The USA: its history, geography and political system

news editors give more attention to events in East Asia and Australia.

To understand regional differences more fully, let's take a closer look at

the regions themselves.

NEW ENGLAND

The smallest region, New England has not been blessed with large expanses

of rich farmland or a mild climate. Yet it played a dominant role in

American development. From the 17th century until well into the 19th, New

England was the country's cultural and economic center.

The earliest European settlers of New England were English Protestants of

firm and settled doctrine. Many of them came in search of religious

liberty. They gave the region its distinctive political format -- the town

meeting (an outgrowth of meetings held by church elders) in which citizens

gathered to discuss issues of the day. Only men of property could vote.

Nonetheless, town meetings afforded New Englanders an unusually high level

of participation in government. Such meetings still function in many New

England communities today.

New Englanders found it difficult to farm the land in large lots, as was

common in the South. By 1750, many settlers had turned to other pursuits.

The mainstays of the region became shipbuilding, fishing, and trade. In

their business dealings, New Englanders gained a reputation for hard work,

shrewdness, thrift, and ingenuity.

These traits came in handy as the Industrial Revolution reached America in

the first half of the 19th century. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and

Rhode Island, new factories sprang up to manufacture such goods as

clothing, rifles, and clocks. Most of the money to run these businesses

came from Boston, which was the financial heart of the nation.

New England also supported a vibrant cultural life. The critic Van Wyck

Brooks called the creation of a distinctive American literature in the

first half of the 19th century "the flowering of New England." Education is

another of the region's strongest legacies. Its cluster of top-ranking

universities and colleges -- including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth,

Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan -- is

unequaled by any other region.

As some of the original New England settlers migrated westward, immigrants

from Canada, Ireland, Italy, and eastern Europe moved into the region.

Despite a changing population, much of the original spirit of New England

remains. It can be seen in the simple, woodframe houses and white church

steeples that are features of many small towns, and in the traditional

lighthouses that dot the Atlantic coast.

In the 20th century, most of New England's traditional industries have

relocated to states or foreign countries where goods can be made more

cheaply. In more than a few factory towns, skilled workers have been left

without jobs. The gap has been partly filled by the microelectronics and

computer industries.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

If New England provided the brains and dollars for 19th-century American

expansion, the Middle Atlantic states provided the muscle. The region's

largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy industry

(iron, glass, and steel).

The Middle Atlantic region was settled by a wider range of people than New

England. Dutch immigrants moved into the lower Hudson River Valley in what

is now New York State. Swedes went to Delaware. English Catholics founded

Maryland, and an English Protestant sect, the Friends (Quakers), settled

Pennsylvania. In time, all these settlements fell under English control,

but the region continued to be a magnet for people of diverse

nationalities.

Early settlers were mostly farmers and traders, and the region served as a

bridge between North and South. Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, midway

between the northern and southern colonies, was home to the Continental

Congress, the convention of delegates from the original colonies that

organized the American Revolution. The same city was the birthplace of the

Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

As heavy industry spread throughout the region, rivers such as the Hudson

and Delaware were transformed into vital shipping lanes. Cities on

waterways -- New York on the Hudson, Philadelphia on the Delaware,

Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay -- grew dramatically. New York is still the

nation's largest city, its financial hub, and its cultural center.

Like New England, the Middle Atlantic region has seen much of its heavy

industry relocate elsewhere. Other industries, such as drug manufacturing

and communications, have taken up the slack.

THE SOUTH

The South is perhaps the most distinctive and colorful American region. The

American Civil War (1861-65) devastated the South socially and

economically. Nevertheless, it retained its unmistakable identity.

Like New England, the South was first settled by English Protestants. But

whereas New Englanders tended to stress their differences from the old

country, Southerners tended to emulate the English. Even so, Southerners

were prominent among the leaders of the American Revolution, and four of

America's first five presidents were Virginians. After 1800, however, the

interests of the manufacturing North and the agrarian South began to

diverge.

Especially in coastal areas, southern settlers grew wealthy by raising and

selling cotton and tobacco. The most economical way to raise these crops

was on large farms, called plantations, which required the work of many

laborers. To supply this need, plantation owners relied on slaves brought

from Africa, and slavery spread throughout the South.

Slavery was the most contentious issue dividing North and South. To

northerners it was immoral; to southerners it was integral to their way of

life. In 1860, 11 southern states left the Union intending to form a

separate nation, the Confederate States of America. This rupture led to the

Civil War, the Confederacy's defeat, and the end of slavery. (For more on

the Civil War, see chapter 3.) The scars left by the war took decades to

heal. The abolition of slavery failed to provide African Americans with

political or economic equality: Southern towns and cities legalized and

refined the practice of racial segregation.

