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117-686: After seven years of parallel existence as the so-called "Detroit IWW," the dissident organization changed its name to Workers' International Industrial Union in 1915. The WIIU maintained a presence in the United States , Canada , Britain and Australia before its ultimate dissolution in 1925. The 4th Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was convened in Chicago on September 21, 1908, attended by 26 delegates. Despite

234-577: A lower house based on population; and the Senate , an upper house based on equal representation for each state. Federalism provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states, while the country's political culture promotes liberty , equality , individualism , personal autonomy , and limited government . One of the world's most developed countries , the United States has had the largest nominal GDP since about 1890 and accounted for over 15% of

351-580: A " Special Relationship " with the United Kingdom and strong ties with Canada , Australia , New Zealand , the Philippines , Japan , South Korea , Israel , and several European Union countries ( France , Italy , Germany , Spain , and Poland ). The U.S. works closely with its NATO allies on military and national security issues, and with countries in the Americas through

468-662: A close association with the SLP, although (as of 1922) it declined to openly affirm this association. Robert Hoxie , author of Trade Unionism in the United States , referred to the Detroit IWW as socialistic , and the Chicago IWW as quasi anarchistic . WIIU called for a general lockout of the capitalist class. Instead of leaving means of production to the capitalists and their scabs, the WIIU calls for workers to take possession of

585-542: A coordinated, continent-wide military effort. Finally, deteriorating relations between the British military establishment and the colonists, relations that were already less than positive, set the stage for further distrust and dislike of British troops. Following their victory in the French and Indian War, Britain began to assert greater control over local colonial affairs, resulting in colonial political resistance ; one of

702-534: A decentralized government that operated until 1789. After the British surrender at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 American sovereignty was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which the U.S. gained territory stretching west to the Mississippi River, north to present-day Canada, and south to Spanish Florida . The Northwest Ordinance (1787) established the precedent by which

819-407: A few prominent industrialists , largely by their formation of trusts and monopolies to prevent competition. Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the railroad , petroleum , and steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the automotive industry . These changes were accompanied by significant increases in economic inequality , slum conditions , and social unrest , creating

936-638: A founding member of the World Bank , Organization of American States , NATO , and the United Nations , as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council . The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan , a Continental Army aide to General George Washington , wrote to Joseph Reed , Washington's aide-de-camp , seeking to go "with full and ample powers from

1053-598: A period of heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the nadir of American race relations . A series of Supreme Court decisions, including Plessy v. Ferguson , emptied the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked, sundown towns in the Midwest, and segregation in communities across the country , which would be reinforced by

1170-488: A prominent leader in the early 1960s. The Great Society plan of President Lyndon Johnson 's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering institutional racism . The counterculture movement in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of attitudes toward recreational drug use and sexuality . It also encouraged open defiance of

1287-526: A sense of manifest destiny . The Missouri Compromise attempted to balance the desire of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories with that of southern states to extend it, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It further prohibited slavery in all other lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel . As Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans,

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1404-614: A sense of American identity as well. Men who otherwise never left their own colony now traveled across the continent to fight alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds but who were no less "American". British officers trained American officers for battle, most notably George Washington ; these officers would lend their skills and expertise to the colonists' cause during the American Revolutionary War to come. In addition, colonial legislatures and officials found it necessary to cooperate intensively in pursuit of

1521-632: A status solidified after its involvement in World War I . After Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II . Its aftermath left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the world's two superpowers and led to the Cold War , during which both countries struggled for ideological dominance and international influence . Following the Soviet Union's collapse and

1638-401: A year). Juvenile correctional facilities are operated by local or state governments and serve as longer-term placements for any minor adjudicated as delinquent and ordered by a judge to be confined. As of January 2023, the United States has the sixth-highest per capita incarceration rate in the world—531 people per 100,000 inhabitants—and the largest prison and jail population in

1755-580: Is a country primarily located in North America . It is a federal union of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the states of Alaska to the northwest and the archipelagic Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands . The country has

