Portal:United States

Introduction

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a capital district, and a number of other territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions around the world. Each state has a high level of local autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were free and independent states. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a global superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

Selected article

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression, and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives.

Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 25 mi (40 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. Heavily travelled U.S. 93 ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.

Did you know?

• ... that the domed atrium of Indiana's West Baden Springs Hotel (inside pictured) was the largest free-spanning dome in the United States for over 50 years and in the world from 1902 to 1913?
• ... that Nicholas Longworth built America's first commercially successful winery with a pink sparkling wine made from Catawba?
• ... that the phrase "more bang for the buck" was used to describe the United States' New Look policy of depending on nuclear weapons, rather than a large regular army, to keep the Soviet Union in check?

Selected society biography

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was the thirty-second President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. He was a central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic and banking systems. Although recovery of the economy was incomplete until almost 1940, many programs initiated continue to have instrumental roles in the nation's commerce, such as the FDIC, TVA, and the SEC. One of his most important legacies is the Social Security system.

Roosevelt won four presidential elections in a row, causing a realignment political scientists call the Fifth Party System. His aggressive use of the federal government re-energized the Democratic Party, creating a New Deal Coalition which dominated American politics until the late 1960s. He and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, remain touchstones for modern American liberalism. Conservatives vehemently fought back, but Roosevelt usually prevailed until he tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937. Thereafter, the new Conservative coalition successfully ended New Deal expansion; during the war it closed most relief programs like the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps, arguing unemployment had disappeared.

Selected quote

Anniversaries for August 4

• 1790 – At the behest of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Congress creates the Revenue Cutter Service, a forerunner of the United States Coast Guard, to combat smuggling in American waters.
• 1901 – Louis Armstrong (pictured), an influential pioneer of both jazz and scat singing, is born.
• 1964 – The United States Navy destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. The so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incident would lead to an escalation of the Vietnam War.
• 1969 – At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese negotiator Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations in an attempt to end the Vietnam War. The negotiations will eventually fail.
• 1977 – President Jimmy Carter signs legislation establishing the United States Department of Energy.
• 2010 – California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage that was passed by the state's voters in 2008, is overturned by Judge Vaughn Walker in the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

Selected cuisine

A pot of chili con carne with beans and tomatoes

The cuisine of the Southwestern United States is food styled after the rustic cooking of the region. It comprises a fusion of recipes for things that might have been eaten by Spanish colonial settlers, cowboys, Native Americans, and Mexicans throughout the post-Columbian era; there is, however, a great diversity in this kind of cuisine throughout the Southwestern states. Read more...

Selected image

The ghost town of Bodie, California. Bodie went from a small camp to a Wild West boomtown in 1876 as part of the California gold rush, but fell into decline after the local mine was closed in 1913.

Selected location

Erie is an industrial city on the shore of Lake Erie in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city with a population of 104,000. Erie's Metropolitan Area consists of 281,000 residents. The city is the seat of government for Erie County.

Erie is in proximity to Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Once teeming with heavy industry, Erie's heavy manufacturing sector now consists mainly of plastics and locomotive building. Known for its lake-effect snow, Erie is in the heart of the Rust Belt and has begun to focus on tourism as a driving force in its economy. More than four million people each year visit Presque Isle State Park, for water recreation, and a new casino named for the state park is growing in popularity.

Erie is known as the Flagship City because of the presence of Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship USS Niagara.

Selected culture biography

Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was an American singer and one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954 and became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of television appearances and chart-topping records during the late 1950s. Conscripted in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973 Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by around 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription drug abuse severely affected his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 from cardiac arrest. With his versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame

In the news

Wikinews United States portal

• July 25: On the campaign trail in the USA, June 2020
• July 2: Iran issues arrest warrants for 36 people, including US President Trump; seeks Interpol's aid
• June 28: Neanderthals 'knew what they were doing': Archæologist Dr Naomi Martisius discusses her findings about Neanderthals' behaviour with Wikinews
• June 19: On the campaign trail in the USA, May 2020
• June 4: Power firm helicopter strikes cables, crashes near Fairfield, California
• May 31: SpaceX successfully launches its first crewed spaceflight
• May 29: SARS-CoV-2 surpasses 100,000 confirmed deaths in the United States
• May 8: US Supreme Court overturns fraud convictions in Kelly v. United States
• April 29: SARS-CoV-2 surpasses one million confirmed infections in the United States
• April 16: Elizabeth Warren endorses Joe Biden in 2020 US presidential election
• April 15: Bernie Sanders endorses Joe Biden in 2020 United States presidential election
• April 14: English mathematician John Horton Conway dies after contracting COVID-19
• April 14: Iranian International Master Dorsa Derakhshani discusses her chess career with Wikinews
• April 10: Bernie Sanders ends 2020 US presidential bid
• April 7: US state of Wisconsin holds 2020 election amidst COVID-19 concerns
• April 5: SARS-CoV-2 surpasses one million infections worldwide
• March 26: Florida frog skull survey shows spikes, say scientists
• March 20: Arizona, Florida, Illinois hold 2020 US presidential primaries; Ohio postpones
• March 16: US President Trump declares COVID-19 national emergency
• March 15: Native American groups sue US state of Montana over ballot law

