Okoro Daniel O.
Last Updated on August 10, 2023 by Okoro Daniel O.
COUNTRY NAME: America, US, USA, and The United States of America.
YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE: July 4, 1776 (from the United Kingdom).
— Declaration: July 4, 1776.
— Confederation: March 1, 1781.
— Treaty of Paris: September 3, 1783.
— Constitution: June 21, 1788.
— Bill of Rights: September 25, 1789.
— Last state admitted: August 21, 1959.
— Last amendment: May 5, 1992.
CONTINENT: North America.
CURRENCY: United States dollar ($) (USD).
TIME ZONE: UTC−4 to −12, +10, +11 • Summer (DST): UTC−4 to −10.
CALLING CODE: +1.
OFFICIAL / NATIONAL LANGUAGE (s): None at the federal level. National language: English.
COLOR OF FLAG: White stars (50 since July 4, 1960) on a blue canton with a field of 13 alternating stripes, 7 red and 6 white.
DEMONYM: American.
POPULATION: 331,449,281 (as of 2021).
LANDMARK AREA / GEOLOGY: 3,796,742 sq mi (9,833,520 km²).
FEDERAL CAPITAL: Washington, D.C.
LARGEST CITY: New York City.
DRIVING SIDE: right.
INTERNET TLD (Top Level Domain): Generic top-level domain: .com, .org, .net, .edu, .gov, .mil • Country code top-level domain: .us, .pr, .as, .gu, .mp, .vi, .um
Are you wondering what someone from United States of America is called, what currency they spend and what color their flag possesses? You are definitely in the right place to get answer to your questions. Let get started.
What Do You Call Someone Or Person From United States of America?
Someone from America is called American.
What Is The Name Of The Currency United States Spend?
The name of the currency America spends is United States dollar ($) (USD).
What Is The Colour Of United States Flag?
The color of America flag is White, Blue, Red.
After the American Revolution began, the first, unofficial national flag—known as the Continental Colours (or, sometimes, as the Grand Union Flag, the Cambridge Flag, the Somerville Flag, or the Union Flag)—was hoisted on a towering 76-foot (23-metre) liberty pole at Prospect Hill in Charlestown (now in Somerville), Massachusetts, on January 1, 1776; it was raised at the behest of Gen. George Washington, whose headquarters were nearby. The flag had 13 horizontal stripes (probably of red and white or of red, white, and blue) and, in the canton, the first version of the British Union Flag (Union Jack). As the flag of the Continental Army, it flew at forts and on naval vessels. Another popular early flag, that of the 1765 Sons of Liberty, had only nine red and white stripes. Various versions of “Don’t Tread on Me” coiled-rattlesnake flags appeared on many 18th-century American colonial banners, including several flown by military units during the Revolutionary War. The version carried by the Minutemen of Culpeper County, Virginia, for example, included not only the rattlesnake and the “Don’t Tread on Me” motto but also Virginia patriot Patrick Henry’s famous words “Liberty or Death.”
The first official national flag, formally approved by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, was the Stars and Stripes. That first Flag Resolution read, in toto, “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.” The layout of the stars was left undefined, and many patterns were used by flag makers. The designer of the flag—most likely Congressman Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Philadelphia—may have had a ring of stars in mind to symbolize the new constellation. Today that pattern is popularly known as the “Betsy Ross flag,” although the widely circulated story that she made the first Stars and Stripes and came up with the ring pattern is unsubstantiated. Rows of stars (4-5-4 or 3-2-3-2-3) were common, but many other variations also existed. The new Stars and Stripes formed part of the military colours carried on September 11, 1777, at the Battle of the Brandywine, perhaps its first such use.
The Stars and Stripes changed on May 1, 1795, when Congress enacted the second Flag Resolution, which mandated that new stars and stripes be added to the flag when new states were admitted to the Union. The first two new states were Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792). (One such flag was the 1,260-square-foot [117-square-metre] “Star-Spangled Banner,” made by Mary Pickersgill, that Francis Scott Key saw at Fort McHenry in September 1814, which inspired him to write the patriotic poem that later supplied the lyrics of the national anthem.) In 1818, after five more states had been admitted, Congress enacted the third and last Flag Resolution, requiring that henceforth the number of stripes should remain 13, the number of stars should always match the number of states, and any new star should be added on the July 4 following a state’s admission. This has been the system ever since. In all, from 1777 to 1960 (after the admission of Hawaii in 1959), there were 27 versions of the flag—25 involving changes in the stars only. An executive order signed by Pres. William Howard Taft on October 29, 1912, standardized for the first time the proportions and relative sizes of the elements of the flag; in 1934 the exact shades of colour were standardized.