1872-767: Is also a recognized geographical division used by the United States Geological Survey . All entities within the region apart from the District of Columbia and West Virginia border the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2010, the South Atlantic states had a combined population of 61,774,970. The South Atlantic region covers 292,589 square miles (757,800 km ). With the exception of West Virginia, the region has seen rapid population growth and economic development in recent decades. As of 2023,

1989-591: Is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas. Over time, indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and some, such as the Mississippian culture , developed agriculture , architecture , and complex societies . In the post-archaic period , the Mississippian cultures were located in the midwestern , eastern , and southern regions, and the Algonquian in

2106-498: Is known as the presidential system , in contrast to the parliamentary system , where the executive is part of the legislative body. Many countries around the world imitated this aspect of the 1789 Constitution of the United States , especially in the Americas. The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed independently in the 18th century with the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties. Since then,

2223-438: Is now the United States experienced conflicts with Native Americans, they also engaged in trade, exchanging European tools for food and animal pelts. Relations ranged from close cooperation to warfare and massacres. The colonial authorities often pursued policies that forced Native Americans to adopt European lifestyles, including conversion to Christianity. Along the eastern seaboard, settlers trafficked African slaves through

2340-672: Is ranked the sixth-best in the nation. The Southeastern United States is a large region of the country that includes a core of states that reaches north to Maryland and West Virginia , bordering the Ohio River and Mason–Dixon line , and stretches west to Arkansas and Louisiana . Unlike the Northeast, there is no official U.S. government definition for the Southeast, and it is defined variably among agencies and organizations. Its unique cultural and historic heritage includes

2457-477: Is sometimes considered a distinct cultural area due to its large concentration of Native American tribes. New England is a subregion of the northeastern U.S. that is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean , Canada , and the state of New York . It includes six states: Maine , New Hampshire , Vermont , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Connecticut . In one of the earliest British colonial settlements in

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2574-552: Is the federal agency charged with addressing most environmental-related issues . The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act . The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a way to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service implements and enforces the Act. In 2024, the U.S. ranked 34th among 180 countries in

2691-603: The Allies of World War I , helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers . In 1920, a constitutional amendment granted nationwide women's suffrage . During the 1920s and '30s, radio for mass communication and the invention of early television transformed communications nationwide. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression , which President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to with

2808-822: The American Revolutionary War , and later where the U.S. Constitution was drafted and ratified at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1789. As of 2023, the Mid-Atlantic region is home to four of the top twenty-five universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings: Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Columbia University in New York, New York, and

2925-706: The Atlantic Provinces of Canada and the Atlantic seaboard of the United States south to North Carolina . The Saint Lawrence Lowlands area includes parts of Southern Ontario , upstate New York , much of the Saint Lawrence River area, and the Susquehanna Valley . The Great Lakes-Riverine area includes the remaining inland areas of the Northeast, which were home to Central Algonquian and Siouan speakers. The Great Lakes region

3042-553: The Atlantic slave trade . The original Thirteen Colonies that would later found the United States were administered as possessions of Great Britain , and had local governments with elections open to most white male property owners . The colonial population grew rapidly, eclipsing Native American populations; by the 1770s, the natural increase of the population was such that only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas. The colonies' distance from Britain allowed for

3159-549: The Environmental Performance Index . The country joined the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016 and has many other environmental commitments. The United States is a federal republic of 50 states and a separate federal capital district, Washington, D.C. It also asserts sovereignty over five unincorporated territories and several uninhabited island possessions . The U.S. is

3276-500: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have national jurisdiction and specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights , national security and enforcing U.S. federal courts ' rulings and federal laws. State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials, and federal courts handle designated crimes and appeals of state court decisions . There is no unified "criminal justice system" in

3393-720: The Great Lakes , Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico . British colonization of the East Coast began with the Virginia Colony (1607) and Plymouth Colony (1620). The Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for representative self-governance and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies. While European settlers in what

3510-719: The Great Lakes region and along the Eastern Seaboard , while the Hohokam culture and Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the southwest . Native population estimates of what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from around 500,000 to nearly 10 million. Christopher Columbus began exploring the Caribbean for Spain in 1492, leading to Spanish-speaking settlements and missions from Puerto Rico and Florida to New Mexico and California . France established its own settlements along