Selected panorama

Panoramic view of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Taken from City Hall tower c1898

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Featured content

Main page: Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/Recognized content

As of 4 August 2020, there are 1,257 featured and 3,458 good articles within WikiProject United States scope. This makes up 5.53% of the articles on Wikipedia, 13.33% of all featured articles and lists, and 10.75% of all good articles. Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etcetera, there are 1,071,994 pages in the project.
Featured culture biographies: Actors and filmmakers – James Thomas Aubrey, Jr. • Kroger Babb • Eric Bana • Joseph Barbera • Bette Davis • Kirsten Dunst • Judy Garland • Jake Gyllenhaal • Maggie Gyllenhaal • Anthony Michael Hall • William Hanna • Phil Hartman • Ethan Hawke • Katie Holmes • Janet Jackson • Michael Jackson • Angelina Jolie • Diane Keaton • Madonna (entertainer) • Austin Nichols • Brad Pitt • Nancy Reagan • Ronald Reagan • Aaron Sorkin • KaDee Strickland • Sharon Tate • Reese Witherspoon • Anna May Wong; Arts and entertainment – James Robert Baker • William D. Boyce • Stephen Crane • H.D. • Emily Dickinson • George Washington Dixon • Zelda Fitzgerald • Margaret Fuller • William Gibson • Rufus Wilmot Griswold • Ernest Hemingway • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. • Jenna Jameson • James Russell Lowell • Master Juba • I. M. Pei • Edgar Allan Poe • Roman Vishniac • Nathaniel Parker Willis; Musicians – Aaliyah • Alice in Chains • Audioslave • Bix Beiderbecke • Big Star • Mariah Carey • Damageplan • Bob Dylan • Flea (musician) • Black Francis • John Frusciante • Godsmack • The Greencards • Insane Clown Posse • Janet Jackson • Michael Jackson • Bradley Joseph • Maynard James Keenan • Frank Klepacki • David Lovering • Madonna (entertainer) • John Mayer • Metallica • Nine Inch Nails • Nirvana (band) • The Notorious B.I.G. • Leo Ornstein • Ellis Paul • Pearl Jam • Pixies • Elvis Presley • Selena • Slayer • The Smashing Pumpkins • Elliott Smith • Gwen Stefani • The Supremes • Tool (band) • Uncle Tupelo • Wilco • Frank Zappa; Sports and games – Nick Adenhart • Shelton Benjamin • Moe Berg • Tim Duncan • Bobby Eaton • Orval Grove • Art Houtteman • Magic Johnson • Michael Jordan • Bart King • Sandy Koufax • Jimmy McAleer • Bob Meusel • Stan Musial • Ben Paschal • CM Punk • J. R. Richard • Jackie Robinson • Bill Russell • Sigi Schmid • Lee Smith (baseball) • Ozzie Smith • Paul Stastny • Jim Thorpe • Tyrone Wheatley

Featured society biographies: Military – Daniel Boone • James Bowie • Simon Bolivar Buckner • Henry Cornelius Burnett • Frederick Russell Burnham • Wesley Clark • Brian Eaton • Gerald Ford • Winfield Scott Hancock • Benjamin Harrison • William Henry Harrison • Rutherford B. Hayes • Thomas C. Hindman • Thomas C. Kinkaid • Eli Lilly • John McCain • George B. McClellan • Fred Moosally • Sylvanus Morley • Edwin Taylor Pollock • Ronald Reagan • Uriel Sebree • Lawrence Sullivan Ross • Isaac Shelby • William Tecumseh Sherman • Myles Standish • Edward Teller • Benjamin Franklin Tilley • Stephen Trigg • Harriet Tubman; Politics and government – Samuel Adams • J. C. W. Beckham • Daniel Boone • William O'Connell Bradley • Simon Bolivar Buckner • Henry Cornelius Burnett • Charles Carroll the Settler • Murray Chotiner • Wesley Clark • Grover Cleveland • Calvin Coolidge • Richard Cordray • John J. Crittenden • Gerald Ford • Wendell Ford • William Goebel • Emma Goldman • John W. Johnston • Franklin Knight Lane • John McCain • George B. McClellan • Bob McEwen • Thomas R. Marshall • Harvey Milk • Edwin P. Morrow • Pat Nixon • Barack Obama • Rosa Parks • Paul E. Patton • Edwin Taylor Pollock • Nancy Reagan • Ronald Reagan • Theodore Roosevelt • Lawrence Sullivan Ross • Terry Sanford • Antonin Scalia • Solomon P. Sharp • Isaac Shelby • Augustus Owsley Stanley • Stephen Trigg • Jerry Voorhis • Daniel Webster • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Harry S. Truman; Science and academia – Edward Drinker Cope • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. • David A. Johnston • Eli Lilly • Glynn Lunney • Barbara McClintock • Sylvanus Morley • Gerard K. O'Neill • Hilary Putnam • Edward Teller • Roman Vishniac • Otto Julius Zobel

