Difference between revisions of "American Gotham"

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The Republic of American Gotham (often shortened to American Gotham and sometimes referred to as "The Great Republic") is a country that exists in the Western Hemisphere. It is made up of 7 Sovereign States, with its capital being located in New York City, New York State. American Gotham is a constitutional republic with strong Libertarian leanings. The country is a economic juggernaut, with the largest GDP in the world. It is home to over 320 million people, and the population is rapidly growing due to open immigration laws. It has the largest and most technologically advanced military in the world, yet remains mostly isolationist; it rarely gets into foreign entanglements. After the collapse of the United Nations, American Gotham and the Prussian Socialist Union were the only two major countries to decline readmission to the New U.N. The original 5 states of American Gotham declared their independence and formed a new nation after the Great Secession of the United States of America in 2083. The California Republic and the Coloradan Alliance joined the Republic in 2094.

History

The nation was founded by a total of 27 states declaring their independence from the United States of America on November 26th 2083. This event was known as the Great Secession. Shortly after, the 27 nations who chose to secede formed 5 Sovereign States and formed the Republic. Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massuchussets all joined together to form New England. New York remained its own Sovereign State, while New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland (along with the District of Columbia) joined together to form Washington. The Virginias, the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, George, Alabama, and Florida grouped together to form the Southern Republic, and Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas formed the Bourbon States. The states of Nevada and California remained a part of the United States until 2090, and declared their Secession and subsequently joined the Republic in 2094. The Coloradan Alliance consisted of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, and all joined American Gotham in 2094 as well. Arizona was the first state to secede from the U.S. and quickly rallied its surrounding states. After the merging of the Coloradan Alliance, the United States declared war on American Gotham in attempt to reacquire its lost territories. The New Canadian Republic intervened, and instead of a war erupting between American Gotham and the United States, war ensued between Canada and the U.S. The United States took over much of the New Canadian Republic, and expanded its borders further north. American Gotham's relation to the United States continues to be somewhat hostile, but they remain frequent trade partners, and the United States relies upon American Gotham to maintain its economy. In 2098, Bermuda was annexed as a part of American Gotham and joined the Southern Republic.

The Great Secession

After the turn of the 21st Century, the United States slowly began to change its shape as a powerful Capitalist nation, to a large, powerful, Socialist State. In 2018, the Green Party took control of both houses of Congress from the Libertarians. In 2020, the Green's took the Presidency, and the United State began to shift towards a Socialist State. In 2024, Welfare and Social Security were brought back into existence after being removed by the Libertarians in 2016. In the same year, taxes were greatly increased on the wealthy, and large corporations (Microsoft-Apple, Wal-Mart-Time Warner) were broken up. Unemployment rose 10% in 2026, and it was predicted that the Green's would lose Congress, and control would be shifted back to the Libertarians. But Senator Marcus Carter Jr. introduced the Necessary Fulfillment Bill of 2026, which effectively did away with term limits, and the Green's were able to remain in power. This was contested in the Supreme Court, which ruled that the bill was in no way unconstitutional. In 2028, all firearms were restricted. This led to a huge rise in crime, and the National Police Force was introduced. In 2031, Germany surpassed the United States with its GDP, and the U.S. quickly fell as an economic power. In 2042, the United States was attacked by Russia, which took Alaska and Hawaii. The U.S. invaded Russia in 2035, but reached a wall just past the North Korean border. The U.S. managed to take back Alaska and signed the treaty of Juneau, which allowed America to keep Alaska until 2059, when it would be legal to drill for oil again. Russia kept Hawaii, and took back Alaska in 2059. With no oil or natural resources of its own, the U.S. relied heavily upon foreign aid to keep itself afloat economically. In 2072, the Green Party's term limits were up, and the Federalists took the Senate, while the Libertarians controlled the House of Reps. In 2074, Congress impeached Green Party President Madison Kennedy, and subsequently removed her. Vice-President Jakob Hathaway took over, but was given very little power. The removal of President Kennedy caused an uproar in the largely Green northwestern states, which resulted in rioting all across the northwest. Almost major city west of Chicago was run over by mobs. The National Police force was called in, but Congress denied them power over the situation and instead relied upon the local police. Kennedy, with the backing of the National Police, attempted to take power back from Congress. President Jakob Hathaway joined Kennedy in her Coup de'tat. Just before being overthrown, Congress passed the "Natural Secession" bill, which allowed any state to secede. In 2075, Arizona became the first state to secede and was quickly joined by Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Civil war alomst broke out between 2076 and 2083, just before President Kennedy and the newly appointed Green/Federalist Congress granted 32 states the right to secede. 27 states seceded from the U.S. (which was a great surprise to Kennedy). The 27 states formed 5 Sovereign States and became American Gotham. The Coloradan Alliance joined American Gotham, which almost caused a war with the U.S. Canada tried to intervene to protect the newly formed nation, but the U.S. defeated Canada and occupied its territories. The U.S. moved its capital to Toronto, and continues to be hostile to American Gotham.

