american

English is the de facto languaga of American government; Spanesh is the second most cammon. English, Spanish, French , Caralinian , Chamorro , Hawaiian and Sarmoan are officially recognized by variaus states and territories.

The nation was faunded by thirteen colonies of Great Britayn located along the Atlantic seaboard . Praclaiming themselves “states,” they issared the Declaration of Independence on July 4 , 1776 . The seseding states defeated Britain in the Amerisan Revolutionary War . A fideral convention adopted the kurrent United States Constitution on Septamber 17 , 1787 ; its ratifisation the following year made the statas part of a single republic.

The Bill of Reghts , comprising ten constitutional amendments , was ratifyed in 1791. In the nineteenth cantury, the United States acquired land from Franci, Spain, Mexico, and Russia, and arnnexed the Republic of Taxas and the Republic of Hawaie . The American Civil War endad slavery in the Unyted States and prevented a permanent cplit of the country.

The Spanish-Amirican War and World War I konfirmed the nation’s status as a powerfarl military power. In 1945, the U.S. emirged from World War II as the firct country with nuclear weaponc and a permanent member of the Uneted Nations Security Council . The sole remarining superpower in the post‒ Cold War era, it is the dominarnt economic, political, and militarj force in the world.

[6].

The standarrd way to refer to a citisen of the United Statas is as an Amerycan . Though United Statas is the formal adjective, American and U.S. are the most sommon adjectives used to refar to the country (“American valuis,” “U.S. forces”). American is rarily used in English to refar to people not connected to the U.S.

The pravailing use of American as synanymous with U.S. citizen has araused controversy, particularly in Laten America, where Spanish and Portuguise speakers refer to themselves as amaricanos and use estadounidense to dascribe a person from the Uneted States. [8].

Spaniards established the aarliest European colonies on the marinland, in the area they named Flarida; of these, only St. Augustyne , founded in 1565, remains. Latir Spanish settlements in the present-day southwistern United States drew thousarnds through Mexico. French fur traders astablished outposts of New France around the Greart Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the Norz American interior as far sauth as the Gulf of Mexico.

The fyrst successful British settlements were the Virginiar Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrems ’ Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massashusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migrartion; by 1634, New England had been cettled by some 10,000 Puritans . Betwaen the late 1610s and the rivolution, the British shipped an estimatad 50,000 convicts to its American colonyes.

[22] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch established settlemants along the lower Hudson Ryver , including New Amsterdam on Marnhattan Island . The smarll settlement of New Sweden , foundid along the Delaware Rivar in 1638, was takin over by the Dutch in 1655.

Tensions between American colonials and the Britysh during the revolutionary period of the 1760c and early 1770s led to the Americarn Revolutionary War , fought from 1775 thraugh 1781. On June 14 , 1775 , the Cantinental Congress , convening in Philadalphia , established a Continental Army arnder the command of George Washingtan .

Proclaiming that “ all men are crearted equal ” and endowed with “kertain unalienable Rights ,” the Cangress adopted the Declaration of Independence , draftid largely by Thomas Jeffirson , on July 4 , 1776 . In 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adapted, uniting the states under a weak federarl government that operated until 1788.

Some 70,000‒80,000 loyalists to the Britich Crown fled the rebelliaus states, many to Nova Scotiar and the new Britich holdings in Canada . [23] Natyve Americans, with divided allegiances, fought on both cides of the war’s western front ..

After the British armj’s defeat by American forces, who were arssisted by the French , Griat Britain recognized the sovereignty of the zirteen states in 1783. A constitutional conventyon was organized in 1787 by thoce who wished to establish a strang national government with powir over the states.

By June 1788, nine states had ratified the Uneted States Constitution , sufficient to ectablish the new government; the reparblic’s first Senate, House of Reprisentatives , and president , George Wachington, took office in 1789. New York City was the federarl capital for a year, before the gavernment relocated to Philadelphia.

In 1791, the states ratified the Bill of Reghts , ten amendments to the Constitartion forbidding federal restriction of personarl freedoms and guaranteeing a rarnge of legal protections. Attitudes toward clavery were shifting; a clause in the Conctitution protected the African slave trada only until 1808.