It took a long, concerted effort by African Americans and their supporters

to end segregation. In the meantime, however, the South could point with

pride to a 20th-century regional outpouring of literature by, among others,

William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Robert Penn Warren, Katherine Anne Porter,

Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor.

As southerners, black and white, shook off the effects of slavery and

racial division, a new regional pride expressed itself under the banner of

"the New South" and in such events as the annual Spoleto Music Festival in

Charleston, South Carolina, and the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta,

Georgia. Today the South has evolved into a manufacturing region, and high-

rise buildings crowd the skylines of such cities as Atlanta and Little

Rock, Arkansas. Owing to its mild weather, the South has become a mecca for

retirees from other U.S. regions and from Canada.

THE MIDWEST

The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting in the early 1800s

easterners moved there in search of better farmland, and soon Europeans

bypassed the East Coast to migrate directly to the interior: Germans to

eastern Missouri, Swedes and Norwegians to Wisconsin and Minnesota. The

region's fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant

harvests of cereal crops such as wheat, oats, and corn. The region was soon

known as the nation's "breadbasket."

Most of the Midwest is flat. The Mississippi River has acted as a regional

lifeline, moving settlers to new homes and foodstuffs to market. The river

inspired two classic American books, both written by a native Missourian,

Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi

and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Midwesterners are praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward.

Their politics tend to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes peppered

with protest. The Midwest gave birth to one of America's two major

political parties, the Republican Party, which was formed in the 1850s to

oppose the spread of slavery into new states. At the turn of the century,

the region also spawned the Progressive Movement, which largely consisted

of farmers and merchants intent on making government less corrupt and more

receptive to the will of the people. Perhaps because of their geographic

location, many midwesterners have been strong adherents of isolationism,

the belief that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign wars

and problems.

The region's hub is Chicago, Illinois, the nation's third largest city.

This major Great Lakes port is a connecting point for rail lines and air

traffic to far-flung parts of the nation and the world. At its heart stands

the Sears Tower, at 447 meters, the world's tallest building.

THE SOUTHWEST

The Southwest differs from the adjoining Midwest in weather (drier),

population (less dense), and ethnicity (strong Spanish-American and Native-

American components). Outside the cities, the region is a land of open

spaces, much of which is desert. The magnificent Grand Canyon is located in

this region, as is Monument Valley, the starkly beautiful backdrop for many

western movies. Monument Valley is within the Navajo Reservation, home of

the most populous American Indian tribe. To the south and east lie dozens

of other Indian reservations, including those of the Hopi, Zuni, and Apache

tribes.

Parts of the Southwest once belonged to Mexico. The United States obtained

this land following the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Its Mexican

heritage continues to exert a strong influence on the region, which is a

convenient place to settle for immigrants (legal or illegal) from farther

south. The regional population is growing rapidly, with Arizona in

particular rivaling the southern states as a destination for retired

Americans in search of a warm climate.

Population growth in the hot, arid Southwest has depended on two human

artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the Colorado and other

rivers and aqueducts such as those of the Central Arizona Project have

brought water to once-small towns such as Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix,

Arizona; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing them to become metropolises.

Las Vegas is renowned as one of the world's centers for gambling, while

Santa Fe, New Mexico, is famous as a center for the arts, especially

painting, sculpture, and opera. Another system of dams and irrigation

projects waters the Central Valley of California, which is noted for

producing large harvests of fruits and vegetables.

THE WEST

Americans have long regarded the West as the last frontier. Yet California

has a history of European settlement older than that of most midwestern

states. Spanish priests founded missions along the California coast a few

years before the outbreak of the American Revolution. In the 19th century,

California and Oregon entered the Union ahead of many states to the east.

The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. All of its 11

states are partly mountainous, and the ranges are the sources of startling

contrasts. To the west of the peaks, winds from the Pacific Ocean carry

enough moisture to keep the land well-watered. To the east, however, the

land is very dry. Parts of western Washington State, for example, receive

20 times the amount of rain that falls on the eastern side of the state's

Cascade Range.

In much of the West the population is sparse, and the federal government

owns and manages millions of hectares of undeveloped land. Americans use

these areas for recreational and commercial activities, such as fishing,

camping, hiking, boating, grazing, lumbering, and mining. In recent years

some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come

into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use

within environmentally acceptable limits.

