Counterculture/The United States of America

The United States of America is a country in mideast North America consisting of 17 states. Its capital is Philadelphia and its population numbers 74,221,918 as of last census in 2004.

2 major political parties:

• American Party: socially restrictive, fiscally permissive

• Democratic Party: socially moderate, fiscally moderate

17 states after Confederate Revolutionary War: Conneticut, Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, & Wisconson.

Parts of northern Kentucky are absorbed into Indiana & Ohio at the end of the Secession War.

2 more states join the USA during the Northwest Revolutionary War which leads to the FAR: Illinois & North Missouri.

• This lets all four countries have a border with Kansas after the formation of FAR (assuming South Missouri goes to the CSA.)

USA is puritanical: most freedoms but with censorship, especially regarding sex. No successful socially liberal political party.

Constant problem with uneducated blacks as illegal immigrants from the CSA.

The United States of America, also referred to as the United States, U.S.A., U.S., America,¹ or the States, is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in the north and Mexico in the south, a marine border with Russia in the northwest, and has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions around the world. The country has fifty states, which have a high level of local autonomy according to the system of federalism. A United States citizen is usually identified as an American.¹

The United States traces its national origin to the declaration by thirteen British colonies in 1776 that they were free and independent states. Since the mid-20th century, it has surpassed all other nations in contemporary economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

The U.S. was founded under a tradition of government with the consent of the governed under the representative democracy model. This model of government (presidential-congressional) has since been adopted by many other countries, mostly in Central America and South America.

History

Main article: History of the United States

Following the European colonization of the Americas, thirteen colonies split from Britain and formed the United States, one of the world's first modern representative democracies, after their Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government.

During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original thirteen as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions, and the nation became an industrial power.