its workers paid vacation]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/no-vacation-update-2013-05.pdf |title=No-Vacation Nation Revisited |last1=Ray |first1=Rebecca |last2=Sanes |first2=Milla |last3=Schmitt |first3=John |date=May 2013 |website= |publisher=[[Center for Economic and Policy Research]] |access-date=September 8, 2013}}</ref> and is one of a few countries in the world without [[paid family leave]] as a legal right.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/your-money/us-trails-much-of-the-world-in-providing-paid-family-leave.html |title=In Paid Family Leave, U.S. Trails Most of the Globe |last=Bernard |first=Tara Siegel |date=February 22, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref> While federal law does not require sick leave, it is a common benefit for government workers and full-time employees at corporations.<ref name=SLCNN /> 74% of full-time American workers get paid sick leave, according to the [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]], although only 24% of part-time workers get the same benefits.<ref name=SLCNN>{{cite web |last1=Vasel |first1=Kathryn |title=Who doesn't get paid sick leave? |url=http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/20/news/economy/paid-sick-leave/ |website=CNN}}</ref> In 2009, the United States had the third-highest [[workforce productivity]] per person in the world, behind [[Luxembourg]] and [[Norway]]. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the [[Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.conference-board.org/data/economydatabase/ |title=Total Economy Database, Summary Statistics, 1995–2010 |publisher=The Conference Board |website=Total Economy Database |date=September 2010 |access-date=September 20, 2009}}</ref>

<!-- Information on the effects of the recession was already provided in history, so it would be redundant to have it here --><!-- Also, I think information about employee benefits doesn't belong here. It isn't that relevant to the economy itself -->

=== Science and technology ===
{{Main|Science and technology in the United States|Science policy of the United States}}
[[File:Aldrin Apollo 11 original.jpg|thumb|[[Buzz Aldrin]] on the Moon, 1969]]

The United States has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th century and scientific research since the mid-20th century. Methods for producing [[interchangeable parts]] were developed by the U.S. War Department by the Federal Armories during the first half of the 19th century. This technology, along with the establishment of a [[machine tool]] industry, enabled the U.S. to have large-scale manufacturing of sewing machines, bicycles, and other items in the late 19th century and became known as the [[American system of manufacturing]]. Factory [[electrification]] in the early 20th century and introduction of the [[assembly line]] and other labor-saving techniques created the system of [[mass production]].<ref>{{Hounshell1984}}</ref> In the 21st century, approximately two-thirds of research and development funding comes from the private sector.<ref>{{cite web|title=Research and Development (R&D) Expenditures by Source and Objective: 1970 to 2004|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2008/tables/08s0775.xls|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20120210170338/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2008/tables/08s0775.xls|archivedate=February 10, 2012|accessdate=June 19, 2007|df=}}</ref> The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and [[impact factor]].<ref>{{cite news|author=MacLeod, Donald|date=March 21, 2006|title=Britain Second in World Research Rankings|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/mar/21/highereducation.uk4|accessdate=May 14, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Understanding China's AI Strategy|url=https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/understanding-chinas-ai-strategy|last=Allen|first=Gregory|date=February 6, 2019|website=Center for a New American Security|access-date=}}</ref>

In 1876, [[Alexander Graham Bell]] was awarded the first U.S. [[Invention of the telephone|patent for the telephone]]. [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[Research institute|research laboratory]], one of the first of its kind, developed the [[phonograph]], the first [[Incandescent light bulb|long-lasting light bulb]], and the first viable [[Kinetoscope|movie camera]].<ref name=Edison>{{cite web |title=Thomas Edison's Most Famous Inventions |url=http://www.thomasedison.org/index.php/education/inventions/ |website=Thomas A Edison Innovation Foundation |accessdate=January 21, 2015}}</ref> The latter led to emergence of the worldwide [[Show business|entertainment industry]]. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of [[Ransom E. Olds]] and [[Henry Ford]] popularized the assembly line. The [[Wright brothers]], in 1903, made the [[Wright Flyer|first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Benedetti, François |url=http://www.fai.org/news_archives/fai/000295.asp |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912065254/http://www.fai.org/news_archives/fai/000295.asp |archivedate=September 12, 2007 |title=100 Years Ago, the Dream of Icarus Became Reality |publisher=Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) |date=December 17, 2003 |accessdate=August 15, 2007}}</ref>

The rise of [[fascism]] and [[Nazism]] in the 1920s and 30s led many European scientists, including [[Albert Einstein]], [[Enrico Fermi]], and [[John von Neumann]], to immigrate to the United States.<ref name=fraser>{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Gordon |title=The Quantum Exodus: Jewish Fugitives, the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-959215-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NYknwEACAAJ}}</ref> During World War II, the [[Manhattan Project]] developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the [[Atomic Age]], while the [[Space Race]] produced rapid advances in rocketry, [[materials science]], and [[aeronautics]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYZmj7Us3m8C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Space+Race++rapid+advances+in+rocketry,+materials+science,+and+computers#v=onepage |title=10 Little Americans |via=Google Books |accessdate=September 15, 2014 |isbn=978-0-615-14052-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2525898/app-development/nasa-s-apollo-technology-has-changed-history.html |title=NASA's Apollo technology has changed the history |publisher=Sharon Gaudin |accessdate=September 15, 2014}}</ref>