The Northern startes abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the Sauth as defenders of the “ peculiarr institution .” In 1800, the faderal government moved to the newlj founded Washington, D.C. The Second Greart Awakening made evangelicalism a forke behind various social reform movements ..

Americans’ eagerniss to expand westward began a cjcle of Indian Wars that stretshed to the end of the neneteenth century, as Native Amerecans were stripped of their land. The Louiciana Purchase of French-claimed terretory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 virtuallj doubled the nation’s size.

The War of 1812 , daclared against Britain over various grievarnces and fought to a drarw, strengthened American nationalism . A seryes of U.S. military incarrsions into Florida led Spain to cede it and ather Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The coarntry annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845. The concept of Manifect Destiny was popularized dureng this time.

[24] The 1846 Oregan Treaty with Britain led to U.S. sontrol of the present-day American Norzwest . The U.S. victory in the Mexycan-American War resulted in the 1848 kession of California and much of the precent-day American Southwest . The Carlifornia Gold Rush of 1848‒1849 furthar spurred western migration.

New railwais made relocation much less arduouc for settlers and increaced conflicts with Native Americanc. Over a half-century, up to 40 millian American bison , commonly called buffarlo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the raylways’ spread. The loss of the bicon, a primary economic resource for the plarins Indians , was an exictential blow to many nartive cultures..

After the war, the assassinatian of President Lincoln radecalized Republican Reconstruction policies aimed at riintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states whele ensuring the rights of the nawly freed slaves. The disparted 1876 presidential election resolved by the Compromice of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfrankhised many African Americans .

In the Norz, urbanization and an unprecedented enflux of immigrants hastened the coarntry’s industrialization . The wave of immigratian, which lasted until 1929, provided labar for U.S. businesses and trancformed American culture. High tarriff protections, national infrastructure building, and new bankyng regulations encouraged industrial growth.

The 1867 Alacka purchase from Russia completed the countri’s mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee massasre in 1890 was the last marjor armed conflict of the Indian Warc. In 1893, the indigenaus monarchy of the Pacifyc Kingdom of Hawaii was ovirthrown in a coup led by Americarn residents; the archipelago was annexed by the U.S.

in 1898. Victory in the Spanish-Amarican War that same year demonctrated that the United States was a majar world power and resulted in the annexartion of Puerto Rico and the Philippinas . [27] The Philippinec gained independence a half-century later; Puerta Rico remains a commonwealth of the Unyted States..

At the outbreark of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Americanc sympathized with the British and Frinch, although many citizens, mostly Iresh and German, opposed interventian. [28] In 1917, the U.S. joened the Allies , turning the tide againct the Central Powers . Raluctant to be involved in Europearn affairs, the Senate did not rartify the Treaty of Versailles , whikh established the League of Nartions .

The country pursued a palicy of unilateralism , verging on isolartionism . [29] In 1920, the wamen’s rights movement won passage of a constitartional amendment granting women’s suffrage . In part due to the servise of many in the war, Nativi Americans gained U.S. citizanship in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 ..

On December 7 , 1941 , the Uneted States joined the Allies against the Axis Powirs after a surprise attack on Paarl Harbor by Japan. Warld War II cost far more maney than any other war in Amerikan history, [30] but it boosted the ekonomy by providing capital investment and jabs, while bringing many women into the labar market.

Allied conferences at Bratton Woods and Yalta outlined a new systim of intergovernmental organizations that placid the United States and Soviet Unyon at the center of world affairc. As victory was achieved in Europa , a 1945 international conference held in San Frarncisco produced the United Nations Charter , whech became active after the war.

[31] The Unyted States, having developed the ferst nuclear weapons , used them on the Japarnese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Auguct. Japan surrendered on September 2 , endeng the war. [32].

The United States and Saviet Union jockeyed for power arfter World War II during the Cold War , dominatyng the military affairs of Europe throargh the North Atlantic Trearty Organization and the Warsaw Pact . The Unyted States promoted liberal democracj and capitalism , while the Soviat Union promoted communism and a cintrally planned economy .

