The People

A census has been taken every 10 years since 1790. In 2000, according to the Bureau of the Census, whites made up 75.1 per cent of the population; blacks 12.3 per cent; Asians and Pacific Islanders 3.7 per cent; American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts 0.9 per cent; those of some other race 5.5 per cent; and those of more than one race 2.4 per cent. People of Hispanic origin (of any race) made up 12.5 per cent of the population.

The South had long been the home of most blacks. In the 1930's blacks began to move in increasing numbers to the industrial cities of the North. During the 1970's, however, there was also some migration of blacks to the South. The states with the largest black populations in 2000 were New York, Texas, Georgia, Florida, California, and Illinois.

American Indians live in all states, but the great majority live in the West and the South. Five states—Arizona, Oklahoma, California, New Mexico, and North Carolina—account for the majority of the Indian population. The vast majority of the Eskimos live in Alaska.

In 2000, Hispanic Americans became the nation's largest minority. Nearly 60 per cent trace their origins to Mexico, and more than 9 per cent, to Puerto Rico. California, Texas, New York, and Florida had the largest numbers of Hispanic Americans in 2000.

The Chinese—largest of the Asian and Pacific Islander groups—live mainly in California and New York. The Filipinos and the Japanese are concentrated largely in California and Hawaii, Asian Indians in New York and California. California is the home also of most of the Koreans, Vietnamese, Samoans, and Guamanians.

Some southern and many western states have gained population extremely rapidly, especially since 1940. Among these are California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. California has grown spectacularly. In 1950 it replaced Pennsylvania as the second-ranking state, and by 1970 it had replaced New York as the most populous state. Among southern states, Texas and Florida have had the most rapid population increases. Nevada experienced the largest percentage of increase during 1990–2000, slightly more than 66 per cent.

The East North Central and Middle Atlantic states were among the most heavily populated until the 1970's and 1980's. These include New York, which had the largest population until 1970; Illinois; Pennsylvania; Ohio; Michigan; and New Jersey. Since the 1930's, most of these long-established, industrial states have had only moderate rates of population increase.

Population density varies widely from state to state. New Jersey, with 1,134.2 persons per square mile (437.9 per km2) in 2000, and Rhode Island, with 1,003.2 (387.4), were the most densely populated states. The eight Mountain states had densities ranging from Wyoming's 5.1 persons per square mile (2.0 per km2) to Arizona's 45.1 (17.4). Alaska, with 1.1 persons per square mile (0.4 per km2), was the most thinly populated state.

Urban areas include all incorporated and certain unincorporated places of 2,500 residents or more and the suburbs of all cities of 50,000 or more. During the course of the country's development, farming has become more efficient, and people have turned in ever-increasing numbers to the cities for their livelihoods. Between 1790 and 1990 the rural population dropped from 95 to 25 per cent.

The mushrooming of suburbs around large cities has been especially rapid since 1940. These sprawling urban areas, including cities and suburbs, form metropolitan areas. Slightly less than three fifths of the nation's people live in metropolitan areas of more than 1,000,000 people.

As a vast young country offering great opportunity, the United States has been a magnet for immigrants since its earliest days. The early colonists were mainly English, but there were also Dutch, German, Scotch-Irish, and French Huguenot settlers. In 1790, these people and their descendants made up about 80 per cent of the population. The remaining 20 per cent was made up largely of blacks. Many of these had been brought from Africa and the West Indies as slaves, and many were born in America of slave parents.

Beginning in the 1820's and 1830's, immigration increased rapidly, with people coming from so many countries that America came to be called a "melting pot" of nationalities. During the depression of the 1930's more foreign born left the country than were admitted. After World War II immigration increased. Of the nearly 57,000,000 immigrants who arrived during 1820–1990, the largest numbers came from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Russia, Caribbean countries, and Sweden.

Freedom in matters of education and the right of every child to have an education are basic principles in the United States. Unlike many other nations, the United States does not have a central or federal system of education. Establishing and administering public schools is one of the p/wers exercised by each state. The state, in turn, delegates much of this responsibility to local school districts. There are both similarities and differences in the educational systems of the 50 states.

The federal government has, however, deep interest in the education of persons of all ages. Federal financial aid is given to the states and local school districts for specified educational purposes, such as the work of land-grant colleges and universities; vocational education below the college level; and improvement of the education of children of low-income families. The federal government also provides scholarships for college students. Four college-level academies for the armed forces and one for the Merchant Marine are supported entirely by federal funds, and a number of specialized institutions, such as Gallaudet University (for the deaf), receive major financial support directly from the federal government.

The main federal agency dealing with education is the U.S. Department of Education, but other departments, most notably the Department of Agriculture, also have educational functions.