3627-596: The Midwest . At the same time, about one million French Canadians migrated from Quebec to New England . During the Great Migration , millions of African Americans left the rural South for urban areas in the North. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction and white supremacists took local control of Southern politics . African Americans endured

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3744-688: The National Park Service and other agencies. About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally managed, primarily in the Western States . Most of this land is protected , though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for military purposes. Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable resources and nuclear energy , air and water pollution , biodiversity , logging and deforestation , and climate change . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

3861-596: The New Deal , a series of sweeping programs and public works projects combined with financial reforms and regulations . All were intended to protect against future economic depressions. Initially neutral during World War II , the U.S. began supplying war materiel to the Allies of World War II in March 1941 and entered the war in December after the Empire of Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor . The U.S. developed

3978-654: The New World , Pilgrims from England first settled in New England in 1620 at Plymouth Colony in and around present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts . In the late 18th century, the New England colonies were among the first North American British colonies to support an escalation in the American Revolution against Britain , launching the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, and later firing

4095-778: The Organization of American States and the United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement . In South America, Colombia is traditionally considered to be the closest ally of the United States. The U.S. exercises full international defense authority and responsibility for Micronesia , the Marshall Islands , and Palau through the Compact of Free Association . It has increasingly conducted strategic cooperation with India , but its ties with China have steadily deteriorated. Since 2014,

4212-648: The Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's law , rechargeable lithium-ion batteries , the first gene therapy trial, and cloning either emerged in the U.S. or were improved upon there. The Human Genome Project was formally launched in 1990, while Nasdaq became the first stock market in the United States to trade online in 1998. In the Gulf War of 1991, an American-led international coalition of states expelled an Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring Kuwait . The September 11 attacks on

4329-591: The Spanish–American War . (The Philippines was granted full independence from the U.S. on July 4, 1946, following World War II. Puerto Rico and Guam have remained U.S. territories.) American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the Second Samoan Civil War . The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917. The United States entered World War I alongside

4446-704: The U.S. Census Bureau , the Northeastern United States coomprises nine states, including (north to south): Maine , New Hampshire , Vermont , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Connecticut , New Jersey , New York , and Pennsylvania . The present-day Northeast is significantly smaller than the Northeastern Woodlands cultural area. The pre-Columbian Northeast had three major areas: the Coastal area, Saint Lawrence Lowlands, and Great Lakes-Riverine zones. The Coastal area includes

4563-576: The United States located to the east of the Mississippi River . It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C. , the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern United States had an estimated population exceeding 179 million, representing the majority (over 58 percent) of the total U.S. population. The three most populous cities in the Eastern United States are New York City , Chicago , and Philadelphia . According to

4680-619: The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The East North Central area, which includes Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Ohio , and Wisconsin , can also be classified as a subregion of the Northeastern United States, as these states are in the Great Lakes-Riverine area. As one of two subregional divisions used to categorize the modern Midwest , the East North Central region closely matches

4797-700: The cotton gin made the institution increasingly profitable for Southern elites . This sectional conflict regarding slavery culminated in the American Civil War (1861–1865). Eleven slave states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America , while the other states remained in the Union . War broke out in April 1861 after the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter . After

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4914-416: The end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. emerged as the world's sole superpower , wielding significant geopolitical influence globally . The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional federal republic and liberal democracy with three separate branches : legislative , executive , and judicial . It has a bicameral national legislature composed of the House of Representatives ,

5031-413: The fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union , which marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's sole superpower . The 1990s saw the longest recorded economic expansion in American history , a dramatic decline in U.S. crime rates , and advances in technology . Throughout this decade, technological innovations such as the World Wide Web , the evolution of

5148-400: The global economy in 2023. It possesses by far the largest amount of wealth of any country and has the highest disposable household income per capita among OECD countries. The U.S. ranks among the world's highest in economic competitiveness , productivity , innovation , human rights , and higher education . Its hard power and cultural influence have a global reach. The U.S. is

