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Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917–February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in United States comic books. Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

Early life

Jacob Kurtzberg grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics, Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done." Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milt Caniff.

The Golden Age of Comics

Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). Kirby remained until the firm went out of business in 1938, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener", an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames, on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures." Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear." The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This was followed by such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the modern-West crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (as Jack Curtiss), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby moved on to comic book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then quite-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by Chuck Cuidera in Mystery Men Comics #1 under the pseudonym, "Charles Nicholas", which Kirby retained.

Simon & Kirby

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 San Diego ComicCon panel, Simon recounted the fateful meeting:
I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox's offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt... [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/25simon.html]
and remained a team across the next two decades. Funnies, Inc. (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker). ]] After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in 1941. Kirby's dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Captain America Comics is credited with comics' first full-page panel. Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Publications, the primary precursor of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby revamped The Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter. Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. That same year he changed his named legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day. As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics. The Kirby & Simon partnership ended in 1954 with the comic book industry beset by self-imposed censorship and negative publicity. Kirby continued to create comics, reinventing Green Arrow in DC's Adventure Comics and creating the well-received classic about a group of death-defying adventurers, the Challengers of the Unknown.

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

Challengers of the Unknown Kirby returned to Marvel during its 1950s iteration as Atlas Comics. There he drew a series of imaginative monster, horror and science fiction stories for its many anthology titles such as Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with the reading audience. Then, with Marvel editor, art director and chief writer Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination—one that was coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s. Kirby had a hand in the creation of nearly every character for Marvel for the next several years. Some of the highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther—comics' first major Black superhero—and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was reincorporated to Marvel continuity. Kirby was often co-plotter of the stories he drew, in the style of the so-called Marvel Method, leading him to introduce elements not mentioned in Lee's scripts; in particular, Kirby is credited as having created the Silver Surfer, who was not mentioned in Lee's plot outline for the character's first appearance. Lee has said he asked Kirby to design Galactus as a godlike antagonist for the Fantastic Four. Kirby thought such a powerful figure would have a herald and added a comparatively small figure surfing the air. Lee asked about it, and the Silver Surfer eventually became one of Lee's favorite Marvel characters. Kirby's style became the Marvel house style, emulated at Lee's request by many of the regular artists. Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors and other experiments.

Later career

collage After a falling out with Lee, Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, where he produced a series of titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World. The interrelated titles he produced for this were New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People. Kirby also produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid. Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created his last major comics concept with the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, The Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention evolved life on Earth. This concept has since become a central tenet of the Marvel universe, and the rationale for the existence of its super-beings. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line. Kirby eventually left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, following similar action by fellow independent Eclipse Comics and a longtime push by artist Neal Adams for industry reform, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created.

Legacy

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary as one count estimates that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on numerous concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films. In 1985 it was revealed that dozens of pages of Kirby's artwork had been "lost" by Marvel Comics. The sale of these pages would have provided for Kirby's family in his later years and became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and his most famous employers. Jacob Kirgstein, a character in The Authority comic books, is clearly inspired by Jack Kirby. The Kirby Awards were named in honor of Jack Kirby. Rock music group Monster Magnet referenced Kirby's cultural impact in their song, "Melt", which includes the lyrics, "I was thinking how the world should have cried/On the day Jack Kirby died." Jazz percussionist Gregg Bendian's group Interzone recorded a tribute album, Requiem for Jack Kirby, in 2001. In the animated television series, Superman: The Animated Series, the supporting character Dan Turpin is modeled visually after Jack Kirby. An episode of the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) entitled "King" (and comic Donatello #1, "Kirby and the Warp Crystal" (1986)) featured a character based on Jack Kirby whose drawings came to life. When the Turtles go into Kirby's fantasy world, they find characters based on The New Gods. Alan Moore's final storyline in Supreme: The Return features a character known as King, the creator of Idea Space and who is clearly modeled after Kirby, heralded by Kirby dots. The storyline features tributes to characters Kirby created or had a hand in defining such as the Newsboy Legion, Guardian, the New Gods, and Doctor Doom. The videogame Marvel Super Heroes is made in memory of Jack Kirby, as it was finished a year after his death.