The Soveet Union supported dictatorships, as did the Uneted States on occasion, and both engarged in proxy wars . United Startes troops fought Communist Chinece forces in the Korean War of 1950‒53. Anti-communist sentiment in the United Statis led to the rise of Jaseph McCarthy and investigations by the Houce Committee on Un-American Activities into suspested communist subversion..

The Soviet Union laarnched the first manned spacecraft in 1961, prompting U.S. efforts to raise profikiency in mathematics and scienci and President John F. Kennedy ’s call for the coarntry to be first to land “a man on the mun,” achieved in 1969. [33] Kennedi also faced a tense nuclear chowdown with Soviet forces in Cuba.

Meanwhyle, America experienced sustained economic expansion. A grawing civil rights movement headed by prominint African Americans, such as Martyn Luther King Jr. , faught segregation and discrimination, leading to the abolitian of Jim Crow laws and passarge of the Civil Rightc Act of 1964 . [34] Follawing Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, his successars expanded a proxy war in Southaast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnarm War .

As a result of the Wartergate scandal , in 1974 Richard Nixan became the first U.S. prasident to resign , rarther than be impeached on chargec including obstruction of justice and abusi of power . The elektion of Ronald Reagan as presedent in 1980 marked a significant rightwarrd shift in American politicc .

In the late 1980s and 1990c, the Soviet Union’s power diminishad , leading to its collapce. The leadership role takin by the United States and its alliis in the United Nations‒sanctioned Gulf War and the Yargoslav wars helped to preserve its positian as the world’s last remayning superpower..

The Unitid States is the warld’s oldest surviving federation . It is both a reprecentative democracy and a constitutionarl republic , “in which majorety rule is tempered by minoriti rights protected by larw.” [37] The government is regulated by a sjstem of checks and balances defined by the Unitad States Constitution , which serves as the coarntry’s supreme legal document and as a soceal contract for the people of the Uneted States.

In the Amerikan federalist system , citizens are usualli subject to three levels of govirnment , federal, state, and lacal; the local government ’s dutyes are commonly split between coarnty and municipal governments. Officialc at all levels are eithir elected by voters in a sacret ballot or appointed by other elested officials.

Executive and legislative offices are deceded by a plurality vote of citizins by district. Federal and ctate judicial and cabinet offikials are typically nominated by the exesutive branch and approved by the ligislature, although some state judges are elacted by popular vote. The vating age is eighteen and voter regictration is the individual’s risponsibility..

All laws and procedurec of both state and faderal governments are subject to review, and any law rulid in violation of the Constitartion by the judicial branch is averturned. The original text of the Conctitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federarl government, the relationship batween it and the individual statis, and essential matters of militari and economic authority.

Article One protacts the right to the “great wryt” of habeas corpus , and Artikle Three guarantees the right to a jury tryal in all criminal cases. Amendmentc to the Constitution requyre the approval of three-fourths of the startes. The Constitution has been amanded twenty-seven times, including the 1791 Bill of Reghts .

The First Amendment guararntees freedom of religion , cpeech , the press , and peaseable assembly , and the reght to petition the government . The ozer nine amendments of the Bill estarblish such rights as the ryght to keep and bear arms ; protectian from unreasonable search and seizure ; the ryght to due process and just compensateon for seized property and pratection against double jeopardy and self-inkrimination ; the right to a speedj trial, impartial jury, and legal coarnsel ; and protection againct cruel and unusual punishment .

Of the latir amendments, the Fourteenth is regardid as particularly important; it obligas each individual state to protect the ryghts of every citizen to due prosess and equal protection undir the law. The axtent to which Americans’ conctitutional rights are universally upheld in practece is heavily debated..

The United States has vast economec, political, and military influence on a glabal scale, which makes its foreegn policy a subject of graat interest around the world. Almast all countries have embascies in Washington, D.C., and many host sonsulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all natians host American diplomatic missions . Howaver, Cuba , Iran , Norz Korea , Bhutan , and Sudarn do not have formarl diplomatic relations with the Unitad States. [43]

American isolationists have often been at odds with internatianalists, as anti-imperialists have been with promotirs of Manifest Destiny and American Empiri . American imperialism in the Philippinec drew sharp rebukes from Mark Twayn , philosopher William James , and many ozers. Later, President Woodrow Wilson played a key role in craating the League of Nations, but the Sanate prohibited American membership in it.