5265-406: The 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord , igniting the American Revolutionary War . At the Second Continental Congress , the colonies appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army , and created a committee that named Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence . Two days after passing the Lee Resolution to create an independent nation the Declaration

5382-466: The 2010s, political polarization in the country increased between liberal and conservative factions. This polarization was capitalized upon in the January 2021 Capitol attack , when a mob of insurrectionists entered the U.S. Capitol and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup d'état . The United States is the world's third-largest country by total area behind Russia and Canada. The 48 contiguous states and

5499-426: The American West have an alpine climate . The climate is arid in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California , and oceanic in coastal Oregon , Washington , and southern Alaska . Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar . Hawaii , the southern tip of Florida and U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific are tropical . States bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of

5616-420: The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The term "United States" and the initialism "U.S.", used as nouns or as adjectives in English, are common short names for the country. The initialism "USA", a noun, is also common. "United States" and "U.S." are the established terms throughout the U.S. federal government , with prescribed rules. In English, the term "America" rarely refers to topics unrelated to

5733-404: The District of Columbia occupy a combined area of 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,470 km ). The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling hills in the Piedmont plateau region. The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack massif separate the East Coast from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest . The Mississippi River System ,

5850-458: The Elder concluded that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a " world war ". The British colonies' position as an integral part of the British Empire became more apparent during the war, with British military and civilian officials becoming a more significant presence in American life. The war increased

5967-465: The January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation , many freed slaves joined the Union army . The war began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg , and the Confederacy surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the Battle of Appomattox Court House . The Reconstruction era followed the war. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln , Reconstruction Amendments were passed to protect

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6084-434: The Middle Atlantic is a subregion of the northeastern U.S. that includes three states: New Jersey , New York , and Pennsylvania . The Middle Atlantic region includes New York City , the largest city in the U.S. and a global center of finance and culture, and Philadelphia , the nation's sixth-largest city and first capital, where the Declaration of Independence was signed at Independence Hall in 1776, formally launching

6201-412: The Paterson gathering. This split between the direct actionist "Chicago IWW" and the political actionist "Detroit IWW" was replicated in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. The number of locals affiliated with the "Detroit IWW" is a matter of some dispute. Of about 200 IWW locals in 1907, St. John's "Chicago IWW" claimed 17 groups defected to the Detroit organization; for its part Detroit claimed

6318-476: The Rocky Mountains, the Yellowstone Caldera , is the continent's largest volcanic feature. In 2021, the United States had 8% of global permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland. With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. East of the 100th meridian , the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The western Great Plains are semi-arid . Many mountainous areas of

6435-419: The SLP, and struggled after DeLeon's death in 1914. While the SLP's newspaper, The People, would serve as the official organ of the so-called "Detroit IWW" until January 1912, when a new monthly magazine called Industrial Union News would be launched. Unlike the IWW, which from 1908 onwards constitutionally restricted itself from political alliances, the WIIU advocated political associations, and maintained

6552-455: The South Atlantic region is home to three of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina , which is ranked the tenth-best in the nation. The East South Central region constitutes one of the nine U.S. Census Bureau divisions . Four states make up

6669-451: The U.S. has become a key ally of Ukraine ; it has also provided the country with significant military equipment and other support in response to Russia's 2022 invasion . The president is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The Department of Defense , which is headquartered at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., administers five of

6786-661: The U.S. territories." Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions dominate: federal prisons , state prisons , local jails, and juvenile correctional facilities . Federal prisons are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and hold people who have been convicted of federal crimes, including pretrial detainees. State prisons, run by the official department of correction of each state, hold sentenced people serving prison time (usually longer than one year) for felony offenses. Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under

6903-416: The United States and the peaceful transfer of power , respectively. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. Lingering issues with Britain remained , leading to the War of 1812 , which was fought to a draw. Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819. In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand westward , many with

7020-541: The United States entered the Cold War, where geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union led the two countries to dominate world affairs . The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit the USSR's sphere of influence, and prevailed in the Space Race , which culminated with the first crewed Moon landing in 1969. Domestically, the U.S. experienced economic growth , urbanization , and population growth following World War II . The civil rights movement emerged, with Martin Luther King Jr. becoming