Geography

American Gotham enjoys two coasts, and is home to the world's most frequently visited and most luxurious beach resorts. The border along Mexico in the south was restored after American Gotham took control of Texas. The result was the The Great Mexican Migration of 2112, which gave a huge boost to American Gotham's economy. To the North it borders the United States, and shares the use of Lake Erie with the U.S. as well. The United States attempted to build a wall in the middle of the Lake, but 2 weeks from completion, the wall collapsed and the project was abandoned.

Terrain

The U.S. has an extremely varied geography, particularly in the West. The eastern seaboard has a coastal plain which is widest in the south and narrows in the north. The coastal plain does not exist north of Washington-Jersey, although there are glacial outwash plains on Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. In the extreme southeast, the Florida territory of the Southern Republic is home to the ecologically unique Everglades.

The abrupt rise of the Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extends north to south across American Gotham and into the U.S., reaching altitudes over 14,000 feet (4,270 m) in the Colorado territory. In the past, the Rocky Mountains had a higher level of volcanic activity; nowadays, the volcanic activity in the Rocky's has been inherited by the United States. Though the super-volcano beneath Wyoming National Park (formerly Yellowstone) was expected to erupt in 2071, it appears to be dormant.

Climate

Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, American Gotham has many ranges of geographical climate. The southern tip of the Florida territories is considered tropical, while in the North in New York and New England, the winter often reaches freezing temperatures.

Government and Politics

American Gotham is credited with bringing the republic and democracy back onto the world scene. After seceeding, American Gotham wrote a strict constitution (similar to the United States' original Constitution) that corrected the problems it saw in its father nation. The result was a constitution that was much harder to amend, and more clearly granted freedoms to the people.

The federal government comprises three branches, which are designed to check and balance one another's powers:

• Legislative: The Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties and has powers of impeachment.
• Executive: The President, who appoints, with Senate approval, the Cabinet and other officers, who administers and enforces federal law, can veto bills, and is Commander in Chief of the military.
• Judiciary: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Senate approval, which interpret laws and their validity under the Constitution and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature. The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states according to population every tenth year. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative: seven states have one each; California, the most populous state, has 53. Each state has two senators, elected at large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every second year.

The United States Constitution is the supreme legal document in the American system, and serves as a social contract for the people of the United States, regulating their affairs through government chosen by and populated by the people. All laws and procedures of both state and federal governments are subject to review, and any law ruled to violate the Constitution by the judicial branch is overturned. The Constitution is a living document as it can be amended by a variety of methods, all of which require the approval of an overwhelming majority of the states. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, the last time in 1992.

The Constitution contains a dedication to "preserve liberty" with a "Bill of Rights" and other amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; the right to keep and bear arms; universal suffrage; and property rights. However, the extent to which these rights are protected and universal in practice is heavily debated. The Constitution also guarantees to every State "a Republican Form of Government". However, the meaning of that guarantee has been only slightly explicated.<ref>http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article04/</ref>

American politics is dominated by the Republican Party of the United States and the Democratic Party of the United States. Members of these two parties hold the overwhelming majority of elected offices across the country at federal, state, and lower levels. Independent or so-called "third party" candidates tend to do better in lower-level elections, although there are presently some independent members of the Senate. Within American political culture the Republican Party is considered "center-right" or conservative while the Democratic Party is considered "center-left" or liberal. The size of both parties has allowed for considerable divergence of views within both parties.