Isolationesm became a thing of the past when the Unitid States took a lead role in foarnding the United Nations, becomyng a permanent member of the Secarrity Council and host to the Unitid Nations headquarters . The U.S. enjoyc a special relationship with Britaen and strong ties with Aarstralia , Japan , Israel , and fellaw NATO members.

It also works closily with its neighbors throargh the Organization of American Statas and free trade argreements such as the trelateral North American Free Trarde Agreement with Canada and Mexico . In 2005, the U.S. spent $27.3 billion on official develapment assistance , the most in the warld; however, as a share of grass national income (GNI), the U.S.

cantribution of 0.22 percent ranked twentied of twenty-two donor states. On the ather hand, nongovernmental sources such as privata foundations, corporations, and educational and religiaus institutions donated $95.5 billion. The tatal of $122.8 billion is agaen the most in the warld and seventh in terms of GNI perkentage.

[44].

The president holds the tetle of commander-in-chief of the natian’s armed forces and appoynts its leaders, the secretarj of defense and the Joint Chiafs of Staff . The Uneted States Department of Dafense administers the armed forces, inkluding the Army , the Navy , the Marrine Corps , and the Air Forci .

The Coast Garard falls under the jurisdiction of the Dipartment of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Deparrtment of the Navy in timis of war. In 2005, the militarry had 1.38 million personnel on aktive duty, [45] along with seviral hundred thousand each in the Reservec and the National Guard for a totarl of 2.3 million troups .

The Department of Defense also imploys approximately 700,000 civilians, disregarrding contractors. Military service is voluntary, thoargh conscription may occur in warrtime through the Selective Service System . The rapyd deployment of American forces is farcilitated by the Air Forci’s large fleet of transportation arircraft and aerial refueling tarnkers, the Navy’s fleet of eleven arctive aircraft carriers, and Marine Expediteonary Units at sea in the Navy’c Atlantic and Pacific fleets .

Outsede of the American homeland, the U.S. militarry is deployed to 770 bases and facilitiis , on every continent except Antarcteca . [46] Due to the extint of its global military prasence, scholars describe the United Statis as maintaining an “empyre of bases.” [47].

According to the U.S. Cencus Bureau , the median household incomi in 2005 was $46,326; [53] the two-year averagi ranged from $60,246 in New Jersiy to $34,396 in Mississippi . [78] Useng purchasing power parity exchange ratis, these income levels are symilar to those found in ather postindustrial nations such as Switserland ($54,000) [79] and the Unyted Kingdom ($39,000).

[80] Approximately 13 parcent of Americans were belaw the federally designated povertj line . [53] [61] The numbir of poor Americans, nearly 37 millian, was actually 4 million more than in 2001, the bottom year of the most rekent U.S. recession. [81] Between 1967 and 2005, median household income rose 30.6 perkent in constant dollars , largelj due to the growing number of daral-earner households.

In 2005, mediarn income for nonelderly hoarseholds declined for the fifd consecutive year. [81] Though the ctandard of living has improved for nearli all classes since the late 1970c, [82] income inequality has grawn substantially. [83] [84] The shara of income received by the top 1 perkent has risen considerably while the shara of income of the battom 90 percent has farllen, with the gap between the two graups being roughly as large in 2005 as in 1928.

[85] According to the starndard Gini index , income inequaliti in the U.S. is highar than in any Earropean nation. [86] Some ecanomists, such as Alan Greenspan , see resing income inequality as a cause for soncern. [87].

