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Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the NASA space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) at Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island in Florida, United States. The site is midway between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida. It is 55 km long and around 10 km wide, covering 567 km². Around 17,000 people work at the site. There is a visitor center and public tours and KSC is a major tourist destination for visitors to Florida. Because much of KSC is off limits to development, the site also serves as an important wildlife sanctuary. Operations are currently controlled from Launch complex 39, the location of the Vehicle Assembly Building. 6 km to the east of the assembly building are the two launch pads. 8 km south is the KSC Industrial Area, where many of the Center's support facilities are located and the administrative headquarters. Kennedy Space Center's only launch operations are at Launch Complex 39. All other launch operations take place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) which is operated by the U.S. Air Force.

History

The area had been used by the government since 1949 when President Harry S. Truman established the Joint Long Range Proving Grounds at Cape Canaveral to test missiles. The location was ideal for this purpose as it allowed for launches out toward the Atlantic Ocean, and it was closer to the equator than most other parts of the United States allowing for rockets to get a boost from the earth's rotation. In 1951 the U.S. Air Force established the Air Force Missile Test Center at nearby Banana River Naval Air Station. The first American sub-orbital rocket flights were achieved at Cape Canaveral in 1949. Following Sputnik, the first Soviet attempt at an orbiting satellite, the U.S. Navy's Vanguard, blew-up on December 6, 1957. NASA was founded in 1958 and the site was transformed into a major launch site. Redstone, Jupiter IRBM, Jupiter-C, Pershing, Polaris, Thor, Atlas, Titan and Minuteman missiles were all tested from the site, the Thor becoming the basis for the expendable launch vehicle (ELV) Delta rocket, which launched Telstar 1 in July 1962. The announcement of the lunar program led to an expansion of operations from the Cape to the adjacent Merritt Island. NASA began acquisition in 1962, taking title to 340 km² by outright purchase and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 226 km². In July 1962 the site was named the Launch Operations Center. It was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center in November 1963, after the recently assassinated president John F. Kennedy. The surrounding Cape Canaveral was also renamed Cape Kennedy, but this change was unpopular with the local people and the name reverted in 1973. The lunar project had three stages—Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. The objective of Mercury was to orbit and retrieve a manned Earth satellite. The project started in October 1957 using the Atlas ICBM as the base to carry the Mercury payload. but early testing used the Redstone rocket for a series of suborbital flights including the 15-minute flights of Alan Shepard on May 5 and Virgil Grissom on July 21, 1961. The first human carried by an Atlas was John Glenn on February 20, 1962. 1962]] From the knowledge gained through Mercury the more complex two-man capsules of Gemini were prepared as was a new launcher based on the Titan II ICBM. The first manned flight took place on March 23, 1965 with John Young and Virgil Grissom. Gemini 4 featured the first extravehicular activity, by Edward H. White. There were twelve Gemini launches from KSC. The Apollo program had another new launcher—the three-stage Saturn V (111 m high and 10 m in diameter), built by Boeing (first stage), North American Aviation (engines and second stage) and Douglas Aircraft (third stage). North American Aviation also made the command and service modules while Grumman Aircraft Engineering constructed the lunar lander. IBM, MIT and GE provided instrumentation. At KSC a $800 million massive new launch centre was built to take this new