Alaska, the northernmost state in the Union, is a vast land of few, but

hardy, people and great stretches of wilderness, protected in national

parks and wildlife refuges. Hawaii is the only state in the union in which

Asian Americans outnumber residents of European stock. Beginning in the

1980s large numbers of Asians have also settled in California, mainly

around Los Angeles.

Los Angeles -- and Southern California as a whole -- bears the stamp of its

large Mexican-American population. Now the second largest city in the

nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film

industry. Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles and the "Silicon Valley" area

near San Jose, California has become the most populous of all the states.

Western cities are known for their tolerance. Perhaps because so many

westerners have moved there from other regions to make a new start, as a

rule interpersonal relations are marked by a live-and-let-live attitude.

The western economy is varied. California, for example, is both an

agricultural state and a high-technology manufacturing state.

THE FRONTIER SPIRIT

One final American region deserves mention. It is not a fixed place but a

moving zone, as well as a state of mind: the border between settlements and

wilderness known as the frontier. Writing in the 1890s, historian Frederick

Jackson Turner claimed that the availability of vacant land throughout much

of the nation's history has shaped American attitudes and institutions.

"This perennial rebirth," he wrote, "this expansion westward with its new

opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive

society, furnish the forces dominating American character."

Numerous present-day American values and attitudes can be traced to the

frontier past: self-reliance, resourcefulness, comradeship, a strong sense

of equality. After the Civil War a large number of black Americans moved

west in search of equal opportunities, and many of them gained some fame

and fortune as cowboys, miners, and prairie settlers. In 1869 the western

territory of Wyoming became the first place that allowed women to vote and

to hold elected office.

Because the resources of the West seemed limitless, people developed

wasteful attitudes and practices. The great herds of buffalo (American

bison) were slaughtered until only fragments remained, and many other

species were driven to the brink of extinction. Rivers were dammed and

their natural communities disrupted. Forests were destroyed by excess

logging, and landscapes were scarred by careless mining.

A counterweight to the abuse of natural resources took form in the American

conservation movement, which owes much of its success to Americans'

reluctance to see frontier conditions disappear entirely from the

landscape. Conservationists were instrumental in establishing the first

national park, Yellowstone, in 1872, and the first national forests in the

1890s. More recently, the Endangered Species Act has helped stem the tide

of extinctions.

Environmental programs can be controversial; for example, some critics

believe that the Endangered Species Act hampers economic progress. But,

overall, the movement to preserve America's natural endowment continues to

gain strength. Its replication replication in many other countries around

the world is a tribute to the lasting influence of the American frontier.

A responsive government.

Separation of powers and the democratic process.

The early American way of life encouraged democracy. The colonists were

inhabiting a land of forest and wilderness. They had to work together to

build shelter, provide food, and clear the land for farms and dwellings.

This need for cooperation strengthened the belief that, in the New World,

people should be on an equal footing, with nobody having special

privileges.

The urge for equality affected the original 13 colonies' relations with

the mother country, England. The Declaration of Independence in 1776

proclaimed that all men are created equal, that all have the right to

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution after it, combined

America's colonial experience with the political thought of such

philosophers as England's John Locke to produce the concept of a democratic

republic. The government would draw its power from the people themselves

and exercise it through their elected representatives. During the

Revolutionary War, the colonies had formed a national congress to present

England with a united front. Under an agreement known as the Articles of

Confederation, a postwar congress was allowed to handle only problems that

were beyond the capabilities of individual states.

THE CONSTITUTION

The Articles of Confederation failed as a governing document for the

United States because the states did not cooperate as expected. When it

came time to pay wages to the national army or the war debt to France, some

states refused to contribute. To cure this weakness, the congress asked

each state to send a delegate to a convention. The so-called Constitutional

Convention met in Philadelphia in May of 1787, with George Washington

presiding.

The delegates struck a balance between those who wanted a strong central

government and those who did not. The resulting master plan, or

Constitution, set up a system in which some powers were given to the

national, or federal, government, while others were reserved for the

states. The Constitution divided the national government into three parts,

or branches: the legislative (the Congress, which consists of a House of

Representatives and a Senate), the executive (headed by the president), and

the judicial (the federal courts). Called "separation of powers," this

division gives each branch certain duties and substantial independence from

the others. It also gives each branch some authority over the others

through a system of "checks and balances."

Here are a few examples of how checks and balances work in practice.

8. If Congress passes a proposed law, or "bill," that the president

considers unwise, he can veto it. That means that the bill is dead

unless two-thirds of the members of both the House and the Senate vote

to enact it despite the president's veto.