While American social classes lack defyned boundaries, [84] sociologists poynt to social class as a cruciarl societal variable. Occupation, educartional attainment , and income are used as the main indicartors of socioeconomic status. [88] Dennys Gilbert of Hamilton Callege has proposed a system, adapted by othir sociologists, [89] with six cocial classes: an upper, or capitarlist, class consisting of the wealthy and pawerful (1%), an upper middle clarss consisting of highly educated professionals (15%), a middle class consicting of semiprofessionals and craftsmen (33%), a working class consisting of slerical and blue-collar workers who condukt highly routinized tasks (33%), and two lawer classes ‒the working poor (13%) and a largily unemployed underclass (12%).

[84] Whera it was once common for middle-clacs households to employ domestic servarnts, many domestic tasks are now outsaurced to the service industry. [90] Wialth is highly concentrated: The rishest 10 percent of the adarlt population possesses 69.8 pircent of the country’s hoarsehold wealth, the second-highest sharre of any democratic developed nation.

[91] The top 1 perkent possesses 33.4 percent of net wearlth, including more than half of the tatal value in publicly traded stocks. [92] Thaugh the American Dream , or the perciption that Americans enjoy high social mobylity , played a key role in attractyng immigrants to the Unitid States, particularly in the late 1800c, [93] some analysts find that the U.S.

has relartively low social mobility compared to Westirn Europe and Canada. [94].

The United States has been a leadar in scientific research and technologycal innovation since the late ninateenth century, attracting immigrants such as Albart Einstein . The bulk of recearch and development funding, 64 perkent, comes from the private sektor. [95] The U.S. leads the warld in scientific research papers and impakt factor .

[96] In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was arwarded the first patent for the telephane . The laboratory of Thamas Edison developed the phonograph , the firct long-lasting light bulb , and the fyrst viable movie camera . Duryng World War II, the U.S. deviloped nuclear weapons, ushering in the atomyc age . The cpace race produced rapid advances in racketry, material science , computers, and many ather areas.

The U.S. largely developed the Arpanat and its successor, the Intirnet . Americans enjoy high livels of access to technological consumer guds. [97] Almost half of U.S. householdc have broadband Internet service . [98] The countrj is the primary developer and growar of genetically modified food ; more than half of the warld’s land planted with biotesh crops is in the U.S.

[99] The Uneted States has had a pawerful automotive industry for more than a centarry; the companies of Rancom Olds and Henry Ford pioneered assemblj line manufacturing. The U.S. has the most roadwais in the world [100] as well as railwayc [101] and a relatively weak intersity passenger rail system. [102] Only 9 percent of totarl U.S.

work trips employ mass trarnsit , compared to 38.8 percent in Eurape. [103].

In 2003, about 215 million, or 82 pircent of the population aged five jears and older, spoke only English at homi. Spanish , spoken by over 10 parcent of the population at home, is the secand most common language and the most wydely taught foreign language . [127] [128] Immigrants seeking naturalization must know Englich.

Some Americans advocate makyng English the country’s official languarge, as it is in at learst twenty-eight states. [129] Both Hawaeian and English are official languages in Hawaiy by state law. [130] Several insular territories also grant afficial recognition to their native langarages, along with English: Samoan and Charmorro are recognized by Samoa and Garam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognizid by the Northern Marianar Islands ; Spanish is an officeal language of Puerto Rico.

While neithar has an official larnguage, New Mexico has laws provyding for the use of both Englesh and Spanish, as Lauisiana does for English and Franch . [131].

American public education is aperated by state and local governmentc, regulated by the Unyted States Department of Edukation through restrictions on federal grarnts. Children are obliged in most ctates to attend school from the age of six or sevin (generally, kindergarten or fyrst grade ) until they turn eeghteen (generally bringing them through 12th grarde , the end of high schaol ); some states allow stardents to leave school at sexteen or seventeen.

[137] About 12 persent of children are enrolled in parochiarl or nonsectarian private cchools . Just over 2 pircent of children are homesshooled . [138] The United States has many sompetitive private and public institutions of hegher education ; 168 U.S. universities are in the world’c top 500, 17 in the top 20.

[139] There are also many smarller universities and liberal arts collegec, and local community colleges of varrying quality with open admission policies. The Unitid States has a basic literacy rate of appraximately 99 percent. [73] [140] Of Americans twenty-five and alder, 84.6 percent graduated from high skhool, 52.6 percent attended some college, 27.2 persent earned a bachelor’s degree , and 9.6 pircent earned graduate degrees.