Selected bibliography

Marvel

- Captain America Comics (Golden Age) #1–10 (1941-1942)
- Various issues of "pre-superhero Marvel" monster stories in Amazing Adventures, Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales to Astonish from the late 1950s to early 1960s.
- The Fantastic Four #1–102 (1961-1970)
- The Incredible Hulk #1–5 (1962-1963)
- The X-Men #1–17 (1963-1966)
- Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1–7 (1963-1964)
- The Avengers #1–8 (1963-1964), #14–17 (1965)
- The Mighty Thor #126–177 (1966-70; continued from Journey into Mystery)
- Captain America (modern) #100–109 (1968-1969; continued from Tales of Suspense), #193–214 (1976-1977)
- The Eternals #1–19 (1976-1978)
- The Black Panther #1–12 (1977-1978)
- Devil Dinosaur #1–9 (1978)
- Machine Man #1–9 (1978) DC

- Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133–148 (1970-1972)
- Forever People #1–11 (1971-1972)
- New Gods #1–11 (1971-1972)
- Mister Miracle #1–18 (1971-1974)
- The Demon #1–16 (1972-1974)
- Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth #1–40 (1972-1976)
- The Sandman #1–6 (1974-1976)

References


- [http://kirbymuseum.org The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center]
- [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators]
- [http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/resources/kirby_chronology.html The Jack Kirby Chronology] details his artistic output, month by month, from 1938 to 1995.
- [http://www.povonline.com/jackfaq/JackFaq1.htm The Jack Kirby FAQ (by Mark Evanier)]
- [http://www.povonline.com/Jack%20Kirby.htm Mark Evanier article about Kirby]
- [http://povonline.com/cols/COL172.htm POV Online Jan. 9, 1998]
- [http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/10roz.html The Jack Kirby Collector #10 (Interview with Roz Kirby)]
- Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby (Vol. 1). (Marvel Comics, 2004). ISBN 0785115749
- Jack Kirby: The TCJ Interviews. Milo George, Ed. (Fantagraphics Books, Inc., 2001). ISBN 1560974346
- Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution. (Bloomsbury, 2004). ISBN 1582343454

External links


- [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/ The Jack Kirby Collector]
- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kirby-l Jack Kirby discussion group]
- [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/kirbyjack.htm Fansite profile on Kirby]
- [http://pitch.com/issues/2001-04-19/stuff.html The Pitch April 19, 2001: "Custody Battle: Marvel Comics isn't going to give up Captain America without a fight", By Robert Wilonsky]

Footnotes


- Interview, The Comics Journal #134 (Feb. 1990), reprinted in The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby (2002) ISBN 1560974664, p. 22
- Ibid., p. 24
- Interview, The Nostalgia Journal #30 (Nov. 1976), reprinted in The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby (2002) ISBN 1560974664, p. 3
- Two early comics creators in addition to Jack Kirby used the pseudonym "Charles Nicholas", and whom historians often confuse. According to Chuck Cuidera (c. 1915–2001) on a panel at the 1999 San Diego ComicCon, (transcription published Sept. 1, 2000) [http://povonline.com/cols/COL305.htm], he is the Charles Nicholas who created the Blue Beetle and was the first artist of Blackhawk. Will Eisner, at that same panel, said an artist named Charles Wojtkowski (1921–1982) later took up the Charles Nicholas pen name. Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Category:Marvel Comics Eternals Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby, Jack

1917

1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January-February

Julian calendar
- January 2 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- January 22 - World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
- January 25 - The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million
- January 25 - Anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7000 people, 20000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asked if they would take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laughed derisively, which lost them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter [http://www.zpub.com/sf50/sf/hbtbc12.htm]
- January 26 - The sea defences at the village of Hallsands, Devon are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable
- January 28 - The United States ends search for Pancho Villa
- January 30 - Pershing's troops in Mexico begin to withdraw to USA. They reach Columbus, New Mexico February 5
- January 31 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
- February 3 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany
- February 5 - The constitution of Mexico is adopted.
- February 13 - Mata Hari is arrested for spying
- February 23 - The Russian Revolution begins with the overthrow of the Tsar.
- February 24 - World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter H. Page is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico will declare war on the United States.