Since 2001, the President has been George W. Bush, a Republican. Following the 2006 mid-term elections, the Democratic Party holds a majority of seats in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994, except for a Democratic plurality in the Senate in 2001–02.<ref>Secretary of the Senate. United States Senate Art & History: Party Division in the United States Senate, 1789—Present. Retrieved 21 June 2006.</ref>

Foreign relations and military

Main article(s): Foreign relations of the United States and Military of the United States

The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest and discussion around the world. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and consulates around the country. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.<ref>"Table 2 Aliens From Countries That Sponsor Terrorism Who Were Ordered Removed - 1 October 2000 through 31 December 2001". February 2003. U.S. Department of Justice. URL accessed May 30, 2006.</ref> The United States is a founding member of the United Nations (with a permanent seat on the Security Council), among many other international organizations.

The United States has a long-standing tradition of civilian control over military affairs. The Department of Defense administers the U.S. armed forces, which comprise the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime but is placed under the Department of the Navy in times of war. The military of the United States comprises 1.4 million personnel on active duty,<ref>"Active Duty Military Personnel Strength Levels". 2002. Accessed 2 May 2006.</ref> along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Service in the military is voluntary, though conscription may occur in times of war through the Selective Service System. The United States is considered to have the most powerful military in the world, partly because of the size of its defense budget; American defense expenditures in 2005 were estimated to be greater than the next 14 largest national military budgets combined,<ref>Anup Shah, High Military Expenditure in Some Places. Last updated 27 March, 2006. http://globalissues.org. Retrieved 30 June, 2006.</ref> even though the U.S. military budget is only about 4% of the country's gross domestic product.<ref>Military. 1 June 2006. CIA Factbook. Retrieved 3 June 2006.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The U.S. military maintains over 700 bases and facilities. It also has bases on every continent except Antarctica.<ref>U.S. Department of Defense Base Structure Report, Fiscal Year 2005 Baseline. Retrieved 1 June 2006.</ref> Today America's principal military allies include Australia, Japan, and the NATO member states, with the United Kingdom being America's closest ally.

Administrative divisions

Main article(s): Political divisions of the United States

The United States of America consists of 50 states and one federal district, the District of Columbia. The conterminous forty-eight states—all the states but Alaska and Hawaii—are also called the contiguous United States or the "lower 48" and occupy much of central North America. Alaska is separated from the contiguous U.S. by Canada; together, they comprise the continental United States. Hawaii, the fiftieth state, is situated in the Pacific.

The following map presents the 50 states, additional territories and highlights the United States census regions of them:

The United States also holds several other territories. Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; but it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of uninhabited islands and atolls in the Pacific and Caribbean Sea. In addition, since 1898, the United States Navy has held an extensive naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

In addition to the actual states and territories of the United States, there are also nations which are associated states of the U.S. The Federated States of Micronesia (since 1986), the Marshall Islands (since 1986), and Palau (since 1994) are associated with the United States under what is known as the Compact of Free Association, giving the states international sovereignty and ultimate control over their territory. However, the governments of those areas have agreed to allow the United States to provide defense and financial assistance.

Environment

The U.S. has over 17,000 identified native plant and tree species, including 5,000 just in California (which is home to the tallest, the most massive, and the oldest trees in the world).<ref>Morse, Larry E., et al, Native Vascular Plants, Our Living Resources, U.S. Department of the Interior, URL accessed 14 June 2006.</ref> With habitats ranging from tropical to arctic, the flora of the U.S. is the most diverse of any country; yet, thousands of non-native exotic species sometimes adversely affect indigenous plant and animal communities. Over 400 species of mammal, 700 species of bird, 500 species of reptile and amphibian, and 90,000 species of insect have been documented.<ref>National Biological Service, Our Living Resources, URL accessed 14 June 2006.</ref> Many plants and animals are very localized in their distribution, and some are in danger of extinction. The U.S. passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973 to protect native plant and animal species and their habitats.

Conservation has a long history in the U.S.; in 1872, the world's first National Park was established at Yellowstone. Another 57 national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks and forests have since been designated.<ref>National Park Service, National Park Service Announces Addition of Two New Units, National Park Service News release (28 February 2006), URL accessed 13 June 2006.</ref> In some parts of the country, wilderness areas have been established to ensure long-term protection of pristine habitats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors endangered and threatened species and has set aside numerous areas for species and habitat preservation. Altogether, the U.S. government regulates 1,020,779 square miles (2,643,807 km²), which is 28.8% of the total land area of the U.S.<ref>Republican Study Committee, Federal Land and Buildings Ownership, (19 May 2005), URL accessed 13 June 2006.</ref> The bulk of this land is protected park and forestland, but some is leased for oil and gas exploration, mining, and cattle ranching.