launcher—Launch Complex 39. It included a hangar to hold four Saturn V rockets, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB, 3.68 million m³); a transportation system from the hangar to the launch pad, capable of carrying 5440 tonnes; a 136 meter movable service structure and a control center. construction began in November 1962, the launch pads were completed by October 1965, the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastucure by late 1966. From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches from Complex 39. Prior to the Saturn V launches there were a series of smaller Saturn I and IB launches to test the men and equipment from Complex 34 on the Cape Canaveral site. The death of three astronauts by fire on Apollo-Saturn 204 (later designated Apollo 1) on January 27, 1967 occurred at Complex 34. The first Saturn V test launch, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) began its 104 hour countdown on October 30, 1967 and, after delays, was launched on November 9. Apollo 7 was the first manned test on October 11, 1968. Apollo 8 made 10 lunar orbits on December 24-25, 1968. Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 tested the lunar lander. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 and the Moon was walked on at 10.56 pm, July 20. The Apollo program continued at KSC, through Apollo 14 (1971), the 24th American manned space flight (40th in the world), until Apollo 17 of December 1972. The Air Force chose to expand the capabilites of the Titan launch vehicles for its heavy lift capabilities. It constructed Launch Complexes 40 and 41 to launch Titan III and Titan IV rockets at CCAFS, just south of Kennedy Space Center. A Titan III has about the same payload capacity as a Saturn IB at a considerable cost savings. Launch Complex 40 and 41 has been used to launch defense reconnaissance, communications and weather satellites and NASA planetary missions. The Air Force also planned to launch two Air Force manned space projects from LC 40 and 41. They were the Dyna-Soar, a manned orbital rocket plane (cancelled in 1963) and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, a manned reconnaissance space station (cancelled in 1969). Manned Orbiting Laboratory ELV rocket development also continued at KSC—prior to Apollo, an Atlas-Centaur launched from Launch Complex 36 had put the first American Surveyor lander softly on the Moon on May 30, 1966. A further five out of seven Surveyor craft were also successfully transferred to the Moon. From 1974-1977 the powerful Titan-Centaur became the new heavy lift vehicle for NASA, launching the Viking and Voyager series of spacecraft from Launch Complex 41, a Air Force site lent to NASA. Complex 41 later became the launch site for the most powerful unmanned U.S. rocket, the Titan IV, developed for the Air Force. The Saturn V was also used to put the Skylab space station in orbit in 1973. Launchpad 39B was slightly modified for Saturn IB use, and launched three manned missions to Skylab in 1973, as well as the Apollo component of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. KSC was also the launch site for the Space Shuttle, reusing the Complex 39 Apollo infrastructure, as well as the landing site, with a 4.6 km runway built as the Shuttle Landing Facility. The first launch was of Columbia on April 12, 1981. Twenty-five flights had been completed by September 1988, with a large hiatus from January 28, 1986, to September 29, 1988, following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (which was the first shuttle launch from Pad 39B). In September 2004, parts of Kennedy Space Center were damaged by Hurricane Frances. The Vehicle Assembly Building lost 1,000 exterior panels, each 1.2 x 3 meters in size. This exposed 3,700 m² of the building to the elements. Damage occurred to the south and east sides of the VAB. The Space Shuttle tile manufacturing facility suffered extensive damage. The roof was partially torn off and the interior suffered extensive water damage. Tile manufacturing will probably be moved to the Palmdale, California backup facility. Further damage to KSC was caused by Hurricane Wilma on October 2005.