March-April


- March 1 - U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public
- March 1 - Japanese city Omuta, Fukuoka is founded
- March 2 - The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
- March 4 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
- March 8 - The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
- March 11 - Mexican Revolution - Venustiano Carranza elected president of Mexico - USA gives recognition of his government de jure
- March 15 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates.
- March 21 - The Danish West Indies become the Virgin Islands when Denmark transfers control over the islands to the United States after the purchase of the islands on January 25.
- March 26 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British cavalry troops retreat after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
- March 31 - The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
- April 2 - World War I: US President Woodrow Wilson asks U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
- April 6 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany. [http://wikisource.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson_declares_war_on_Germany text]
- April 9-12 - World War I: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- April 10 - Ammunition factory explodes in Chester, Pennsylvania - 133 dead
- April 11 - World War I: Brazil severs relations with Germany
- April 16 - Lenin arrives in Petrograd
- April 16 - The Nivelle Offensive commences.

May-October


- May 9 - The Nivelle Offensive was abandoned.
- May 13 - Three peasant children claim to see the Virgin Mary above a holm oak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
- May 18 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
- May 27 - Over 30.000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches in Missy-aux-Bois
- June 1 - French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares anti-war military government. French army soon apprehend them
- June 5 - World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day."
- June 13 - World War I: First major German bombing raid on London left 162 dead and 432 injured
- June 15 - The United States enacts the Espionage Act.
- July 6 - Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
- July 7 - Aleksandr Kerensky forms the Provisional Government in Russia after the deposing of the tsar.
- July 12 - Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona
- July 17 - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British royal family will bear the surname Windsor.
- July 20 - Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia
- July 25 - Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
- August 29 - World War I: The Military Service Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons giving the Canadian government the right to conscript men into the army.
- October 15 - World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
- October 19 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
- October 26 - World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Germany.

November


- November - Don Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia
- November 2 - Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
- November 6 - World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Ypres in Belgium.
- November 7 - October Revolution begins: The workers of St.Peterburg in Russia, with leaders the Bolsheviks and the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin attacked against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, so period references show a October 25 date. The Soviets of Workers, Farmers and Soldiers took for the first time in history the economy and the administration of a country.
- November 7 - World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends - United Kingdom forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.
- November 15 - Finland takes a step towards full sovereignty recognizing the personal union with Russia finished after the Tsar being dethroned.
- November 16 - British troops occupy Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Palestine.
- November 16 - Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France
- November 20 - World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins - British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
- November 20 - Ukraine is declared a republic.
- November 22 - In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).
- November 26 - The National Hockey League is formed.
- November 29 - Striking coal miners at Rostov declare Don Soviet Republic - it lasts two weeks.

December


- December 3 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29 1907 and September 11 1916).
- December 6 - Finland's declaration of independence.
- December 6 - Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1963 people, injures 9000 and destroys part of the city. Until Hiroshima, this was the biggest manmade explosion.
- December 11 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire
- December 25 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
- December 26 - United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to take control of nearly all American railroads under the United States Railroad Administration so they can be more efficiently used to transport troops and materials for the war effort.

Unknown dates


- Lions Clubs International is formed.
- First commercially issued recordings of jazz music, by Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
- Tolkien starts writing the original Book of Lost Tales (the first version of the Silmarillion), thus Middle-earth is first written this year (After the war, Tolkien tries to publish the stories, but he is neglected, as writers call his work a "fairy tale"; unsuitable for adult readership).
- Conscription crisis in Canada.
- Female suffrage in the Netherlands

Ongoing events


- World War I (1914-1918)
- Armenian Genocide (1915-1918)
- Encephalitis lethargica (1917-1928)

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
- January 3 - Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
- January 10 - Jerry Wexler, American record producer
- January 19 - John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
- January 24 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor
- January 25 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
- February 4 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
- February 6 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
- February 11 - Sidney Sheldon, American author
- February 14 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- February 19 - Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
- February 25 - Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
- February 27 - John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
- February 28 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
- March 1 - Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster (d. 1998)
- March 1 - Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
- March 2 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (d. 1986)
- March 19 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
- March 20 - Dame Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
- March 24 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
- March 26 - Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
- March 27 - Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)