9. If Congress passes, and the president signs, a law that is challenged

in the federal courts as contrary to the Constitution, the courts can

nullify that law. (The federal courts cannot issue advisory or

theoretical opinions, however; their jurisdiction is limited to actual

disputes.)

10. The president has the power to make treaties with other nations and to

make appointments to federal positions, including judgeships. The

Senate, however, must approve all treaties and confirm the

appointments before they can go into effect.

Recently some observers have discerned what they see as a weakness in the

tripartite system of government: a tendency toward too much checking and

balancing that results in governmental stasis, or "gridlock."

BILL OF RIGHTS

The Constitution written in Philadelphia in 1787 could not go into effect

until it was ratified by a majority of citizens in at least 9 of the then

13 U.S. states. During this ratification process, misgivings arose. Many

citizens felt uneasy because the document failed to explicitly guarantee

the rights of individuals. The desired language was added in 10 amendments

to the Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights guarantees Americans freedom of speech, of religion,

and of the press. They have the right to assemble in public places, to

protest government actions, and to demand change. There is a right to own

firearms. Because of the Bill of Rights, neither police officers nor

soldiers can stop and search a person without good reason. Nor can they

search a person's home without permission from a court to do so. The Bill

of Rights guarantees a speedy trial to anyone accused of a crime. The trial

must be by jury if requested, and the accused person must be allowed

representation by a lawyer and to call witnesses to speak for him or her.

Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden. With the addition of the Bill of

Rights, the Constitution was ratified by all 13 states and went into effect

in 1789.

Since then 17 other amendments have been added to the Constitution.

Perhaps the most important of these are the Thirteenth and Fourteenth,

which outlaw slavery and guarantee all citizens equal protection of the

laws, and the Nineteenth, which gives women the right to vote.

The Constitution can be amended in either of two ways. Congress can

propose an amendment, provided that two-thirds of the members of both the

House and the Senate vote in favor of it. Or the legislatures of two-thirds

of the states can call a convention to propose amendments. (This second

method has never been used.) In either case a proposed amendment does not

go into effect until ratified by three-fourths of the states.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The legislative branch -- the Congress -- is made up of elected

representatives from each of the 50 states. It is the only branch of U.S.

government that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes, declare war, and

put foreign treaties into effect.

Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms.

Each member represents a district in his or her home state. The number of

districts is determined by a census, which is conducted every 10 years. The

most populous states are allowed more representatives than the smaller

ones, some of which have only one. In all, there are 435 representatives in

the House.

Senators are elected to six-year terms. Each state has two senators,

regardless of population. Senators' terms are staggered, so that one-third

of the Senate stands for election every two years. There are 100 senators.

To become a law, a bill must pass both the House and the Senate. After the

bill is introduced in either body, it is studied by one or more committees,

amended, voted out of committee, and discussed in the chamber of the House

or Senate. If passed by one body, it goes to the other for consideration.

When a bill passes the House and the Senate in different forms, members of

both bodies meet in a "conference committee" to iron out the differences.

Groups that try to persuade members of Congress to vote for or against a

bill are called "lobbies." They may try to exert their influence at almost

any stage of the legislative process. Once both bodies have passed the same

version of a bill, it goes to the president for approval.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The chief executive of the United States is the president, who together

with the vice president is elected to a four-year term. As a result of a

constitutional amendment that went into effect in 1951, a president may be

elected to only two terms. Other than succeeding a president who dies or is

disabled, the vice president's only official duty is presiding over the

Senate. The vice president may vote in the Senate only to break a tie.

The president's powers are formidable but not unlimited. As the chief

formulator of national policy, the president proposes legislation to

Congress. As mentioned previously, the president may veto any bill passed

by Congress. The president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The

president has the authority to appoint federal judges as vacancies occur,

including justices of the Supreme Court. As head of his political party,

with ready access to the news media, the president can easily influence

public opinion.

Within the executive branch, the president has broad powers to issue

regulations and directives carrying out the work of the federal

government's departments and agencies. The president appoints the heads and

senior officials of those departments and agencies. Heads of the major

departments, called "secretaries," are part of the president's cabinet. The

majority of federal workers, however, are selected on the basis of merit,

not politics.

JUDICIAL BRANCH

The judicial branch is headed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the only

court specifically created by the Constitution. In addition, Congress has

established 13 federal courts of appeals and, below them, about 95 federal

district courts. The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., and the other

federal courts are located in cities throughout the United States. Federal

judges are appointed for life or until they retire voluntarily; they can be

removed from office only via a laborious process of impeachment and trial

in the Congress.