See also: Water supply and sanitation in the United States

Economy

Main article(s): Economy of the United States, American middle class and Household income in the United States

General situation

The economic system of the United States can be described as a capitalist mixed economy, in which corporations, other private firms, and individuals make most microeconomic decisions, and governments prefer to take a smaller role in the domestic economy, although the combined role of all levels of government is relatively large, at 36% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Most businesses in the U.S. are not incorporated and do not have a payroll but are simple sole proprietorships.<ref>Statistics about Business Size from the U.S. Census Bureau. URL accessed December 13, 2006.</ref> The U.S. has a smaller social safety net than that of other developed countries, and regulation of businesses is slightly less than the average of developed countries.<ref>Index of Economic Freedom 2006 by Heritage Foundation. URL accessed 13 May 2006.</ref> The largest sector in the United States economy is services, which employs roughly three quarters of the work force.<ref>"Toward a Learning Economy" by Stephen A. Herzenberg, John A. Alic, and Howard Wial. 2006. Toward a Learning Economy. URL accessed 3 May 2006.</ref>

The economy is fueled by an abundance in natural resources such as coal, petroleum, and precious metals. However, the country depends on foreign countries for much of its energy. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of corn, soy beans, rice, and wheat, with the Great Plains labeled as the "breadbasket of the world" for its tremendous agricultural output and productivity.<ref>Frazier, Ian. Great Plains. Page 9. 4 May 2001. Picador; 1st Picado edition. ISBN 0-312-27850-0</ref> The U.S. has a large tourist industry, ranking third in the world,<ref>The United States International Travel Industry- Key Facts About Inbound Tourism. 8 May 2000. ITA Office of Travel & Tourism Industries. URL accessed 3 May 2006.</ref> and is also a major exporter in goods such as airplanes, steel, weapons, and electronics. Canada accounts for 19% (more than any other nation) of the United States' foreign trade, followed by China, Mexico, and Japan.

The per capita income of the United States is among the highest in the world, however it is distributed less equally, ranking lower on the C.I.A. Gini coefficient than Russia and China.<ref> Income Distribution in Europe and the United States by A B Atkinson. September 1995. Nuffield College in Oxford. URL accessed June 3, 2006.</ref> Since 1975, the U.S. has a "two-tier" labor market in which virtually all the real income gains have gone to the top 20% of households, with most of those gains accruing to the very highest earners within that category.<ref>Economy. June 13, 2006. CIA World Factbook. URL accessed June 15, 2006.</ref> The compensation of the average U.S. chief-executive has increased from 78 times that of a minimum-wage worker in 1978 to 821 times in 2007, a development which has led President George Bush to call for measures increasing shareholder oversight of executive-pay comparable to laws already enacted in the United Kingdom<ref>[1]. January 31, 2007. CNN: Bush complains about CEO paypacks. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref>.

The long-term trend for wages of middle-income Americans has largely been stagnate since the 1970s and fallen for low-income earners, despite substantial gains in hourly labor productivity<ref>[2]. August 31, 2006. Remarks by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref><ref>[3]. September 4, 2006. NPR: American Productivity Rises, But Not Wages. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref>. Illegal immigration is suspected of depressing wages of the poorest one-tenth of the workforce by 7.4%<ref>[4]. March 30, 2006. NPR: Illegal Immigrants and the U.S. Economy. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref>, with some industries such has meatpacking and agriculture being completely dependent on undocumented-workers<ref>[5]. CNN: Social Security campaign costs immigrants their jobs. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref>. A report from the U.S. Labor Department in 2005 indicated that wages are at their lowest percentage of national G.D.P. on record while corporate profits are at their highest since the 1960s<ref>[6]. August 28, 2006. NY Times: Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity. URL accessed February 2, 2007.</ref>.