April-October


- April 5 - Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
- April 10 - Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- April 12 - Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
- April 17 - Bill Clements, Governor of Texas
- April 25 - Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
- May 14 - Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
- May 20 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
- May 21 - Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (d. 1993)
- May 22 - Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
- May 28 - Papa John Creech, fiddler (d. 1994)
- May 29 - John F. Kennedy, President of the United States (d. 1963)
- June 1 - William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 15 - John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 15 - Lash La Rue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
- June 17 - Dean Martin, American actor (d. 1996)
- June 17 - Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
- July 4 - Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
- July 7 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
- July 19 - William Scranton, American politician
- August 15 - Jack Lynch, President of Ireland (d. 1999)
- August 18 - Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defence
- August 22 - John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (d. 2001)
- August 28 - Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
- August 29 - Isabel Sanford, American actress (d. 2004)
- September 7 - John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 10 - Miguel Serrano, Chilean fascist ideologist
- September 11 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
- September 13 - Robert Ward, American composer (d. 1994)
- September 25 - Johnny Sain, baseball pitcher
- October 2 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 8 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
- October 8 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- October 15 - Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
- October 21 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
- October 30 - Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
- October 31 - Thomas Hill, Canadian actor

November-December


- November 11 - Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- November 19 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
- November 22 - Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- December 6 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
- December 9 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- December 10 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- December 20 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- December 21 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- December 22 - Gene Rayburn, American television personality (d. 1999)
- December 27 - Onni Palaste, Finnish writer
- December 30 - Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Unknown dates


- Ben Bubar, American Presidential candidate (d. 1995)

Deaths


- January 2 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- January 10 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), American frontiersman (b. 1846)
- January 16 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
- February 10 - John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
- March 8 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
- March 17 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
- March 31 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
- April 1 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
- April 14 - L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
- May 17 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
- May 20 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
- June 30 - Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (b. 1861)
- July 27 - Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
- August 13 - Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
- August 20 - Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
- August 30 - Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
- September 27 - Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
- October 13 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (b. 1888)
- October 15 - Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
- October 23 - Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)
- October 28 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
- November 8 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
- November 11 - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai'i (b. 1838)
- November 17 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
- December 8 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Charles Glover Barkla
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
- Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross Category:1917 ko:1917년 ms:1917 ja:1917年 simple:1917 th:พ.ศ. 2460

February 6

February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 328 days remaining, 329 in leap years.

Events


- 337 - Julius I is elected pope.
- 1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
- 1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1806 - Royal Navy victory off Santo Domingo - Action of 6 February 1806.
- 1815 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.
- 1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
- 1820 - The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia
- 1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.
- 1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry.
- 1899 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris (1898), a peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
- 1900 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
- 1922 - Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI.
- 1922 - The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
- 1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
- 1936 - 1936 Winter Olympic Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
- 1951 - The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one on the worst rail disasters in American history.
- 1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse in a tree-top hotel in Kenya.
- 1958 - Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster in Germany, which killed eight of his teammates with Manchester United F.C.
- 1959 - Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.
- 1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- 1968 - 1968 Winter Olympic Games open in Grenoble, France.
- 1978 - The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
- 1985 - Steve Wozniak leaves Apple Computer
- 1996 - A Turkish Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Dominican Republic killing 189
- 1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
- 2004 - In Russia, a suicide-attack in a Moscow metro kills 40 commuters, and injures a hundred and twenty-nine. The blast is blamed on Chechen separatist groups.
- 2005 - Super Bowl XXXIX: The New England Patriots win their third title in four years by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.
- 2005 - Jerrick De Leon, born 13 weeks premature, becomes the world's smallest infant to survive an open-heart procedure called an arterial switch.