There is no official assignment of meaning or symbolism to the colours of the flag. However, Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, in describing the proposed Great Seal of the United States, suggested the following symbolism: “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue…signifies vigilence [sic], perseverence [sic] & justice.” As with many other national flags, the Stars and Stripes has long been a focus of patriotic sentiment. Since 1892, millions of children have recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag at the start of each school day, and the lyrics of the national anthem are also concerned with the flag. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that all flag desecration laws were unconstitutional, some veterans’ and patriotic groups pressured legislators to adopt laws or a constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. Such legislation has been opposed on the grounds that it would infringe on the constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment freedom of expression.
During the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America began to use its first flag, the Stars and Bars, on March 5, 1861. Soon after, the first Confederate Battle Flag was also flown. The design of the Stars and Bars varied over the following two years. On May 1, 1863, the Confederacy adopted its first official national flag, often called the Stainless Banner. A modification of that design was adopted on March 4, 1865, about a month before the end of the war. In the latter part of the 20th century, many groups in the South challenged the practice of flying the Confederate Battle Flag on public buildings, including some state capitols. Proponents of the tradition argued that the flag recalled Southern heritage and wartime sacrifice, whereas opponents saw it as a symbol of racism and slavery, inappropriate for official display.
Brief History Of United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, 326 Indian reservations, and some minor possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million square kilometers), it is the world’s third- or fourth-largest country by total area. The United States shares significant land borders with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, as well as limited maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, and Russia. With a population of more than 331 million people, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago, and European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Disputes over taxation and political representation with Great Britain led to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). In 1788, four years after achieving independence, the states ratified the U.S. Constitution, establishing a new federal government which remains in force today. In the early 19th century, the country began expanding across North America, gradually obtaining new territories, sometimes through war, frequently displacing Native Americans, and admitting new states; by 1848, the United States spanned the continent. Slavery was legal in the southern states, which sparked the American Civil War (1861–1865). The ultimate victory by the Union led to slavery’s abolition. The war and its aftermath saw the rapid expansion of American industrial capabilities. A more interventionist American foreign policy was confirmed by the overseas territories won by the U.S. in the Spanish–American War. Victory in the First World War in 1918 made the United States into a world power. The U.S. forged a strong new cultural identity in the 1920s and 1930s, with the popularization of baseball and the growing international attraction of Hollywood and jazz.
In 1941, the United States formally entered the Second World War as a member of the Allied powers after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Its armed forces fought simultaneously in two military theaters, Western Europe and East Asia. The country also experienced an unparalleled transformation that saw the rapid expansion of its military, scientific, and industrial might. It also pursued the Manhattan Project, a top secret effort to develop the atomic bomb. The United States came out of the war as a superpower and the only nation with nuclear weapons. It played a significant role in establishing the United Nations and drafting the 1947 Constitution of Japan, which had been defeated in 1945.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union faced growing tensions that escalated into the Cold War, which would play out for the duration of the 20th century. It also posed the potential of nuclear conflict when in 1949 the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic weapon. The United States opposed Soviet allies in the Korean War (with a UN mandate) and the Vietnam War (without UN support) but avoided direct military conflict with the Soviet Union itself. The Space Race, another measure of U.S.–Soviet competition during the Cold War, resulted in the Apollo 11 mission that saw the United States land the first man on the Moon in 1969. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended the Cold War, leaving the United States as the world’s sole superpower for the next two decades. In the 21st century, the United States has increasingly been challenged by China as a dominant superpower.
The United States is a federal republic and a representative democracy with three separate branches of government, including a bicameral legislature. It is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, NATO, and other international organizations. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Considered a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, its population has been profoundly shaped by centuries of immigration. The country ranks high in international measures of economic freedom, quality of life, education, and human rights, and has low levels of perceived corruption. However, the country has received domestic and international criticism concerning inequality related to race, wealth and income, the use of capital punishment, high incarceration rates, and lack of universal health care.
The United States is a highly developed country, accounts for approximately a quarter of global GDP, and is the world’s largest economy. By value, the United States is the world’s largest importer and the second-largest exporter of goods. Although its population is only 4.2% of the world’s total, it holds 29.4% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share held by any country. Making up more than a third of global military spending, it is the foremost military power in the world; and it is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.
REFERENCES | CREDIT
– Britannica (Flag of America)
– Wikipedia (United States of America)