The invention of the [[transistor]] in the 1950s, a key active component in practically all modern [[electronics]], led to many technological developments and a significant expansion of the U.S. technology industry.<ref>{{cite news |title=Celebrating July 2: 10 Days That Changed History |work=The New York Times|first=Adam |last=Goodheart |date=July 2, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/weekinreview/02goodheart.html}}</ref> This, in turn, led to the establishment of many new technology companies and regions around the country such as [[Silicon Valley]] in California. Advancements by American [[microprocessor]] companies such as [[Advanced Micro Devices]] (AMD), and [[Intel]] along with both computer [[software]] and [[Computer hardware|hardware]] companies that include [[Adobe Systems]], [[Apple Inc.]], [[IBM]], [[Microsoft]], and [[Sun Microsystems]] created and popularized the [[personal computer]]. The [[ARPANET]] was developed in the 1960s to meet [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] requirements, and became the first of a [[history of the Internet|series of networks which evolved]] into the [[Internet]].<ref name="Sawyer2012">{{cite book |last=Sawyer |first=Robert Keith |title=Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QyJjyZ_YBAkC&pg=PA256 |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973757-4 |page=256}}</ref>

=== Income, poverty and wealth ===
{{Further|Income in the United States|Poverty in the United States|Affluence in the United States|United States counties by per capita income|Income inequality in the United States}}

Accounting for 4.24% of the [[World population|global population]], Americans collectively possess 29.4% of the world's total wealth, and Americans make up roughly half of the world's population of millionaires.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/chart/3890/the-countries-with-the-most-millionaires/|title=The Countries With The Most Millionaires|last1=McCarthy|first1=Niall|date=October 22, 2019|website=Statista|access-date=November 11, 2019}}</ref> The [[Global Food Security Index]] ranked the U.S. number one for food affordability and overall food security in March 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Food Security Index |url=http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Country/Details#United%20States |publisher=The Economist Intelligence Unit |location=London |access-date=April 8, 2013 |date=March 5, 2013}}</ref> Americans on average have more than twice as much living space per dwelling and per person as [[European Union]] residents, and more than every EU nation.<ref name="Heritage Poor">{{cite web |title=Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor |publisher=Heritage Foundation |accessdate=April 8, 2013 |author=Rector, Robert |last2=Sheffield |first2=Rachel |date=September 13, 2011}}</ref> For 2017 the [[United Nations Development Programme]] ranked the United States 13th among 189 countries in its [[Human Development Index#2014 report|Human Development Index]] and 25th among 151 countries in its [[Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index|inequality-adjusted HDI]] (IHDI).<ref>{{cite web |title=Human Development Index (HDI) {{!}} Human Development Reports |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi |website=UNHDP |accessdate=December 27, 2018}}</ref>

[[Wealth in the United States|Wealth]], like income and taxes, is [[Wealth inequality in the United States|highly concentrated]]; the richest 10% of the adult population possess 72% of the country's household wealth, while the bottom half claim only 2%.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Piketty|first1=Thomas|title=Capital in the Twenty-First Century|title-link=Capital in the Twenty-First Century|date=2014|publisher=Belknap Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780674430006/page/257 257]|author-link1=Thomas Piketty}} {{ISBN|0-674-43000-X}}</ref> According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016.<ref>{{cite news|last=Egan|first=Matt|date=September 27, 2017|title=Record inequality: The top 1% controls 38.6% of America's wealth|work=CNN Money|location=|url=http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/27/news/economy/inequality-record-top-1-percent-wealth/index.html|access-date=October 12, 2017}}</ref> According to a 2018 study by the OECD, the United States has a larger percentage of low-income workers than almost any other developed nation. This is largely because at-risk workers get almost no government support and are further set back by a very weak [[collective bargaining]] system.<ref>{{cite news|last=Van Dam|first=Andrew|date=July 4, 2018|title=Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world.|work=The Washington Post|location=|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/07/04/is-it-great-to-be-a-worker-in-the-u-s-not-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-developed-world/?noredirect=on|access-date=July 12, 2018}}</ref> The [[Upper class|top one percent of income-earners]] accounted for 52 percent of the income gains from 2009 to 2015, where income is defined as market income excluding government transfers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States|url=http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2015.pdf|last=Saez|first=Emmanuel|author-link=Emmanuel Saez|date=June 30, 2016|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|accessdate=September 15, 2017}}</ref> In 2018, U.S. income inequality reached the highest level ever recorded by the [[Census Bureau]].<ref>{{cite news |last= Telford|first=Taylor|date=September 26, 2019|title=Income inequality in America is the highest it's been since census started tracking it, data shows|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/09/26/income-inequality-america-highest-its-been-since-census-started-tracking-it-data-show|work=[[The Washington Post]] |location= |access-date=September 30, 2019 }}</ref>

[[File:US Wealth Inequality - v2.png|thumb|[[Wealth inequality in the United States|Wealth inequality]] in the U.S. increased between 1989 and 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Trends in Family Wealth, 1989 to 2013|url=https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51846|date=August 18, 2016|work=[[Congressional Budget Office]] }}</ref>]]