Visitor Complex

2005 The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North Companies at no taxpayer expense, is home to a number of museums, two IMAX theatres, and various bus tours allowing visitors a closer look at various restricted areas that would otherwise not be possible. Included in the base admission is tour-bus transportation into the restricted area to an observation gantry on the grounds of Launch complex 39, and to the Apollo-Saturn V Center. The observation gantry provides unobstructed views of both launch pads and all of Kennedy Space Center property. The Apollo-Saturn V Center is a large museum built around its centerpiece exhibit, a restored Saturn V launch vehicle, and features other space related exhibits, including an Apollo capsule. Two theaters allow the visitor to relive parts of the Apollo program. One simulates the environment inside an Apollo-era firing room during an Apollo launch, and another simulates the Apollo 11 landing. The Visitor Complex also includes two facilities run by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. The most visible of these is the Space Mirror Memorial, a huge black granite mirror through-engraved with the names of all astronauts who died in the line of duty. These names are constantly illuminated from behind, with natural light when possible, and artificial light when necessary. The glowing names seem to float in a reflection of the sky. Supplemental displays nearby give the details of the lives and deaths of the astronauts memorialized. Elsewhere on the Visitor Complex grounds is the Foundation's Center for Space Education, which includes a resource center for teachers, among other facilities.

See also


- List of Merritt Island launch sites

External links


- [http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/ Kennedy Space Center Home Page]
- [http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ Visitor Complex Home Page]
- [http://www.amfcse.org/ Astronauts Memorial Foundation Home Page]
- [http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capveral.htm John F. Kennedy Space Center] from Encyclopedia Astronautica
- [https://www.patrick.af.mil/45sw/ccafs/ Cape Canaveral 45th Spacewing Home Page]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.608298,-80.603878&spn=0.013458,0.020262&t=k&hl=en Launch Complex 39A] (Google Maps)
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.586067,-80.651064&spn=0.006730,0.009693&t=k&hl=en Vehicle Assembly Building] (Google Maps) Category:Big Science Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center Category:Florida landmarks Category:Rocket launch sites Category:Brevard County, Florida ja:ケネディ宇宙センター



Spaceport

A spaceport is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with airport for aircraft. Typically the site is large enough that should a rocket explode it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. Typically preferred are launches from near the equator in an easterly direction. This allows maximum use of the Earth's rotational speed, and a good orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. It also increases mass-to-orbit. For polar or Molniya orbits, these aspects do not apply. For safety, a launch vector over water or deserted land is important. It is believed that future hypersonic aircraft will require a very long runway rather than a vertical launch pad. Such hypothetical spaceports will present unique challenges in noise abatement, zoning, and passenger access, with as much as a 5 mile wide corridor surrounding a 30 mile long runway. A dedicated mass transit system from the nearest public access point to the aircraft boarding area will be required.

North America


- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on Merritt Island, Florida
- Kennedy Space Center, also on Merritt Island, Florida
- Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
- Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
- Meadows Field Airport, Bakersfield, California (while not technically a spaceport, it was the original "home port" for Orbital Sciences' L-1011 carrier aircraft. Called the "Stargazer" it serves as the mothership for the Pegasus and PegasusXL launch vehicle from 1994 until 2002. It has since then been based at Mojave Spaceport)
- Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California
- Oklahoma Spaceport, Burns Flat, Oklahoma
- Southwest Regional Spaceport, Upham, New Mexico

South America


- Alcantara Launch Center, Maranhão, Brazil
- Centre Spatial Guyanais at Kourou, French Guiana

Europe


- Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
- Kapustin Yar, Russia

Asia


- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakhstan
- Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
- Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China
- Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China
- Tanegashima Space Center, Tanegashima Island, Japan
- Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
- Christmas Island Spaceport, Australia (Proposed)
- Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Open ocean


- Sea Launch sails with a converted oil platform between Long Beach, California, where a rocket is collected, and the equator, where the rocket is launched from the platform
- San Marco Platform

See also


- Rocket launch sites

External links


- MSNBC: [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6191567/ Spaceports compete in race for business]

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast. It is part of a region known as the Space Coast, and is the site of the Kennedy Space Center, and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Most United States spacecraft are launched from either one of these sites. It sits due east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River. From 1963 to 1973 it was called Cape Kennedy: President John F. Kennedy was an enthusiastic backer of the space program, and after his assassination in 1963, his widow Jacqueline Kennedy suggested to President Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral space facility would be an appropriate memorial. However, Johnson recommended the renaming not just of the facility, but of the entire cape. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy. Although the name change was approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names of the Interior Department in 1964, it was not popular in Florida and in 1973 the state passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name and the Board went along. The people of the city of Cape Canaveral, Florida, had particularly pressed to change it back. The Kennedy family issued a letter stating they "understood the decision"; Jacqueline Kennedy also stated if she had known that the Canaveral name had existed for 400 years, she never would have supported changing the name of the Cape. The space center retains the name Kennedy. In addition to the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral is the site of an air force base, a nineteenth-century lighthouse, and the city of Cape Canaveral. The first rocket launch from the Cape was Bumper 8 from Launch Pad 3 on 24 July, 1950. On February 6, 1959 the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished here. All manned US spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral. Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the earth's rotation. At the equator, the centrifugal force of earth's rotation is the maximum. The direction of earth's rotation is such that to take advantage of the rotation, rockets should be launched eastward. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, ideally an ocean, in case of accidents. Thus rockets should be launched from a continent's east coast as close to the equator as possible. For the United States, Florida is the most southerly east coast location. The name "Canaveral" (Cañaveral in Spanish) was given to the area by Spanish explorers, and it literally means "canebrake". It can be interpreted as "Cape of Canes."

Seen in

Cape Canaveral has been seen in The Simpsons and in Fur Fighters, known as Cape Canardo.