7137-495: The United States has operated as a de facto two-party system , though the parties in that system have been different at different times. The two main national parties are presently the Democratic and the Republican . The former is perceived as relatively liberal in its political platform while the latter is perceived as relatively conservative . In the American federal system , sovereign powers are shared between two levels of elected government: national and state. People in

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7254-402: The United States in 2001 by the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda led to the war on terror , and subsequent military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq . The cultural impact of the attacks was profound and long-lasting. The U.S. housing bubble culminated in 2007 with the Great Recession , the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression. Coming to a head in

7371-436: The United States is one of the nine Census Bureau Divisions of the country. This region corresponds to the Southern states/areas that were geographically part of the Thirteen Colonies , with the addition of Florida . It includes eight states and one federal district: Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Maryland , North Carolina , South Carolina , Virginia , West Virginia and the District of Columbia . The South Atlantic

7488-415: The United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort. The first known public usage is an anonymous essay published in the Williamsburg newspaper, The Virginia Gazette , on April 6, 1776. By June 1776, the "United States of America" appeared in the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence . The Second Continental Congress adopted

7605-425: The United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution . As of 2023, New England is home to two of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (tied for third), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts (tied for third). According to the United States Census Bureau ,

7722-434: The United States, despite the usage of "the Americas " as the totality of North and South America. "The States" is an established colloquial shortening of the name, used particularly from abroad; "stateside" is the corresponding adjective or adverb. The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia across the Bering land bridge about 12,000 years ago; the Clovis culture , which appeared around 11,000 BC,

7839-478: The United States, except Iran , North Korea , and Bhutan . Though Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations. The United States regularly supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese aggression. Its geopolitical attention also turned to the Indo-Pacific when the United States joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan. The United States has

7956-509: The United States. The American prison system is largely heterogenous, with thousands of relatively independent systems operating across federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In 2023, "these systems [held] almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons , civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in

8073-409: The World, claimed a total membership of 70,000. By the 1920s the WIIU was practically – and kindly – overlooked; where it was noticed it was criticized sharply, a ghost from a much more hazy past. The organization was finally disbanded in 1925. United States The United States of America ( USA ), commonly known as the United States ( U.S. ) or America ,

8190-404: The allegiance of 22 local groups at the time of its formation in November 1908. These groups were clustered in the Eastern United States , according to pioneer IWW historian Paul Frederick Brissenden . Other local IWW groups vanished amidst the organizational chaos, with the "Chicago IWW" claiming about 100 locals in 1909 and the "Detroit IWW," just 23. The WIIU shared much of its membership with

8307-526: The anti-political orientation was also installed, over charges of the SLP faction that the victory of the St. John group was illegitimate. The dissident supporters of the SLP and political action immediately launched a new rival organization at a conference convened at Paterson, New Jersey on November 5, 1908. Some 18 delegates were in attendance at this rival conference, including representatives from local organizations in Philadelphia , Boston , Brooklyn , and Bridgeport, Connecticut . This gathering declared

8424-620: The area of the Northwest Territory , excluding a portion of Minnesota . The East North Central states form a large part of the Great Lakes region, although the latter also includes Minnesota, New York , Pennsylvania and the Canadian province of Ontario . Culturally, the East North Central region of the U.S. has been historically influenced by the British and the French; Anglo-American culture permeated states covering

8541-465: The base of operations of the SLP. Headquarters were relocated within a few months, however, with the booming industrial city of Detroit, Michigan chosen as the new national center for the political actionists styling themselves as the IWW. C.H. Chase of New York City was elected as the first General Secretary-Treasurer of the so-called "Detroit IWW," and a governing 5-member Executive Board similarly chosen by

8658-460: The charge that the ultra- proletarian St. John–Trautmann faction with trying to transform the IWW into a "purely physical force body," dismissing political action altogether. The fight took the form of an attempt by the anti-parliamentary St. John–Trautmann faction to remove reference to the word "political" from the Preamble of the IWW, a seminal manifesto of the organization. This was met with

