Government

Official Name: United States of America.

Capital: Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia)

Language: English.

National Holiday: Independence Day, July 4.

National Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Flag: Stars and Stripes, consisting of 13 horizontal stripes (seven red and six white) and a blue field at the upper-left corner containing 50 white, five-pointed stars.

Motto: "In God We Trust" (Joint resolution of Congress, July 1956).

Monetary Unit: U.S. dollar.

Weights and Measures: U.S. Customary System and the International (metric) System.

Legal System: Based on English common law. Dual system of courts, state and federal. Constitution adopted 1787. Judicial review of legislative acts.

Branches of Government: Executive - President and vice president, elected by the people, through the electoral college, to a four-year term; limited to two terms. There are also federal departments and agencies. Fifteen departments, each headed by a secretary, except the Department of Justice, which is headed by the attorney general.

Departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs

Legislative: Senate of 100 members, two from each state; and House of Representatives of 435 members, divided among states proportionally by population.

Judicial: Supreme Court of nine members appointed for life by the president, with Senate confirmation; and system of federal courts.

Elections: Federal elections are held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year. The presidential election is held every four years; members of the Senate are elected for six-year terms, members of the House of Representatives for two-year terms.

Political Parties: Republican and Democratic are the two major national parties; other minor groups and parties.

Voting: Registered citizens over age 18, not compulsory.

Political Subdivisions: Fifty states [of which four are designated commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia], the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

Did you know?
The first presidential election was authorized on September 13, 1788, by the Constitutional Convention; the presidential election authorized in this resolution took place on February 4, 1789.

U.S. Presidents: Washington, George (1789-97)   Adams, John (1797-1801)   Jefferson, Thomas (1801-1809)   Madison, James (1809-1817)   Monroe, James (1817-1825)   Adams, John Quincy (1825-1829)   Jackson, Andrew (1829-1837)   Van Buren, Martin (1837-1841)   Harrison, William Henry (1841)   Tyler, John (1841-1845)   Polk, James (1845-1849)   Taylor, Zachary (1849-1850)   Fillmore, Millard (1850-1853)   Pierce, Franklin (1853-1857)   Buchanan, James (1857-1861)   Lincoln, Abraham (1861-1865)   Johnson, Andrew (1865-1869)   Grant, Ulysses S. (1869-1877)   Hayes, Rutherford B. (1877-1881)   Garfield, James (1881)   Arthur, Chester (1881-1885)   Cleveland, Grover (1885-1889)   Harrison, Benjamin (1889-1893)   Cleveland, Grover (1893-1897)   McKinley, William (1897-1901)   Roosevelt, Theodore (1901-1909)   Taft, William H. (1909-1913)   Wilson, Woodrow (1913-1921)   Harding, Warren (1921-1923)   Coolidge, Calvin (1923-1929)   Hoover, Herbert (1929-1933)   Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1933-1945)   Truman, Harry (1945-1953)   Eisenhower, Dwight (1953-1961)   Kennedy, John F. (1961-1963)   Johnson, Lyndon (1963-1969)   Nixon, Richard (1969-1974)   Ford, Gerald (1974-1977)   Carter, Jimmy (1977-1981)   Reagan, Ronald (1981-1989)   Bush, George H.W. (1989-1993)   Clinton, William J. (1993-2001)   Bush, George W. (2001-