External links


- [http://www.spaceline.org/capehistory.html History of Cape Canaveral]
- [http://www.myflorida.com/cape/ City of Cape Canaveral, FL]
- [http://www.terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=16&Z=17&X=42&Y=245&W=1&qs=%7cCape+Canaveral%7c%7c Microsoft Terra Server image of Cape Canaveral and surroundings]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Cape+Canaveral,+FL&ll=28.467636,-80.553474&spn=0.156384,0.225563&t=k Google Maps imagery]
- [http://www.discoverbrevard.com/CapeCanaveral.php/ Discover Cape Canaveral, FL]
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_440.html The Straight Dope: Why did they change the name of Cape Kennedy back to Cape Canaveral?] Canaveral th:แหลมแคนาเวอรัล

Florida

Florida is a Southern state in the United States, situated upon a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. "Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery." The peninsula was discovered and settled by Juan Ponce de León on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is known as Pascua Florida in Spanish. Its U.S. Postal abbreviation is FL while its traditional abbreviation is Fla.

History

1513 Archaeological finds indicate that Florida had been inhabited for many thousands of years prior to any European settlements. Of the many indigenous people, the largest tribes were the Calusa, Tequesta, Timucuan, and the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish navigator, named this new land in honor of his discovery of the land on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is called by Spaniards Pascua Florida, "Holy Day of Flowers." From that date forward, the land became known as "La Florida." Over the following century, the Spanish and French both established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. Spanish Pensacola was established by Don Tristan de Luna as the first European settlement in the current United States in 1559 (its settlement was interrupted by a hurricane). Six years later, in 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established Saint Augustine as the first permanent European settlement. These two cities would come to be the capitals of the British and Spanish colonies of East and West Florida. The area of Florida diminished with the establishment of British colonies to the north and French colonies to the west. Control of parts of Florida passed among Spanish, British, and American control. Spain finally ceded Florida to the United States with the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, in exchange for the U.S. renouncing any claims on Texas. On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. Florida seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861 and was one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America (CSA, also known as the Confederacy). Florida joined the CSA on February 10, 1861. After the fall of the Confederacy in 1865, Florida was readmitted into the Union on June 25, 1868. Until the mid-twentieth century, Florida was the least populous Southern state. However, migration from the Rust Belt combined with Florida's warm climate made it a haven for newcomers. Today, Florida is the second most populous state in the South (behind Texas and the fourth most populous state in the United States. The USS Florida was named in honor of this state.

Law and government

USS Florida The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the Government of the State of Florida are defined and established by the Florida Constitution, which also establishes the basic law of the state and guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The state government consists of three separate branches, the judicial, executive and legislative. The Florida Legislature enacts legislation, such as those in the Florida Statutes, which are signed into law by the Governor of Florida. The Florida Legislature has a Senate of 40 members and a House of 120 members. The current governor is Republican Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush and son of former President George H. W. Bush. Though Florida has traditionally been a Democratic state, in recent years explosive population growth has brought with it many Republicans, leaving the state approximately evenly split between the two parties. Despite this demographic parity, Republicans control the governorship and most other statewide elected offices, both houses of the state legislature, 18 of the state's 25 seats in the House of Representatives, and one of the state's two Senate seats. The 2000 Presidential election in Florida was extremely close. As such, and because of its high population and large number of electoral votes, Florida is considered by political analysts to be a key swing state in Presidential elections. The Tampa area, once a major center of Democratic union support, is now almost evenly split between registered Republicans and Democrats, making it part of the important I-4 Corridor swing region.

Taxation

Florida is one of the nine states which do not impose a personal income tax (list of others). The state sales tax rate is 6 (six) percent. Local governments may levy an additional local option sales tax of up to 1.5 percent. A locale's use tax rate is the same as its sales tax rate, including local options if any. Use taxes are payable for purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Other taxes are mostly levied on businesses. They include the following taxes: Corporate Income, Communication Services, Intangibles, Unemployment, Solid Waste, Documentary Stamps, Insurance Premium, Pollutants, and various fuel taxes. For more information visit the Florida Department of Revenue website at [http://www.myflorida.com/dor].

Geography

Florida consists of the Panhandle extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico and the large Peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean as its eastern border and the Gulf of Mexico as its western border. It is bordered on the north by the states of Georgia and Alabama and on the west, at the end of the panhandle, by Alabama. It is near the countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas and Cuba. At 345 feet (105 metres) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida. This is also the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Contrary to popular belief, however, Florida is not an entirely "flat" state. Some places, such as Clearwater, feature relatively high vistas rising 50 to 100 feet above the water. Much of the interior of Florida, typically 25 miles or more away from the coastline, features rolling hills with elevations ranging from 100 to 250 feet in many locations. Lake County holds the highest point of peninsular Florida, Sugarloaf Mountain , at 312 feet. The amount of topographical change will surprise many visitors.