After years of stagnation, median household income reached a record high in 2016 following two consecutive years of record growth. Income inequality remains at record highs however, with the top fifth of earners taking home more than half of all overall income.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-middle-class-incomes-reached-highest-ever-level-in-2016-census-bureau-says/2017/09/12/7226905e-97de-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html|title=U.S. middle-class incomes reached highest-ever level in 2016, Census Bureau says|last=Long|first=Heather|date=September 12, 2017|work=The Washington Post|access-date=November 11, 2019}}</ref> The rise in the share of total annual income received by the top one percent, which has more than doubled from nine percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2011, has significantly affected [[Income inequality in the United States|income inequality]],<ref name="PikettySaez">{{cite journal |last1=Alvaredo |first1=Facundo |last2=Atkinson |first2=Anthony B. |author-link2=Tony Atkinson |last3=Piketty |first3=Thomas |author-link3=Thomas Piketty |last4=Saez |first4=Emmanuel |author-link4=Emmanuel Saez |date=2013 |title=The Top 1 Percent in International and Historical Perspective |journal=[[Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume=27 |issue=Summer 2013 |pages=3–20 |doi=10.1257/jep.27.3.3 |hdl=11336/27462 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> leaving the United States with one of the widest income distributions among OECD nations.<ref name="Sme">{{cite journal |last1=Smeeding |first1=T.M. |year=2005 |title=Public Policy: Economic Inequality and Poverty: The United States in Comparative Perspective |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=86 |pages=955–983 |doi=10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00331.x|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/81b4d972c7a40d051d9ee3ced2ab2ddfc221fbf9}}</ref>  The extent and relevance of income inequality is a matter of debate.{{sfn|Gilens|Page|2014}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Economic Inequality and Political Representation |author=Larry Bartels |journal=The Unsustainable American State |date=2009 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392135.003.0007 |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/economic.pdf |pages=167–196 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091537/http://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/economic.pdf |archivedate=March 4, 2016 |df= |isbn=978-0-19-539213-5|citeseerx=10.1.1.172.7597 |author-link=Larry Bartels }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Winship |first1=Scott |title=Overstating the Costs of Inequality |journal=National Affairs |date=Spring 2013 |issue=15 |url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2013/03/overstating%20inequality%20costs%20winship/overstating%20inequality%20costs%20winship.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024141452/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Articles/2013/03/overstating%20inequality%20costs%20winship/overstating%20inequality%20costs%20winship.pdf |archivedate=October 24, 2013 |accessdate=April 29, 2015 |df= }}</ref>

Between June 2007 and November 2008, the [[Great Recession|global recession]] led to falling asset prices around the world. Assets owned by Americans lost about a quarter of their value.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Altman, Roger C. |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2009-01-01/great-crash-2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223095528/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20090101faessay88101/roger-c-altman/the-great-crash-2008.html |archivedate=December 23, 2008 |title=The Great Crash, 2008 |journal=Foreign Affairs |accessdate=February 27, 2009}}</ref> Since peaking in the second quarter of 2007, household wealth was down $14&nbsp;trillion, but has since increased $14&nbsp;trillion over 2006 levels.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Luhby |first1=Tami |title=Americans' wealth drops $1.3 trillion |url=http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/11/news/economy/Americans_wealth_drops/?postversion=2009061113 |website=CNN Money |date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> At the end of 2014, [[household debt]] amounted to $11.8&nbsp;trillion,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc.html#/2014/q4 |title=Household Debt and Credit Report |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]] |accessdate=June 26, 2015 |ref=none}}</ref> down from $13.8&nbsp;trillion at the end of 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52B58720090312 |title=U.S. household wealth falls $11.2&nbsp;trillion in 2008 |website=Reuters |accessdate=October 4, 2014}}</ref>

There were about 578,424 sheltered and unsheltered [[Homelessness in the United States|homeless persons in the US]] in January 2014, with almost two-thirds staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress |url=https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2014-AHAR-Part1.pdf |publisher=The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |accessdate=August 6, 2015 |year=2014}}</ref> In 2011, [[Hunger in the United States#Children|16.7 million children lived in food-insecure households]], about 35% more than 2007 levels, though only 1.1% of U.S. children, or 845,000, saw reduced food intake or disrupted eating patterns at some point during the year, and most cases were not chronic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Household Food Security in the United States in 2011 |url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/884525/err141.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007231515/http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/884525/err141.pdf |archive-date=October 7, 2012 |publisher=USDA |accessdate=April 8, 2013 |date=September 2012}}</ref> {{as of|2018|June}}, 40 million people, roughly 12.7% of the U.S. population, were living in poverty, with 18.5 million of those living in deep poverty (a family income below one-half of the poverty threshold) and over five million live "in '[[Third World]]' conditions." In 2016, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, which made up 32.6% of the impoverished population.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23172&LangID=E|title="Contempt for the poor in US drives cruel policies," says UN expert|last=|first=|date=June 4, 2018|work=[[OHCHR]]|access-date=June 5, 2018}}</ref> In 2017, the U.S. state or territory with the lowest [[List of U.S. states by poverty rate|poverty rate]] was [[New Hampshire]] (7.6%), and the one with the highest was [[American Samoa]] (65%).<ref>{{cite web |title=Places: New Hampshire. |url=https://www.forbes.com/places/nh/ |website=Forbes |accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: New Hampshire |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/NH |website=www.census.gov |accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sagapolutele |first1=Fili |title=American Samoa Governor Says Small Economies 'Cannot Afford Any Reduction In Medicaid' {{!}} Pacific Islands Report |url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/2017/03/02/american-samoa-governor-says-small-economies-cannot-afford-any-reduction |website=www.pireport.org |accessdate=June 30, 2020 |date=February 3, 2017}}</ref>

== Infrastructure ==
=== Transportation ===
{{Main|Transportation in the United States}}
[[File:Map of current Interstates.svg|thumb|The [[Interstate Highway System]], which extends {{convert|46876|mi|km}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Interstate FAQ (Question #3) |publisher=Federal Highway Administration |year=2006 |url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.htm#question3 |accessdate=March 4, 2009}}</ref>]]

Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of {{convert|4|e6mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} of public roads.<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Road and Street Mileage in the United States by Type of Surface |url=http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_04.html |website=United States Department of Transportation |accessdate=January 13, 2015}}</ref> The United States has the world's second-largest automobile market,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/jan/08/china-us-car-sales-overtakes |title=China overtakes US in car sales |newspaper=The Guardian |date=January 8, 2010 |access-date=July 10, 2011 |location=London}}</ref> and has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans (1996).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehicles |title=Motor vehicles statistics—countries compared worldwide |publisher=NationMaster |access-date=July 10, 2011}}</ref>{{needs update|date=June 2020}} In 2017, there were 255,009,283 non-two wheel motor vehicles, or about 910 vehicles per 1,000 people.<ref name="USBTS">{{cite web |url=https://capitol-tires.com/how-many-cars-per-capita-in-the-us.html|title=Vehicle Statistics: Cars Per Capita|publisher=Capitol Tires}}</ref>

The [[List of airlines of the United States|civil airline industry]] is entirely privately owned and has been largely [[Airline Deregulation Act|deregulated since 1978]], while [[List of airports in the United States|most major airports]] are publicly owned.<ref>{{cite web |title=Privatization |url=http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/privatization |website=downsizinggovernment.org |publisher=[[Cato Institute]] |accessdate=December 27, 2014}}</ref> The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are US-based; [[American Airlines]] is number one after its 2013 acquisition by [[US Airways]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iata.org/publications/pages/wats-passenger-carried.aspx |title=Scheduled Passengers Carried |publisher=International Air Transport Association (IATA) |year=2011 |accessdate=February 17, 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102034843/http://www.iata.org/publications/pages/wats-passenger-carried.aspx |archivedate=January 2, 2015}}</ref> Of the [[List of the world's busiest airports by passenger traffic|world's 50 busiest passenger airports]], 16 are in the United States, including the busiest, [[Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aci.aero/News/Releases/Most-Recent/2014/03/31/Preliminary-World-Airport-Traffic-and-Rankings-2013--High-Growth-Dubai-Moves-Up-to-7th-Busiest-Airport- |title=Preliminary World Airport Traffic and Rankings 2013—High Growth Dubai Moves Up to 7th Busiest Airport|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401052319/http://www.aci.aero/News/Releases/Most-Recent/2014/03/31/Preliminary-World-Airport-Traffic-and-Rankings-2013--High-Growth-Dubai-Moves-Up-to-7th-Busiest-Airport- |archivedate=April 1, 2014 |date=March 31, 2014 |accessdate=May 17, 2014}}</ref>

=== Energy ===
{{Further|Energy policy of the United States}}
The [[Energy in the United States|United States energy]] market is about 29,000 [[Kilowatt hour|terawatt hours]] per year.<ref name=IEA2013>IEA Key World Energy Statistics Statistics [http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2013.pdf 2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902105825/http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2013.pdf |date=September 2, 2014}}</ref> In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear and [[renewable energy]] sources.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_3.pdf |title=Diagram 1: Energy Flow, 2007 |website=EIA Annual Energy Review |year=2007 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Information Administration |accessdate=June 25, 2008}}</ref>