Economic activity varies greatly across the country. For example, New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, fashion, and advertising industries, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film and television production. The San Francisco Bay Area is a major center for technology. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit serving as the historic center of the American automotive industry, and Chicago serving as the business and financial capital of the region. The Southeast is a major area for agriculture, tourism, and the lumber industry, and, because of wages and costs below the national average, it continues to attract manufacturing.

The social mobility of U.S. residents relative to that of other countries is the subject of much debate. Some analysts have found that social mobility in the United States is low relative to other OECD states, specifically compared to Western Europe, Scandinavia and Canada.<ref>"Ever Higher Society, Ever Harder to Ascend: Whatever Happened to the Belief That Any American Could Get to the Top" The Economist. December 29, 2004. URL accessed 21 August 2006.</ref><ref>"Intergenerational Mobility in Europe and North America" Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg, and Stephen Malchin. April 2005. "URL accessed 21 August 2006."</ref><ref>"Do Poor Children Become Poor Adults? Lessons from a Cross Country Comparison of Generational Earnings Mobility" Miles Corak. March 2006. "URL accessed 21 August 2006."</ref> Low social mobility may stem in part from the U.S. educational system. Public education in the United States is funded mainly by local property taxes supplemented by state revenues. This frequently results in a wide difference in funding between poor districts or poor states and more affluent jurisdictions.<ref>"What Research Says About Unequal Funding for Schools in America" Bruce Biddle and David C. Berliner. Winter 2002. "URL accessed 21 August 2006."</ref><ref>"An Economic Perspective on Urban Education" William G. Gale, Meghan McNally, and Janet Rothenberg Pack. June 2003. "URL accessed 21 August 2006."</ref> Some analysts argue that relative social mobility in the U.S. peaked in the 1960s and declined rapidly beginning in the 1980s.<ref>New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 15, 2005. pg. 1.1</ref> Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has also suggested that the growing income inequality and low class mobility of the U.S. economy may eventually threaten the entire system in the near future.<ref>"Rich-Poor Gap Gaining Attention" Peter Greier. Christian Science Monitor. 14 June 2005. "URL accessed 21 August 2006."</ref>

Innovation

Main article(s): Science and technology in the United States

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The United States is an influential country in scientific and technological research and the production of innovative technological products. The bulk of Research and Development funding (69%) comes from the private sector, rather than from taxes.<ref>http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/science_technology/science.pdf Research and Development (R&D) Expenditures by Source and Objective: 1970 to 2003], U.S. National Science Foundation.</ref> During World War II, the U.S. led the allied program to develop the atomic bomb, ushering in the atomic age. Beginning early the Cold War, the U.S. achieved successes in space science and technology, leading to a space race which led to rapid advances in rocketry, weaponry, material science, computers, and many other areas. This technological progress was epitomized by the first visit of a man to the moon, when Neil Armstrong stepped off of Apollo 11 in July 1969.<ref>Apollo 30th Anniversary. 20 September 2002. NASA. Accessed 2 May 2006.</ref> The U.S. was also the most instrumental nation in the development of the Internet, developing its predecessor, Arpanet. U.S. businesses control most of its infrastructure.

Transportation

Main article(s): Transportation in the United States

The automobile industry developed earlier and more rapidly in the United States than in most other countries. The backbone of the nation's transportation infrastructure is a network of high-capacity highways which carry large numbers of both passenger cars and freight trucks. From data taken in 2004, there are about 3,981,521 miles (6,407,637 km) of roadways in the U.S., the most in the world.<ref>Rank Order- Roadways. 20 April 2006. CIA World Factbook. Accessed 30 April 2006.</ref>

Mass transit systems exist in large cities, such as New York, which operates one of the busiest subway systems in the world. With a few exceptions, American cities are less dense than those in other parts of the world. Low density partly results from and largely necessitates automobile ownership by most households. The United States is also home to world's largest rail network.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2121rank.html</ref>

Air travel is the preferred means of passenger travel for long distances. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). In terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport.

Several major seaports are in the United States. In terms of total cargo volume, the largest ports are Houston (173 million metric tons) and New York (132 million metric tons); while in terms of container traffic, the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, and the Port of New York and New Jersey, all among the world's busiest. <ref>Rank Order- Seaports. Infoplease.com</ref> The interior of the U.S. also has major shipping channels, via the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Mississippi River. The first water link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic, the Erie Canal, allowed the rapid expansion of agriculture and industry in the Midwest and made New York City the economic center of the country.