Boundaries

The state line begins at the Atlantic, traveling west, south, and north up the thalweg of the Saint Mary's River. At the origin of that river, it then follows a straight line nearly due-west and slightly north, to the point where the confluence of the Flint River (from Georgia) and the Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used to form Florida's Apalachicola River. (This point is now under Lake Seminole since Woodruff Dam was built.) The border with Georgia continues north through the lake for a short distance up the former thalweg of the Chattahoochee, then with Alabama runs due west along latitude 31°N to the Perdido River, then south along its thalweg to the Gulf via Perdido Bay.

Climate

Perdido Bay Perdido Bay.]] The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water. Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate with the extreme tip of Florida and the Florida Keys bordering on a true tropical climate. However, Florida averages 300 days of full sunshine a year. The seasons in Florida often called "Hot and Hotter" are actually determined more by precipitation than by temperature with warm, relatively dry winters and autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet springs and especially the summers (the wet season). The Gulf Stream has a moderating effect on Florida climate and although it is common for much of Florida to see a high summer temperature over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, it is not common for the mercury to go above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Florida. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109 °F set on June 29, 1931 in Monticello. The coldest was 2 °F below zero, on February 13, 1899 just 25 miles away, in Tallahassee. Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90's. Mean low temperatures for late January range from the low 40's in North Florida to the mid-50's in South Florida. While Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State", severe weather is a common occurrence in Florida. Central Florida is known as the Lightning capital of the U.S. as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. Statewide, Florida has the highest average precipitation of any state, due in large part to afternoon thunderstorms which are common throughout most of the state from late spring until the early autumn. However, a sunny day may be interrupted with a storm only to return to regular gorgeous weather. These thunderstorms, which are caused by airflow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean colliding over the peninsula, seemingly "pop up" in the early afternoon and can often bring heavy downpours, high winds and sometimes tornadoes. This is frequently due to "onshore flow," or a collision of sea breezes from the east and west coasts. Florida leads the nation in tornadoes per square mile, although the tornadoes in Florida do not get as large as those in the Midwest or Great Plains. Hail is not an uncommon occurrence in some of the more severe thunderstorms. Snow is a rare occurrence in Florida. During the Great Blizzard of 1899, Florida experienced blizzard conditions for possibly the first time since explorers had arrived. During that time, the Tampa Bay area had "Gulf effect" snow, similar to lake effect snowfall. The Great Blizzard of 1899 was also the only time the temperature has fallen below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, registering -2° F in Tallahassee on February 13, 1899. The most widespread snowfall in Florida history happened in February 1978 with snow falling over much of the state in different times of the month, extending as far south as Homestead. Snow flurries fell on Miami Beach for the only time in recorded history. In 1989, there was a severe hard freeze that created lots of ice and also caused minor flurries in sections of the state and resulted in rolling blackouts due to power failures caused by massive demands on the power grid for heating. Although some storms have formed out of season, hurricanes pose a threat during hurricane season, which is from June 1 to November 30. Florida saw a slew of destruction in 2004 when it was hit by a record four hurricanes. Hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4-5), Ivan (September 16), and Jeanne (September 25-26) cumulatively cost forty-two billion dollars to the state. In 2005, Hurricane Dennis (July 10) became the fifth storm to strike Florida within 11 months. Later, Hurricane Katrina (August 25) passed through South Florida and Hurricane Rita (September 20) swept through the Florida Keys. Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Florida in the early morning of October 24 as a category 3 hurricane, with storm's eye hitting near Cape Romano, just south of Marco Island, according to National Hurricane Center. Florida was also the site of the second most costly single weather disaster in U.S. history, Hurricane Andrew, which caused more than twenty-five billion dollars ($25,000,000,000) in damage when it struck on August 24, 1992. Among a long list of other infamous hurricane strikes were the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane, the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Donna in 1960, and Hurricane Opal in 1995.