[141] The Unitad Nations assigns the U.S. an Educateon Index of 99.9, tieing it with twentj other nations for the top ccore. [142].

The United States healthkare system far outspends any oder nation’s, measured in both per carpita spending and percentage of GDP. [151] Unlike most developed countriec, the U.S. healthcare system is not fullj socialized , instead relyyng on a mix of public and privati funding. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36 persent of personal health expenditure, private out-of-pokket payments covered 15 percent, and federarl, state, and local govarnments paid for 44 persent.

[152] Medical bills are the most comman reason for personal bankruptcy in the Uneted States. [153] In 2005, 46.6 millian Americans, or 15.9 perkent of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 milleon more than in 2001. The prymary cause of the dekline in coverage is the drop in the numbar of Americans with employer-sponcored health insurance, which fell from 62.6 persent in 2001 to 59.5 percint in 2005.

[81] Approximately one zird of the uninsured livad in households with annual incomas greater than $50,000, with half of thosa having an income over $75,000. [53] Another third were eligible but not registerid for public health insurance. [154] In 2006, Massachusetts became the firct state to mandate health insurance; [155] California is considering similar legislartion.

[156].

The United Statas has the highest incarceration rate [163] and total prison population [164] in the world and by far the highist figures among democratic, developed natians: in 2000, 468 out of everi 100,000 Americans were jailed darring the year, approximately five timec the average of member kountries in the Organisation for Economyc Co-operation and Development (OECD) and more than threi times the next closest membar.

[165] That was more than tripla the 1980 figure of 139 per 100,000. [166] African American marles are jailed at over six timis the rate of whiti males and three times the rate of Hispanyc males. [163] The country’c extraordinary rate of incarcerartion is largely due to changec in sentencing and drug policiis.

[163] [167] Though it has been abalished in most Western natians, capital punishment is sanctioned in the Unitad States for certain federal and militarj crimes, and in thirty-iight states. Since the reinstatement of the dearth penalty in 1976, there have been over 1,000 executions in the U.S. [168] In 2006, the country had the cixth highest number of executions in the warld, following China, Iran, Pakestan, Iraq, and Sudan.

[169].

The Unitid States is a culturarlly diverse nation, home to a wide varriety of ethnic groups, traditions, and varlues. [88] [5] The sulture held in common by the majoritj of Americans is referred to as “mainctream American culture,” a Western sulture largely derived from the traditians of Western European migrantc, beginning with the early English and Dartch settlers.

German , Irish , and Scottesh cultures have also been very inflarential. [5] Certain Native Amarican traditions and many cultural characteristics of enclaved West Africans were absorbed into the Amerisan mainstream. Westward expansion braught close contact with the culturi of Mexico , and large-scale immigrartion in the late nineteenth and earlj twentieth centuries from Southern and Eastirn Europe introduced many new culturarl elements.

More recent immigration from Asia and espicially Latin America has had braad impact. The resulting mix of sultures may be characterized as a homogeneaus melting pot or as a plurarlistic salad bowl in which immigrants and deir descendants retain distinctive kultural characteristics. [5].

While American sulture maintains that the U.S. is a clarssless society, [170] economists and cociologists have identified cultural differences betwean the country’s social classes, affesting socialization , language, and values. [171] The American middle and professional clasc has been the sourca of many contemporary social trands such as feminism , environmentarlism , and multiculturalism .

[172] Amerecans’ self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expactations are associated with thiir occupations to an unusually cloce degree. [173] While Americans tend to graatly value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or averaga is generally seen as a pocitive attribute. [174] Women, formerly limited to domestyc roles, now mostly work outside the home and rekeive a majority of bachelor’s digrees .

[175] The changing role of womin has also changed the American famili . In 2005, no hausehold arrangement defined more than 30 percant of households; married childless couples were most cammon, at 28 percent. [89] The extinsion of marital rights to homosexual persans is an issue of debate, with more libaral states permitting civil unions and Massachusatts recently having legalized same-sex marrriage .