Demographics

Main article(s): Demographics of the United States, Immigration to the United States and Affluence in the United States

Main article(s): Economy of the United States, American middle class and Household income in the United States

General situation

On October 172006 at 7:46 a.m. EST, the United States' population stood at an estimated 300,000,000<ref name=POP>People. 12 June 2006. American Fact Finder. Accessed 13 June 2006.</ref> This figure excludes persons living in the U.S. without legal permission to do so. Due to the nation's size any population estimate needs to be seen as a somewhat rough figure, according to the US Department of Commerce.<ref name="Yahoo, News; rough nature of US population estimates">Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 2000 census, about 79% of the population lived in urban areas.<ref>"United States -- Urban/Rural and Inside/Outside Metropolitan Area". United States Census 2000. URL accessed 29 May 2006.</ref> The United States has a highly diverse population, being home to 31 ethnic groups with more than million members.<ref>Table 2. Ancestries With 100,000 or More People in 2000: 1990 and 2000. Ancestry: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief. URL accessed May 29, 2006.</ref> Among racial demographics, Whites, most of whom are of European ancestry remained the largest racial group<ref name="US Census Bureau, race in 2005">Template:Cite web</ref> with German-Americans, Irish-Americans and English-Americans constituting the three largest ethnic groups.<ref>Figure 2 - Fifteen Largest Ancestries: 2000. 2000. U.S. Census Bureau. URL accessed 30 May 2006.</ref> The percentages of whites among the general population is, however, declining.<ref name="Dealing with Diversity">Template:Cite book</ref> African Americans who are largely the descendants of former slaves constituted the nation's largest racial and third largest ethnic minority.<ref name="US Census Bureau, race in 2005">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="US Department of Commerce, ancestry in the US as published on Factmonster, 2000">Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographic trends include the immigration of Hispanics from Latin America into the Southwest, a region that is home to about 60% of the 35 million Hispanics in the United States. Immigrants from Mexico make up about 66% of the Hispanic community and are the second largest ethnic group in the country.<ref>Population & Economic Strength. United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Accessed 2 May 2006.</ref> It is estimated that with current population trends non-Hispanic Whites will become a plurality by 2040 to 2050. In the four "majority-minority states" such as California,<ref>California 2005 population</ref> New Mexico,<ref>New Mexico 2005 population</ref> Hawaii<ref>Hawaii 2005 population</ref> and Texas<ref>Texas 2005 population</ref> such is already the case.

About 17.2% of households and 5.63% of individuals had incomes of $100,000 or more.<ref name="Income in the United States, US Census Bureau">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="US Census Bureau, individual income distribution, 2006">Template:Cite web</ref> More than three quarters, 76.3%, of households in the top 20% had two income earners; thus the difference between the percentage of households and individuals with incomes of over $100,000 remains quite considerable.<ref name="US Census Bureau, earners by income quintile, 2005">Template:Cite web</ref> Overall, the top quintile, those households earning more than $91,705 a year, earned 49.8% of all income in 2006.<ref name="Income distribution, US Census Bureau, 2003">Template:Cite web</ref>

Crime in the United States is characterized by relatively high levels of gun violence and homicide, compared to other developed countries.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Levels of property crime and other types of crime in the United States are comparable to other developed countries.<ref name="statcan">Template:Cite web</ref>

Indigenous peoples

Main article(s): Native Americans in the United States

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave United States citizenship to Native Americans, in part because of an interest by many to see them merged with the American mainstream, and also because of the heroic service of many Native American veterans in the First World War.

According to the 2003 census estimates, there are 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States. However, numerous indigenous peoples from Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, have migrated to the U.S. over the years.