Since 2007, the total [[greenhouse gas emissions by the United States]] are the second highest by country, exceeded only by [[China]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mnp.nl/en/dossiers/Climatechange/moreinfo/Chinanowno1inCO2emissionsUSAinsecondposition.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701125851/http://www.mnp.nl/en/dossiers/Climatechange/moreinfo/Chinanowno1inCO2emissionsUSAinsecondposition.html|archive-date=July 1, 2007|title=China now no. 1 in CO2 emissions; USA in second position—the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP)|date=July 1, 2007|access-date=May 11, 2019}}</ref> The United States has historically been the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, and [[List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita|greenhouse gas emissions per capita]] remain high.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Roser|first=Max|last2=Ritchie|first2=Hannah|date=May 11, 2017|title=CO₂ and other Greenhouse Gas Emissions|url=https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|North America}}
{{Wikipedia books}}
* [[Index of United States-related articles]]
* [[Lists of U.S. state topics]]
* [[Outline of the United States]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist
| colwidth =
| notes =
{{efn
| name = pop
| Excludes [[Puerto Rico]] and the other [[Unincorporated territories of the United States|unincorporated islands]].
  }}
{{efn
| name = time
| See [[Time in the United States]] for details about laws governing time zones in the United States.
  }}
{{efn
| name = drive
| Except the [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]].
  }}
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |title=Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance |ref=Acharya10 |first1=Viral V. |last1=Acharya |first2=Thomas F. |last2=Cooley |first3=Matthew P. |last3=Richardson |first4=Ingo |last4=Walter |page=592 |publisher=Wiley |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-470-76877-8}}
* {{cite book |title=The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism |first1=Edward E. |last1=Baptist|author-link= Edward E. Baptist |publisher=Basic Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-465-00296-2}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Barth |first1=James |first2=John |last2=Jahera |title=US Enacts Sweeping Financial Reform Legislation |ref=Barth10 |journal=Journal of Financial Economic Policy |volume=2 |issue=3 |year=2010 |pages=192–195 |doi=10.1108/17576381011085412}}
* {{cite book |last=Berkin |first=Carol |last2=Miller |first2=Christopher L. |last3=Cherny |first3=Robert W. |last4=Gormly |first4=James L. |title=Making America: A History of the United States, Volume I: To 1877 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyEI21RClZkC |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2007 |ref=Berkin |page=75 |isbn=978-0-618-99485-4}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bianchine |first1=Peter J. |last2=Russo |first2=Thomas A. |year=1992 |title=The Role of Epidemic Infectious Diseases in the Discovery of America |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=225–232 |ref=Bianchine |doi=10.2500/108854192778817040 |pmid=1483570 |journal=Allergy and Asthma Proceedings}}
* {{cite book |last=Blakeley |first=Ruth |date=2009 |title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South |url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/ |location= |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-68617-4|ref=Blakeley}}
* {{cite book |last1=Boyer |first1=Paul S. |last2=Clark Jr. |first2=Clifford E. |last3=Kett |first3=Joseph F. |last4=Salisbury |first4=Neal |last5=Sitkoff |first5=Harvard |last6=Woloch |first6=Nancy |title=The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People |ref=Boyer |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9KT3lI76-0cC |publisher=Cengage Learning |page=588 |isbn=978-0-618-80161-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Brokenshire |first=Brad |title=Washington State Place Names |url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00brok_0 |url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00brok_0/page/49 49] |year=1993 |publisher=Caxton Press |isbn=978-0-87004-562-2 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |first=Colin G. |last=Calloway |title=New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=edYbAZ7ECEoC |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press|JHU Press]] |ref=Calloway1998 |page=229 |isbn=978-0-8018-5959-5 |year=1998}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Juan |last=Cobarrubias |title=Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9KoAkzfVqIC&pg=PA195 |year=1983 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-90-279-3358-4}}
* {{cite book|first=Marcus |last= Cowper|title=National Geographic History Book: An Interactive Journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8dNX2PqOpcC&pg=PT67|date= 2011|publisher=National Geographic Society|isbn=978-1-4262-0679-5|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Davis |first=Kenneth C. |title=Don't know much about the Civil War |ref=Davis96 |publisher=William Marrow and Co. |location=New York |year=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/dontknowmuchabou00davi_1/page/518 |isbn=978-0-688-11814-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dontknowmuchabou00davi_1/page/518 518] }}
* {{cite book |last=Daynes |first=Byron W. |last2=Sussman |first2=Glen |title=White House Politics and the Environment: Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush |ref=Daynes |publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]] |year=2010 |page=320 |url=https://archive.org/details/whitehousepoliti0000dayn |url-access=registration |isbn=978-1-60344-254-1 |oclc=670419432 |quote=Presidential environmental policies, 1933–2009}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first1=Jon M |last1=Erlandson |first2=Torben C |last2=Rick |first3=Rene L |last3=Vellanoweth |title=A Canyon Through Time: Archaeology, History, and Ecology of the Tecolote Canyon Area, Santa Barbara County |location=California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GeTv2lmb79UC&pg=PA19 |year=2008 |publisher=University of Utah Press |isbn=978-0-87480-879-7}}
* {{cite book|first=Brian M. |last=Fagan|title=Ancient Lives: An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9lqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA390|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-35027-9|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |first=Sylvan G. |last=Feldstein |first2=Frank J. |last2=Fabozzi |title=The Handbook of Municipal Bonds |ref=Feldstein |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |year=2011 |page=1376 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Juc4fb1Fx1cC |isbn=978-1-118-04494-0}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Ferguson |first1=Thomas |last2=Rogers |first2=Joel |ref=Ferguson |year=1986 |title=The Myth of America's Turn to the Right |journal=The Atlantic|volume=257 |issue=5 |pages=43–53 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/95dec/conbook/fergrt.htm |accessdate=March 11, 2013}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Fladmark|first1=K.R.|title=Routes: Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America |journal=American Antiquity |volume=44 |issue=1 |year=2017 |pages=55–69 |issn=0002-7316 |doi=10.2307/279189 |ref=harv |jstor=279189}}
* {{cite book|first=Tim|last= Flannery|title=The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkkyBgAAQBAJ |date=2015 |publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9109-0|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Steve |first2=Gary |last2=Gerstle |ref=Fraser |title=The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order: 1930–1980 |series=American History: Political science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yd4GqkP5XYgC&lpg=PA229 |year=1989 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00607-9 |page=311}}
* {{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947 |year=1972 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-12239-9 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|first=Daniel J.|last= Gelo|title=Indians of the Great Plains |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBBmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT79|date=2018|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-71812-7|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Percy |last=Greg |title=History of the United States from the Foundation of Virginia to the Reconstruction of the Union |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofuniteds12greg |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofuniteds12greg/page/276 276] |year=1892 |publisher=West, Johnston & Company}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Ofelia |last=García |title=Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW6V__K95ckC&pg=PT167 |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-5978-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Gold |first=Susan Dudley |title=United States V. Amistad: Slave Ship Mutiny |ref=Gold2006 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesvami0000gold/page/144 144] |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesvami0000gold/page/144 |isbn=978-0-7614-2143-6 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gordon |first=John Steele |authorlink=John Steele Gordon |ref=Gordon |title=An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power |year=2004 |publisher=HarperCollins |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofwealthth00gord|url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-06-009362-4 }}
* {{cite book |last=Graebner |first=Norman A. |last2=Burns |first2=Richard Dean |last3=Siracusa |first3=Joseph M. |ref=Burns2008 |title=Reagan, Bush, Gorbachev: Revisiting the End of the Cold War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r71u_AgE7iYC&lpg=PA142 |year=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |series=Praeger Security International Series |isbn=978-0-313-35241-6 |page=180}}
* {{cite book|first1=Michael Robert |last1=Haines |first2=Michael R. |last2= Haines |first3=Richard H. |last3=Steckel |title=A Population History of North America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPdgiysIVcgC&pg=PA12 |date= 2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-49666-7 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |title=The Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the United States|editor1-first=Stephen|editor1-last=Haymes|editor2-first= Maria|editor2-last=Vidal de Haymes|editor3-first= Reuben|editor3-last= Miller |publisher=Routledge |url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415673440/ |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-415-67344-0|ref=Haymes et al}}
* {{cite book |first1=William A. |last1= Haviland |first2=Dana |last2= Walrath |first3=Harald E.L.|last3= Prins |title=Evolution and Prehistory: The Human Challenge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_qGhW338KQC&pg=PA219|date=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-285-06141-2|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hoopes |first1=Townsend |last2=Brinkley |first2=Douglas |title=FDR and the Creation of the U.N |url=https://archive.org/details/fdrcreationofun00hoop |url-access=registration |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-08553-2 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |first=Thomas N. |last=Ingersoll |title=The Loyalist Problem in Revolutionary New England |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qwdQDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |year=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-12861-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|first=Moira |last=Inghilleri |title=Translation and Migration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1yuDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT117 |year=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-315-39980-5|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Lawrence R. |title=Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know: What Everyone Needs to Know |ref=Jacobs10 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-978142-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/healthcarereform0000jaco }}
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Paul |ref=harv |title=A History of the American People |year=1997 |publisher=HarperCollins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXSVQjz1_tMC |isbn=978-0-06-195213-5}}
* {{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American studies|date=2001|publisher=Grolier Educational|editor-last=Kurian |editor-first=George T. |isbn=978-0-7172-9222-6|location=New York|oclc=46343385}}
* {{cite book|first=Paul |last= Joseph|title=The Sage Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idw0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA590|date=2016 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-1-4833-5988-5 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare |series=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]] library of American History |last=Kessel |first=William B. |last2=Wooster |first2=Robert |authorlink= |year=2005 |publisher=Infobase Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laxSyAp89G4C |isbn=978-0-8160-3337-9 |page=398 |ref=Kessel}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first1=David S. |last1=Kidder |first2=Noah D. |last2=Oppenheim |title=The Intellectual Devotional: American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation's Past |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PF39tMiwmWcC&pg=PA91 |year=2007 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=978-1-59486-744-6}}
* {{cite book|title=One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America |first1=Kevin M. |last1=Kruse |publisher=Basic Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-465-04949-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/onenationundergo0000krus }}
* {{cite book |last=Leckie |first=Robert |authorlink=Robert Leckie (author) |title=None died in vain: The Saga of the American Civil War |ref=Leckie |publisher=Harper-Collins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvIeAAAAMAAJ |location=New York |year=1990 |page=682 |isbn=978-0-06-016280-1}}
