United States (Carpe Diem)

The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., or America) is a federal constitutional republic, situated mainly on the North American continent. The United States shares borders with to the north and  to the south.

The United States was originally a collection of British colonies on the Atlantic coast until they proclaimed independence on July 4, 1776, leading to the. The war raged on for. The Treaty of Paris also forced Britain to cede all land east of the Mississippi River to the United States. Driven by, the US expanded to purchase from France, and was ceded land from  after the , and expanded across the  continent. However expansion of slavery into these territories caused some debate with the Union until it erupted into a that lasted from 1861 to 1865 between the North (the Union) and the South (the ), ultimately ending with the North's victory and the  in 1865.

By the late 1890's and early 1900's, the United States had emerged as a on the world stage. During the early 1900's, the United States started a policy of and  and attempted to remain neutral during  and. The US eventually got involved in after tensions with  boiled over in 1917, and in  after the  attack on  in 1941. After, the United States emerged as one of the two superpowers of the world (the other being the , which fostered some mistrust between the and the  resulting in a period known as the  a time of  and the constant threat of . The Cold War officially ended in 1992 following the reformation of the USSR into a democratic federation of republics. Although nuclear war is no longer seen as a threat, the United States and the Soviet Union continue to compete for influence around the world. On September 11, 2001, a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center in New York City. In response to these attacks, the United States launched the "War on Terror" and invaded  (which had been harboring Al-Qaeda since the 1980's) on October 7, 2001.

The United States is a federation comprised of 52 states and a federal district. It's two most recent states, and, were admitted in 2002 and 2004, respectively. The District of Columbia is a territory owned by the federal government and includes the capital of Washington.