United States (In Frederick's Fields)

The United States of America are a federal republic consisting of forty-nine (49) states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states, or "Lower forty-eight", are located in middle North America, between and .The forty-ninth state, Alaska, is the largest state in the United States and is located in the far northwest of the North American continent, stuck between  and. The country has a number of uninhabited islands in the and the Caribbean Sea. At 471 million inhabitants, the United States is the fourth largest nation by population, after, , and.

The United States have had a long and complicated history. Founded by American colonists tired of British involvement on the economy, the early American settlers fought a bloody colonial war against their metrople that ended with the only surrender of the British Empire to colonial forces. The new American nation, composed of thirteen colonies turned states, began expanding westwards, eventually taking over all the land between the 49th Parallel and the Rio Grande. The United States then proceeded to undergo some political turmoil throughout the ninteenth and early twentieth century, as increased control by companies led to class warfare. Anarchists murdered two different Presidents and popularity for left-wing governments rose rapidly. However, nothing important occurred until after World War One, when massive economic downtuns led to the rise of the Debs government and the rise of some political instability and military rule. The United States became the leader of the, and the chief enemy of the and its allies in the global, overarching. While the democratic capacity of the United States waxed and grew throughout the period, it infamously went under two dictatorships; Robert Sterling Clark's dictatorship between the overthrowal of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 and his death in 1956, most known is most famous for the Indian Genocide, and Ronnie Reagan's military-backed régime between 1980 and his murder in 1992, after which the Mexico Pact collapsed.

Today, the US has bounced back from post-Cold War depression, although industrial collapse still heavily affects several areas, most notably the Midwest. The nation has transition back into a traditional two-party democracy with almost full rule of law, although recent seccessionist movements have taken control over the governments of several states, something which poses a threat to the nation. The greatest threat, however, is the ever-looming presence of over a dozen major guerrilla bands of different denominations, from communist to seccessionist, seeking to essentially destroy the United States.

History
for history before the 1900s, see 

The origin of the modern American political movement can of course be taken back as far as the Mayflower Compact, but is more easily seen from the fight between the proponents of Free Silver, supported by the left-wing Democrats, and those who supported gold, especially the Republicans. After the Era of Reconstruction, which ended in 1877 (or 1880, depending on perspective), the main ideologies present in the division between Democrats and Republicans was that of trade and monetary policy. The first such election was that of 1888, which  pitted incumbent Grover Cleveland against Benjamin Harrison, who, supporting the big businesses (as well as Tammany Hall) was able to swing New York and win the election.

The late 1800s saw a period of stunning industrial and capital growth for the few at the top. Business productivity skyrocketed. Manufacture grew in most American nations and cities. Unfortunately, this process only reached the very wealthy in the nation. The "Gilded Age" brought upon the age of massive economic inequality in the United States. The workers, with little if any labour rights and very low wages (despite they being the highest for industrial workers in the world) felt oppressed by the bourgeoisie. This led to the creation of populist movements, most notably the left-wing Populist Party as well as the token issue of the 1892 election; the silver trade. There was a marked difference between those who supported major companies were against the inflationary policies of those who supported using silver as coinage instead of gold (these were led by William Jennings Bryan); those in favour were mainly peasants and poor workers. The Democrats were helped by the Populist Party to elect Bryan to office in 1892.

Soon enough, the United States experienced massive economic downturns with the Panic of 1893. Unemployment skyrocketed and deflation occurred, leading to debts mounting up. Bryan's legislation, thankfully, was able to deal with the brunt of the deal. Removing the dollar's gold-only standard, Bryan began inflating the price of dollars, to the point at which deflation was staved off.

Government and Politics
The United States operates under the 1776 Constitution, amended and modified several times throughout the history of the nation. The United States has a relatively weak central government, with much local power devolved to 49 states and one federal district. The United States is the world's lowest surviving federation, managed by a system of checks and balances between the three wings of government; the legislature (Congress, divided into Senate and House of Representatives), the excecutive (Presidency) and the judiciary (the Supreme Court).

The United States has something often called a "two point five party system", in which two major parties (the Democrats and the Republicans) fight each other for most political offices. The "point-five" in the name comes from two possible interpretations. The first is the left-populistic Populist Party, which acts as a left-wing version of the Republicans in that it almost exclusively agrees to enter coalition with them (while Democrat-Populist coalitions have existed and do exist on a state level, they are rare). Furthermore, the United States has several parties advocating for the independence of individual states, which, albeit are mainly to the left of the political spectrum and therefore mostly side with the Republicans in many important issues, are independent and tend to seat in opposition.

The latest nationwide election was the United States Presidential election of 2012, in which the Republican President Leslie Knope was elected after an agreement with the Leader of the Populist Party, Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The election was remarkable in the fact that the independentist candidates fielded a surprisingly high level of support.

The two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, can be well classified on a left-right axis. The Democratic Party is traditionally the more right-wing of the two parties, with commitment to right-populism, agrarianism, limited state government, more state rights, and less social services. The Republican Party, on the other hand, supports social liberalism, strong government, less state rights, and widespread spending of funds for social services. The third party, the Populist Party, is a bit of a mix between the two, with populist agrarian policies. However, the party's economic policies sit well to the left of both other parties', and it only really agrees to coalitions with the Republicans, which are on their side of the coin.

Independentist movements are a diverse group. Most, however, have been tainted amongst all outside their target demographic by their support, be it passive or active, of the several guerrilla groups operating in American territory. For instance, the New York National Party originated as the civil wing of the New Yorker People's Army, the terrorist organisation responsible for the bombardment of the Pentagon in 1992. The New England Independence Party, the Deseret People's Party and the United Indian Organisation, #1 parties in their respective regions, have also had direct ties to other terrorist groups.

Demographics
With a population of 471 million, the United States is the third largest nation in the world. Originally a nation completely composed of two major ethnic groups (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the top and black slaves in the bottom) the United States has now become far more diverse, with the Census recognising five major ethnic categories into which all ethnic groups fall:


 * Whites


 * Blacks


 * Hispanics


 * Asians


 * Mixed

Today, while whites (60.32%) are still a majority, lower birth rates and high immigration rates from former allies of the Mexico Pact have meant that whites are rapidly dwindling in proportion to other groups. The Hispanic, Asian and mixed-race groups have all grown extremely rapidly in the last thirty years.