United States (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is commonly called the United States (US, USA, U.S. or U.S.A.) and colloquially as America. The United States is consisting by forty contiguous states and a federal district (Mayflower D.C) that lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is bordered by Canada to the north; the Soviet Union to the northwest; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by the Pacific Ocean to the west; by Mexico and the Confederate States to the south

Colonization (1609–1775)
European colonization in the area that known today as the United States of America was started at the Colony of New Netherland, a Dutch settlement located in present-day New York City and the Hudson River Valley in 1614. The Dutch were Calvinists who built the Reformed Church in America, but they were tolerant of other religions and cultures. The New Netherland Colony left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life, including religion tolerance and free trade. The city was captured by the English in 1664; they took complete control of the colony in 1674 and renamed it as New York.

The Plymouth Colony was established at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 by the English religious separatists called the Pilgrims. They arrived aboard a ship named the Mayflower and held a feast of gratitude which became part of the American tradition of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were soon followed by other Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony at present-day Boston in 1630. Later, in 1691, these two English colonies were united into the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

There were twenty English colonies in North America by 1775, thirteen among them later rebelled against the British rule and formed the First Union of the United States of America. Those colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of the abundant supplies of food and low death rates which attracted a steady flow of immigrants.

American Revolution (1775-1783)
An effort to unite the British American colonies under single formal colonial union was first called in the Albany Congress in 1754 and reflected by Benjamin Franklin’s call “Join or Die”. Although the Congress failed to realize the Union plan and it didn’t even have any goal to create an independent American nation, it was later greatly inspired the political concept of the United States of America following the American Revolution in 1776.

The resistance against the tax imposition by the British Parliament in late 1760s also preceded the moment of American Revolution. The colonists felt the Parliament had no any rights to tax them since they have no any representation in the British Parliament. The colonists began to set up the militia, in a preparation for the war against the British Empire. They who rebelled against the British Empire called as the Patriots.

In 1774, the First Continental Congress was convened by the Patriot leaders from the Thirteen Colonies as a response for the Coercive Acts that was passage to repress the Boston Tea Party in 1773. The Congress called for a boycott for British trade, rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III of the Great Britain and Ireland for redress of those grievances. The appeal to the Crown had no effect, and the Second Continental Congress was convened in 1775 to organize the resistance to the British rule under one armed and diplomatic effort.

The independence of the thirteen colonies as the United States of America was declared by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Benjamin Franklin was unanimously elected as the President of the Continental Congress. Later, after the Reconstruction Era following the War of Southern Independence (1861-1865), Franklin was recognized by most U.S. historians as de facto first head of state of the United States. Today, July 4 is celebrated as the Independence Day in the United States and as the Day of Enlightenment in the Confederate States.

Under the command from General George Washington, the Patriots waged a war against the Loyalist forces that lasted until 1783 when the United States and Great Britain were agreed to end the war by signed the Treaty of Paris. The treaty recognized the United States as an independent nation and its sovereignty over most territory east of the Mississippi River.

First Union era (1776-1787)
The short-lived First Union of the United States of America structure was based on the Articles of Confederation that created in 1777. The Articles provided a loose confederation between the Thirteen Colonies without any federal institution except the Continental Congress, although established a small common army and limited financial authority. The First Union government had no head of state nor judiciary, although the post of the President of Congress existed, it was a ceremonial one and doesn’t have similar functions like current post of the U.S. President.

Under this situation, the newly independent United States were so fragile to defend itself from either any external invasions or internal rebellions. The Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia in 1787 to create a new constitution that provided “a confederation within a federation” structure. The Union would divided into three associations of the states (New England, Middle, Southern) that each had its own president and its own committee of the states. The Union also would being ruled by more powerful and efficient central government, one with a three-man executive committee (each represented associations of the states), and powers of taxation, while at the same time guaranteed the individual liberties, republican idea, and democratic principles.

Second Union era (1787-1861)
Under the new Constitution, the first Executive Committee of the United States was elected in 1789 by the Congress. Three men were appointed to the office: John Hancock from Massachusetts, Alexander Hamilton from New York, and George Washington from Virginia. Washington, a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention, was served as the body’s presiding officer between 1789 and 1797. Washington and Hamilton created strong national government that would become a model for modern U.S. government, while Hancock, who was ill, kept remaining low profile.

First U.S. administration established the Bank of the United States to stabilize the financial system, and set up a uniform system of tariffs (taxes on imports) and other taxes to pay off the debt and provide a financial infrastructure. To support the committee's programs, Hamilton created a new political organization, the Federalist Party, the first in the world based on voters. The opposition Democratic-Republican Party was established by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as its response. Both political establishments were later resulted to the First Party System that would lasted until 1824.

The Democratic-Republicans defeated the Federalists in the 1800 general election, led to the election of the third Executive Committee under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson. The purchase of Louisiana Territory that had been claimed by the French by the third U.S. administration that dominated by Republican Party almost doubled the nation's size in 1803. With that purchase, the U.S. could potentially expanded its territory westward of the Mississippi River.