Portal:United States

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Introduction

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Flag of the United States of America
Flag of the United States of America
Great Seal of the United States of America
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The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district, and a number of other territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.
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Portrait of William Henry Harrison by James Reid Lambdin
William Henry Harrison (1773–1841) was the ninth President of the United States, an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He originally gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe. As a general in the subsequent War of 1812, his victory at the Battle of the Thames brought an end to hostilities in his region. After the war, Harrison was elected to the United States Congress, later serving as a member of the Senate. Elected president in 1840, Harrison was the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan, and the last President to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence. Harrison died in office of complications from pneumonia, having served the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis, but that crisis ultimately resolved many questions about presidential succession left unanswered by the Constitution until passage of the 25th Amendment.
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Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "most beautiful" woman, titles for which she has received substantial media attention.

Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, as well as three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

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Youngstown in the 1910s
Youngstown is the eighth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, and 61 miles (100 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Youngstown has its own metropolitan area, but the Pittsburgh Tri-State and Greater Cleveland influence the region. Youngstown lies 10 miles (16 km) west of the Pennsylvania state line - midway between New York City and Chicago. The 2000 census showed that Youngstown had a total population of 82,026.

The city was named for John Young, an early settler from Whitestown, New York, who established the community's first sawmill and gristmill. Youngstown is located in a region of the United States that is often referred to as the Rust Belt. Traditionally known as a center of steel production, Youngstown was forced to redefine itself when the U.S. steel industry fell into decline in the 1970s, leaving communities throughout the region without major industry.

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E Pluribus Unum included in the Seal of the United States, being one of the nation's mottos at the time of the seal's creation
E Pluribus Unum — Out of many, one
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The structure of part of a DNA double helix

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The cuisine of Philadelphia was shaped largely by the city's mixture of ethnicities, available foodstuffs and history. Certain foods have become associated with the city. (Full article...)

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Fort Baker, Angel Island and the fog over San Francisco Bay.
Fort Baker, Angel Island and the fog over San Francisco Bay.
Credit: Mila Zinkova
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A pair of Tower Optical coin-operated binoculars

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Liberty Bell