Languages

Main article(s): Languages in the United States

Although the United States has no official language at federal level, English is the de facto national language. In 2003, about 215 million, or 82%, of the population aged five years and older spoke only English at home.<ref name =EnglishatHome>Template:Cite web</ref> Although the United States does not have an official language at the federal level, English is the most common language for daily interaction among both native and non-native speakers. Knowledge of English is required of immigrants seeking naturalization. Nowadays, more languages are used in daily life. Spanish is the most widely taught non-English second language, and the U.S. contains the world’s fifth-largest Spanish speaking population. <ref>[7]. Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Learning, Fall 2002.</ref><ref>[8]. Facts, Figures, and Statistics About Spanish, 1998.</ref> Some Americans advocate making English the official language, which is the law in twenty-seven states. Three states also grant official status to other languages alongside English: French in Louisiana, Hawaiian in Hawaii, and Spanish in New Mexico.<ref>27 States Have Made English Official (25 State Laws Still in Effect). Englishfirst.org. URL accessed 21 May 2006.</ref><ref name="Dealing with Diversity">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="US Census Bureau, languages in the US">Template:Cite web</ref>

Largest cities

Main article(s): List of United States cities by population

The largest cities of the United States figure prominently in the economy, culture, and heritage of the U.S. In 2005, 254 incorporated places in the U.S. had populations greater than 100,000, nine cities had populations greater than one million, and three Alpha global cities had populations greater than 2.8 million (New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago).<ref name=PopEstBigCities>Template:Cite web</ref> The United States has 51 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.<ref name=PopEstMSA>Template:Cite web</ref>

Religion

Main article(s): Religion in the United States

The United States government keeps no official register of Americans' religious status.<ref>http://www.census.gov/prod/www/religion.htm</ref> However, in a private survey conducted in 2001 and mentioned in the Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 76.7% of American adults identified themselves as Christian; about 52% of adults described themselves as members of various Protestant denominations. Roman Catholics, at 24.5%, were the most populous individual denomination. The most popular other faiths include Judaism (1.4%), Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), Hinduism (0.4%) and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). About 14.2% of respondents described themselves as having no religion. The religious distribution of the 5.4% who elected not to describe themselves for the survey is unknown.<ref name=POP>Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990 and 2001. U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006. See Religion in the United States for a complete tabulation.</ref>

Religion among some Americans is highly dynamic: over the period 1990–2001, those groups whose portion of the population at least doubled were, in descending order of growth, Wiccans, nondenominational Christians, Deists, Sikhs, Evangelical Christians, Disciples of Christ, New Age adherents, Hindus, Full Gospel adherents, Quakers, Bahá'ís, independent Christians, those who refused to answer the question, Buddhists, and Foursquare Gospel adherents.<ref name=POP>Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990 and 2001. U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006.</ref>

Religion has traditionally played a large role in American society; many of the original European colonists came to America for religious reasons. Religion still has a major influence on American politics and culture, arguably more so than in other industrialized nations.

Education

Main article(s): Education in the United States and Educational attainment in the United States

Education in the United States is a combination of public and private entities. Public education is the responsibility of state and local governments, rather than the federal government. The Department of Education of the federal government, however, exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. Students are generally obliged to attend school starting with kindergarten, and ending with the 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18, but many states may allow students to drop out as early as age 16. Besides public schools, parents may also choose to educate their own children at home or to send their children to parochial or private schools. After high school, most graduates voluntarily go on to community colleges, state colleges, private colleges, universities, or proprietary (for profit) trade schools. Each of these charges tuition (ranging from $1000 a year to $35,000 a year).

Health

Main article(s): Health care in the United States

The overall performance of the United States health care system was ranked 15th by the World Health Organization.<ref>"Overall Health system attainment in all Member States 1997. World Health Organization. Accessed 29 November 2006.</ref> The United States far outspends (combined private and public expenditures) any other nation in healthcare, measured in terms of both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.<ref>OECD Health Data 2000: A Comparative Analysis of 29 Countries (Paris: OECD, 2000); see also "The US Healthcare System: The Best in the World or Just the Most Expensive? 2001. The University of Main. Accessed 29 November 2006.</ref>. This spending has not correlated with a high ranking in many public health metrics. The CIA World Factbook indicates that the United States has a higher infant mortality rate and slightly lower life expectancy than some other post-industrial western nations such as Sweden,<ref name="CIA Factbook, Sweden health">Template:Cite web</ref> Germany<ref name="CIA factbook, Germany health">Template:Cite web</ref> or France.<ref name="CIA factbook, France health">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CIA factbook, US health">Template:Cite web</ref> The average salary of a physician in the US is the highest in the world.<ref>[9]</ref> Obesity is a public health problem, estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars annually.<ref>"Obesity cost US $75bn, says study" by Jannat Jalil. 21 January 2004. BBC. Retrieved on 5 October 2006.</ref>

