Content

Introduction 3
Constitution USA 3
Nation Grows. Washington Through Jackson. Jefferson 5
Presidents of the United States 7
Thomas Jefferson 8

Jefferson's Reason 8

The “American Creed" and Mankind's Spiritual History 9
Jacksonian Democracy 11
Jonh F. Kennedy 12
Presidents at a Glance 18
Excerpts from Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents 22
The literature 24

Introduction

The US is a federal Union of 50 states each of them has its own government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington,
D.C.

The population of the USA is about 250 million people; most of the population lives in towns and cities.

The United States is rich in natural and mineral resources. It produces copper, oil, iron ore and coal. It's a highly developed industrial and agricultural country. There are many big cities in the USA, such as New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and others. The national capital is Washington, D.C. Its population is about 3.4 million. It was built in the late eighteenth century as the centre of government. It was named after
George Washington, the first president of USA and general of war.

The USA are the fourth largest country in the World (after Russia,
Canada, and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the North and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and half million square kilometers. The USA borders on Canada in the North and on Mexico in the South. It also has a sea border with
Russia.

The USA is a presidential republic. The legislative branch of the US
Government, or the Congress, represents all of the American states. It consists of two parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state has two senators, who are elected every 6 years. A senator must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the US for 9 years and live the state she or he will represent. A representative must be at least 25 years old, a citizen for 7 years and live in the state.

USA - the very first state accepted the constitution. It is one of the first countries which have established democracy by the basic form of board. In this report we shall tell about the reasons of occurrence of the constitution and about its influence on development of the state on an example of president's institute.

Constitution USA

With independence came many problems. The U. S. were joined together under one government by the Articles of Confederation. The articles listed the powers of the central government and the powers of the states. There was a national Congress made up of representatives from each state. But
Congress had almost no power at all. The 13 states acted like 13 separate little nations. There were many times when states would not cooperate with the central government. They were too busy quarrelling with each other. The
U. S. was in danger of falling.

In May 1787 a meeting began in Philadelphia to change the Articles of
Confederation. Representatives from all the states except Rhode Island were present. It was soon decided that whole new constitution had to be written.
A constitution is set of laws by which a country is governed.

This meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention. Washington was chosen president of the convention. A 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin took part in its work. A new group of first-rate leaders were at this meeting. Among these leaders were James Madison and Gouverneur Morris. The people who attended the convention did their work very well. The
Constitution has lasted to the present.

What kind of government would be the best for the USA?

The delegates all agreed that the new government should continue to be a republic. This means that the people would elect representatives to manage their country.

The delegates knew that they wanted a federal government. In such a government the power is divided between the national and the state governments. The national government would collect taxes and borrow money.
It would control trade with foreign countries and between states. The national government would print or coin money. It alone could declare war.
All other powers were left to the states. Matters within a state would be settled by that state.

The members of the Constitutional Convention wanted a government that would protect the people's rights, not take them away. So they divided the government's power into three parts, or branches. This is called separation of powers.

The legislative branch was the Congress. Its major job was to make laws.
The executive branch was the President and his helpers. It was their job to carry out the laws the Congress passed. The judicial branch was the courts.
They had to decide the meaning of the laws.

Each branch had some power over the other two. No one branch would be allowed more power than the others.

A big debate at the convention was over the matter of who would control
Congress. Large states wanted representatives to Congress based on the number of people in the state. Small states wanted an equal vote with the larger states. This problem was solved by giving Congress two parts.
Regardless of size each state would send two representatives to the Senate, one part of Congress. States with more people would send more delegates to the House of Representatives, the other part of Congress. In order for a law to be passed, it had to go through both parts of Congress.

The new Constitution included a way to make changes, called amendments.
If things didn't work out, or if the USA grew о changes, the Constitution could be amended without being entirely changed. This was to prove helpful very soon.

Nine state governments had to approve the Constitution be fore it could become the law of the land. Many states refused to do so unless the
Constitution listed people's rights as well as the rights of the government. They argued that important freedoms must be written down. Once the states were promised that this would happen, the Constitution would become law.

James Madison saw to it that these freedoms were written down. Madison had been very active at the Constitutional Convention. After the Convention he worked hard to explain the Constitution to the people. Once the new government was started, Madison wrote many amendments that would make rights like freedom the press, speech and worship part of the Constitution.
Ten of these amendments were passed by the states. These first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.

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