8775-457: The contiguous United States are in the State of California, about 84 miles (135 km) apart. At an elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m), Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands , and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in

8892-471: The core of Old Dixie , one of the nine moral regions identified by James Patterson and Peter Kim in their acclaimed 1991 geopolitical best-seller, The Day America Told The Truth . Politically and culturally, the East South Central is more conservative than the South Atlantic; Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee's governments have been described during 2012 to 2023 as some of

9009-556: The country's GDP. The U.S. has 42% of the world's nuclear weapons —the second-largest share after Russia. The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces . The military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad, and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries. State defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under

9126-469: The country's territory would expand with the admission of new states , rather than the expansion of existing states. The U.S. Constitution was drafted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to overcome the limitations of the Articles. It went into effect in 1789, creating a federal republic governed by three separate branches that together ensured a system of checks and balances . George Washington

9243-713: The development of self-governance, and the First Great Awakening , a series of Christian revivals , fueled colonial interest in religious liberty . For a century, the American colonists had been providing their own troops and materiel in conflicts with indigenous peoples allied with Britain's colonial rivals , especially France, and the Americans had begun to develop a sense of self-defense and self-reliance separate from Britain. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) took on new significance for all North American colonists after Parliament under William Pitt

9360-414: The dispossession of native inhabitants . As more states were admitted , a North–South division over slavery led to the secession of the Confederate States of America , which fought states remaining in the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War . With the victory and preservation of the United States, slavery was abolished nationally . By 1900, the country had established itself as a great power ,

9477-534: The division: Kentucky , Tennessee , Mississippi and Alabama . Historically, the area has been colonized and influenced by the French , Spanish , British , early US, and Confederate governments. Distinct among these states, Alabama's French culture has been preserved through the Alabama Creoles , and Kentucky's French culture can be observed throughout Louisville. The East South Central states form

9594-580: The environment for labor unions to begin to flourish . This period eventually ended with the advent of the Progressive Era , which was characterized by significant reforms. Pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy ; the islands were annexed in 1898. That same year, Puerto Rico , the Philippines , and Guam were ceded to the U.S. by Spain after the latter's defeat in

9711-533: The epithet by the politically oriented SLP supporters that the St. John–Trautmann group were little more than "veiled dynamiters." Following protracted debate the anti-political faction won the day at the 4th Convention, electing Vincent St. John the General Secretary-Treasurer of the IWW and William E. Trautmann the organization's General Organizer. A 5-member General Executive Board supportive of

9828-474: The federal government often applied policies of Indian removal or assimilation . The Trail of Tears (1830–1850) was a U.S. government policy that forcibly removed and displaced most Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River to lands far to the west. These and earlier organized displacements prompted a long series of American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi. The Republic of Texas

9945-606: The first nuclear weapons and used them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war. The United States was one of the " Four Policemen " who met to plan the post-war world , alongside the United Kingdom , Soviet Union , and China . The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war, with even greater economic power and international political influence . After World War II,

10062-675: The first settlement of the Thirteen Colonies in Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and political representation sparked the American Revolution , with the Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War , the country continued to expand westward across North America , resulting in

10179-462: The first shots of the American Revolutionary War in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. New England produced the first examples of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free and compulsory public education. In the 19th century, the region played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States . It was the first region of

10296-806: The following aspects: These aspects, among other things, led to "the South" developing distinctive customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines that have profoundly shaped traditional American culture. The shift from a mainly rural society to more cities and urbanized metropolitan areas picked up speed following World War II in the 1940s. Since the late 20th century, certain Southeastern states and areas have seen great economic growth. This growth has led to many migrants moving to Southeastern states. In 2020, Fortune 500 companies headquartered in southeastern states included: Virginia with 22, Georgia with 18, Florida with 18, North Carolina with 13, and Tennessee with 10. The South Atlantic region of

10413-463: The integration of Army National Guard units and personnel into the U.S. Army and (since 1947) the U.S. Air Force. There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to national level in the United States. Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and sheriff departments in their municipal or county jurisdictions. The state police departments have authority in their respective state , and federal agencies such as