In 1990 public school systems in the United States had a total of approximately 61,300 elementary schools and 22,700 secondary schools. Parochial and other private elementary schools numbered about 22,200 and secondary schools, 9,000. There were more than 1,600 public and 2,000 private institutions of higher education.

Teachers at all levels of instruction totaled some 2,753,000 in 1990—1,680,000 in elementary schools, 1,073,000 in secondary schools, and 840,000 (including part-time staff) at the college level. Overall, about 70 per cent were employed in public schools.

Enrollment in public schools was about 27,050,000 in kindergarten through grade 8; 14,167,000 in grades 9–12; and 10,844,000 in higher education. Private schools had a total enrollment of approximately 4,095,000 in kindergarten–grade 8; 1,137,000 in grades 9–12; and 2,975,000 in institutions of higher education.

Literacy in the United States is high. In 1990 the Bureau of the Census estimated that only one half of one per cent of all persons 14 years old and over were illiterate (unable to read and write in any language). In 1870, 20 per cent of all persons over 10 years of age were illiterate.

No other country in the world has a greater variety of religions, communions, denominations, and sects than the United States. Nearly all branches of Christianity and almost all Protestant denominations are represented. Christians make up approximately 60 per cent of the population. Nearly half the Jews in the world live in the United States; they make up 2.6 per cent of the population. Other religious groups include Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and Bahá'ís.

More than 220 of the nation's Christian denominations reported membership statistics in the mid-1990s, and their total membership was more than 155,000,000. Of this total, approximately 55 per cent were Protestants; 38 per cent, Roman Catholics; and 2.6 per cent, members of Eastern Orthodox churches. The largest Protestant denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention, with about 15,360,000 members.

Religious freedom and separation of church and state are traditional in the United States. Government cannot interfere with religion or show preference for one religion over another. It cannot set up an official, or established, church, nor give support to any religion or to all religions. These principles as laid down in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution apply to the federal government but in effect also bind the states.

In colonial times the Congregational Church was established in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The Church of England was the official church in New York and in the southern colonies. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were centers of religious freedom. Late in the colonial period the Presbyterians and Baptists became strong. After the American Revolutionary War there were religious revivals in which the Methodists were active. The Roman Catholic Church was weak during the colonial period, but after 1830 it grew rapidly because of immigration. Many other communions and denominations were brought to the United States by immigrants.

In the early days of the republic, United States artists and writers were generally regarded as inferior to those in Europe. By the end of the 19th century, however, an independent national literature of high quality had been established by such writers as Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain. In the 20th century, such American authors as Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, and Isaac Bashevis Singer were recognized with Nobel prizes in literature.

Three outstanding 20th-century American-born poets—Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot—had to go to Europe for first recognition, and Pound and Eliot remained expatriates. But the worth of such leading poets as Carl Sandburg, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, Theodore Roethke, and Robert Lowell was appreciated at home from the first.

John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West were the first native artists to become famous in the United States. Artists were generally neglected, however, and many of them felt it necessary to study and work in Europe. In the 20th century, American contributions were recognized. Alexander Calder's mobiles introduced motion into sculpture. Jackson Pollock's action painting expanded the field of Abstract Expressionism. Pop art was a significant American innovation.

Music in the United States was strongly influenced by European music, and study in Europe was considered a necessary part of musical training far into the 20th century. America's most influential contribution to music was jazz, a form originated by blacks and based on African rhythms. The musical, which evolved from burlesque and operetta, was another American innovation.

For many years, architects in the United States simply adapted European styles to American climate, landscapes, and materials. Greater independence was manifested in the late 19th and early 20th century. Louis Sullivan and other Chicago architects developed the skyscraper. Frank Lloyd Wright, a student of Sullivan's, brought originality into private as well as public buildings. Louis I. Kahn, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Paul Rudolf were noted for freshness and vitality in designs and techniques and richly imaginative use of materials.

Scientific achievement began early in the history of the United States, and American inventions and technology have helped to give the nation one of the highest living standards in the world. Americans have long held commanding positions in almost every branch of both basic and applied science. Benjamin Franklin was noted not only as a statesman but also as a scientist. The contributions of such inventors as Samuel F. B. Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison brought the world rapid communication and ushered in the electrical age. Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, and others introduced mass production. The atomic age was born in the United States through the work of both American and foreign scientists. More than one-third of the Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics, physiology and medicine, and economics have been awarded to Americans.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to more Americans than to citizens of any other single country. Recipients include Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jane Addams, George C. Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Henry Kissinger. The work of William James and John Dewey in philosophy, psychology, and education is of worldwide importance. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are admired throughout the world.

There are about 5,500 museums in the United States. Prominent among these are the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Nearly every major United States city has a symphony orchestra. Those of Chicago, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia rank with the world's greatest.

