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  2. Names of the United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_United_States

    The earliest known use of the name "America" dates to 1505, when German poet Matthias Ringmann used it in a poem about the New World. [2] The word is a Latinized form of the first name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who first proposed that the West Indies discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 were part of a previously unknown landmass, rather than the eastern limit of Asia.

  3. United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

    The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan, a Continental Army aide to General George Washington, wrote to Joseph Reed, Washington's aide-de-camp, seeking to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort.

  4. List of states and territories of the United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and...

    Ten territories (the Minor Outlying Islands and American Samoa) are considered to be unorganized, meaning they have not had an organic act enacted by Congress; the four other territories are organized, meaning an organic act has been enacted by Congress. The five inhabited territories each have limited autonomy in addition to having territorial ...

  5. Federal government of the United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Government_of_the...

    The United States Constitution does not specifically mention the power of judicial review, which is the power to declare a law unconstitutional. There have been instances in the past where such declarations have been ignored by the other two branches.

  6. American (word) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_(word)

    The meaning of the word American in the English language varies according to the historical, geographical, and political context in which it is used.American is derived from America, a term originally denoting all of the Americas (also called the Western Hemisphere), ultimately derived from the name of the Florentine explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (1451–1512).

  7. Flag of the United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States

    The original meaning of displaying a U.S. flag upside down is "a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property." [147] More recently, it has been used by extension to make a statement about distress in civic, political, or other areas. [148] It is most often meant as political protest, and is usually interpreted as ...

  8. United States national motto - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_national_motto

    The 1956 law was the first establishment of an official motto for the country, although E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one") was adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782 as the motto for the Seal of the United States and has been used on coins and paper money since 1795.

  9. Commonwealth (U.S. state) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_(U.S._state)

    The Seal of Pennsylvania does not use the term, but legal processes are in the name of the Commonwealth, and it is a traditional official designation used in referring to the state. In 1776, Pennsylvania 's first state constitution referred to it as both Commonwealth and State , a pattern of usage that was perpetuated in the constitutions of ...