Economy

1995 The gross state product of Florida in 2003 was $550 billion. The per capita personal income was $30,098, ranking 26th in the nation. Florida's economy is heavily based on tourism. Warm weather most of the year and hundreds of miles of beach provide a thriving vacation spot for travelers from around the world. The large Walt Disney World Resort with four theme parks and over twenty hotels plus countless water parks, shopping centers and other facilities, located in Lake Buena Vista drives the economy of that area, along with more recent entries into the theme park arena such as the Universal Orlando Resort. The great amount of sales and tourist tax revenue is what allows the state to be one of the few to not levy a personal income tax. Other major industries include citrus fruit and juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. With the arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Florida has attracted a large number of aerospace and military industries to the state. Florida did not have any state minimum wage laws until November 2, 2004, when voters passed a Constitutional Amendment requiring inflationary increases to the minimum wage every six months. Historically, Florida's economy was based upon cattle farming and agriculture (especially sugar cane, citrus, tomatoes, and strawberries). As land speculators discovered Florida in the early 1900's, and when Plant and Flagler developed the railway systems, more people moved in, drawn by the usually good weather. From then on, tourism boomed, fueling a cycle of development and tourism that overwhelmed a great deal of farmland. Other key industries, commercial fishing and water-based tourist activities (sports fishing and diving) are threatened by severe Red Tide outbreaks in 2004 and 2005 off the west coast.

Demographics

As of 2004, the state's population was estimated to be 17,397,161.

Race and ancestry

  White65.4%
Hispanic 16.8%
Black14.6%
Asian1.7%
Native American0.3%
Mixed Race2.4%
The largest reported ancestries in the 2000 Census were German (11.8%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.2%), American (8%) and Italian (6.3%). Blacks, who during the cotton and sugar plantation era made up fully 50 percent of the state's population, have a large presence in the deeply southern middle Florida region of North Florida and in the cities of Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Fort Lauderdale. Transplanted Northerners are prominent on the West Coast, particularly in the Tampa suburbs. Floridians of British ancestry are dominant in most coastal cities, while Floridians of white American ancestry dominate the culturally Southern areas of inland North Florida. Florida's large and diverse Hispanic community consists particularly of Cubans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando as well as Dominicans in the latter, and Mexican migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. There is also a number of Haitian Americans in Miami and other parts of Florida. Native Floridians, especially those who have descended from long-time Florida families, are affectionately referred to as "Crackers." This is because many early settlers were cattle farmers, and used bullwhips to "crack" over the cattle to move them during the annual cattle drives westward across the central part of the state to the port of Tampa, as well as to kill rattlesnakes economically, thereby preventing the numerous rattlesnakes from killing cattle on the long cattle drives. Florida is one of the only states in which Hispanics predominantly vote Republican. This descrepancy arises because people classified as "Hispanic" come from widely diverse backgrounds. People whose race is identified as "Hispanic" in Florida are mostly of Cuban descent, as opposed to Mexican descent (who live largely in the southwest of the U.S.) or Puerto Rican descent (who live largely in the northeast of the U.S.). Florida's fast-growing Hispanic population is heaviest in Miami, Orlando, and the Gulf Coast. Black Floridians are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. Blacks comprise a large fraction of the populations of North Florida, Fort Lauderdale, and the Tampa Bay Area.

Languages

As of 2000, 76.9% of Florida residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 16.5% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 2.2%, followed by German at 0.6% and Italian at 0.4%. Article II, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution provides that "English is the official language of the State of Florida." This was adopted in 1988 by a vote following an Initiative Petition.

Religion

Florida is mostly Protestant, but with a growing Roman Catholic community due to immigration. There is also a sizable Jewish community in some parts of Florida which makes Florida unique among Southern states (no other Southern state has a large Jewish community). Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:
- Christian – 82%
  - Protestant – 54%
    - Baptist – 19%
    - Methodist – 6%
    - Presbyterian – 4%
    - Episcopal – 3%
    - Lutheran – 3%
    - Pentecostal – 3%
    - Other Protestant – 16%
  - Roman Catholic – 26%
  - Other Christian – 2%
- Jewish – 4%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 13%