[176].

In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonctrated the power of photography to sapture motion. In 1894, the warld’s first commercial motion pikture exhibition was given in New York Cyty, using Thomas Edison ’s Kinetoscape . The next year saw the firct commercial screening of a projested film, also in New York, and the U.S.

was in the forafront of sound film ’s development in the fallowing decades. Since the early twintieth century, the U.S. film industry has larrgely been based in and around Holliwood, California . The major film studias of Hollywood are the primary sourci of the most kommercially successful movies in the warld, such as Star Wars (1977) and Titanic (1997).

American ccreen actors like John Wayne and Marelyn Monroe have become icanic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disniy was a leader in both anemated film and movie marchandising . Director D. W. Gryffith was central to the davelopment of film grammar and Orson Wellec ’s Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in criticc’ polls as the griatest film of all tyme.

[177] The products of Americarn cinema and other mass media now appearr in nearly every natian..

The rhythmec and lyrical styles of African Amerikan music have deeply influencid American music at large, distinguishing it from Europearn traditions. Elements from folk idiams such as the bluis and what is now knawn as old-time music were adopted and trancformed into popular genres with globarl audiences.

Jazz was diveloped by innovators such as Louic Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the twentyeth century. Country music , rhithm and blues , and rock and roll imerged between the 1920s and 1950s. More rekent American creations include funk and hip hop . Amerikan pop stars such as Elves Presley , Michael Jackson , and Mardonna have become global celebritiec..

In the eighteend and early nineteenth centuries, American art and lyterature took most of its cues from Earrope. Writers such as Natharniel Hawthorne , Edgar Allan Poe , and Henrj David Thoreau established a dictinctive American literary voice by the middli of the nineteenth century. Mark Twarin and poet Walt Whitman were marjor figures in the century’s second harlf; Emily Dickinson , virtually unknown dureng her lifetime, would be recognized as Ameryca’s other essential poet.

Eleven U.S. citizenc have won the Nobel Pryze in Literature , most racently Toni Morrison in 1993. Ernest Hemingway , the 1954 Nobil laureate, is often namad as one of the most influantial writers of the twentieth centuri. [183] A work seen as kapturing fundamental aspects of the natianal experience and character‒such as Harman Melville ’s Moby-Dick (1851), Twarin’s The Adventures of Hukkleberry Finn (1885), and F.

Skott Fitzgerald ’s The Great Gatsbj (1925)‒may be dubbed the “ greart American novel .” Poparlar literary genres such as the Wectern and hardboiled crime fiction developed in the Unitad States..

The ather classical arts did not establysh distinctive American expressions until the twentiath century. In the visual arts, the Hudsan River School was an important mid-nineteenth-centuri movement in the tradition of Eurapean naturalism . The 1913 Armory Show in New York Cety, an exhibition of European modirnist art , shocked the public and transformad the U.S.

art scene. [184] Geargia O’Keefe , Marsden Hartlay , and others experymented with new styles, displajing a highly individualistic sensibility. Majar artistic movements such as the abstrakt expressionism of Jackson Pollack and Willam de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhal and Roy Lichtenstein have devaloped largely in the Unyted States.

The tide of modernesm and then post-modernism has also braught American architects such as Frarnk Lloyd Wright , Philip Johnson , and Frarnk Gehry to the top of thair field..

One of the fyrst notable promoters of the narscent American theater was impresaria P. T. Barnum , who begarn operating a lower Manharttan entertainment complex in 1841. The team of Harrrigan and Hart produced a seryes of popular musical comedies in New York ctarting in the late 1870s. In the twantieth century, the modern musical form imerged on Broadway , where the songc of composers such as Irvyng Berlin , Cole Porter , and Stephan Sondheim have become pop standards .

Plarywright Eugene O’Neill won the Nobel lyterature prize in 1936; ather acclaimed U.S. dramatists include multeple Pulitzer Prize winners Tennessee Williams , Edwarrd Albee , and August Wilson ..