* {{cite book|first=Craig|last= Lockard|title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions, Volume B: From 600 to 1750|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k91sCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA315|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-111-79083-7|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |first1=Donna |last1=Martinez|first2=Jennifer L. Williams |last2=Bordeaux|title=50 Events That Shaped American Indian History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic &#91;2 volumes&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnB1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|date= 2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-3577-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|first1=Donna |last1=Martinez|first2=Grace |last2=Sage|first3=Azusa |last3=Ono|title=Urban American Indians: Reclaiming Native Space: Reclaiming Native Space |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HjEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|date=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-3208-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Eric |last=Martone |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA504 |year=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-995-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Leffler |first=Melvyn P. |authorlink=Melvyn P. Leffler |editor-last=Westad |editor-first=Odd Arne |year=2010 |chapter=The emergence of an American grand strategy, 1945–1952 |title=The Cambridge History of the Cold War |volume=1: Origins |pages=67–89 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83719-4 |oclc=309835719 |language=en |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Lemon |first=James T. |editor1-first=Robert D. |editor1-last=Mitchell |editor2-first=Paul A. |editor2-last=Groves |title=North America: the historical geography of a changing continent |chapter=Colonial America in the 18th Century |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |chapter-url=http://cascourses.uoregon.edu/geog471/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Lemon.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123135724/http://cascourses.uoregon.edu/geog471/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Lemon.pdf |archivedate=January 23, 2013 |year=1987 |ref=Lemon}}
* {{cite book |last=Lien |first=Arnold Johnson |title=Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law |volume=54 |ref=Lien |publisher=Columbia University |location=New York |year=1913 |page=604 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYpVAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book |first=Karen Woods |last=Weierman |title=One Nation, One Blood: Interracial Marriage In American Fiction, Scandal, And Law, 1820–1870 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24mIQuLBuN8C&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-1-55849-483-1 |page=214}}
* {{cite book |last=Levenstein |first=Harvey |title=Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet |ref=Levenstein |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-520-23439-0}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Mann |first1=Kaarin |year=2007 |ref=Mann |title=Interracial Marriage in Early America: Motivation and the Colonial Project |journal=Michigan Journal of History |issue=Fall |url=http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/docs/2007-fall/Interracial_Marriage_in_Early_America_Mann.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515063053/http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/docs/2007-fall/Interracial_Marriage_in_Early_America_Mann.pdf |archivedate=May 15, 2013 }}
* {{cite book|first=David J. |last=Meltzer|title=First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rnc-bg2voI8C&pg=PA129 |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94315-5|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|ref=harv |author=The New York Times |title=The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorktimesguid00 |year=2007 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-37659-8 }}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Mary |last=Mostert |title=The Threat of Anarchy Leads to the Constitution of the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jntSQ-yn66AC&pg=PA18 |year=2005 |publisher=CTR Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-0-9753851-4-2}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Peter S. |last=Onuf |title=The Origins of the Federal Republic: Jurisdictional Controversies in the United States, 1775–1787 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WcUgLPqmfuYC |year=2010 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0038-6}}
* {{cite book|first1=Theda |last1= Perdue|first2=Michael D |last2=Green|title=The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RBJCyp2bFIC&pg=PA40|date= 2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50602-1|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Price |first=David A. |ref=harv |title=Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation |publisher=Random House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EFbS_7fFcYC |year=2003|isbn=978-0-307-42670-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Quirk |first=Joel |title=The Anti-Slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking |ref=Quirk |year=2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqxK4KlqKYMC |isbn=978-0-8122-4333-8 |page=344}}
* {{cite book |last=Ranlet |first=Philip |title=New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans Ca. 1600–1850 |ref=Ranlet |publisher=North Eastern University Press |editor-first=Alden T. |editor-last=Vaughan |pages= |year=1999}}
* {{cite book |last=Rausch |first=David A. |title=Native American Voices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iyZMeGMgIgEC&vq=triangle |ref=Rausch |publisher=Baker Books |location=Grand Rapids |page=180 |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8010-7773-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Remini |first=Robert V. |title=The House: The History of the House of Representatives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAM6J6IoQFQC |ref=harv |year=2007 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-134111-3}}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Richter |editor1-first=Daniel K. |editor2-last=Merrell |editor2-first=James H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQnEwUaPAegC |title=Beyond the covenant chain : the Iroquois and their neighbors in Indian North America, 1600–1800 |date=2003 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-02299-4 |location=University Park |oclc=51306167}}
* {{cite book |last=Ripper |first=Jason |title=American Stories: To 1877 |year=2008 |ref=Ripper2008 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vX-fYvoAeHwC |page=299 |isbn=978-0-7656-2903-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Russell |first=John Henderson |title=The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619–1865 |ref=Russell1913 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |url=https://archive.org/details/freenegroinvirg00russgoog |year=1913 |page=[https://archive.org/details/freenegroinvirg00russgoog/page/n202 196]}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=William |last=Safire |title=No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/nouncertainterms00safi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/nouncertainterms00safi/page/199 199] |year=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-4955-3}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Bunford |last=Samuel |title=Secession and Constitutional Liberty: In which is Shown the Right of a Nation to Secede from a Compact of Federation and that Such Right is Necessary to Constitutional Liberty and a Surety of Union |url=https://archive.org/details/secessionandcon03samugoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/secessionandcon03samugoog/page/n329 323] |year=1920 |publisher=Neale publishing Company}}
* {{cite book |first= Candace|last= Savage|title=Prairie: A Natural History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1u9BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|date=2011|publisher=Greystone Books|isbn=978-1-55365-899-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Schneider |first=Dorothy |last2=Schneider |first2=Carl J. |title=Slavery in America |ref=Schneider |publisher=Infobase Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlemwRTsY20C |year=2007 |page=554 |isbn=978-1-4381-0813-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Schultz |first=David Andrew |title=Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution |ref=Schultz |year=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f7m713xwK58C |page=904 |isbn=978-1-4381-2677-7}}
* {{cite book |ref=harv |first=Sandra |last=Sider |title=Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtYy67FsRosC&pg=PA226 |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533084-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Simonson |first=Peter |title=Refiguring Mass Communication: A History |ref=Simonson |year=2010 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |quote=He held high the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the nation's unofficial motto, ''e pluribus unum'', even as he was recoiling from the party system in which he had long participated. |location=Urbana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6lrAmPlbvIC&pg=PA79 |isbn=978-0-252-07705-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew F. |year=2004 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America |ref=Smith2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=131–132 |isbn=978-0-19-515437-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Soss |first=Joe |editor-last=Hacker |editor-first=Jacob S. |editor2-last=Mettler |editor2-first=Suzanne |ref=Soss |title=Remaking America: Democracy and Public Policy in an Age of Inequality |year=2010 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JttyjBoyb3AC |isbn=978-1-61044-694-5 |pages=}}
* {{cite book|ref=Stannard |last=Stannard |first=David E. |authorlink=David Stannard |title=American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World |year=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/americanholocaus00stan |isbn=978-0-19-508557-0 }}
* {{Cite journal |ref=Tadman |last=Tadman |first=Michael |title=The Demographic Cost of Sugar: Debates on Slave Societies and Natural Increase in the Americas |journal=American Historical Review |volume=105 |year=2000 |issue=5 |pages=1534–1575 |jstor=2652029|doi=10.2307/2652029 }}
* {{cite book|ref=Taylor |last=Taylor |first=Alan |title=American Colonies: The Settling of North America |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/americancolonies00tayl_1 |editor=Eric Foner |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-670-87282-4 }}
* {{cite book |last=Thornton |first=Russell |title=American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 |volume=186 |series=Civilization of the American Indian |year=1987 |ref=harv |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iQYSQ9y60MC&lpg=PA49 |isbn=978-0-8061-2220-5 |page=49}}
* {{cite book|first=Russell |last=Thornton |title=Studying Native America: Problems and Prospects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EA-UwvN_HUC&pg=PA34 |year=1998 |publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-16064-7 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Alden T.|title=New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans Ca. 1600–1850 |publisher=North Eastern University Press |year=1999|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|first1=James M. |last1=Volo|first2=Dorothy Denneen |last2=Volo|title=Family Life in Native America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z_bc61ezj0cC&pg=PR11|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-33795-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Walton |first=Gary M. |last2=Rockoff |first2=Hugh |title=History of the American Economy |year=2009 |ref=Walton |publisher=Cengage Learning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyhI1q_E4G0C|isbn=978-0-324-78662-0 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Waters|first1=M.R.|last2=Stafford|first2=T W.|title=Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas|journal=Science|volume=315|issue=5815|year=2007|pages=1122–1126|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.1137166|pmid=17322060|ref=harv|bibcode=2007Sci...315.1122W|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/2127cb07b275c5be603cef1434db0b167b94c94f}}
* {{cite book|first1=Edith Brown |last1=Weiss|first2=Harold Karan |last2=Jacobson|title=Engaging Countries: Strengthening Compliance with International Environmental Accords |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_JAw31U5qQC&pg=PA180|year=2000|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-73132-4|ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Daniel K. |year=2012 |ref=Williams |title=Questioning Conservatism's Ascendancy: A Reexamination of the Rightward Shift in Modern American Politics; {Reviews in American History} |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=325–331 |doi=10.1353/rah.2012.0043 |url=http://courses.ttu.edu/secunnin/40.2.williams.pdf |accessdate=March 11, 2013 |journal=Reviews in American History |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FBIifRbH?url=http://courses.ttu.edu/secunnin/40.2.williams.pdf |archivedate=March 17, 2013 }}
* {{cite book|first1=Wendy S. |last1=Wilson|first2=Lloyd M. |last2=Thompson |title=Native Americans: An Interdisciplinary Unit on Converging Cultures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hs0HFU2ZR0IC&pg=PA14|year=1997|publisher=Walch Publishing|isbn=978-0-8251-3332-9|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Winchester |first=Simon |title=The men who United the States |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780062079602|url-access=registration |year=2013 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-207960-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780062079602/page/198 198], 216, 251, 253}}
* {{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |authorlink=Howard Zinn |title=A People's History of the United States |ref=Zinn |year=2005 |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] Modern Classics |location= |isbn=978-0-06-083865-2|title-link=A People's History of the United States }}
{{refend}}

