The United States is a federal presidential republic in North America, formed when thirteen British colonies declared independence in 1776 and built a constitutional government over the following thirteen years. Its 1789 Constitution established a presidential system with power divided between a national government and the states, a structure the country has kept, amended twenty seven times, and exported as a model ever since.
Facts
Founding Year1776 is the Declaration of Independence, the conventional founding date. The constitutional government the Declaration promised took over a decade to arrive in practice: the Articles of Confederation in 1781, the Constitution's ratification in 1788, and the first Congress and president in 1789. This entry keeps the conventional date and narrates the gap rather than picking a different single year. Classification
Freedom Status Foreign relations and policy
Current government: Trump Administration (since 2025)
Effective from 2025, ongoing.
Source Executive Order 14169, Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid (GovInfo)
Effective from 2025, ongoing.
Source The Hague Summit Declaration (NATO)
Effective from 2025, ongoing.
Source Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation (Federal Register)
Earlier governments
Biden Administration (2021 to 2025)
Effective from 2022 to 2025.
Source Remarks by President Biden on the United Efforts of the Free World to Support the People of Ukraine (Biden White House Archives)
Effective from 2024 to 2025.
Source Explanation of Vote at a UN Security Council Meeting on Palestinian Membership (US Mission to the United Nations)
Effective from 2021 to 2025.
Source Executive Order 14024, Blocking Property With Respect To Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation (Wikisource)
Party positions (proposed or ideological, not state policy)
Democratic Party (United States) (proposed or ideological position, not state policy; governs as Biden Administration)
Source 2024 Democratic Party Platform (The American Presidency Project, UCSB)
Republican Party (United States) (proposed or ideological position, not state policy; governs as Trump Administration)
NATO Membership, Policy subject Effective from 2024, ongoing.
Source 2024 Republican Party Platform (The American Presidency Project)
Connections
Associated With
This source names United States directly: "The United States Environmental Protection Agency's own official history page, describing its creation under President Nixon's Reorganization Plan No."
Source The Origins of EPA (EPA.gov)
This source names United States directly: "an argument that directly shaped the United States Declaration of Independence."
Source Social Contract Theory (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
This source names United States directly: "Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) each holding a veto over substantive resolutions, and ten elected for two-year terms."
Source United Nations (Wikipedia)
Showing 51 to 53 of 53 in Associated With, page 2 of 2.
Governed By
Source Barack Obama (Wikipedia)
Source Joe Biden (Wikipedia)
Source George Washington (Wikipedia)
Source Donald Trump (Wikipedia)
Source Woodrow Wilson (Wikipedia)
Has Article
Practices
Source Duverger's law (Wikipedia)
Source Electoral college (Wikipedia)
Source Gerrymandering (Wikipedia)
Source Separation of powers (Wikipedia)
Shaped By
Signed
Original 1959 signatory to the Antarctic Treaty.
Source Antarctic Treaty System (Wikipedia)
Original depositary state, Outer Space Treaty, 1967.
Source Outer Space Treaty (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Geography Atlas: the same subject.
Discusses
Also in History Atlas: which this subject discusses.
Source Abraham Lincoln (Wikipedia)tier 2
Also in History Atlas: which this subject discusses.
Source George Washington (Wikipedia)tier 2
Also in History Atlas: which this subject discusses.
Source Thomas Jefferson (Wikipedia)tier 2
Has Member
Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.
Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.
Sources
1. Freedom House: United States (Freedom in the World 2025)
Freedom HouseOverview, Global Freedom Score 81/100 (free)Quote, Overview, Global Freedom Score 81/100 (free)
The United States is a federal republic whose people benefit from a vibrant political system, a strong rule-of-law tradition, robust freedoms of expression and religious belief, and a wide array of other civil liberties.
2. United States (Britannica)
Confederation (Britannica)
Impeachment (Britannica)
Judicial Review (Britannica)
British Empire (Britannica)
Part Of: British Empire
George Washington (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGoverned By: George Washington, Lead sectionQuote, Governed By: George Washington, Lead section
George Washington...was a Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797.
Barack Obama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGoverned By: Barack Obama, Lead sectionQuote, Governed By: Barack Obama, Lead section
served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017
Woodrow Wilson (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGoverned By: Woodrow Wilson, Lead sectionQuote, Governed By: Woodrow Wilson, Lead section
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 - February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921.
Duverger's law (Wikipedia)
Practices: Duverger's Law, Article textQuote, Practices: Duverger's Law, Article text
in political systems with single-member districts and the first-past-the-post voting system, as in, for example, the United States and United Kingdom, only two powerful political parties tend to control power every election cycle.
Separation of powers (Wikipedia)
WikipediaPractices: Separation of Powers, Article textQuote, Practices: Separation of Powers, Article text
Under this influence, it was implemented in 1787 in the Constitution of the United States separation of powers.
Electoral college (Wikipedia)
Practices: Electoral College, Lead paragraphQuote, Practices: Electoral College, Lead paragraph
The United States Electoral College is the only remaining electoral college in democracies where an executive president is indirectly elected via an electoral college.
Gerrymandering (Wikipedia)
Practices: Gerrymandering, Lead paragraphQuote, Practices: Gerrymandering, Lead paragraph
The term gerrymandering is a portmanteau of a salamander and Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States until his death, who, as governor of Massachusetts in 1812, signed a bill that created a partisanly-drawn district in the Boston area that was thought to be similar to the shape of a salamander.
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