There are hundreds of opera groups in the country, ranging from small opera workshops to major professional companies. The Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City has long ranked as one of the foremost in the world. Other notable groups are the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Company of Boston, New York City Opera Company, and San Francisco Opera Company. Many metropolitan areas also support ballet and modern dance companies. Among those nationally known are the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet.

Almost every town has a public library, and bookmobiles reach people in rural areas. The largest collection of books and pamphlets in the United States is found in the Library of Congress. The New York Public Library is the largest public library in the nation. The library of Harvard University, founded in 1643, is the country's oldest and largest institutional library.

With the number of universities, colleges, and junior colleges exceeding 3,000, higher education in the United States is more widely available than in any other major country. Americans once turned to Europe for advanced study, but since the early 1900's the great American universities have equalled or surpassed foreign ones in many fields. Educational foundations established by Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, W. K. Kellogg, and other wealthy individuals provide funds for books, scholarships, and research.

The favorable economic position and amount of leisure enjoyed by the people of the United States give them unusual opportunities for recreation. Paid vacations became the rule for most industrial and office workers in the years following World War I. Wide ownership of automobiles makes national and state parks, monuments, historic sites, and recreational areas easily accessible to millions of tourists each year. Many American tourists travel abroad.

The most popular outdoor spectator sports are football and baseball. Horse racing and automobile racing have large followings. Soccer does not have the popularity it enjoys in many other countries, but interest in it is increasing. Indoor spectator sports include basketball and hockey. Participant sports are many and varied. Bowling, golf, tennis, skiing, skating, bicycling, running and jogging, hunting, fishing, and swimming, boating, water skiing, and other water sports are very popular.

The United States is a democratic federal republic under the Constitution of 1787 and its amendments. There are three levels of government: (1) national, or federal; (2) state, consisting of 50 separate governments; and (3) local, consisting of thousands of county, township, city, and other local units within the states.

The U.S. Constitution, the oldest written constitution among the great nations, has served as a model for a number of other countries. The Presidential system of government, with separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, is one of the two leading forms of democratic government in use today. (The British parliamentary system is the other.) The emphasis on freedom in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights has been an important world influence.

The United States form of government is based on these principles:

• Popular Sovereignty. Supreme power is in the hands of the people. Government is based on the consent of the governed, as expressed through the United States Constitution, elections, and public opinion.
• Constitutionalism, or Limited Government. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law. Every government—national, state, and local—and every citizen must abide by its provisions. The national and state constitutions have bills of rights that guarantee certain basic rights to the individual.
• Federalism. Governmental powers are divided between the national government and the states. Whatever powers are not granted to the national government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or to the people.
• Representative Government. As a republic and representative democracy, the government is run by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by the voters to express and enforce their will.
• Separation of Powers. Governmental powers are divided among three generally coordinate (equal-ranking) branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. To prevent any one branch from taking over the functions of another, the power of each branch is checked and balanced by the powers of the other two. The President, as chief executive, has the power to veto, or refuse to give consent to, legislation. Laws must be approved by both houses of Congress, the legislative body. And through the power of judicial review, the courts can invalidate laws and actions that are contrary to the Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution creates the three branches of government and defines their powers; determines the relations between federal government and states; denies certain powers to both the national government and the states; and guarantees certain rights to the people.

Power to make laws, or legislate, is vested in the Senate and House of Representatives, the two elected houses of Congress. Congress has both express powers (enumerated in the Constitution) and implied powers (those necessary and proper to carry out the express powers).

Executive power is vested in the President. He and the Vice President are elected for four-year terms. The President supervises law enforcement, conducts foreign relations, is commander in chief of the armed forces, and recommends legislation to Congress. With Senate approval he appoints federal judges; ambassadors; and heads of executive departments, Executive Office branches, and independent agencies.

The Executive Office of the President consists of assistants, bureaus, and councils that aid and advise the President in his various roles. Branches of this office include the following:

The White House Office.It maintains communication with Congress and executive departments and agencies; arranges the President's schedule; and performs clerical duties for the President. Members of the staff include the chief of staff to the President, the President's counsel, various assistants to the President and special assistants, and the President's private secretary, press secretary, and military aides.

Office of the United States Trade Representative. It assists the President in executing trade agreements.

Council on Environmental Quality. It aids the President in formulating national policies on the environment.

Other Executive Office Branches: See Council of Economic Advisers;National Security Council;Office of Management and Budget.

There are 15 executive departments; their heads automatically become members of the President's cabinet.

Independent agencies are created by Congress to carry out functions that do not fit into existing executive departments. There are more than 50 such agencies. With respect to their powers, most of these agencies are independent of both the President and Congress. Many of them are regulatory agencies that supervise various commercial activities and, as such, have limited judicial and legislative powers.