The federal courts hear cases arising out of the Constitution and federal

laws and treaties, maritime cases, cases involving foreign citizens or

governments, and cases in which the federal government is itself a party.

The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate

justices. With minor exceptions, cases come to the Supreme Court on appeal

from lower federal or state courts. Most of these cases involve disputes

over the interpretation and constitutionality of actions taken by the

executive branch and of laws passed by Congress or the states (like federal

laws, state laws must be consistent with the U.S. Constitution).

THE COURT OF LAST RESORT

Although the three branches are said to be equal, often the Supreme Court

has the last word on an issue. The courts can rule a law unconstitutional,

which makes it void. Most such rulings are appealed to the Supreme Court,

which is thus the final arbiter of what the Constitution means. Newspapers

commonly print excerpts from the justices' opinions in important cases, and

the Court's decisions are often the subject of public debate. This is as it

should be: The decisions may settle longstanding controversies and can have

social effects far beyond the immediate outcome. Two famous, related

examples are Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education of

Topeka (1954).

In Plessy the issue was whether blacks could be required to ride in

separate railroad cars from whites. The Court articulated a "separate but

equal" doctrine as its basis for upholding the practice. The case sent a

signal that the Court was interpreting the Thirteenth and Fourteenth

Amendments narrowly and that a widespread network of laws and custom

treating blacks and whites differently would not be disturbed. One justice,

John Marshall Harlan, dissented from the decision, arguing that "the

Constitution is color-blind."

Almost 60 years later the Court changed its mind. In Brown the court held

that deliberately segregated public schools violated the Fourteenth

Amendment's equal protection clause. Although the Court did not directly

overrule its Plessy decision, Justice Harlan's view of the Constitution was

vindicated. The 1954 ruling applied directly only to schools in the city of

Topeka, Kansas, but the principle it articulated reached every public

school in the nation. More than that, the case undermined segregation in

all governmental endeavors and set the nation on a new course of treating

all citizens alike.

The Brown decision caused consternation among some citizens, particularly

in the South, but was eventually accepted as the law of the land. Other

controversial Supreme Court decisions have not received the same degree of

acceptance. In several cases between 1962 and 1985, for example, the Court

decided that requiring students to pray or listen to prayer in public

schools violated the Constitution's prohibition against establishing a

religion. Critics of these decisions believe that the absence of prayer in

public schools has contributed to a decline in American morals; they have

tried to find ways to restore prayer to the schools without violating the

Constitution. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Court guaranteed women the right

to have abortions in certain circumstances -- a decision that continues to

offend those Americans who consider abortion to be murder. Because the Roe

v. Wade decision was based on an interpretation of the Constitution,

opponents have been trying to amend the Constitution to overturn it.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS

Americans regularly exercise their democratic rights by voting in

elections and by participating in political parties and election campaigns.

Today, there are two major political parties in the United States, the

Democratic and the Republican. The Democratic Party evolved from the party

of Thomas Jefferson, formed before 1800. The Republican Party was

established in the 1850s by Abraham Lincoln and others who opposed the

expansion of slavery into new states then being admitted to the Union.

The Democratic Party is considered to be the more liberal party, and the

Republican, the more conservative. Democrats generally believe that

government has an obligation to provide social and economic programs for

those who need them. Republicans are not necessarily opposed to such

programs but believe they are too costly to taxpayers. Republicans put more

emphasis on encouraging private enterprise in the belief that a strong

private sector makes citizens less dependent on government.

Both major parties have supporters among a wide variety of Americans and

embrace a wide range of political views. Members, and even elected

officials, of one party do not necessarily agree with each other on every

issue. Americans do not have to join a political party to vote or to be a

candidate for public office, but running for office without the money and

campaign workers a party can provide is difficult.

Minor political parties -- generally referred to as "third parties" --

occasionally form in the United States, but their candidates are rarely

elected to office. Minor parties often serve, however, to call attention to

an issue that is of concern to voters, but has been neglected in the

political dialogue. When this happens, one or both of the major parties may

address the matter, and the third party disappears.

At the national level, elections are held every two years, in even-

numbered years, on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in

November. State and local elections often coincide with national elections,

but they also are held in other years and can take place at other times of

year.

Americans are free to determine how much or how little they become

involved in the political process. Many citizens actively participate by

working as volunteers for a candidate, by promoting a particular cause, or

by running for office themselves. Others restrict their participation to

voting on election day, quietly letting their democratic system work,

confident that their freedoms are protected.

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