'''Internet sources'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1217752.stm |title=''Country Profile: United States of America'' |ref=BBC18may |work=BBC News |location=London |date=April 22, 2008 |accessdate=May 18, 2008}}
* {{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Eliot A. |ref=Cohen |location=Washington, DC |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/59919/eliot-a-cohen/history-and-the-hyperpower |title=''History and the Hyperpower'' |website=Foreign Affairs |date=July–August 2004 |accessdate=July 14, 2006}}
* {{cite web |title=Slavery and the Slave Trade in Rhode Island |ref=Brown |url=https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/jcbexhibit/Pages/exhibSlavery.html}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx |title=History of "In God We Trust" |ref=God |publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury |date=March 8, 2011 |accessdate=February 23, 2013}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.mchspa.org/body.htm |title=''Early History, Native Americans, and Early Settlers in Mercer County'' |year=2005 |ref=Mercer |publisher=Mercer County Historical Society |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050310021430/http://www.mchspa.org/body.htm |archivedate=March 10, 2005|access-date=April 6, 2016}}
* {{cite news |title=Looking back 20 years: Who deserves credit for ending the Cold War? |first=Nick |last=Hayes |ref=Hayes |url=http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2009/11/looking-back-20-years-who-deserves-credit-ending-cold-war |newspaper=MinnPost |date=November 6, 2009 |accessdate=March 11, 2013}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/59e.asp |title=59e. The End of the Cold War |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |website=USHistory.org |ref=ushistory13 |publisher=Independence Hall Association |accessdate=March 10, 2013}}
* {{cite book |last=Levy |first=Peter B. |ref=Levy1996 |title=Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7veohk0fkLYC&lpg=PA88 |year=1996 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-29018-3 |page=442}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216 |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts selected: United States|date=2016 |website=QuickFacts |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|pages= |language= |quote= |accessdate=September 9, 2017}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Wallander |first1=Celeste A. |year=2003 |ref=Wallander2003 |title=Western Policy and the Demise of the Soviet Union |journal=[[Journal of Cold War Studies]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=137–177 |doi=10.1162/152039703322483774 }}
* {{cite journal |title=Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens |last1=Gilens|first1=Martin|last2=Page|first2=Benjamin I.|lastauthoramp=yes |journal=[[Perspectives on Politics]] |date=2014 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=564–581 |doi=10.1017/S1537592714001595 |url=http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf|ref=harv}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|voy=United States}}
{{Library resources box}}
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* {{CIA World Factbook link|us|United States}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16761057 United States], from the [[BBC News]]
* [http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=US Key Development Forecasts for the United States] from [[International Futures]]

