10. USA

10. THE USA

• Situated in North Amerika between Canada and Mexico

  • Caribbean and Pacific ocean

Political system

• Federation consisting of 50 states

• Federal Government – has control over national matters – defence, foreign affairs, finances

  • The executive – The President – Joe Biden, Executive office – president’s personal staff

    • The president is elected for 4-year term, only twice

    • Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

    • Appoints members of the government

    • Can veto legislation

  • Two political parties – democratic party and republican party

  • Legislative – Congress – 535 congressmen

    • Two houses – The Senate – upper house – 100 – two members of each state

The House of Representatives – lower house – elected according to the population of each state

• Judiciary – Supreme Court and all the Federal courts

  • Make sure that all new laws are in accordance with the constitution

• State government – responsible for law and education

  • Each state has its own state government, laws, courts, police, etc

Geography

• Fourth largest country in the world

• Crossing 4 standard time zones

• The west is mountainous – Sierra Nevada, Cascade

• The east is lowlands

• The largest rivers are the Mississippi and Missouri

• The highest point is Mount McKinley

Population

• 320 million people

• Less than 1% of the people are true natives to the land

Languages

• Official language is English

  • Many different languages are spoken throughout the states

States

• Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Brief history

Columbus – Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492

Colonization – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer, made many voyages to South America

• By the end of the 17th century, the Spanish, French, Dutch and English had claimed land

Pilgrim Fathers – 1620 on ship Mayflower, puritans, and member of religious sect

• With Indians help they planted corn and other plants and in autumn they celebrated good harvest whit much food

• Thanksgiving

The Declaration of Independence – it started with Boston Tea Party, 1775

• George Washington took over the command of American army

• War lasted till 1783 – British signed the peace, and the U. S. won their independence

• Celebrated on 4th July

Modern history – today is the strongest world power

Cities

• Chicago – 3rd largest city in the USA

  • Industrial city

  • The busiest airport in the world – O’Hare

• Detroit – car industry

• New Orleans – famous for jazz music

• New York – cosmopolitan city

  • “Big apple” or “City which never sleeps”