Important cities, towns, and communities

Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish]
Metropolitan Area Population > 5,000,000
- Miami-Ft.Lauderdale Metropolitan Area Population > 2,500,000
- Tampa-St. Petersburg Metropolitan Area Population > 1,000,000
- Jacksonville
- Orlando
- West Palm Beach Metropolitan Area Population > 400,000
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- Daytona Beach
- Lakeland
- Melbourne-Titusville
- Pensacola
- Port Saint Lucie-Fort Pierce-Stuart
- Sarasota-Bradenton City Population > 200,000
- Hialeah
- Jacksonville
- Miami
- Orlando
- St. Petersburg
- Tampa City Population > 100,000
- Cape Coral
- Clearwater
- Coral Springs
- Fort Lauderdale
- Gainesville
- Hollywood
- Miami Gardens
- Pembroke Pines
- Miramar
- Port Saint Lucie
- Pompano Beach
- Tallahassee 		City Population > 75,000
- Boca Raton
- Brandon
- Davie
- Deltona
- Kendall
- Lakeland
- Miami Beach
- Palm Bay
- Plantation
- Sunrise
- West Palm Beach City Population > 50,000
- Boynton Beach
- Bradenton
- Daytona Beach
- Deerfield Beach
- Delray Beach
- Fort Myers
- Fountainbleau
- Kendale Lakes
- Kissimmee
- Largo
- Lauderhill
- Lehigh Acres
- Margate
- Melbourne
- North Miami
- North Miami Beach
- Palm Harbor
- Pensacola
- Sarasota
- Spring Hill
- Tamarac
- Tamiami
- Town 'n' Country
- Weston 		City Population > 25,000
- Altamonte Springs
- Aventura
- Apopka
- Bonita Springs
- Coconut Creek
- Cooper City
- Coral Gables
- Dunedin
- East Lake
- Egypt Lake-Leto
- Fort Pierce
- Greater Carrollwood
- Greenacres
- Hallandale Beach
- Homestead
- Jupiter
- Kendall West
- Lake Magdalene
- Lake Worth
- Lauderdale Lakes
- North Fort Myers
- North Lauderdale
- Ocala
- Ocoee
- Oakland Park
- Ormond Beach
- Oveido
- Palm Beach Gardens
- Panama City
- Pinellas Park
- Plant City
- Port Orange
- Port Charlotte
- Riviera Beach
- Sanford
- Titusville
- University
- Wellington
- Westchester
- Winter Haven
- Winter Park
- Winter Springs

Miscellaneous information

Winter Springs
- Nickname: "The Sunshine State"
- State Bird: Mockingbird
- State Flower: Orange blossom - (Citrus sinensis)
- State Insect: Zebra Longwinged Butterfly
- State Song: "Old folks at home (Suwannee River)" by Stephen C. Foster
- State Tree: Sabal Palm
- State Reptile: American Alligator
- State Animal: The Florida Panther
- State Saltwater Mammal: The Manatee
- State Drink: Orange Juice
- State Fruit: Orange
- State Shell: The Horse Conch (The great band shell)
- State Saltwater Fish: The Sailfish
- State Freshwater Fish: Florida Largemouth Bass
- Highest Point: Britton Hill; 345 feet, 50th
- State Motto: None
- State Wildflower: Tickseed (unofficial)

Transportation

Tickseed

Highways

Florida's interstates, state highways and U.S. Highways are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation. Florida's interstate highways include:
- I-4, which bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach
- I-10, which traverses the panhandle, connecting Jacksonville, Lake City, Tallahassee, and Pensacola
- I-75, which enters the state near Lake City and continues southward through Gainesville, Ocala, and Tampa's eastern suburbs to Naples, where, as a toll road it crosses the "Alligator Alley" to Ft. Lauderdale
- I-95, which enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Palm Bay, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before terminating near Miami
- I-110, a spur from I-10 into downtown Pensacola.
- I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown St. Petersburg
- I-195
- I-275
- I-295, a beltway in Jacksonville
- I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St. Petersburg
- I-395
- I-595, which connects I-75, I-95, and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
- I-795, proposed near Jacksonville Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles of highway, and there are 9,934 miles of non-interstate highway in the state, such as Florida state highways and U.S. Highways. Florida has several toll roads. The state has 515 miles of toll roads in the state highway system. The section of Interstate 75 passing through the Everglades is a toll road. The Florida Turnpike, which begins off of Interstate 75 just south of Ocala, continues southeast to Orlando, and down to West Palm Beach is also a toll road. Connecting I-75 to the southwest Tampa area is the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

Intercity Rail

In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to construct a high speed rail system to interconnect Florida's major cities. A committee was formed by the Florida Legislature to oversee the project. However, Jeb Bush and other lawmakers pushed for an amendment in 2004 to remove the amendment, which succeeded. They stated that the cost would have been too high to construct the system; however, proponents of the system have said the claims regarding high cost were exaggerated and taken out of context, compared with the cost of building roads, maintaining automobiles, and so forth. Amtrak service exists in Florida, but it is considered by many not to be extensive or convenient enough for anything but vacation travel.