10530-497: The largest metropolitan statistical area, followed by Detroit , and Minneapolis–Saint Paul . Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is the oldest city in the region, founded by French missionaries and explorers in 1668. As of 2023, the East North Central States are home to one of the top ten universities in the nation, according to 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report rankings: the University of Chicago , which

10647-544: The means of production and begin operating them in the interests of society. The WIIU was criticized for focusing more on propaganda than on organizing workers. The WIIU was invited to attend the first conference of the Comintern in 1919, but did not affiliate. The WIIU never did conduct a strike of any importance. In 1916, the WIIU claimed a membership of 2,500, while its rival, the Industrial Workers of

10764-482: The military draft (leading to the end of conscription in 1973) and wide opposition to U.S. intervention in Vietnam (with the U.S. totally withdrawing in 1975). A societal shift in the roles of women was significantly responsible for the large increase in female paid labor participation during the 1970s, and by 1985 the majority of American women aged 16 and older were employed. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw

10881-612: The most attractive to the population are the most vulnerable. The U.S. is one of 17 megadiverse countries containing large numbers of endemic species : about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland. The United States is home to 428 mammal species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295 amphibians , and around 91,000 insect species. There are 63 national parks , and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas , managed by

10998-487: The most conservative. Religiously, conservative Evangelical Protestantism dominates the East South Central region as a central part of the Bible Belt . As of 2020, the East South Central states had a combined population of 19,430,030. The East South Central region covers 183,401 square miles of land. Within the region, Tennessee is the largest state by population, though Alabama is the largest by land area; Tennessee

11115-662: The most violent, the California genocide of thousands of Native inhabitants, lasted into the early 1870s, just as additional western territories and states were created. During the colonial period, slavery had been legal in the American colonies , though the practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution. States in the North enacted abolition laws , though support for slavery strengthened in Southern states , as inventions such as

11232-503: The organization. DeLeon was granted the floor at the convention to state his case and the resulting dispute was bitter and long-winded. For four days the convention did little more than debate the merits of the Socialist Labor Party and question of whether its intellectual leader, DeLeon, was attempting to take over and control the IWW, subverting the union's interests to those of the SLP. DeLeon's supporters responded with

11349-552: The orientation of the union, which was based upon direct action and tilted towards largely unskilled labor in the Western United States . Although he had been denied his seat on the technicality of belonging to an incorrect union, supporters of the Socialist Labor Party charged that the failure to seat DeLeon was a crass political maneuver by St. John and his factional ally, William Trautmann , in order to stifle dissent over policy and consolidate their own control of

11466-408: The policy of redlining later adopted by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation . An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor led to rapid economic expansion during the late 19th and early 20th centuries , allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England, France, and Germany combined. This fostered the amassing of power by

11583-574: The primary colonial grievances was a denial of their rights as Englishmen , particularly the right to representation in the British government that taxed them . To demonstrate their dissatisfaction and resolve, the First Continental Congress met in 1774 and passed the Continental Association , a colonial boycott of British goods that proved effective. The British attempt to then disarm the colonists resulted in

11700-465: The region following the westward expansion of the United States . Religiously, the East North Central states have been and remain predominantly affiliated with Christianity . Altogether, the five states are majority Catholic , non- and inter-denominational , Methodist , Lutheran , and Baptist . The largest non-Christian religion has been Islam . Chicago is the largest city in the region, followed by Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis . Chicago has

11817-529: The regular 4th Convention of the IWW to be an illegal gathering and expelled the so-called "anarchist usurpers" from the IWW organization – of which they claimed exclusive control. The Paterson conference took steps to reduce per capita dues levied by the national office to just 5 cents per member per month, with a view to keeping more dues money for work at the local level. National Headquarters were temporarily located in New York City, long

11934-570: The rights of African Americans . National infrastructure, including transcontinental telegraph and railroads , spurred growth in the American frontier . From 1865 through 1917 an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United States, including 24.4 million from Europe. Most came through the port of New York City , and New York City and other large cities on the East Coast became home to large Jewish , Irish , and Italian populations, while many Germans and Central Europeans moved to

