INTRODUCTION
The United States of America, also known as the United States,
the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States, and America, is
a country in North America. A federal republic, the United States
shares land borders with Canada and Mexico, and extends from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Its capital is Washington,
D.C.
The present-day continental United States has been inhabited for
at least 15,000 years by Native Americans. After 16th-century
European exploration and settlement, the English established new
colonies, and gained control of others, in the eastern portion of
the continent in the 17th and early 18th centuries. On 4 July
1776, at war with Britain over fair governance, thirteen of these
colonies declared their independence; in 1783, the war ended in
British acceptance of the new nation. Since then, the country has
more than quadrupled in size: it now consists of 50 states, one
federal district, and a number of overseas territories.
The conterminous, or contiguous, forty-eight states - all the
states but Alaska and Hawaii - are also called the continental
United States. Some include Alaska in the "continental" states,
because, although it is separated from the "lower forty-eight" by
Canada, it is part of the North American mainland. All of these
terms commonly include the District of Columbia. Hawaii, the
fiftieth state, is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
The United States also holds several other territories,
districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the
District of Columbia - which contains the nation's capital city,
Washington - and several overseas insular areas, the most
significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern
Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin
Islands. Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated
territory; but it is unorganized and uninhabited. In addition,
since 1898, the United States Navy has leased an extensive naval
base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
At over 3.8 million square miles (over 9.8 million
km2), the U.S. is the third or fourth largest country
by area, depending on the reckoning of the disputed areas of
China. It is also the world's third most populous nation, with
more than 310 million people.
The United States has maintained a liberal democratic political
system since it adopted its Articles of Confederation on March 1,
1781. American military and economic influence increased
throughout the 20th century; with the collapse of the Soviet
Union at the end of the Cold War, the nation emerged as the
world's sole remaining superpower.
THE NATIONAL FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES
The flag of the United States, popularly called the American
flag, is the official national flag of the United States. It
consists of 13 horizontal stripes - 7 red alternating with 6
white - and, in the upper corner near the staff, a rectangular
blue field containing 50 five-pointed white stars. The stripes
symbolize the 13 colonies that originally constituted the United
States. The stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The
American flag is frequently called the Star-Spangled Banner; the
Stars and Stripes; the Red, White, and Blue; and Old Glory.
Many
early flags of the American colonies were adaptations of the
British Union Jack. By 1776 the Continental Congress had adopted
a flag that signified both colonial unity against oppression and
continued union with Great Britain. The first idea was
represented in the flag by 13 horizontal stripes - 7 red
alternating with 6 white. The second idea was symbolized by
including at the top of the flag the crosses of the British Union
Jack. In 1777 Congress announced that the new nation's flag would
consist of 13 stripes, alternating red and white, with 13 white
stars on a blue field. When this flag was first flown has not
been determined. Historical research has failed to establish a
factual foundation for the traditional story that flagmaker Betsy
Ross made the first American flag. Although Congress had made no
rule for the arrangement of the stars, the usual arrangement was
a circle. As new states joined the Union, they demanded
representation in the stars and stripes of the flag. Legislation
enacted in 1818 called for the addition of one star to the flag
for every state admitted to the Union. The last star was added in
1960, after Hawaii became the 50th state. An executive order
issued by President William Howard Taft in 1912 fixed the
proportions of the flag. A joint resolution adopted by the
Congress of the United States in 1942 established a uniform code
for displaying the national flag. The flag is usually displayed
from sunrise to sunset. It is displayed daily, weather
permitting, and especially on certain holidays, on or near the
main administration buildings of all public institutions. It is
also displayed in or near every polling place on election days
and in or near every schoolhouse during school days. The flag is
supposed to be raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously. No other
flag or pennant is to be placed above it.
THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES
The Great Seal of the United States is the official seal of the
United States government. On July 4, 1776, the same day that independence from Great
Britain was declared by the thirteen states, the Continental Congress named
the first committee to design a Great Seal, or national emblem, for
the country. Similar to other nations, The United States of America
needed an official symbol of sovereignty to formalize and seal (or sign)
international treaties and transactions. It took six years, three committees,
and the contributions of fourteen men before the Congress finally accepted a
design (which included elements proposed by each of the three committees)
in 1782. Its design was adopted by the Congress of the
Confederation in 1782. The seal now appears on a variety of
documents, including presidential proclamations. It is two-sided,
with an obverse and a reverse.
The design on the obverse of the great seal is the national coat
of arms of the United States. It is officially used on documents such as
United States passports, military insignia, embassy placards, and
various flags. On the obverse
of the seal is an American eagle with wings spread. On its breast
the eagle bears a shield with 13 vertical red and white stripes
surmounted by a horizontal stripe of blue. In its beak is a
scroll inscribed with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (Latin: OUT OF MANY, ONE).
A cluster of 13 five-pointed stars (mullets) appears above the
eagle. From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of 13 arrows
in its left talon, (referring to the 13 original states), and an
olive branch in its right talon, together symbolizing that the
United States of America
has a strong desire for peace, but will always be ready for war.
The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, said
to symbolize a preference for peace.
A pyramid is the central figure of the reverse side. The pyramid is
conventionally shown as consisting of 13 layers of blocks to
refer to the 13 original states. The
base of the pyramid is inscribed with the date 1776 in Roman
numerals. At the zenith of the pyramid appears the all-seeing eye
of Divine Providence. The mottos ANNUIT COEPTIS (Latin: HE HAS APPROVED OF
OUR UNDERTAKINGS) and NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM (Latin: NEW ORDER OF THE AGES)
are inscribed on this side.
THE MOTTO OF THE UNITED STATES
IN GOD WE TRUST is the national motto of the United States of
America and the state motto of Florida. It was so designated by an
act of Congress in 1956 and officially supersedes E PLURIBUS UNUM
(Latin: OUT OF MANY, ONE) according to United States Code, Title
36, Section 302. President Eisenhower signed the resolution into
law on 30 July 1956. The final stanza of THE STAR-SPANGLED
BANNER, written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key (and later adopted
as the U.S. National Anthem), contains one of the earliest
references to a variation of the phrase: "...AND THIS BE OUR
MOTTO: IN GOD IS OUR TRUST."
The most common place where the
motto is observed in daily life is on the money of the United
States. The first United States coin to bear this national motto
was the 1864 two-cent piece. It first appeared on U.S. currency
on the back of Florida National Bank Notes in 1863. It wasn't
until 1957 that the motto was permanently adopted for use on
United States currency. IN GOD WE TRUST is also the official
state motto of the state of Florida, and is found on the Seal of
Florida.
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE UNITED STATES
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER is the national anthem of the United
States of America, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott
Key. Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, wrote them as a
poem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in
Baltimore, Maryland, by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during
the War of 1812. Set to the tune of TO ANACREON IN HEAVEN, a
popular British drinking-song, it became well-known as an
American patriotic song. It was recognized for official use by
the United States Navy (1889) and the White House (1916), and was
made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on 3 March
1931. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is
commonly sung today.
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous
fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!