Population: 341 million (estimate) [1]

Capital: Washington, D.C.

Largest city: New York City

Official language: None

Religion: 67% Christianity, 22% unaffiliated, 2% Judaism, 6% other, 3% unanswered [2]

Demonym: American

Government:

President: Donald Trump

Vice President: JD Vance

Legislature: Congress

Upper house: Senate

Lower house: House of Representatives

Independence from British Empire

Declaration: July 4, 1776

Recognition: September 3, 1783

Constitution: March 4, 1789

Latest amendment: May 5, 1992

Currency: US Dollar ($, USD)

Internet TLD: .us

This section would benefit from expansion. | This section needs additional citations for verification.

The United States was formed in 1776, when thirteen British colonies in North American joined together and declared independence from the British Empire, in an event now known as the American Revolution. After years of bloody fighting, the United States won, and in 1789, a constitution was ratified. Slavery was a contentious issue in this early period of American history, with many wanting to abolish the institution and others wanting to preserve it. In 1861, eleven southern states seceded from the union and formed the Confederacy. The two sides clashed in a brutal Civil War, but the Union won, and slavery was abolished.

After the Civil War, a period called Reconstruction began. Formerly enslaved African-Americans were left with virtually nothing, and the country was torn apart from five years of brutal fighting. A struggle for racial equality would continue in America for generations. Meanwhile, women sought the right to vote, and after an extensive peaceful protest movement, finally won it in 1920.

The United States was involved in World War I, fighting on the side of the Allies. During the interwar period, it suffered from a period of poverty, famine, and economic collapse known as the Great Depression. The United States tried to stay out of World War II, but Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, prompting the US to enter the war on the side of the Allies. At the end of World War II, the United States became the only country to use nuclear weapons in war when it dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.

The post-war United States entered into a conflict known as the Cold War with its rival superpower, the Soviet Union. The two powers competed for ideological dominance, nuclear arms stockpiles, and global hegemony. A space race also took place between the two countries. Although the USSR was the first to put a human in space, the United States was the first to reach the moon. The US involved itself in foreign wars, including the Korean War and Vietnam War. It also supported various coups in foreign countries. At home, the United States was experiencing a struggle for freedom known as the Civil Rights Movement, where African-Americans marched and protested for rights that they had been denied by discriminatory Jim Crow laws, primarily in the south. Prominent figures from the movement include Martin Luther King, Jr, and Malcom X.

The United States possesses fifty states, a federal district (Washington D.C.), and several territories and insular areas. It has a territorial dispute with the United Friends of America over Unami Creek, which belongs to the UFA but is internationally recognized as part of the US.

The contiguous US, located on the continent of North America, is one of the most geographically diverse areas on Earth. It contains deserts, forest, arid and semi-arid plains, rivers, and five Great Lakes, some of the largest bodies of water on Planet Earth. Major rivers include the Mississippi River and the Delaware River.

1. https://www.census.gov/popclock/

2. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1690/Religion.aspx