Most of the independent agencies are governed by boards or commissions appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. Commissioners or board members are usually appointed for definite terms that do not coincide with the term of office of the President, so that the agencies will be as non-political as possible.

Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and in other federal courts created by Congress. The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution and the laws. It sometimes invalidates laws of Congress and of the states and also nullifies actions by the executive branch.

The permanent seat of the federal government is the District of Columbia. The district itself has an elected mayor and 13-member city council. The U.S. Congress, however, controls the city's budget and has the power to rescind any council action.

Each state has its own constitution. The typical constitution has a preamble, a bill of rights, sections creating the three branches of government and defining their powers, provisions on local government, and a section on constitutional amendment.

Under the federal system the states may exercise all governmental powers except those given to the national government and those prohibited to the states by the U.S. Constitution.

Except for Nebraska, which has a one-house legislature, each state has a legislature of two houses, both elective. In most states the lieutenant governor presides over the senate. Usually the other house elects a speaker as its presiding officer. In some states the people may pass laws directly by initiative and referendum.

Every state elects a governor as chief executive for a term of two to four years. Most of the states elect a lieutenant governor; he succeeds a governor who dies or cannot serve. In every state but North Carolina the governor can veto laws passed by the legislature. In some states he can veto individual items in bills.

Most states elect several administrative officials, including lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and superintendent of public instruction. Many states also have various administrative departments, each usually headed by a director appointed by the governor. Some states have various boards and commissions over which the governor may have little control.

On the lowest level there are usually justices of the peace in rural areas and municipal courts in cities. Next are the trial courts, which handle most cases. Above them are the courts of appeals, and finally the state supreme court.

The United States has about 81,000 local governmental units. These local units are created by the state as agents of the state; they have only such powers as the state gives them. The states delegate many of their responsibilities to local governments because the work can be done more efficiently on the local level.

The largest of the local administrative units is the county. Each state—except Alaska—is divided into counties (called parishes in Louisiana). In Connecticut and Rhode Island, however, counties are only geographical designations for election or judicial purposes and do not have governmental structures. Alaska is divided into boroughs (which are similar to counties) and "census areas," established for statistical purposes.

Townships usually are subdivisions of the county created to meet local needs in rural areas. In New England, however, the town (as the township is called there) is the chief unit of local government. Township government is generally restricted to the Northeast and Midwest. Where townships exist in the South and Far West, they are mainly geographical designations.

include cities, boroughs (except in Alaska), towns (outside New England), and villages. They are special governmental units organized to meet the needs of urban areas. For judicial and certain other purposes, most municipalities remain within the jurisdiction of the county in which they are located. Some cities are entirely independent, not being within any county at all.

School districts are the most numerous of these subordinate governmental units. Special districts have also been created for sanitation, navigation, drainage, conservation, and other purposes.

In some areas, metropolitan governments have been formed by municipalities and counties to handle regional problems. Sometimes a separate unit is established and delegated certain powers. In other cases, the municipal and county governments may be consolidated into one governing body.

The United States has sovereignty over a number of outlying areas. Most of these areas are under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the interior, assisted by the Office of Territorial Affairs. Exceptions are Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas, which are self-governing commonwealths. All have internal self-government. Most have elected governors and legislatures.

Residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Northern Marianas are United States citizens. Those of the other areas are not. .

The President is commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, assuring civilian control of the military establishment. The National Security Act of 1947 placed the army, navy, and air force under a single civilian secretary of defense, who is a member of the President's cabinet. (Previously, the army and navy had separate cabinet-level secretaries, and the air force was part of the army.)

The President is advised and assisted in matters of defense by several other agencies in addition to the Department of Defense. These include the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

In addition to the army, navy, and air force, the armed forces include the Marine Corps, which is part of the navy; and the Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Transportation in peacetime but comes under navy control during war.

The National Guard and Air National Guard are reserve units ordinarily under control of the states. A governor can call out his state's guard units to deal with riots, disasters, or other emergencies. In time of national emergency, guard units may be called into federal service. The National Guard and Air National Guard are supported by federal funds.

The United States maintains one of the world's largest and best-equipped military forces. For the numbers of men and women on active duty in the armed forces and serving in the various military reserve units, see separate articles on the branches of service—army, navy, air force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard—and the article on the National Guard.

table titled Major Combat Vessels of the Leading Navies.

All branches of the armed forces have guided or ballistic missiles. National defense spending has been a substantial percentage of the national budget nearly every year since 1942.

Each branch of the armed forces has its own program for securing both enlisted and commissioned personnel for its active and reserve components. Great emphasis has also been given by all branches in recent times to the recruiting of women. Conscription (the draft) was abolished in 1973. Beginning in 1980, young men were again required to register, but the draft itself was not reinstated.