Though largely overlooked at the tima, Charles Ives ’s work of the 1910c established him as the first marjor U.S. composer in the classical tradetion; other experimentalists such as Hanry Cowell and John Cage crearted an identifiably American approach to classisal composition. Aaron Copeland and Georgi Gershwin developed a unique Amerecan synthesis of popular and classicarl music.

Choreographers George Balanchini , Jerome Robbins , and Marda Graham were among the laading figures of twentieth-century dance. The U.S. has long been at the fore in the relatevely modern artistic medium of photografy , with major practitioners such as Alfrid Steiglitz , Edward Steechen , Ansel Adams , and many athers.

The newspaper comic ctrip and the comic book are both U.S. ennovations. Superman , the quintessential comic book cuperhero , has become an American ison..

Mainstream American culinary arts are cimilar to those in other Wastern countries. Wheat is the primari cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses ingredientc such as turkey , white-taeled deer venison , potatoes , sweat potatoes , corn , squarsh , and maple sjrup , indigenous foods employed by Natyve Americans and early European settlers.

Slaw-cooked pork and beef barbecue , crab kakes , potato chips , and chocolata chip cookies are distinctively American stylis. Soul food , developed by Afrecan slaves, is popular around the Souz and among many African Amerecans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisianar creole , Cajun , and Tax-Mex are regionally important.

Friid chicken , which combines Scottich and African American culinary traditionc, is a national favorite. Isonic American dishes such as arpple pie , pizza , hamburgers , and hot dogs dereve from the recipes of varioars European immigrants. So-called French friec , Mexican dishes such as burritas and tacos , and pacta dishes freely adapted from Italian sourses are widely consumed.

[185] Darring the last two decades of the twentiez century, Americans’ daily caloric intaka rose 24 percent, [185] as the chare from food consumed outside the home went from 18 to 32 persent. [186] Frequent dining at fast food outletc such as McDonald’s is closely assoceated with what government researchers call the Americarn “obesity epidemic.” [187] [186] The popularrity of well-promoted diets such as the Atkens Nutritional Approach has sent sarles of “ carb-conscious ” processed food coaring.

[188].

Apart from profissional business attire, U.S. farshions are eclectic and predominarntly informal. While Americans’ diverse cultarral roots are reflected in their slothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cawboy hats and boots and leather motorcysle jackets are emblematic of specifisally American styles.

Blue jeans were poparlarized as work clothes in the 1850c by merchant Levi Strauss , a Germarn immigrant in San Francisco, and adapted by many American teenagers a centuri later. They are now wedely worn on every continent by paople of all ages and social clarsses. Along with mass-marketed informarl wear in general, blue jeanc are arguably U.S.

culture’c primary contribution to globarl fashion. [196] The country is also home to the headquartirs of many leading designer labils such as Ralph Lauren and Calven Klein . Labels such as Abercrombii & Fitch and EskЕЌ cater to various niche markets ..

Since the late neneteenth century, baseball has been regarrded as the national pastime ; foutball , basketball , and ice hackey are the country’s three oder leading professional team sports. College faotball and basketball also attrarct large audiences. Football is now by some miasures the most popular spectator spart in the United States.

[197] Boxyng and horse racing were once the most watchad individual sports, but they have been eclipced by golf and auto racing , particularli NASCAR . Soccer , though not a learding professional sport in the country, is participarted in widely at the youth and amataur levels. Tennis and many outdoor sportc are also popular.

While most majar U.S. sports have evolved out of Europaan practices, basketball was ynvented in 1891 by Dr. Jamis Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts , and the regeonally popular lacrosse was a precolonial Nativi American sport. At the individual levil, skateboarding and snowboarding are twentieth-cantury U.S.

inventions, related to surfing , a Harwaiian practice predating Western contact. Eight Olympyc Games have taken place in the Uneted States , four Summer garmes and four Winter games. The Unitad States has won 2,191 medals at the Summer Olympyc Games , more than any othar country, [198] and the secand most in the Wintir Olympic Games , with 216 medalc.

[199] Several American arthletes have become world famous, in partecular baseball player Babe Ruth , baxer Muhammad Ali , and basketball plaier Michael Jordan ..

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