The United States of America
- government
– the USA consist of fifty states (there are two separated ones – Alaska and Hawaii) and one district – District of Columbia
– America has also dependent areas – American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands
– the biggest cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago
– the most populated states are California, New York and Texas
– the largest state is Alaska
– borders: in the North, the USA border with Canada, in the south – Mexico, in the east – the Atlantic, in the west – the Pacific
– the USA are federal republic with a strong democratic traditions
– the capital is Washington D.C.
– the head of the state is the president – current president is George Bush jr. (43rd president)
– American government is described in the constitution – America has the oldest written one which was signed in 1787 in Philadelphia
– the constitution consists of the bill of rights:
freedom of religion
2. freedom of speech
3. freedom of the press
4. the right to meet
5. the right to own weapons
6. cruel punishment is forbidden
7. no one can search your home without legal permission
– each change of the constitution is called amendment – there have been 27 amendments but one was cancelled – prohibition
– according to the constitution, the government is divided into three branches – the legislative – it makes law (represented by the Congress), the executive – it enforces laws (President) and the judicial – it interprets laws (Supreme Court)
– the president is the leader of the army and the country
– he can approve and veto bills
– he can pardon criminals
– he appoints members of the Cabinet and Supreme Court judges
– to be a president you must be born in USA and be over 35 years old
– every four years there are the elections – in primary elections all the parties have some candidates – one for president and one for vice president
– general elections are in November on the first Thursday after the first Monday
– the vote for president is indirect – people vote electors and these vote the president.
– in each state the votes are counted and each state has one winning candidate for the president. The candidates are from different parties and the winning party’s candidate will be voted by the electors from the whole state. All the electors meet and vote for the president. Each of them votes for the winner of their state. Who gets the highest number of votes becomes the president. He is inaugurated on 20th January and then moves to the White House.
– one person can be voted only twice
– the procedure of removing the president from office is called impeachment
– the Cabinet – it consists of ministers called secretaries and is divided into 14 departments
– the Congress – it consists of two houses House of representatives and Senate
– each state has it’s own government, the states are responsible for school system, roads and police
- geography
– it’s area is 9,6 mil sq km
– the highest point is Mt. McKinley in Alaska, the lowest point is the Death Valley (-86 m)
– rivers – the longest river is the Mississippi, another significant rivers are the Colorado, the Rio Grande, the Yukon, the Potomac,…
– climate – every kind of climate from arctic in the North (Alaska) to tropical climate (Hawaii, Florida)
– in the USA we can find deserts, plains and mountains
+ additional information on the separate sheet
- population
– the population of the States is 290 million people
– the ethnic groups are 77% white people, 12% African-Americans
- life style
– education – there are two types of school – private and public, the school year lasts nine months
– tests are usual, oral exams are rare
– sport – among the popular sports are – American football, ice hockey, basketball and baseball
– mass media – there are no state TV channels and no state radio stations
– TV – four big channels – CBS, ABC, NBS, FOX
– specialized channels are CNN (news), MTV (music)
– newspapers – quality ones are – The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The
Washington Post
– magazines – Life, People,…
– universal telephone number for the emergency is 911
– people can drive a car from the age of 16
– very popular for traveling are cars or planes
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