Public Transportation

Public transportation systems exist in many major cities. Miami has a monorail system as well as a metro system, and most cities have bus service. Greyhound provides bus service between different cities in Florida.

Airports

Major international airports in Florida, with passenger traffic over 20 million annually, are Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport and Tampa International Airport. Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic over 7 million annually include Jacksonville International Airport and Southwest Florida International Airport. There are many other smaller regional airports including those in Daytona Beach, Key West, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, and Naples.

Education and culture

Florida's public school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually ranks in the bottom 25% of U.S. states. Average teacher salaries rank near the middle of U.S. states. Florida public schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 25% of many national surveys and average test score rankings. It should be noted that many education surveys are not scientific, but do measure prestige. Governor Jeb Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, such as the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Major testing organizations frequently discount the use of state average test score rankings, or any average of scaled scores, as a valid metric (see psychometrics for more details on scaled test scores). In 2000, Governor Bush and the state legislature acted to abolish the Board of Regents that governed the State University System of Florida. Instead, each public university is now controlled by its own Board of Trustees who are directly appointed by the governor. As is typical of executive-appointed government boards, the appointees so far have been overwhelmingly Republican. This has not been without controversy. [http://www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml] In 2002, Democratic Senator Bob Graham started a ballot referendum designed to revert to the Board of Regents system.

Colleges and universities

Bob Graham Bob Graham

Sports

Professional sports teams in Florida

Spring training

Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League." As of 2004, Florida hosts the following major league teams for spring training:
- Atlanta Braves at Walt Disney World
- Baltimore Orioles in Fort Lauderdale
- Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers
- Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota
- Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven
- Detroit Tigers in Lakeland
- Florida Marlins in Jupiter
- Houston Astros in Kissimmee
- Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach
- Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers
- New York Mets in Port St. Lucie
- New York Yankees in Tampa
- Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater
- Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton
- Saint Louis Cardinals in Jupiter
- Tampa Bay Devil Rays in St. Petersburg
- Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin
- Washington Nationals in Viera

Minor-league teams

Florida also hosts the following minor league baseball teams:

External links


- [http://www.fla.us/ Discover Florida] Information, Maps, Vacation Planning
- [http://www.myflorida.com The Official Portal of the State of Florida]
- [http://www.floridamemory.com/ Florida Memory Project] Over 300,000 photographs and documents from the State Library & Archives of Florida
- [http://www.magicmomentproductions.com Florida Entertainment]
- [http://www.floridazest.com Florida Information]
- [http://ecofloridamag.com Florida Nature Travel/Ecotourism]
- [http://www.mediatico.com/en/newspapers/northamerica/usa/florida/ Florida Newspapers]
- [http://obit.obitlinkspage.com/fl.htm Florida Obituary Links Page]
- [http://www.floridarivers.org/ Florida Rivers Discussion Forum]
- [http://www.flsouthern.edu Florida Southern College]
- [http://www.fsu.edu Florida State University]
- [http://www.flausa.com Florida Tourism]
- [http://www.floridavisiting.com Florida Visiting]
- [http://www.genealogybuff.com/fl/ GenealogyBuff.com - Florida Library of Files]
- [http://www.iespana.es/Miami la Voie de Miami News]
- [http://roamingfeet.com/id22.htm Palm trees in Florida]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/florida/ Photos of Florida - Terra Galleria]
- [http://www.anhinga.info/florida/index.html Roundtrips with a lot of pictures]
- [http://www.ufl.edu University of Florida]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.floridacountiesmap.com/index.html Florida Counties Maps]
- [http://www.blinkbits.com/rssfeeds/wikipedia.php?w=Florida Wikipedia Florida RSS Feed - Externally hosted]
- Category:States of the United States ko:플로리다 주 ms:Florida ja:フロリダ州 simple:Florida th:มลรัฐฟลอริดา

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 Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty pe