Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and political representation sparked the American Revolution, with the Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence on July 4, 1776.

Federalism provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states, while American values are based on a democratic political tradition that draws its inspiration from the European Enlightenment movement.

[62] The original Thirteen Colonies[r] that would later found the United States were administered as possessions of Great Britain,[63] and had local governments with elections open to most white male property owners.

[70] After the British surrender at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 American sovereignty was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which the U.S. gained territory stretching west to the Mississippi River, north to present-day Canada, and south to Spanish Florida.

[77] George Washington was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government.

[78][79] His resignation as commander-in-chief after the Revolutionary War and his later refusal to run for a third term as the country's first president established a precedent for the supremacy of civil authority in the United States and the peaceful transfer of power.

[123][124] A series of Supreme Court decisions, including Plessy v. Ferguson, emptied the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked, sundown towns in the Midwest, and segregation in communities across the country, which would be reinforced by the policy of redlining later adopted by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation.

[125] An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor[126] led to rapid economic expansion during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England, France, and Germany combined.

[130] These changes were accompanied by significant increases in economic inequality, slum conditions, and social unrest, creating the environment for labor unions and socialist movements to begin to flourish.

[141] The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to with the New Deal, a series of sweeping programs and public works projects combined with financial reforms and regulations.

[151][152][153] The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit the USSR's sphere of influence, engaged in regime change against governments perceived to be aligned with Moscow, and prevailed in the Space Race, which culminated with the first crewed Moon landing in 1969.

[157] The Great Society plan of President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering institutional racism.

[162] The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, which marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's sole superpower.

Throughout this decade, technological innovations such as the World Wide Web, the evolution of the Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's law, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the first gene therapy trial, and cloning either emerged in the U.S. or were improved upon there.

[168] The September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 by the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda led to the war on terror, and subsequent military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[208][209] Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable resources and nuclear energy, air and water pollution, biodiversity, logging and deforestation,[210][211] and climate change.

[260] The U.S. works closely with its NATO allies on military and national security issues, and with countries in the Americas through the Organization of American States and the United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement.

[284] Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under a year).

[284] Juvenile correctional facilities are operated by local or state governments and serve as longer-term placements for any minor adjudicated as delinquent and ordered by a judge to be confined.

[290] The 2024 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $29 trillion[291][t] was the highest in the world, constituting over 25% of the nominal global economic output or 15% at purchasing power parity (PPP).

[311][312] The United States is at or near the forefront of technological advancement and innovation[313] in many economic fields, especially in artificial intelligence; electronics and computers; pharmaceuticals; and medical, aerospace and military equipment.

Vehicle traffic laws, however, are enacted and enforced by state and local authorities, with the exception of roads located on federal property (such as national parks and military bases) or in the unorganized U.S. territories.

Most U.S. urban areas have some form of public transit, notably city buses, while the largest (e.g. New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon) operate extensive systems that also include subways or light rail.

[376] Most public transit service in the United States is run by local governments, but national and regional commuter lines serve major U.S. urban corridors.

[401] White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa form the largest racial and ethnic group at 57.8% of the United States population.

[421] Religious affiliation in the U.S., according to a 2023 Gallup poll:[7] The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion in the country and forbids Congress from passing laws respecting its establishment.

[428] Mormonism—a Restorationist movement, whose members migrated westward from Missouri and Illinois under the leadership of Brigham Young in 1847 after the assassination of Joseph Smith[432]—remains the predominant religion in Utah to this day.

[515][516] In the 1950s, an ideal of homogeneity led many authors to attempt to write the Great American Novel,[517] while the Beat Generation rejected this conformity, using styles that elevated the impact of the spoken word over mechanics to describe drug use, sexuality, and the failings of society.

Major artistic movements such as the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein developed largely in the United States.

[588][589] New World crops, especially pumpkin, corn, potatoes, and turkey as the main course are part of a shared national menu on Thanksgiving, when many Americans prepare or purchase traditional dishes to celebrate the occasion.