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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 16 January 2025. "American history" redirects here. For the history of the continents, see History of the Americas. Further information: Economic history of the United States Current territories of the United States after the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was given independence in 1994 This ...
The United States of America was formed after thirteen British colonies in North America declared independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. In the Lee Resolution, passed by the Second Continental Congress two days prior, the colonies resolved that they were free and independent states.
The Oxford History of the United States is an ongoing multivolume narrative history of the United States published by Oxford University Press.Conceived in the 1950s and launched in 1961 under the co-editorship of historians Richard Hofstadter and C. Vann Woodward, the series has been edited by David M. Kennedy since 1999.
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.
Since the 19th century, the United States government has participated and interfered, both overtly and covertly, in the replacement of many foreign governments. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. government initiated actions for regime change mainly in Latin America and the southwest Pacific, including the Spanish–American and Philippine–American wars.
Thomas Jefferson, a key Founding Father, was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, which Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis says contains "the most potent and consequential words in American history". [6] Historian Richard Morris' selection of seven key founders was widely accepted through the 20th century.
The White House, official residence of the president of the United States, in July 2008. The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, [1] indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. [2]
The United States of America is a federal republic [1] consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. [2] [3] Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. [4]