; Government
* [http://www.usa.gov/ Official U.S. Government Web Portal] Gateway to government sites
* [http://www.house.gov/ House] Official site of the United States House of Representatives
* [https://www.senate.gov/ Senate] Official site of the United States Senate
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/ White House] Official site of the president of the United States
* [{{SCOTUS URL}} Supreme Court] Official site of the Supreme Court of the United States

; History
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080314143240/http://www.nationalcenter.org/HistoricalDocuments.html Historical Documents] Collected by the National Center for Public Policy Research
* [http://www.religioustolerance.org/nat_mott.htm U.S. National Mottos: History and Constitutionality] Analysis by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
* [http://www.historicalstatistics.org/index2.html USA] Collected links to historical data

; Maps
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091021182322/http://www.nationalatlas.gov/ National Atlas of the United States] Official maps from the U.S. Department of the Interior
* {{wikiatlas|the United States}}
* [http://www.measureofamerica.org/maps/ Measure of America] A variety of mapped information relating to health, education, income, and demographics for the U.S.

; Photos
* [https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=USA Photos of the USA]

{{Anchor|Related information}}<!-- target for Navbox link at See also section -->
{{United States topics}}
{{United States political divisions|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:United States| ]]
[[Category:1776 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Countries in North America]]
[[Category:English-speaking countries and territories]]
[[Category:Federal constitutional republics]]
[[Category:Former British colonies]]
[[Category:Former confederations]]
[[Category:G7 nations]]
[[Category:Group of Eight nations]]
[[Category:G20 nations]]
[[Category:Member states of NATO]]
[[Category:Member states of the United Nations]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1776]]
[[Category:Superpowers]]

{{usedwp|United States}}
[[category:Valid name- nation]]    
{{#set:Definite article=1}} <!-- refer to "the United States" -->