Featured lists: There are over 230 Featured lists in the scope of United States including: 109th United States Congress • Commandant of the Marine Corps • Korean War Medal of Honor recipients • Most populous counties in the United States • National Parks of the United States • Tallest buildings in Washington, D.C. • U.S. state name etymologies • U.S. states by population • United States Secretary of Energy • Volcanoes in the Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain
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Lists

United States-related lists

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Geography Cities Counties Indian reservations Government Presidents Federal Agencies Political parties United States Representatives United States Senators History Military history State name etymologies

Law Law enforcement agencies Legislation Prisons Supreme Court Media Newspapers Radio networks Television networks Television stations Natural history Lakes Rivers Mountains

People People from United States Protected areas National parks National Register of Historic Places Religion Televangelists Transportation Airports Bridges Interstate Highways Railroads U.S. Highways

Things to do

Featured article candidates Groundhog Day (film) Bernard A. Maguire Bob Mann (American football) Alfred Worden Total pages in content type is 4 Featured list candidates List of awards and nominations received by RuPaul List of counties in Washington List of The Masked Singer (American TV series) episodes Total pages in content type is 3 Good article nominees 1970 United States Senate election in New York 1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election Lake Alamosa Persis Foster Eames Albee Alcohol and Native Americans American Spaces Anuel AA Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle Bad Bunny Edward B. Bunn William Austin Burt Gerard Campbell James Edwin Campbell (poet) Rex Chapman Camille Cosby Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse) John Warren Davis (college president) Irene Dunne John Dwight (manufacturer) The End of the Tour Chris Evans (actor) Benedict Joseph Fenwick Atul Gawande William D. Gregory The Guest (2014 American film) Charles Corydon Hall Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold Timothy S. Healy Robert J. Henle John H. Hill History of Flagstaff, Arizona History of the University of Texas at Arlington (1895–1917) Hurricane Hugo Interstate 5 in Washington India Ferrah Ipswich Street line John Johnson (inventor) Kennewick, Washington The Last Airbender George F. Lewis Life of Pi (film) Little Women (2019 film) Huey Long Frank Fowler Loomis Ludington family Marss Mary Poppins Returns Howard B. Meek Michigan logging wheels Midwestern University Lloyd Monserratt Peter Mui Mary Myers Francis Neale Leonard Neale W. Coleman Nevils Nothing More Leo J. O'Donovan Albie Pearson Charles T. Pepper The Place Beyond the Pines John Plankinton John Jonathon Pratt Terry Peder Rasmussen Reconstruction Amendments Otto Reich Naya Rivera Riverfront Park (Spokane, Washington) Teno Roncalio Samsora Sturgill Simpson Thomas H. Stack Statue of Frederick Douglass (Rochester, New York) Justus Smith Stearns Stony Brook (Charles River tributary, Boston) 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire Robert F. Utter WAKR Early Wynn Total pages in content type is 79
To create Missing articles Requested articles U.S. Representatives listed here. To discuss on Articles for deletion See: Deletion sorting/United States of America for the current list. To expand American Old West Confederate States Army To destub Category:Stub-Class United States articles Category:United States stubs	Assessment requests Requests for assessment New articles National • State A-F • State G-L • State M-N • State O-Z Most Popular pages Popular pages To find images Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the United States	Maintenance and cleanup Unreferenced BLP's Needing cleanup Category:United States articles missing geocoordinate data Category:United States articles needing attention Category:United States articles needing infoboxes Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the United States Category:Wikipedia requested maps in the United States Other issues Portal:United States - Needs to be updated and expanded 2010 Census - Update articles using 2000 census data to use the 2010 data

WikiProjects

United States is one of the United States WikiProjects.

National	United States
States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming List of U.S. State-level WikiProjects and their sub-projects
Territories	Caribbean Puerto Rico Virgin Islands District of Columbia Micronesia Guam Johnston Atoll Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island Midway Atoll Polynesia American Samoa
Regional	Counties Superfunds
Borders	Canada Mexico North America
Culture	American animation American cinema American football American music American television Archives of American Art Civil War Comics History Library of Congress Military history National Register of Historic Places Old West Revolutionary War Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution Archives
Government	Donald Trump Congress Courts and judges FBI Federal Government Legislative Data Gerald Ford Government Governors National Archives & Records Administration National Institutes of Health Presidential elections Presidents Public Policy State Legislatures Supreme Court cases
Society	African diaspora Asian Americans Franco-Americans Indigenous peoples of North America Hispanic and Latino Americans Mexican-Americans
Transportation	U.S. Roads U.S. Streets
Featured content	Did you knows Featured articles Featured lists Popular pages

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