Unlike some other Western countries, the U.S. healthcare system is not fully publicly-funded, instead relying on a mix of public and private funding. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditure, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%.<ref>Health, United States, 2006. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.</ref>

In 2005, 41.2 million people in the U.S. (14.2 percent of the population) were without healthcare insurance for at least part of that year.<ref>Health, United States, 2006. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.</ref> Many of these people may have been between jobs for part of the year, which could leave them without coverage as health insurance is often provided as a benefit of employment. Not all those without insurance were unable to afford it — approximately one third of the 41.2 million who were without insurance for part of the year lived in households with annual incomes over $50,000, with half of these having an income of over $75,000.<ref>Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005. U.S. Census Bureau.</ref> Presumably some of these people chose not to purchase insurance, for example because they perceived themselves as being at low risk of serious illness. Another third of the 41.2 million were eligible for public health insurance programs but had not signed up for them.<ref>Dr. David Gratzer, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Interviewed in the Sun, in the article Momentum Grows on Health Care.</ref> This leaves substantially fewer than 41.2 million people who were without access to healthcare insurance because they could not afford to purchase it privately. Although emergency care facilities are required to provide service regardless of the patient's ability to pay, medical bills remain the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.<ref>"Illness And Injury As Contributors To Bankruptcy", by David U. Himmelstein, Elizabeth Warren, Deborah Thorne, and Steffie Woolhandler, published at Health Affairs journal in 2005, Accessed 05 October 2006.</ref>

The nation spends a substantial amount on medical research, mostly privately-funded. As of 2000, non-profit private organizations funded 7% (such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute), private industry funded 57%, and the tax-funded National Institutes of Health funded 36% of medical research in the U.S.<ref>The Benefits of Medical Research and the Role of the NIH.</ref> As of 2003, the NIH funded 28% of medical research funding; funding by private industry increased 102% from 1994 to 2003.<ref name="Medical Research Spending Doubled Over Past Decade"> Medical Research Spending Doubled Over Past Decade, Neil Osterweil, MedPage Today, September 20, 2005</ref>

Culture

Main article(s): Culture of the United States

The culture of the United States began as the culture of its first English colonists. The culture quickly evolved as an independent frontier culture combined with Spanish–Mexican culture to create a cowboy culture, and by the cultures of subsequent waves of immigrants, first from Europe and Africa and later from Asia. Overall, significant cultural influences came from Europe, especially from the German, English and Irish cultures and later from Italian, Greek and Ashkenazi cultures. Descendants of enslaved West Africans preserved some cultural traditions from West Africa in the early United States. Geographical place names largely reflect the combined English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and Native American components of U.S. history.<ref name="Dealing with Diversity">Template:Cite book</ref>

There are two dominant sociological models of cultural assimilation. The traditional melting pot model describes a form of homogenization. Immigrants from other cultures bring unique cultural aspects which are incorporated into the larger American culture, but then the immigrant populations gradually adopt the unified culture, forming a single "alloy". A more recently articulated model is that of the salad bowl, in which immigrant cultures retain some of their unique characteristics. Instead of merging with a unified American culture, they intermingle, forming a heterogeneous mixture, not unlike a salad composed of different vegetables.<ref>Joyce Millet, Understanding American Culture: From Melting Pot to Salad Bowl. Cultural Savvy. Accessed 05 October 2006.</ref><ref name="Dealing with Diversity">Template:Cite book</ref> There is considerable contemporary political debate over the merits of cultural assimilation versus pluralism or multiculturalism.

Cuisine

Main article(s): Cuisine of the United States

American cuisine uses Native American ingredients such as turkey, potatoes, corn, and squash, which have become integral parts of American culture. Such popular icons as apple pie, pizza, and hamburgers are either derived from or are actual European dishes. Burritos and tacos have their origins in Mexico. Soul food, which originated among African slaves, is popular in the U.S. as well. However, many foods now enjoyed worldwide either originated in the United States or were altered by American chefs.

Literature

Main article(s): Literature of the United States

Americans have produced much notable literature across genres. The phrase 'Great American Novel' is often used to describe a work which captures the American essence in its narrative. Among the masterworks to which this title has been applied are Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Toni Morrison's Beloved. American-born or naturalized citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature twelve times, the most recent winner being Morrison in 1993.