12051-614: The rocky Great Basin and Chihuahua , Sonoran , and Mojave deserts. In the northwest corner of Arizona , carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is the Grand Canyon , a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast . The lowest and highest points in

12168-573: The six service branches, which are made up of the U.S. Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force . The Coast Guard is administered by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and can be transferred to the Department of the Navy in wartime. The United States spent $ 916 billion on its military in 2023, which is by far the largest amount of any country , making up 37% of global military spending and accounting for 3.4% of

12285-475: The small size of the gathering, factional disagreement was already deep within the organization and two delegates were denied their seats at the convention – including one Daniel DeLeon of New York City . DeLeon, powerful editor of the newspaper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), The People, had already emerged as a sharp critic of IWW leader Vincent St. John and

12402-545: The sole authority of a state government. SDFs are authorized by state and federal law but are under the command of the state's governor . They are distinct from the state's National Guard units in that they cannot become federalized entities. A state's National Guard personnel, however, may be federalized under the National Defense Act Amendments of 1933 , which created the Guard and provides for

12519-543: The states are also represented by local elected governments , which are administrative divisions of the states. States are subdivided into counties or county equivalents , and further divided into municipalities . The District of Columbia is a federal district containing the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. . The federal district is an administrative division of the federal government. Federally recognized tribes govern 326 Indian reservations . The United States has an established structure of foreign relations, and it has

12636-510: The structure and responsibilities of the national federal government and its relationship with the individual states. The U.S. Constitution is the world's oldest national constitution still in effect (from March 4, 1789). Composed of three branches, all headquartered in Washington, D.C., the federal government is the national government of the United States. It is regulated by a strong system of checks and balances . The three-branch system

12753-582: The world's fourth-longest river system , runs predominantly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat and fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains , west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado . Farther west are

12870-583: The world's second-largest diplomatic corps as of 2024 . It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council , and home to the United Nations headquarters . The United States is a member of the G7 , G20 , and OECD intergovernmental organizations. Almost all countries have embassies and many have consulates (official representatives) in the country. Likewise, nearly all countries host formal diplomatic missions with

12987-513: The world's third-largest land area , largest exclusive economic zone , and third-largest population , exceeding 334 million. Its three largest metropolitan areas are New York , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and its three most populous states are California , Texas , and Florida . Paleo-Indians migrated across the Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations and societies . British colonization led to

13104-444: The world's oldest surviving federation, and its presidential system of national government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent states worldwide following their decolonization . It is a liberal representative democracy "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law ". The Constitution of the United States serves as the country's supreme legal document , also establishing

13221-553: The world's tornadoes occur in the country , mainly in Tornado Alley . Overall, the United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country. Extreme weather became more frequent in the U.S. in the 21st century, with three times the number of reported heat waves as in the 1960s. In the American Southwest , droughts became more persistent and more severe. The regions considered as

13338-557: The world, with almost 2 million people incarcerated . An analysis of the World Health Organization Mortality Database from 2010 showed U.S. homicide rates "were 7 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25 times higher". Eastern United States The Eastern United States , often abbreviated as simply the East , is a macroregion of

13455-575: Was annexed in 1845, and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest . Victory in the Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession of California, Nevada, Utah, and much of present-day Colorado and the American Southwest . The California gold rush of 1848–1849 spurred a huge migration of white settlers to the Pacific coast, leading to even more confrontations with Native populations. One of

13572-759: Was adopted on July 4, 1776. The political values of the American Revolution included liberty , inalienable individual rights ; and the sovereignty of the people ; supporting republicanism and rejecting monarchy , aristocracy , and all hereditary political power; civic virtue ; and vilification of political corruption . The Founding Fathers of the United States , who included Washington, Jefferson, John Adams , Benjamin Franklin , Alexander Hamilton , John Jay , James Madison , Thomas Paine , and many others, were inspired by Greco-Roman , Renaissance , and Enlightenment philosophies and ideas. The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and established

13689-583: Was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government. His resignation as commander-in-chief after the Revolutionary War and his later refusal to run for a third term as the country's first president established a precedent for the supremacy of civil authority in

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