Question 37: Geography of the usa

Plan:

It consists of

-forty-eight contiguous states on the North American continent;

-Alaska, an enormous peninsula which forms the northwestern most part of North America;

-Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

-It also holds several United States territories in the Pacific & Caribbean.

Area

In 2008, US total area has been "upgraded" to its current 9,800,000 km²

The United States shares land borders

with Canada (to the north)

and Mexico (to the south)

and a territorial water border with Russia in the northwest.

The contiguous forty-eight states are otherwise

bounded by

the Pacific Ocean on the west,

the Atlantic Ocean on the east,

the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast.

Physiographic divisions

The eastern United States has a varied topography.

The western coast – is flat.

Further inland feature rolling hills and temperate forests.

Plains

The Great Plains. Prairie. Steppe

Central Plains

Atlantic Lowland.

Death Valley

Mississippi River

Missouri

Ohio River

Hudson River

Columbia River

Colorado River

Rio Grande

St. Lawrence River

Lake Superior

Lake Michigan

Lake Huron,

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Rocky Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

Cordillera Mountains

Sierra Nevada Range

Coasts

The Atlantic coast – lowland, greatly indented

The Pacific coast – mountainous, in northern part – cut by fiords.

Lowest point: Death Valley, Inyo County, California 282 feet below sea level (-86 m)

Highest point: Mount McKinley, Denali Borough, Alaska 20,320 feet above sea level (+6,194 m)

The highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft; 4,421 m)

The Niagara Falls on the short Niagara River

Climate

- The climate is temperate in most areas,

- tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida,

- polar in Alaska,

-semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian,

-Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin.

Question 38: Government: Congress

Plan:

The United States is a federal union of fifty states.

- Acquiring of the land.

It is a constitutional republic, structured as a representative democracy.

- the system of checks and balances

- federal, state, local government

Legislative: The bicameral Congress - makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of impeachment,

Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.

Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, appoints, interpret laws, and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.

Congress

 

The Senate	The House of Representatives
Is composed of 100 voting members, 2 from each of the states. They are elected for 6 years number of terms is unlimited Leader – Speaker	Has 435 voting members, in addition 2 ones from Puerto Rico and D.C.. They are elected for 2 years. N depends on the state’s population. Leader – Vice President of the US

The executive branch consists of 13 departments and many independent agencies.

Secretary of State. The ministers are called secretaries. Attorney Genera

The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, called Justices, who serve for life.

It is the highest court of the nation. It interprets the law and determine weather they correspond the Constitution or not. If he majority have found out a law to violate the Constitution, it is declared unconstitutional and becomes invalid.