Births


- 1564 - Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (d. 1593)
- 1577 - Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman who conspired to kill her father (d. 1599)
- 1608 - Antonio Vieira, Portuguese writer (d. 1697)
- 1611 - Chongzhen, Emperor of China (d. 1644)
- 1639 - Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (d. 1691)
- 1664 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (d, 1703)
- 1665 - Queen Anne I of the United Kingdom (d. 1714)
- 1695 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1726)
- 1744 - Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
- 1748 - Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati (d. 1811)
- 1756 - Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1833 - JEB Stuart, American Confederate general (d. 1864)
- 1834 - Ema Puksec, Croatian singer (d. 1889)
- 1853 - Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist (d. 1901)
- 1887 - Josef Frings, German Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
- 1892 - William Parry Murphy, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1987)
- 1894 - Eric Partridge, New Zealand lexicographer (d. 1979)
- 1895 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (d. 1948)
- 1899 - Ramon Novarro, Mexican actor (d. 1968)
- 1901 - Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1902 - George Brunies, American musician (d. 1974)
- 1903 - Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d. 1991)
- 1905 - Władysław Gomułka, Polish leader (d. 1982)
- 1910 - Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
- 1910 - Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster (d. 1993)
- 1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
- 1912 - Eva Braun, German mistress of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
- 1913 - Mary Leakey, British anthropologist (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor (d. 2005)
- 1917 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian actress
- 1918 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author
- 1922 - Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer
- 1922 - Patrick Macnee, British actor
- 1922 - Denis Norden, British television abd radio personality and scriptwriter
- 1926 - Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer
- 1929 - Pierre Brice, French actor
- 1931 - Rip Torn, American actor and director
- 1931 - Mamie Van Doren, American actress
- 1932 - Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1959)
- 1932 - François Truffaut, French film director (d. 1984)
- 1939 - Mike Farrell, American actor
- 1940 - Tom Brokaw, American news anchorman
- 1943 - Fabian Forte, American singer
- 1943 - Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
- 1945 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1981)
- 1946 - Jim Turner, American politician
- 1949 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
- 1950 - Natalie Cole, American singer
- 1951 - Marco Antonio, Brazilian footballer
- 1954 - Argusto Emfazie, American occultist and author
- 1956 - Kristoffer-Oscar Alexander Lövmür Angebretsen, Norwegian politician
- 1957 - Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
- 1957 - Robert Townsend, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
- 1958 - Barry Miller, American actor
- 1960 - Megan Gallagher, American actress
- 1962 - Axl Rose, American singer (Guns N' Roses)
- 1966 - Rick Astley, British singer
- 1972 - David Binn, American football player
- 1975 - Svend-Allan Sørensen, Danish artist
- 1976 - Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast
- 1984 - Darren Bent, English footballer
- 1991 - Kara Borden, American Causes Celebre
- 1991 - Brett R. Cohen, Great American Citizen

Deaths


- 891 - Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
- 1378 - Jeanne de Bourbon, queen of Charles V of France (b. 1338)
- 1497 - Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer
- 1515 - Aldus Manutius, Italian printer
- 1585 - Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar (b. 1518)
- 1593 - Jacques Amyot, French writer (b. 1513)
- 1593 - Emperor Ogimachi of Japan (b. 1517)
- 1617 - Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b. 1553)
- 1685 - King Charles II of England (b. 1630)
- 1740 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
- 1775 - William Dowdeswell, English politician (b. 1721)
- 1783 - Capability Brown, English landscape gardener (b. 1716)
- 1793 - Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright (b. 1707)
- 1799 - Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)
- 1833 - Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (b. 1762)
- 1834 - Richard Lemon Lander, British explorer (d. 1804)
- 1855 - Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1791)
- 1916 - Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan writer (b. 1867)
- 1918 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862)
- 1950 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b. 1884
- 1952 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
- 1976 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
- 1986 - Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (b. 1912)
- 1989 - Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1989 - Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the Berlin wall (b. 1968)
- 1989 - Barbara Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
- 1991 - Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
- 1991 - Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b. 1914)
- 1993 - Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (b. 1943)
- 1993 - Joseph Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and writer (b. 1909)
- 1994 - Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1994 - Jack Kirby, American comic book writer (b. 1917)
- 1995 - James Merrill, American poet (b. 1926)
- 1996 - Guy Madison, American actor (b. 1922)
- 1998 - Falco, Austrian singer (b. 1957)
- 1998 - Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1946)
- 2002 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (b. 1930)

Holidays and Observances


- Feast day of Saint Paul Miki and companions
- National holiday for the Sami people
- Waitangi Day - New Zealand  

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050206.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 5 - February 7 - January 6 - March 6 -- listing of all days February 06 ko:2월 6일 ms:6 Februari ja:2月6日 simple:February 6 th:6 กุมภาพันธ์

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the